Rafael Ramirez

At Johns Hopkins, Rafael Ramirez serves as a lecturer in the MS in Biotechnology program. He is also an Assistant Professor in the Division of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery with the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. His research focuses on the mechanisms, treatments, and potential cures for cardiac arrhythmias.

Ramirez investigates the mechanisms and treatments of irregular heart rhythms, including atrial fibrillation, premature ventricular contraction-induced cardiomyopathy, atrioventricular block, and sick sinus syndrome. His research program employs a diverse array of advanced laboratory techniques, including genetic engineering and gene transfer, induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes, single-cell genomics, large and small animal disease models, implanted cardiac and telemetric devices, optical mapping of voltage and calcium dynamics, Langendorff-perfused heart studies, biochemistry, histology, patch-clamp electrophysiology, and computational modeling of physiological processes.

Ramirez completed his BS in physiology and mathematics at McGill University. He earned an MSC in biomedical engineering at the University of Montréal and a PhD at the University of Toronto. He was a postdoctoral scholar in the Cardiac Arrhythmia Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, then completed a postdoctoral research fellowship and served as a lead laboratory research specialist at the University of Michigan, Center for Arrhythmia Research. He formerly served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at Virginia Commonwealth University.