Dr. Conklin finished his undergraduate training in Biology at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in 1986, received a M.S. at University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse in 1989 and a Ph.D. at University of Notre Dame in 1995.  Then he completed Postdoctoral Fellowship in Toxicology at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences from 1996 to 1998.

Dr. Conklin’s Research Interests:

Recent epidemiological studies reveal that environmental pollutant exposure increases cardiovascular disease risk and mortality.  Reactive aldehydes are ubiquitous constituents of particulate matter pollution (e.g., smog, tobacco smoke, automobile exhaust, etc) but the role these aldehydes play in precipitating or exacerbating cardiovascular disease is unknown. His interests in aldehyde-mediated cardiovascular toxicity are two-fold: 1) What are the mechanisms by which aldehyde exposure enhances cardiovascular morbidity and mortality?, and 2) What conditions result in enhanced susceptibility (or protection) of human populations to the effects of aldehyde exposure?  He currently study these questions using a variety of models including cultured smooth muscle and endothelial cells, isolated heart and blood vessels, and genetically-engineered mice exposed to aldehydes.   Our recent data indicate that environmental aldehydes act through both direct and indirect mechanisms that enhance atherosclerosis, endothelial dysfunction, and dyslipidemia.  This work supports the emerging field of Environmental Cardiology.