Brittany Gonzalez, who just received her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from FIU this fall 2020, has been appointed as a postdoctoral associate at FIU. At her new appointment, Dr. Gonzalez will expand and continue her investigation on the work she completed during her Ph.D.
Brittany completed her BS in Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. She then moved back home to Miami to pursue her Ph.D. work at Florida International University.
Her research, in the CV-PEUTICS lab under PI Dr. Sharan Ramaswamy, focused on creating an ideal tissue-engineered heart valve (TEHV) for children with critical congenital heart valve defects. This work encompassed knowledge in stem cells, bioscaffolds, and bioreactors.
During my studies, I was fortunate to be able to work with a team of surgeons and vets to do implants in non-human primates for investigation of functionality and growth of the valve over time.
Ms. Gonzalez recently defended her dissertation, titled “Bioscaffold Valve with and without mechanically conditioned stem cells for the treatment of critical mitral valve disease in the young,” and graduated in the Fall 2020 semester.
According to Dr. Gonzalez, FIU’s program, as well as the guidance from my PI Dr. Sharan Ramaswamy, has prepared me for this next step on my career path. I hope to keep pushing forward our work with tissue-engineered heart valves for children with critical congenital heart valve defects and hopefully, move this work to the next level to clinical trials.
Dr. Brittany Gonzalez is forever grateful for the opportunity that has allowed her to continuously learn, grow, and most importantly conduct research that she is passionate about. I am excited for my next path on my journey and look forward to contributing to the field of science.
