Revolutionizing the treatment of heart disease

Dr. Glynnis Garry ’11

Cardiology Fellow, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

MAJORS: PRE-PROFESSIONAL AND AMERICAN STUDIES

Dr. Glynnis Garry ’11 is a cardiovascular physician-scientist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center who is researching the regeneration of the injured heart, while treating patients suffering from heart disease. 

Heart failure is the leading cause of mortality, morbidity, and healthcare expenditure worldwide. Currently, the only cure for heart failure is heart transplantation, and as such, novel heart failure therapies are desperately needed. Garry studies a process called cardiac reprogramming, whereby scientists can force scar cells into functional heart cells in an attempt to therapeutically cure heart failure. Working in the laboratory of her mentor, Dr. Eric Olson, Garry discovered a protein that potently increases the conversion of human scar cells to functional heart cells. Her studies not only provide new understandings of the mechanisms regulating adult cardiac reprogramming, but provide the basis for development of a novel therapeutic factor for the treatment of heart disease. 

Beyond her work in the laboratory, Garry is committed to the advancement of women and minorities in STEM, promotion of medical trainees in science through the Sarnoff Cardiovascular Research Foundation, and support of local Catholic education through her work as outreach director for the Notre Dame Club of Dallas.