U of M Medical school Names New Director of Lillehei Heart Institute

Daniel J. Garry joins University as Director of the Lillehei Heart Institute and head of Division of Cardiology

MINNEAPOLIS/ST.PAUL (June 19, 2007) -- The University of Minnesota Medical School has named Daniel J. Garry, M.D., Ph. D., as the St. Jude Professor and Director of the Lillehei Heart Institute and Division Director for Cardiology in the Department of Medicine effective June 15, 2007.

“As an accomplished cardiologist and researcher, Garry will be leading and further developing cardiovascular research across the Medical School and University while building a nationally renowned research institute and cardiology division,” said Deborah E. Powell, M.D., dean of the University of Minnesota Medical School. “We are very excited to welcome him to the University.”

Garry received his M.D. and Ph.D. in cell biology and neuroanatomy in 1990 from the University of Minnesota and completed his residency in internal medicine at the University from 1990-1993. He then pursued postdoctoral research training at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center focusing on the molecular mechanisms that regulate stem cell populations. After a clinical cardiology fellowship with advanced training in heart failure and transplantation, Garry joined the faculty at UT Southwestern as an assistant professor of medicine and molecular biology. He was promoted to associate professor in 2004, while becoming director of the Cardiovascular Regeneration and Stem Cell Center at UT Southwestern and holder of the Gail Griffiths Hill Endowed Chair in Cardiology.

Garry’s extensive research interests include molecular mechanisms of myocardial stem cell biology, the regeneration of myogenic stem cells, genetic approaches to early cardiac development, and transcription mediated regulation of myogenic progenitors and morphogenesis. He has trained more than 25 graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and medical students in his laboratory and has more than 70 peer-reviewed research publications in leading international journals.

The Academic Health Center is home to the University of Minnesota’s six health professional schools and colleges as well as several health-related centers and institutes. Founded in 1851, the University is one of the oldest and largest land grant institutions in the country. The AHC prepares the new health professionals who improve the health of communities, discover and deliver new treatments and cures, and strengthen the health economy.

Contact: Liz Wulderk, Academic Health Center, 612.624.5680
Sara E. Buss, Academic Health Center, 612.624.2449