Milad Vahedi Selected as a Trainee Under the STAGE Program.

STAGE British Columbia is pleased to announce that Milad Vahedi has been selected as a STAGE Trainee with his project, “Inflammatory memory in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.”

Milad is currently a PhD trainee in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the Simon Fraser University, where he is conducting research on epigenetic inflammatory memory in lung innate immune and epithelial cells in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), led by Drs. Graeme Koelwyn and Lin Zhang. 

Milad applies his diverse background in veterinary medicine, genetics, and immunology to his research. Before his doctoral journey, Milad earned a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) and a Doctor of Veterinary Science (DVSc) from the University of Tehran, and a Master of Genetics from Dalhousie University. During these programs, Milad researched the genetic and genomic basis of host inflammatory response in across conditions, such as cancer and bacterial and viral infections. Milad currently holds a CIHR Canada Graduate Scholarships – Doctoral (CGS-D) award.

His STAGE project aims to highlight whether innate immune and epithelial cells in the lung and circulation of COPD patients undergoes epigenetic reprogramming, and if so, how it contributes to the disease pathophysiology.

STAGE is proud to support Milad in his research endeavors and looks forward to his contributions in addressing a key gap in understanding how epigenetically encoded inflammatory memory shapes the pathophysiology of COPD.