This episode of Behind the Bench with AJP-Heart and Circ is full of connections. Returning co-host Dr. Charlotte Usselman is joined by her new co-host Dr. Tommy Martin. We first met Tommy when we interviewed him last year for Behind the Bench episode 10 as a trainee in the lab of AJP-Heart and Circ Associate Editor Dr. Jonathan Kirk. Jonathan was the original co-host of Behind the Bench along with Dr. Lisandra de Castro Brás. Speaking of Jonathan and Lis… big shout out to the original Behind the Bench co-hosts for their stellar insights and witty humor! Fast forward to the proverbial passing of the Behind the Bench microphone to Charlotte and Tommy and their wide-ranging interview with Dr. Jody Greaney, lead author of a new study interrogating vascular dysfunction as one mechanism, of the many potential mechanisms, linking major depressive disorder to CV disease risk. Greaney and co-authors investigated upstream mechanisms of vascular dysfunction and increased vascular superoxide by targeting inflammation with short-term salicylate treatment in a young adult population with major depressive disorder and found that this treatment did improve microvascular endothelium-dependent dilation. Listen as Jody discusses how she persevered with her small proof-of-concept study through finishing her post-doc, obtaining a faculty position, navigating the start-up her own lab, pandemic related interruptions to basic research, and peer reviewer comments that seemed daunting to overcome. Could depression, at its core, be characterized as an inflammatory disease? Are you at a critical career fork in the road and need some insight? Listen now.   Jody L. Greaney, Erika F. H. Saunders, Lacy M. Alexander Short-term salicylate treatment improves microvascular endothelium-dependent dilation in young adults with major depressive disorder Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol, published April 14, 2022. DOI: 10.1152/ajpheart.00643.2021