Shyam Bansal

Dr. Bansal is the Vice Chair for Basic Science Research at the Heart and Vascular Institute (HVI) at the Penn State University Hershey Medical Center (HMC). He is also an Associate Professor of Medicine and Cell and Biological Systems at the Penn State College of Medicine (PSCOM). His previous roles include Investigator and Assistant Professor in the Department of Physiology and Cell Biology at the Ohio State University (OSU) in Columbus, OH, as well as Chair of the Dorothy M. Davis Heart & Lung Research Institute (DHLRI) Education Committee. Dr. Bansal is a board-certified pharmacist from India and was ranked 6th (99.96 percentile) in the national graduate aptitude test examination (GATE). He also ranked 1st in the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) entrance exam, where he earned his Master’s in Pharmaceutics. Dr. Bansal earned his PhD in Pharmacology and Toxicology from the University of Louisville (UofL), followed by postdoctoral training in nanochannel drug delivery and cardiac immunology at the Methodist Hospital Research Institute and University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). He is passionate about mentoring future scientists and instilling scientific curiosity early in life. Dr. Bansal regularly reviews projects from middle and high school students, mentors a team of 10–12-year-olds for Frontiers for Young Minds, and reviews pre- and postdoctoral grants for the American Heart Association (AHA) and National Science Foundation (NSF).