Denisa D. Wagner is an American biologist currently the Edwin Cohn Professor of Pediatrics at Boston Children's Hospital (BCH),

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...

. Wagner first arrived in the United States in 1975 as a refugee from

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

. She received her PhD in Biology from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

(MIT) and taught at the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded in 1850 and moved into its current campus, next to the Genesee River in 1930. With approximately 30,000 full ...

and

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as Talloires, France. Tufts also has several Doctor of Physical Therapy p ...

before joining the

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

faculty in 1994. Prior to this, Wagner studied at the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public university, public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by French theologian John Calvin as a Theology, theological seminary. It rema ...

, where she received her undergraduate degree in biochemistry.

Career

While attending MIT, Wagner started to work at the Center for Cancer Research. After graduating, Wagner started a post doc with Dr Joanna Olmsted at the University of Rochester. Later on, Dr Fred Rosen a physician at Boston Children's Hospital approached Wagner after several high profile papers came out. He offered Wagner a position, at the time she had 3 jobs offers.

Work

The Wagner Lab contributes in the fields of vascular biology, inflammation, and thrombosis. Her Lab focuses on how blood cells and

endothelial cell The endothelium (: endothelia) is a single layer of squamous endothelial cells that line the interior surface of blood vessels and lymphatic vessels. The endothelium forms an interface between circulating blood or lymph in the lumen and th ...

s respond to

vascular Vascular can refer to: * blood vessels, the vascular system in animals * vascular tissue Vascular tissue is a complex transporting tissue, formed of more than one cell type, found in vascular plants. The primary components of vascular tissue ...

injury. Also her lab has been studying NETs (Neutrophil Extracellular Traps) for more than a decade. In 2015, research from the lab shed light on healing wounds in patients with

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

. In the same year she received the Robert P. Grant Medal, which is the highest award of the International Society on Thrombosis and Hemostasis (ISTH).

Accomplishments

Wagner is an Elected Fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

. In 2017, the

American Heart Association The American Heart Association (AHA) is a nonprofit organization in the United States that funds cardiovascular medical research, educates consumers on healthy living and fosters appropriate Heart, cardiac care in an effort to reduce disability ...

honored her as one of the year's Distinguished Scientists and in 2021, she delivered the Russell Ross Memorial Lectureship in Vascular Biology. In 2021, Wagner received the Henry B. Stratton Medal in Basic Science from the American Society of Hematology. Wagner is widely published, with almost 70,000 citations and an h-index of 144.

Selected publications

Denisa D. Wagner has published more than 100 scientific articles. * Neutrophil extracellular traps promote deep vein thrombosis in mice A Brill, TA Fuchs, AS Savchenko, GM Thomas, K Martinod, SF De Meyer, ...Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis 10 (1), 136-144 * Cell biology of von Willebrand factor DD Wagner Annual review of cell biology 6 (1), 217-242 * Cancers predispose neutrophils to release extracellular DNA traps that contribute to cancer-associated thrombosis M Demers, DS Krause, D Schatzberg, K Martinod, JR Voorhees, TA Fuchs, ... Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109 (32), 13076-13081 * Platelets in inflammation and thrombosis DD Wagner, PC Burger Arteriosclerosis, thrombosis, and vascular biology 23 (12), 2131-2137 * Leukocyte rolling and extravasation are severely compromised in P selectin-deficient mice TN Mayadas, RC Johnson, H Rayburn, RO Hynes, DD Wagner Cell 74 (3), 541-554

Career

Work

Accomplishments

Selected publications

References

Further reading