During Stephanie Tsoi’s pediatric residency, she rotated with the pediatric pulmonary hypertension team. She quickly realized how much researchers and clinicians still have to uncover about PH.
“Caring for critically ill children in the ICU continues to inspire me to keep asking new questions and pursuing innovative research that can change outcomes,” says Tsoi, the recipient of PHA’s 2025 Early Career Mentored Scientist Award.
Tsoi’s project, “Investigating the Fetal Origins of Pulmonary Vascular Disease,” aims to better understand the mechanisms behind PH to improve PH recognition and treatment. She examines placental tissue from infants with PH to understand how changes or problems during pregnancy can affect long-term pulmonary vascular development and function.
“I’m passionate about exploring how events in the womb impact pulmonary vascular development,” Tsoi says. “Using placental tissue to understand neonatal PH is both innovative and deeply meaningful, and I believe it may help us identify early predictors of pulmonary hypertension and guide new approaches to treatment.”
Tsoi, a clinical and translational physician scientist at the University of California, San Francisco, decided to focus on PH research to examine the fundamental questions about PH that interested her during her residency. She credits the UCSF pediatric PH team, especially pediatric critical care specialist Jeff Fineman, who motivated her to pursue research that bridges the bedside and the lab.
“Each project led to the next, and my work gradually evolved from clinical research to translational science,” she says. “I’m driven by the possibility that we can unlock mechanisms that will bring us closer to predicting, treating, and one day curing pulmonary hypertension.”
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