Dr. Alina Maloyan, Ph.D. holds an Associate Professor position in the Knight Cardiovascular Institute at the Oregon Health and Science University where she and her research group investigate how maternal obesity affects placental function and predisposes the offspring to metabolic and cardiovascular diseases in adult life, so-called. developmental programming. Dr. Maloyan earned her Ph.D. in Physiology from Hebrew University in Jerusalem. 

Dr. Maloyan's research focuses on understanding the effect of maternal obesity on placental and fetal cardiac metabolism. More than 65% of women entering pregnancy in the US are overweight or obese. Maternal obesity increases the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes including malformations, preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, and stillbirth. Most importantly, in utero exposure to maternal obesity causes changes in the offspring's body composition, cardiovascular and metabolic function thereby predisposing the offspring to obesity, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases in later life.

Dr. Maloyan’s research interests include metabolic, physiological, and epigenetic changes occurring as a result of maternal obesity. She focuses on three major areas: the role of the placenta in the developmental programming of maternal obesity; metabolic and epigenetic changes in the fetal heart as result of exposure to adverse intrauterine environments; the role of autophagy in developmental programming.