Dr. Carol Gregorio Named AAAS Fellow

Carol Gregorio, PhD, professor and head of the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson, co-director of the Sarver Heart Center and assistant vice provost for Global Health Sciences, was named as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Dr. Gregorio is being honored for her internationally recognized contributions toward understanding heart and skeletal muscle structure, function and disease. The designation is one of the most distinct honors in the scientific community.

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“It is an honor to be recognized among people of such excellence in their research,” Dr. Gregorio said.

Dr. Gregorio, who is also the director of the Molecular Cardiovascular Research Program and a member of the BIO5 Institute,  earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the State University of New York at Buffalo and her doctorate from Roswell Park Cancer Institute in New York. She did her postdoctoral research at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California.

“My research is focused on identifying the components and molecular mechanisms regulating contractile proteins in cardiac muscle,” Dr. Gregorio said. “By studying the effects of human mutations in contractile proteins – those responsible for allowing the heart to beat – my lab can decipher how the protein normally functions in health and development, which is important for predicting heart disease before it manifests and for designing potential therapeutics for cardiomyopathies.”

Dr. Gregorio joined the University of Arizona Health Sciences in 1996 as a faculty member. “I feel privileged to work with a strong team of faculty and researchers in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Molecular Cardiovascular Research Program and Sarver Heart Center who continuously challenge me to continue to be productive and to address critical gaps in our knowledge about heart and skeletal myopathies at the cellular and molecular levels,” she said.

The AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the Science family of journals. The AAAS Fellows tradition began in 1874 to recognize individuals for their extraordinary achievements across disciplines. Past fellows include scientists, engineers and innovators who have made significant contributions to research, teaching, technology, communicating and interpreting science to the public, and administration in academia, industry and government. Along with Dr. Gregorio, UArizona plant sciences professor A. Elizabeth (Betsy) Arnold, PhD, and professor of linguistics Cecile McKee, PhD, also were elected as fellows to the AAAS.