2022 Outstanding Postdoctoral Scholar Award

The University of Arizona Postdoctoral Affairs congratulates 2022 Outstanding Postdoctoral Scholar Dr. Erik Blackwood!

Dr. Blackwood is a Senior Postdoctoral Fellow in the Translational Cardiovascular Research Center (TCRC) at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix (UA-COMP). He was nominated by his mentors for his innovative research and service.

Dr. Blackwood’s research involves the development of novel large animal models of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. He has published 18 peer-reviewed research papers in high-impact journals since 2017 and received a UArizona Postdoctoral Research Development Grant in 2021 to support his pre-clinical research on promising gene therapy and drug candidates. His research has generated the preliminary data needed to support two new NIH grant submissions, and it is anticipated that he will become the principal investigator of his own lab next year. His nominators credit Dr. Blackwood for much of the success at the TCRC, adding that the lab “functions at the high level it does because of Dr. Blackwood’s incredible talents for organization, leadership, scientific research and laboratory management.”

Dr. Blackwood’s impact extends beyond his work in the lab. He is a member of the Early-Stage Investigator’s Committee of the North American Chapter of the International Society for Heart Research (ISHR), and he was just elected to a similar committee position for the World Congress of the ISHR, to be held in Berlin this year. More locally, Dr. Blackwood has served on UA-COMP graduate admissions committees and is a member of the UArizona Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC).

It comes as no surprise that, according to his nominators, “after only 1 year of postdoctoral fellowship, Dr. Blackwood has already been offered a tenure-track position with a generous start-up package.”

Congratulations, Dr. Blackwood!