COLUMBUS, Ohio – Peter Mohler today assumes the newly created role of chief scientific officer for The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and Ohio State's health sciences.
In this role, Mohler will lead all research operations across the medical center, which includes research strategy, operations, space and facilities, research finances, compliance and research initiatives.
He'll also direct the teams that will generate and disseminate best practices for interdisciplinary research and innovation across the health care enterprise. He'll further develop and implement new platforms for research, including basic and translational research, clinical trials and health services and population research.
"Peter's leadership has been especially critical during this COVID-19 pandemic. He's expertly led our researchers to expand and accelerate critical testing capabilities, and continues to refine the testing platform to increase accuracy, speed and capacity. With his leadership, we now have more than 80 research studies related to COVID-19 underway," said Dr. Hal Paz, executive vice president and chancellor for Health Affairs at The Ohio State University and CEO of the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center.
Since joining the medical center in 2011, Mohler has overseen a significant increase in research funding. Just last week, the American Heart Association granted Ohio State $5.5 million to study the health effects of e-cigarettes and nicotine on youth and help develop vaping cessation programs as part of its ENACT: End Nicotine Addiction in Children and Teens research initiative. The grant is among the highest individual grants awarded in AHA history. Mohler, who specializes in cardiovascular research, will lead Ohio State's work.
His research is focused on uncovering the mechanisms underlying abnormal heart rhythms and heart failure in children and young adults with the goal of designing new therapies.
Mohler will retain his current responsibilities as vice dean for Research in the College of Medicine, director of the Dorothy M. Davis Heart and Lung Institute, the John H. and Mildred C. Lumley Chair in Medicine and tenured professor in the departments of Physiology and Cell Biology and Internal Medicine. He received his PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and performed his fellowship at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Duke University Medical Center.
