Kelly named alumni professor of cardiovascular diseases

Daniel P. Kelly, M.D., director of the Center for Cardiovascular Research and co-director of the Cardiovascular Division, was recently named the Alumni Endowed Professor of Cardiovascular Diseases.

Kelly is internationally known for his research on the molecular basis of the heart’s metabolism, or how the heart obtains energy to function.

Larry J. Shapiro, M.D. (left), executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the medical school, and Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton install Daniel P. Kelly, M.D., as the Alumni Endowed Professor of Cardiovascular Diseases.
Larry J. Shapiro, M.D. (left), executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the medical school, and Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton install Daniel P. Kelly, M.D., as the Alumni Endowed Professor of Cardiovascular Diseases.

As director of the Center for Cardiovascular Research, he has helped establish an interdisciplinary effort in which University researchers from a wide range of disciplines combine their expertise to investigate the biologic processes underlying heart disease.

“Dr. Kelly’s distinguished research accomplishments and his superb efforts to foster collaborations within the medical school and with the Hilltop Campus have helped establish our institution’s respected reputation in cardiology,” said Larry J. Shapiro, M.D., executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the medical school.

“The medical school is extremely grateful for the generosity of its alumni and friends in helping us attract and retain renowned physician-scientists like Dan Kelly.”

Most recently, Kelly, also a profesor of medicine, of molecular biology and pharmacology and of pediatrics, launched an initiative to plan a center for researching the cardiovascular effects of metabolic disorders such as diabetes.

Funded by the National Institutes of Health’s Roadmap for Medical Research, the project brings together 13 departments at the University, as well as other experts in Missouri.

It reflects the medical school’s strategic BioMed 21 initiative, which is dedicated to rapidly bringing advances in basic science to the patient’s bedside.

“Dr. Kelly is an extraordinary physician-scientist who is nationally and internationally recognized as a genuine authority in the field of molecular genetics of cardiac metabolism and who epitomizes the power of bench-to-bedside research,” said Michael E. Cain, M.D., the Tobias and Hortense Lewin Professor of Cardiovascular Diseases and director of the Cardiovascular Division.

“He has exhibited outstanding leadership, recruited talented faculty and created a unique multidisciplinary research environment that integrates faculty from diverse divisions and departments.”

Kelly joined the School of Medicine in 1989, after completing his postgraduate research and clinical training at the University and Barnes Hospital.

His numerous awards and honors include the Midwest American Federation of Medical Research Outstanding Investigator Award and the American Heart Association’s Established Investigator Award.

Kelly has also been elected to several prestigious organizations, including the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians and the Association of University Cardiologists.