Dr. Aikawa also serves as a Director of the Vascular Biology Program at the Center for Interdisciplinary Sciences as well as a Director of the Heart Valve Translational Research Program (HVTRP) at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. Dr. Aikawa has played a pioneering role in the discovery of inflammation-dependent mechanisms of calcification, and in advocacy for the early imaging and treatment of calcific aortic valve disease. Her current research aim is to develop new therapies to cure calcific aortic valve stenosis, a disease that currently has no treatment except surgical valve replacement.