Dan Kelly is the Willard and Rhoda Ware Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and Presidential Professor at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Dr. Kelly’s research interests stem from an early fascination with rare inborn errors in energy metabolism that cause childhood sudden death and heart failure. He defined the genetic basis for a common inborn error in mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation, work that led to the development of practical newborn screening tests. Thereafter, he became interested in how similar derangements in cardiac fuel and energy metabolism contribute to acquired forms of heart failure in adults. The Kelly Laboratory has recently identified several candidate therapeutic targets to re-balance mitochondrial metabolism in heart failure.

Dr. Kelly trained in Medicine and Cardiology at Barnes Hospital, then joined the faculty of Washington University School of Medicine where he ultimately served as Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics, Chief of the Cardiovascular Division, and the founding Director of the Center for Cardiovascular Research. In 2008, Dr. Kelly assumed the role of founding Scientific Director for the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute in Florida followed by his recruitment to serve as Director of the Penn Cardiovascular Institute. In August 2017, he moved to the University of Pennsylvania to lead the Penn Cardiovascular Institute. In 2022, Dr. Kelly assumed the role of founding Director of the CHOP CVI.

Dr. Kelly served as an Associate Editor for The Journal of Clinical Investigation and is currently on many additional editorial boards. He is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (Council, 2002-05), the Association of American Physicians (AAP; President, 2022), and is a recipient of the AHA Distinguished Achievement Award and Basic Research Prize.

BS, University of Illinois (Biology), 1978

MD, University of Illinois College of Medicine, 1982

Internship in Medicine, Barnes Hospital, 1982 – 1983

Assistant Resident in Medicine, Barnes Hospital, 1983 – 1985

Research Postdoctoral Fellowship, Department of Biological Chemistry, Washington University School of Medicine, 1985 – 1987

Clinical Cardiology Fellow, Washington University School of Medicine, 1987 – 1989

Founding Director, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Cardiovascular Institute

CHOP Presidential Chair

Professor of Pediatrics, CHOP and Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania

Director, Penn Cardiovascular Institute

Willard and Rhoda Ware Professor of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania

American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) (1997-present)

Association of American Physicians (2001- present; President, 2022-2023)

Association of University Cardiologists (2001- present)

Fellow, American Heart Association (1999 - present)

Board of Directors, Sarnoff Cardiovascular Research Foundation (2007-2010)

Fellow, International Society for Heart Research (2010 - present)

American Diabetes Association (2014-present)

Endocrine Society (2014-present)

Heart Failure Society of America (2015-present)

Lucille P. Markey Scholar Award, Markey Foundation, 1989

Basal O’Connor Scholar Award, March of Dimes, 1991

AHA Established Investigator Award, 1995

AFCR (Midwest) Outstanding Investigator Award, 1996

AHA, Distinguished Achievement Award (Basic Cardiovascular Sciences Council), 2008

AHA, Basic Research Prize, 2009

Orlando Business Journal, CXO Executive Award, 2015

Probing the Cardiac PGC-1 Regulatory Cascade

NHLBI, 1998 - 2025

This project is designed to identify and characterize metabolic gene regulatory pathways linked to the PGC-1 transcriptional regulatory cascade during cardiac maturation and in the failing heart. Emphasis is placed on the ERR cardiac nuclear receptor transcription factor family.

PI: Daniel Kelly

Probing the Role of Mitochondrial Short-chain Carbon Homeostasis in the Hypertrophied and Failing Heart

NHLBI, 2016 - 2025

The goal of this multi-PI project is to investigate the mechanisms involved in derangements in mitochondrial fuel metabolic flux during development of heart failure using proteomic and metabolomic strategies. The impact of these mitochondrial re-programming events on the fuel and energy metabolic derangements that contribute to heart failure will be explored in well-defined mouse models.

PIs: Daniel Kelly and Deborah Muoio

Targeting Ketone Metabolism as a Novel Heart Failure Therapy

NHLBI, 2020 - 2024

In this project, we will investigate the effects of re-balancing altered cardiac fuel utilization using ketone supplementation therapies with the long-term goal of developing novel metabolic modulator therapies aimed directly at the heart during the early stages of this disease. We will also investigate the mechanism of action whereby ketone bodies benefit heart failure.

PIs: Daniel Kelly and Fabio Recchia

Probing the Cardiac Benefits of SGLT2 Inhibitor Therapy

Amgen, 2021 - 2023

The objectives of the proposal are to: 1) assess the effects of SGLT2i on cardiac function and remodeling in small models of HFrEF and HFpEF; 2) determine the role of re-balancing myocardial substrate utilization in the beneficial effects of SGLT2i in HFpEF and HFrEF; 3) define the tissue of action of SGLT2i in heart failure using knockout models in mice; and 4) identify candidate extra-cardiac mediators of SGLT2i benefits in HF using genomic and metabolomic profiling.

PI: Daniel Kelly

Abramson Cancer Center Support Grant – Metabolomics Shared Resources

NCI, 2020 - 2027

The mission of the Metabolomics Core is to provide ACC members with a world-class metabolite profiling platform to assist with new discoveries and insight into cellular metabolic mechanisms relevant to cancer. The results will be integrated with genetics, epigenetics, cell signaling interrogations.

PI: Robert Vonderheide

Advanced Cardiac Therapies for Heart Failure Patient

CHOP Frontier Program, 2022-2023

PIs: J. Rossano, K. Maeda, Z. Arany, Co-I, Daniel Kelly.

University of Pennsylvania CVI