Nicholas William Shworak

1990-93      Massachusetts Institute of Technology           PDF in Glycobiology
1993-00      Instructor in Medicine                                        Harvard Medical School
1993-01      Staff Physician                                                      Beth Israel Hospital
1993-97      Visiting Scientist                                                  Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1997-01      Research Affiliate                                                 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1998-01      Principal Investigator                                          Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
2000-01      Assistant Professor of Medicine                        Harvard Medical School
2001-06      Assistant Professor of Medicine                        Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth
2006-16      Assoc. Prof. of Medicine                                     Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth
2009-16      Assoc. Prof. of Pharmacology & Toxicology   Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth
2016-now   Assoc. Prof. of Pharmacology& Physiology    GWU School of Medicine & Health Sciences
 
National and international grants in excess of $5,000,000 have supported my biomedical research, which has primarily focused on how a heparin-like polysaccharide regulates critical functions of the cardiovascular system in health and disease. For more than a decade, I have been extensively involved in teaching doctoral and medical students pharmacology, drug development, vascular biology and cellular/molecular approaches to translational research. While at Geisel School of Medicine, we created a new graduate program in translational research, which included de novo curriculum development. I have also mentored >35 individuals (from undergraduates to postdoctoral/clinical fellows to junior faculty) across a range of research projects. I am now teaching GWU medical, physician assistant, and graduate students pharmacology & physiology in several areas and I serve as Co-Director of the Cardio/Pulm/Renal (CPR) block of the pre-clerkship medical student curriculum.
 
I have served on numerous departmental and institutional committees for activities such as faculty searches, curriculum development, student conduct and performance, facilities infrastructure, internal grant reviews, and the Dean’s advisory board. I presently serve on several MD program curricular committees and have served on faculty recruitment committees including the Search Committee for the Assistant Dean of Preclinical Education as well as medical education task force committees. My regional contributions include serving on the Board of Directors of the NH American Heart Association, and participating in public outreach seminars. Nationally, I have participated in a range of NIH study sections (NHLBI, NCI, NCRR) for Program Project and minor/ major infrastructure grants. Internationally, I have reviewed grants from Belgium, Canada, Japan, Qatar, and the UK. I have reviewed manuscripts for ~20 journals, including Nature Medicine, Journal of Clinical Investigation and PNAS. I have contributed to national/international conferences by serving on scientific program committees, chairing sessions and Chaired the 16^th Gordon Proteoglycan Conference.
 

Research

My biomedical research, has predominantly focused on how a heparin-like polysaccharide regulates critical functions of the cardiovascular system in health and disease; but has extended to the roles of polysaccharides in numerous other biologic and disease processes. I previously isolated several novel genes involved in generating specific polysaccharide structures and generated a knockout mouse deficient in a heparin-like structure (HS^AT+). Our recent analysis of this mouse indicates that HS^AT+ controls a natural anti-inflammatory pathway of blood vessels that protects against acute inflammatory diseases such as sepsis. This pathway may also protect against chronic inflammatory diseases such as atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease; we have identified human genetic variants that associate with reduced HS^AT+ expression and increased severity of coronary artery disease. Current research is directed at determining if mutations in this pathway truly cause human cardiovascular disease. We have ongoing collaborations that focus on the role of HS^AT+ in additional inflammatory processes/disorders.
 
Since arriving at GW SMHS in 2016, I have also been developing a novel research program in medical student education. My current working hypothesis is that preclerkship medical students do not fit into classic child teaching philosophy (pedagogy) nor newer theories of adult education (andragogy). Rather, I propose a new teaching paradigm (ambigogy), which recognizes preclinical medical students as a transition stage between the well-defined student population targets of pedagogy and andragogy. In addition, my working hypothesis posits that preclinical medical students are such exceptionally high performing learners that one must consider completely novel teaching approaches to accommodate the high informational bandwidth that our students can accommodate.

Select publications:
 
Smits NC, Kobayashi T, Srivastava PK, Skopelja S, Ivy JI, Elwood DJ, Stan RV, Tsongalis GJ, Sellke FW, Gross PL, Cole MD, DeVries JT, Kaplan AV, Robb JF, Williams SF, Shworak NW.  HS3ST1 genotype regulates antithrombin’s inflammomodulatory tone and associates with atherosclerosis.  Matrix Biol 2017; 63:69-90. PMID: 28126521 DOI: 10.1016/j.matbio.2017.01.003
 
Vaishali NP, Lombaert IMA, Cowherd SN, Shworak NW, Xu Y, Liu J, Hoffman MP.  Hs3sts-modified heparan sulfate controls epithelial Kit⁺ progenitor expansion by regulating 3-O-sulfotransferases.  Developmental Cell 2014; 29:662-73. PMID: 24960693
 
Stan RV, Tse D, Xu Y, Deharvengt SJ, Smits NC, Xy Y, Luciano MR, McGarry CL, Buitendijk M, Nemani KV, Elgueta R, Kobayashi T, Kim JH, Shipman SL, Moodie KL, Daghlian CP, Ernst PA, Lee H-K, Suriawinata AA, Schned AR, Longnecker DS, Fiering SN, Noelle RJ, Gimi B, Shworak NW, Carrière C.  The diaphragms of fenestrated endothelia - gatekeepers of vascular permeability and blood composition.  Developmental Cell 2012; 23:1203-18. PMID: 23237953
 
