Congratulations to Siamak Salavatian, PhD, whose project “Therapeutic Effect of Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) on Adverse Cardiospinal Neural Network Signaling Induced by Premature Ventricular Contractions (PVCs)” will be funded by the UPMC Competitive Medical Research Fund. In his project, Dr. Salavatian will investigate the neuronal interactions in the cardiac nervous system in the setting of cardiac disease and evaluate the efficacy of neuromodulation therapy in mitigating the adverse effect of cardiac pathology. Specifically, he will study how cardiospinal neural interactions are disrupted during PVCs at the spinal cord and determine how VNS mitigates deleterious afferent signaling in the spinal cord caused by PVCs and protects the heart by preventing myocardial sympathoexcitation. The autonomic nervous system plays a significant role in the progression of cardiovascular disease, and Dr. Salavatian’s project will provide new knowledge regarding how PVCs modulate cardiospinal neural circuits that control myocardial sympathoexcitation and yield valuable insights into the mechanisms of neuromodulation therapies.