Heart problems plague thousands of people, including children: about 40,000 babies are born each year with congenital heart defects. For his work, Chaparro was recently named the 2026 Florida Heart Research Foundation’s “Stop Heart Disease Early Career Researcher of the Year.” The award recognizes and promotes excellence in cardiovascular research throughout Florida and comes with a $50,000 prize for the honoree. FIU is making huge strides toward becoming a powerhouse in cardiovascular research, and I’m happy to be part of it.” He analyzed a wealth of cardiovascular tissue samples to understand the root causes of cardiovascular disease.