Fung E, Patsopoulos N, Belknap SM, O’Rourke DJ, Robb J, Anderson JL, Shworak NW, and Moore JH.  The effect of genetic variants especially CYP2C9 and VKORC1 on the pharmacology of warfarin.  Semin Thromb Hemost 2012; 38:893-904. PMID: 23041981 
 
Kerley-Hamilton JS, Trask HW, Ridley CJA, DuFour E, Ringelberg CS, Nurinova N, Wong D, Moodie KL, Shipman SL, Moore JH, Korc M, Shworak NW, Tomlinson CR.  Obesity is regulated by differential aryl hydrocarbon receptor signaling in mice fed a western diet.  Environ Health Perspect 2012; 120:1252-9. PMID: 22609946
 
de Agostini AI, Dong J-C, de Vantéry-Arrighi C, Ramus M-A, Dentand-Quadri I, Thalmann S, Ventura P, Ibecheole V, Monge F, Fischer A-M, HajMohammadi S, Shworak NW, Zhang L, Zhang Z, Linhardt RJ.  Human follicular fluid heparan sulfate contains abundant 3-O-sufated chains with anticoagulant activity.  J Biol Chem 2008; 283:28115-24. PMID: 18669628
 
Isaev D, Isaeva E, Shatskih T, Zhao Q, Smits NC, Shworak NW, Khazipov R, and Holmes GL. Role of extracellular sialic acid in regulation of neuronal and network excitability in the rat hippocampus.  J Neurosc 2007; 27:11587-94. PMID: 17959801
 
Lawrence R, Yabe T, HajMohammadi S, Rhodes J, McNeely M, Liu J, Lamperti ED, Toselli PA, Lech M, Spear P, Rosenberg RD and Shworak NW. The principal 3-O-sulfotransferases and their products in central and peripheral nervous system tissue.  Matrix Biol 2007; 26:442-55. PMID: 17482450
 
Shworak NW.  Angiogenic modulators in valve development and disease: Does valvular disease recapitulate developmental signaling pathways?  Current Opinion in Cardiology 2004; 19:140-6. PMID: 15075741
 
HajMohammadi, S, Enjyoji K, Princivalle M, Christi P, Lech M, Beeler D, Rayburn H, Schwartz JJ, Barzagar S, de Agostini AI, Post M, Rosenberg RD, and Shworak NW.  Normal levels of anticoagulant heparan sulfate are not essential for normal hemostasis.  J Clin Invest 2003; 111:989-99. PMID: 12671048
 
Shukla D, Liu J, Blaiklock P, Shworak NW, Bai X, Esko JD, Cohen GH, Eisenberg RJ, Rosenberg RD, Spear PG.  A novel role for 3-O-sulfated heparan sulfate in herpes simplex virus 1 entry.  Cell 1999; 99:13-22. PMID: 10520990
 
Shworak NW, Liu J, Petros LM, Zhang M, Kobayashi M, Copeland NG, Jenkins NA, Rosenberg RD.  Multiple isoforms of heparan sulfate D-glucosaminyl 3-O-sulfotransferase.  The isolation, characterization and expression of human cDNAs and identification of distinct genomic loci.  J Biol Chem 1999; 274:5170-84. PMID: 9988767
 
Rosenberg, RD, Shworak NW, Liu J, Schwartz JJ, Zhang L.  Heparan sulfate proteoglycans of the cardiovascular system.  Specific structures emerge but how is synthesis regulated?  J Clin Invest 1997; 99:2062-70. PMID: 9151776
 
  1981: B.Sc. First Class Honors
1985: M.D. Honors in Research
1990-93: Medical Research Council (Canada) Centennial Fellowship
1997: AHA Young Investigator Award in Thrombosis
2010-12: Vice Chair of 15^th Gordon Proteoglycan Conference
2012: Awarded “Best of AHA Specialty Conferences Poster Sessions”
          American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2012
2012-14: Chair of 16^th Gordon Proteoglycan Conference
2018: GWU AMSA Golden Apple Award for Teaching Excellence (MS1 class)
2019: GWU SMHS Distinguished Teacher Award in Basic Sciences
2021: Keynote speaker for SMHS PA class of 2021 Commencement White Coat Ceremony
2022: GWU AMSA Golden Apple Award for Teaching Excellence (MS1/MS2 classes)
 

Teaching

BMSC 8212: Systems Physiology
IDIS 8101: Foundations of Medicine
IDIS 8102: Immunology & Infectious Disease
IDIS 8103: Cardiovascular Respiratory & Urinary Systems (Co-Director)
IDIS 8206: Brain & Behavior
PA 6112: Clinical Medicine I
PHAR 6205: Pharmacology
PHAR 6207: Basic Principles of Pharmacology
PHAR 6208: Pharmacology in Disease
PHYL 6211: Physiology for Health Science Students
PHAR 6501: Readings in Pharmacology
 

Programs

Core Curriculum in Health Sciences