Vesna D. Garovic, MD, PhD, FASN
Citation: Kidney News 16, 10/11
ASN will present the Barbara T. Murphy Award to Vesna D. Garovic, MD, PhD, FASN, on Saturday, October 26. This is just the fourth presentation of this award, which was named after the nephrology leader and late ASN president-elect. It honors leaders who strengthen the foundation of nephrology while advancing the field through innovation, creativity, inspiration, and tenacity.
Dr. Garovic is professor of medicine and chair of the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. She holds a joint appointment in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and is vice chair for research in the Department of Internal Medicine, director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Clinical and Translational Science, and dean of clinical and translational science at the Mayo Clinic.
When she recognized the unmet need for nephrologists to develop expertise in pregnancy-related kidney and cardiovascular diseases, she became a pioneer who dedicated her career to this field of inquiry. She has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the past 15 years and has published more than 200 peer-reviewed papers.
Dr. Garovic's clinical and research interests in hypertension, in general, and hypertensive pregnancy disorders, in particular, span several research areas: diagnosis, treatment, and underlying molecular mechanisms, with a recent focus on the senescence, epigenetics, and epidemiology of cardiovascular and renal complications.
She served as a chartered member of the NIH Pregnancy and Neonatology Study Section and as a member of the American Heart Association (AHA) Councils on Hypertension and on the Kidney in Cardiovascular Disease Science Subcommittee. She chaired the Writing Group for the AHA scientific statement on hypertension in pregnancy. Among many honors, Dr. Garovic received the Marvin Moser Clinical Hypertension Award from the AHA and the Council on Hypertension.
Dr. Garovic earned her medical degree, a master's of science in biochemistry, and a doctorate in molecular biology and obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Belgrade in Serbia, where she also completed a residency and fellowship in obstetrics and gynecology. She earned a second master's in medical genetics from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She then completed an internal medicine residency and nephrology fellowship at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center in New York City.