Mathematical models of the heart require dynamic constitutive relations for the underlying heart muscle. Lumped models of the left ventricle typically depend on a time-varying elastance, and those of muscle on the contractile element, both of which set heart muscle's elastic properties. A different approach based on underlying muscle contraction mechanisms, and that embodies dynamic elastance, will be presented. This general method can be applied to description of the approximately 650 striated muscles in the human body.

Dr. Palladino earned a BS in biomedical engineering from Boston University, and MSE and PhD degrees in bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania. He is currently a Professor of Engineering at Trinity College in Hartford CT. He conducts research in the field of cardiovascular system dynamics, including mechanical description of the heart as a pump, heart-vessel interaction, control of the cardiovascular system, muscle contraction mechanisms, biomechanics, and noninvasive measurements.

He collaborates with the Cardiovascular Studies Unit at the University of Pennsylvania and Rutgers University and with clinical and mathematical researchers in Leuven, Belgium and Copenhagen, Denmark. Dr. Palladino is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Biomedical Engineering Society, the Cardiovascular System Dynamics Society, the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS), the European Society for Noninvasive Cardiovascular Dynamics, The Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering and Sigma Xi. He serves as a peer reviewer for the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the American Journal of Physiology, the Annals of Biomedical Engineering, the IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, and the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong. His research has been funded by the NIH, NSF, NASA, the Connecticut Department of Higher Education and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.