CTSA Leadership

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  • Photo of Garret A. FitzGerald, MD, FRS

    Garret A. FitzGerald, MD, FRS

    Principal Investigator
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    FitzGerald Lab Site
    Garret A. FitzGerald, MD, FRS Profile Page

    Dr. FitzGerald has overall responsibility for the administrative guidance of the program, its structural coherence and integration and scientific direction. Dr. FitzGerald’s scientific interests are in bioactive lipids and molecular clocks. His work ranges from the use of cellular and animal model systems through detailed study of disease mechanism and drug action in humans to involvement in epidemiological analyses and randomized clinical trials. He serves as the founding Director of the Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics (ITMAT) which anticipated the CTSA program and he served as Chair of the Department of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics from 1996-2018. He is a senior advisor to Calico Laboratories.

  • Photo of Richard Aplenc, MD, PhD, MSCE

    Richard Aplenc, MD, PhD, MSCE

    Co-Director
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    Richard Aplenc, MD, PhD, MSCE Profile Page

    Dr. Aplenc is the Chief Clinical Research Officer at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Section Chief for Hematologic Malignancies in the Division of Oncology. Dr. Aplenc’s research focus is in pediatric acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with ongoing translational research projects. He currently leads a child trial of a CD33 directed chimeric antigen receptor for children with relapsed and refractory acute myeloid leukemia.  He also serves as the Vice-Chair of the Children’s Oncology Group AML Strategy Committee. Dr. Aplenc is a Professor of Pediatrics in the Department of Pediatrics with a secondary appointment in the Department of Biostatistics, Informatics, and Epidemiology.

  • Photo of Anne Rentoumis Cappola, MD, ScM

    Anne Rentoumis Cappola, MD, ScM

    Co-Director
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    Anne Rentoumis Cappola, MD, ScM Profile Page

    Dr. Cappola is Co-Program Director of the CTSA and Co-Director of the Center for Human Phenomic Science. She is recognized as a leader in translational research at the intersection of endocrinology and geriatrics, combining population-based and mechanistic research studies to identify the hormonal underpinnings of human aging. Her scientific contributions have led to changes in treatment recommendations for thyroid disorders in older individuals. She has also pioneered studies in human subjects that seek to determine the role of endocrine abnormalities in age-associated frailty.She is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Interurban Clinical Club and an Associate Editor for JAMA. She is Professor of Medicine and Assistant Director of ITMAT.

  • Photo of Lorraine L. Katz, MD

    Lorraine L. Katz, MD

    Co-Director
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    Lorraine L. Katz, MD Profile Page

    Dr. Katz is Co-Director of the Center for Human Phenomic Science. Dr. Katz is a pediatric endocrinologist with a particular interest in patient-oriented research relating to carbohydrate disorders and insulin-like growth factors. Dr. Katz is Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania and CHOP. She has been recognized as a researcher by being asked to serve on Scientific Review Groups at the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Ultimately, she would like this research to lead to the development of medical strategies to improve the outcomes of diabetes in youth. Dr. Katz has been elected to membership in the Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society, the American Diabetes Association, the Society for Pediatric Research, and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics. She has published over 150 original articles, abstracts and chapters.

  • Photo of Emma A. Meagher, MD

    Emma A. Meagher, MD

    Co-Principal Investigator, Director, Translational Science Education
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    Emma A. Meagher, MD Profile Page

    Emma A. Meagher, MD, directs the Education and Training components of the CTSA. Dr. Meagher's research interest is in the development of novel therapeutics in dyslipidemia, and her educational interests are in the fields of translational research methodology and career development for graduate, pre- and postdoctoral students, and novel modalities for education in pharmacology for undergraduate medical students. To this end, she directs the university’s Pharmacology curriculum and is Program Director for ITMAT's Translational Research Training Program. Within the Perelman School of Medicine, Dr. Meagher serves as Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology, Vice Dean and Chief Clinical Research Officer, Senior Associate Vice Provost for Human Research, Associate Dean of PSOM Master’s and Certificate Programs, and Director of Translational Research Education. She is also a Past President of the Association for Clinical and Translational Science (ACTS). Dr. Meagher has been the recipient of many awards, including the university’s highest teaching honor, the Lindback Award for Medical Education (2005), and the Alpha Omega Alpha Robert J. Glaser Distinguished Teacher Award from the Association of American Medical Colleges (2014).

  • Photo of Daniel J. Rader, MD

    Daniel J. Rader, MD

    Co-Director
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    Daniel J. Rader, MD Profile Page

    Dr. Rader is the Chair for the Department of Genetics, and the Chief for the Division of Translational Medicine and Human Genetics within the Department of Medicine, Associate Director for the Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics (ITMAT), and Co-Director of the Penn Medicine Biobank. Dr. Rader has used human genetics and model systems to elucidate novel biological pathways in lipoprotein metabolism and atherosclerosis in his research. His lab discovered and characterized the enzyme endothelial lipase, demonstrated its effects on high density lipoproteins (HDL) in mice, and then found that loss-of-function mutations in the gene cause high levels of HDL in humans. He is among the world’s leaders in using both humans and model systems to dissect the functional genomics of human genetic variants associated with plasma lipid traits as well as coronary heart disease. He has had a long interest in Mendelian disorders of lipoprotein metabolism and has a strong translational interest in development of novel therapies for these disorders. He was involved in the identification of the molecular defect in a rare genetic disorder causing very low levels of low density lipoproteins (LDL), which spurred the development of inhibitors of this protein to reduce levels of LDL. Indeed, when one such drug was abandoned by a pharmaceutical firm, he went on to oversee its development for the orphan disease homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH), characterized by extremely high levels of LDL and heart disease in childhood. This decade-long endeavor led to FDA and European approval of lomitapide, the first effective medication for the treatment of HoFH. He holds numerous distinctions and awards in the area of Translational Research, including from American Heart Association, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. He has been elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation, to the Association of American Physicians, and to the Institute of Medicine. 

  • Dr. Volpp has direct responsibility of oversight of efforts to expand CTSA activity in the population health management space. He is overseeing a new pilot program around the use of mobile technologies and provider-based “Nudges” to reduce risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease as well as health improvement more broadly. Dr. Volpp is the Director of the Penn Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics, 1 of 2 original NIH-funded Centers in Behavioral Economics and health that is comprised of more than 70 faculty members from throughout different schools at the University of Pennsylvania as well as other Universities. He is well known for pioneering work developing the application of behavioral economics to health and health care including the use of financial and social incentives to improve patient engagement and for chronic disease management. He is the Founders Presidential Distinguished Professor at the School of Medicine and the Wharton School and Division Chief of Health Policy for the Department of Medical Ethics and Policy. His team co-created the Penn Way to Health platform, a software platform now used by faculty at more than 30 universities to conduct behavioral interventions. He has garnered numerous awards for his research including election into the Institute of Medicine, the British Medical Journal Group Award for Translating Research into Practice, Article of the Year awards from multiple societies, the John Eisenberg Award from the Society of General Internal Medicine, and the Mathilda White Riley Award for career achievement in social and behavioral sciences from NIH. He is an editorial board member of the NEJM Catalyst.