David Goukassian, MD, PhD

Dr. David A. Goukassian is a graduate of Yerevan State Medical University, class of 1985. After practicing Medicine and Dermatology for four years at the Masis Regional Hospital he went to Moscow, Russia in 1989 for post-graduate courses and completed his Ph.D. at Central Advanced Training Institute for Physicians in 1992. Between 1992 - 1994 he was the Executive Medical Director of International project on development of “Elasticity Imaging for Early Diagnosis of Breast and Prostate Cancers” at the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Biophysics, Russian Academy of Sciences. On the wings of this project Dr. Goukassian arrived to United States in 1994 where he continued leading the R&D division of this project. In 1996 he decided to further his career in biomedical research and accepted NIH-funded post-doctoral fellowship in the fields of Aging, Genetics and Biochemistry. In 1999 he became an Instructor of Dermatology, at Boston University School of Medicine, Department of Dermatology. In 2001 he accepted a second post-doctoral fellowship in the field of Stem and Progenitor Cell Biology at the Tufts University School of Medicine. Between 1999 - 2004 he was promoted to Assistant, then Associate Professor of Dermatology and Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine. In 2004 he also joined the faculty of Cardiovascular Research Division at Tufts University School of Medicine as Associate Professor of Medicine. He was appointed as the Director of Cardiovascular Research Center at Genesys Research Institute, at Steward St Elizabeth’s Medical Center in 2012- 2015, where he was leading several major projects in the fields of Cardiovascular Space Radiobiology, Cancer Therapeutics, Stem and Progenitor Cell Biology. He continued the Cardiovascular Space Radiobiology work while at Temple University School of Medicine 2016-2018. In late 2018 he joined Cardiovascular Research Institute at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai as Professor of Medicine/Cardiology.

Dr. Goukassian has a wide-range of expertise and experience that spans from molecular and cellular biology, age-associated decline in DNA damage and repair, as well as age-associated changes in cardiac repair and regeneration with specific emphasis on studies discerning signaling cascades in the context of cardiovascular disease knockout and transgenic mouse models that mimic aging phenotype. His research is aimed at development of novel therapies based on TNF-TNFR1/p55 and -TNFR2/p75 ligand-receptor interaction, specifically – (1) development of therapies to improve post-ischemic repair, regeneration and neovascularization processes; and (2) development of universal platform therapeutics to improve stem cell and gene therapy outcomes in damaged tissues.

His most recent research focus is the field of Cardiovascular Space Radiobiology, studying cardiovascular risks for development of countermeasures during and after long-duration deep space missions. These studies are focused on using integrated physiological approaches along with genomic, proteomic and epigenetic methodologies to understand molecular mechanisms of space radiation-induced long-term cardiovascular degenerative risks, development of mouse models for evaluation of space radiation-induced Excess Relative Risks (ERR), development of predictive biomarkers for estimation of ERR, development of countermeasures for NASA’s future long-duration space missions to Moon, near Earth asteroids and Mars. These studies have significant implications for NASA’s efforts to develop heart disease risk estimates for astronauts, as well as for prevention of radiation-induced cardiovascular diseases in cancer patients receiving conventional and particle radiotherapy.