Harvard Catalyst Profiles

Dr. Perrella is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and an Associate Physician in Pulmonary and Critical Care, and Newborn Medicine, at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA. Dr. Perrella has received a number of honors and awards throughout his career including the Internal Medicine Outstanding Achievement Award at the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine; Mayo Foundation Scholar in the Division of Thoracic Diseases and Internal Medicine; Mayo Alumni Association’s Donald C. Balfour Award for Meritorious Research; the Mayo Foundation Clinician Scholar Award; and election into the American Society for Clinical Investigation. Dr. Perrella is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded investigator, and he is devoted to the scientific peer review process including his involvement in serving on NIH study sections and his appointment as an Associate Editor of the American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology. The Perrella laboratory is interested in: 1) The regulation and biology of genes important for the modulation of inflammation and oxidative stress in systemic disease processes. A gene of particular interest is heme oxygenase-1, and its downstream product carbon monoxide, in mediating the pathobiology of sepsis and acute lung injury. 2) The regulation and biology of genes selectively expressed in muscle cells (smooth or striated). A recent focus has been the striated preferentially expressed gene (Speg) and its role in fetal heart development and function. 3) The commitment and differentiation of progenitor cells during the evolution of disease processes. The ultimate goal is to develop novel cell-based strategies for the treatment of cardiopulmonary and vascular diseases for patients of all ages, from premature infants to adults.