Garret A. FitzGerald, MD, FRS, CMG
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Throughout his career, Garret A. FitzGerald, the Robert L. McNeil, Jr. Professor in Translational Medicine and Therapeutics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (PSOM) in Philadelphia, has worked to bring cutting-edge, scientific findings into clinical practice with novel therapeutics.
Dr. FitzGerald’s research has led to several significant findings related to cardiovascular health, including the use of low-dose aspirin to reduce death in patients who have suffered heart attacks or strokes. He also found that using ibuprofen could undermine the protective effects of aspirin, which led to a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory; subsequent research into cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitors predicted and mechanistically explained the potential cardiovascular hazards of these drugs. Dr. FitzGerald’s investigations have impacted an untold number of lives. It is estimated that, before the FDA confirmed the cardiovascular risks related to COX-2 inhibitors, more than 100,000 people had died from cardiovascular complications.
In 2004, Dr. FitzGerald founded the Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics (ITMAT) at PSOM, based on his own model of facilitating the integration of preclinical work in model systems with experimental medicine and human data at scale.
The ITMAT supports research in basic and clinical sciences that focuses on developing new and safer medications. It has served as a model for the creations of the Clinical and Translational Science Award program and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences at the National Institutes of Health.
The ITMAT is home to the biobank and infrastructure for deep phenotyping in humans, and its annual meetings draw speakers and attendees from around the world. It emphasizes diversity and inclusion both in its workforce and among trial participants. It has driven an institutional focus on translation that has delivered FDA-approved chimeric antigen receptor T-cell, gene, and RNA vaccine therapies. This work has led to new cancer treatments, gene therapies for blindness, the development of RNA vaccines, and other novel therapeutics, all of which have helped transform medicine, saving countless lives.
In addition to his research, Dr. FitzGerald has mentored over 100 trainees from 42 countries, most of whom remain active in science. The ITMAT has provided educational programs to learners, and for 15 years, Dr. FitzGerald’s lab has held summer courses, partnering with higher education institutions that serve historically underrepresented, minority communities.
Dr. FitzGerald earned an MB, BCh with honors, in first place, from University College Dublin in 1974, and an MSc in statistics from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London, in 1979. He completed an MD in pharmacology at University College Dublin in 1980 and became an American College of Physicians fellow in 1984.