Jochen Steppan, MD

Professional Titles

• Director of Perioperative Medicine, High Risk Cardiovascular Disease

Primary Academic Title

Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine

Background

Recent News Articles and Media Coverage

• Episode 59: Pulmonary Hypertension (audio recording, podcast, accrac.com), AACRaC: Anesthesia and Critical Care Reviews and Commentary, by Jed Wolpaw

  Episode 130: Anesthesia for Adults with Congenital Heart Disease (audio recording, podcast, accrac.com), AACRaC: Anesthesia and Critical Care Reviewsand Commentary, by Jed Wolpaw

  Getting to the heart of the matter - expanding the point of care, American Society of Anesthesiologists Annual Meeting Daily News (October 15, 2023)

Lab Website

Jochen Steppan Lab

• Research in the Jochen Steppan Lab primarily focused on vascular stiffness related to aging. We are currently researching LOXL2 (lysine-oxidase-like-2), which might be intimately involved in the development or progression of vascular stiffness. We aim to better understand LOXL2's role in the vasculature and hope that this work leads to the characterization of a novel therapeutic target. This is important in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases in the aging population.

Research Summary

Dr. Steppan’s research focuses on the basic science aspects of vascular stiffness, an important predictor of aging associated cardio-vascular morbidity.

In a collaborative effort with a team of cardiovascular biologists, he addresses important pathways of aging associated changes in nitric oxide signaling, the nitroso-redox milieu, endothelial function, extracellular matrix composition and vascular reactivity. The goal of these studies is not merely to characterize and describe the underlying basic vascular pathophysiology but to move those studies into the clinical realm to ultimately prevent, halt or even reverse aging associated vascular stiffness.

This approach has recently been awarded with an NIH K08 award, to evaluate a novel target: LOXL2 (lysine-oxidase-like-2), which might be intimately involved in the development or progression of pulmonary hypertension. This study will advance the understanding of LOXL2's role in the lung vasculature, and might lead to the characterization of a novel therapeutic target, which is of critical importance for the treatment of this deadly disease.

PubMed

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/jochen.steppan.1/bibliography/public/

Selected Publications

• Steppan J, Diaz-Rodriguez N, Barodka VM, Nyhan D, Pullins E, Housten T, Damico RL, Mathai SC, Hassoun PM, Berkowitz DE, Maxwell BG, Kolb TM. Focused Review of Perioperative Care of Patients with Pulmonary Hypertension and Proposal of a Perioperative Pathway. Cureus. 2018 Jan 15;10(1):e2072. doi: 10.7759/cureus.2072

• Steppan J, Jandu S, Savage W, Wang H, Kang S, Narayanan R, Nyhan D, Santhanam L. Restoring blood pressure in hypertensive mice fails to fully reverse vascular stiffness. Front Physiol. 2020 Jul 21;11:824

• Steppan J, Wang H, Bergman Y, Rauer MJ, Tan S, Jandu S, Nandakumar K, Barreto-Ortiz S, Cole RN, Boronina TN, Zhu W, Halushka MK, An SS, Berkowitz DE, Santhanam L. Lysyl oxidase-like 2 depletion is protective in age-associated vascular stiffening. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2019 Jul 1;317(1):H49-H59. doi: 10.1152/ajpheart.00670.2018. Epub 2019 Apr 19. PMID: 31002285

• Cheema A, Ibekwe S, Nyhan D, Steppan J. When Your 35-Year-Old Patient has a Sternotomy Scar: Anesthesia for Adult Patients with Congenital Heart Disease Presenting for Noncardiac Surgery. Int Anesthesiol Clin. 2018 Fall;56(4):3-20. doi: 10.1097/AIA.0000000000000204. PMID: 30204603 Review. 

• Obata Y, Barodka V, Berkowitz DE, Gottschalk A, Hogue CW, Steppan J. Relationship Between the Ambulatory Arterial Stiffness Index and the Lower Limit of Cerebral Autoregulation During Cardiac Surgery. J Am Heart Assoc. 2018 Feb 8;7(4):e007816. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.117.007816.

Patents

Arginase II: A Target Treatment of Aging Heart and Heart Failure, US 2009/0298912 A1

Honors

• 1st place for Research Award in Clinical and Translational Science 2, 25th Annual ACCM Research Day, 12/6/23
• Health Equity Honors, 24th Annual ACCM Research Day, 12/7/22
• 2nd place for Research Award in Basic Cardiovascular & Pulmonary Science 2, 24th Annual ACCM Research Day, 12/7/22
• Top Research Abstract, SCA's 2020 Annual Thoracic Anesthesia Symposium, 4/20/20
• PVRI Best Basic Rapid Fire Award 2020, Pulmonary Vascular Research Institute, PVRI World Congress on PVD, 1/31/20
• ACCM 2019 Research Day Poster Award for Basic Science-1, Annual ACCM Research Day, Johns Hopkins University, 3/1/19
• PVRI Abstract Award, Pulmonary Vascular Research Institute, 1/31/19
• Research Award for Cardiopulmonary Medicine-1, Johns Hopkins Annual Research Day, 12/1/16
• Research Award for Cardiothoracic Medicine, 17th Annual ACCM Research Day, 12/1/15
• Research Award, Johns Hopkins Annual Research Day, 12/1/14
• Research Award, Johns Hopkins Annual Research Day, 1/1/11
• Best Scientific Abstract, Maryland Society of Anesthesiologists, 1/1/11
• Best Abstracts of the Meeting: Anesthesiology Editor's Picks, American Society of Anesthesiologists Annual Meeting, 1/1/10
• Best Scientific Abstract, Maryland Society of Anesthesiologists, 1/1/10
• Kosaka Award, International Anesthesia Research Society, 1/1/09
• German Acupuncture Award, best research study, 1/1/06

Memberships

• American Heart Association
• American Society of Anesthesiologists
• Deutsche Arztegesellschaft fur Akupunktur (German Medical Society for Acupuncture)
• European Society of Anaesthesiology, Diplomate
• International Anesthesia Research Society
• Society for Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists
• Society for Pediatric Anesthesia
• Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society
• Pulmonary Vascular Research Institute
• Association of University Anesthesiologists