Dr. Coulombe specializes in cardiovascular regenerative engineering to address global needs to develop novel therapies for cardiovascular disease. A major focus of her research is to re-engineer contractility in the heart after myocardial infarction (heart attack) using engineered human myocardium with cardiomyocytes derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells. The engineered tissue has electromechanical function and we are working to improve the vascular and electromechanical integration of the implant with the host heart in order to restore cardiac contractility. Dr. Coulombe earned a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Rochester summa cum laude in 2001 and was a Whitaker Pre-doctoral Fellow, earning a Ph.D. in Bioengineering at the University of Washington in 2007. She was an NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein post-doctoral fellow in Pathology at the University of Washington where she won an NIH Pathway to Independence K99/R00 award in 2012, and she started as an Assistant Professor of Engineering and Medical Science at Brown University in January 2014.