DMPI Member Robert McGarrah, MD is a 2021 recipient of the Duke Physician-Scientist “Strong Start” Award. This program recognizes outstanding lab-based clinician-scientists by offering substantive mentoring and financial resources. The “Strong Start” Award Program ensures that the Duke University School of Medicine remains a leader in the training of outstanding physician-scientists, a group uniquely committed to the advancement of the medical sciences in our own community and in the nation.
Dr. McGarrah’s research proposal titled Liver-heart crosstalk mediating cardiac structural and metabolic remodeling in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), builds on recent work in his lab that has shown that dysregulation of the branched-chain alpha-ketoacid (BCKA) pathway in the liver contributes to NASH while increasing BCKA in plasma. This project will determine whether the increased delivery of BCKA to the heart that occurs in NASH leads to cardiac hypertrophy and changes in cardiac fuel preference.
Congratulations Rob for this recognition of your exceptional research!