Kenneth Walsh, Ph.D. is the Lockhart B. McGuire Professor of Internal Medicine (pending) at the University of Virginia School of Medicine and the Director of the Hematovascular Biology Center. He is a member of the Robert M. Berne Cardiovascular Research Center and an Associate Member of the Cancer Center. Dr. Walsh, who received his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, examines molecular events that drive cardiovascular cell growth, differentiation and apoptosis. His laboratory performed seminal studies documenting the importance of Akt/PKB signaling in the function and growth of cardiovascular tissues. Over the past decade his laboratory has been investigating mechanisms of inter-tissue communication and how these systems contribute to physiological versus pathological tissue growth in the cardiovascular system, particularly as it relates to obesity and systemic metabolic dysfunction.