Jack Wallen is a PhD candidate in the Department of Physiology, University of Toronto, working in the laboratory of Dr. Carin Wittnich. His research focuses on the role of gender on development of myocardial pathology. Initial work found that female rats had significantly higher baseline glycogen levels in both myocardium and liver than age-matched males (Am J Clin Nutr, 1997). As well, females had a greater degree of myocardial hypertrophy, in both the presence and absence of systemic hypertension (Hypertension, 2000). This response was dependent on the hormone status of the animals, and for any given diastolic pressure, females always exhibited greater hypertrophy. More recent published evidence shows that steroid hormones exert dramatic gender dependent effects on whole-body metabolism in both normotensive (J Nutr, 2001) and hypertensive rats (J Nutr 2002). The work to date has identified significant gender differences which could increase female risk in the presence of heart disease.
Upon completion of his PhD, Jack will be entering medical school at the University of Toronto, after which he hopes to pursue a career that will incorporate both clinical and academic/research.