Alumnus Dr. Peter Hanna earns PhD

Congratulations to Peter Hanna, MD, PhD (’13), who recently defended his thesis on “Intrinsic Cardiac Neural Control of the Mammalian Sinoatrial Node” to earn his PhD in Molecular, Cellular & Integrative Physiology. His paper, entitled “Innervation and Neuronal Control of the Mammalian Sinoatrial Node a Comprehensive Atlas,” was published in Circulation Research.

Dr. Hanna is currently a PGY-8 cardiology and chief Specialty Training and Advanced Research (STAR) Program fellow at UCLA Medical Center. The STAR Program allows trainees to devote additional research years toward a PhD alongside clinical training. Several CCLCM alumni have come through or are currently in the STAR program: Tamara Lee, MD (’13), ophthalmology; Joseph Hadaya, MD (’17), general surgery; and Jessica Zhang, MD (’20), internal medicine.

“I think CCLCM grads are the right phenotype for the STAR Program. They have just enough experience to know they want to invest additional years in training to pursue a research career,” says Dr. Hanna. Following his research time, Dr. Hanna will return to clinical duties this summer to start an electrophysiology fellowship at UCLA.

Of his medical school training at CCLCM, he says, “I really enjoyed the experience, and it inspired me to perform research during my postgraduate training.”