Sherry G. Mansour, MD, MS

2026 John Merrill Grant in Transplantation

Institution: Yale University School of Medicine

Project Title: Precision Cardiovascular Risk Prediction in Transplantation Using Vascular Injury Biology

How would you sum up your overall research focus in one sentence?

My research focuses on improving cardiovascular outcomes after kidney transplantation by uniting clinical risk prediction with novel tools and biology that drives cardiovascular disease in transplant recipients.

Provide a brief overview of the research you will conduct with help from the grant.

With this grant, we will develop and validate the first transplant-specific cardiovascular disease prediction model using EPIC Cosmos, a national electronic health record platform that includes more than 60,000 kidney transplant recipients. In a subset, we will pair this clinical model with vascular biology, measuring circulating biomarkers of vascular injury and impaired vascular-aging reversal, and using spatial transcriptomics to map these pathways within kidney tissue. Together, these aims link real-world clinical risk to the underlying mechanisms driving cardiovascular disease and lay the groundwork for targeted prevention strategies.

What inspired you to focus your research in this area?

Kidney transplant recipients face nearly a 50-fold higher risk of cardiovascular disease than the general population, yet the risk scores we rely on in clinic were built for the general population and underestimate true risk in transplant recipients. Through my K23, I found that the angiopoietin pathway, a marker of vascular injury, strongly predicted cardiovascular events, and mortality after transplant. Watching high-risk patients receive the same management as low-risk patients, and seeing preventable cardiovascular events happen as a result, convinced me we could do far better with tools built specifically for this population.

What impact do you hope your research will have on patients?

I hope this work will let clinicians identify which transplant recipients are at highest cardiovascular risk early enough to intervene, through intensified lipid and blood pressure management, cardiology co-management, and closer follow-up. Ultimately, my goal is to reduce preventable cardiovascular events, which remain a leading cause of death after kidney transplantation.

What are your career goals at the end of the grant period? Five years out? Ten years out?

By the end of the grant period, my goal is to have a validated, transplant-specific CVD prediction model and the mechanistic data needed to submit a competitive R01. Five years out, I hope to secure further funding to lead a cardio-renal-transplant research program that tests precision prevention strategies in high-risk recipients. Ten years out, I hope to be a national leader in this space, translating these tools into everyday clinical practice while training the next generation of investigators.

What has surprised you most about your career?

How collaborative science really is. Some of my most exciting findings came out of conversations with pathologists, biostatisticians, and bioinformaticians I never expected to work so closely with, and that team-driven discovery has been the most rewarding surprise of my career.

What advice would you give to others to encourage them to apply for this grant funding?

The best way to view the physician-scientist track is as shots on goal: take enough of them and eventually one goes in. But the real reward is enjoying the process and the teamwork, not just the score. I've found that developing the science and writing the grants is deeply fulfilling, and sometimes an idea has to go through a few fires before it's refined enough to get funded. Stay hopeful and enjoy the process.

Something you may not know about me is…

My husband and I invented what we are fully convinced is the best dessert in the world: the "McFlugget," which combines McDonald's chicken nuggets with a McFlurry. Don't knock it till you try it.

In my free time, I like to…

Cook, eat, and gather around the table with my family. Sharing a good meal together is a huge part of my culture, and time with my husband and kids is my favorite thing in the world.