Nesime Askin, Ph.D. CandidateNesime Askin is a PhD candidate in the Department of Physiology, University of Toronto, working under the supervision of Dr. Carin Wittnich. Her thesis work is looking at how chronic hypertension, one of the major causes of cardiovascular disease which affects a quarter of the Canadian population, mediates changes in skeletal muscle metabolism in females, and the role of the female sex hormones (estrogen and progesterone) in this response.
In Canada, the incidence of hypertension tends to occur more in post-menopausal women than men, suggesting protective effects of female sex hormones on the development of this pathology. One of many complications related to hypertension is the development of peripheral arterial disease (PAD), which restricts blood flow to skeletal muscles and can cause ischemia (no blood flow) which can result in tissue death. Epidemiological evidence shows that the incidence of PAD increases as women progress into menopause, and that this may be due to deficiencies in the female sex hormones. To address these issues, her research work will study how estrogen and progesterone affect skeletal muscle response to ischemia in hypertensive females.
Her work has shown that female sex hormones do regulate skeletal muscle metabolism and that hypertension actually exacerbates the female differences and she is now exploring the mechanisms for this.
This information is critical to our understanding of how to better treat female patients (either with or without hypertension) who either suffer from decreased limb blood flow (peripheral arterial disease) or require surgery and undergo rehabilitation. This research work will advance our knowledge of women's cardiovascular health issues and Nesime has presented her work at local and international conferences and has a number of publications on this and other gender-related topics.
Nesime's long term career goals after completion of her PhD include becoming a researcher and a university professor of physiology to continue her pursuit for scientific discoveries and passion for education.
Left to Right: Katherine Phenix, Geraldine Phenix, Nesime Askin, Dr. Carin Wittnich