{"id":1436,"date":"2019-10-31T13:48:16","date_gmt":"2019-10-31T17:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/?p=1436"},"modified":"2019-11-01T10:28:18","modified_gmt":"2019-11-01T14:28:18","slug":"heart-research-has-roots-at-mary-washington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/departments\/heart-research-has-roots-at-mary-washington\/","title":{"rendered":"Heart Research Has Roots at Mary Washington"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>

Mary Washington professors fueled Anthony Cammarato\u2019s scientific curiosity. Now, he researches how age and disease affect heart function.<\/p><\/div>By Daryl Lease \u201985<\/strong><\/p>\n

As head of a lab bearing his name at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Anthony Cammarato \u201995<\/strong> leads pioneering research in heart disease. But as a first-year at Mary Washington, he wasn\u2019t sure how he was going to make it to graduation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I was quite poorly prepared for college,\u201d Cammarato said. He\u2019d attended a small high school in rural Delaware, which at that time \u201cwas not overly challenging.\u201d As a result, he struggled in his early classes at Mary Washington and sensed he was well behind his peers.<\/p>\n

His interest in science drew him to the biology department, where professors Janet Nicodemus-Hughes \u201987, Rosemary Barra, Werner Wieland, and Steven Fuller were eager to help him adjust. Barra is still teaching, Nicodemus has since passed away, and Wieland and Fuller have retired with emeritus status.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose four really helped me figure out how to learn,\u201d he said. \u201cThey helped hone my skills and get me up to speed. By the end of my second year, it had all clicked, and I started to do much better academically and personally.\u201d<\/p>\n

After graduating with honors, Cammarato went to Boston University School of Medicine, where he earned a Ph.D. in physiology and biophysics. He continued his postdoctoral studies in molecular genetics and cardiac functions at San Diego State University and later joined the staff at the nearby Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute. Today, he is an associate professor of medicine and physiology at Johns Hopkins.<\/p>\n

It was in Barra\u2019s genetics class at Mary Washington that he first encountered the fruit fly, which today plays a critical role in his research into cardiac muscle and how age and disease affect its function. Although the drosophila heart is vastly different from the human heart at the organ level, they are nearly identical at the molecular level, which enables Cammarato and his team to manipulate genes to search for ways to address heart disease.<\/p>\n

Cammarato\u2019s lab is working on several proprietary compounds that might help thwart heart disease. \u201cWe haven\u2019t identified anything that has been a wonder drug or anything like that,\u201d he said, \u201cbut we definitely see responses that are quite promising.\u201d<\/p>\n

The work is fun and fulfilling. \u201cI\u2019m totally ecstatic to be where I am. I love getting up and going to the lab every day,\u201d he said. \u201cI consider myself blessed and very fortunate to be in the position that I\u2019m in and to do one of the things I knew I wanted to do from the time I was 18 years old.\u201d<\/p>\n

He credits his college days in Fredericksburg with much of his success. \u201cI think and remember fondly back to Mary Washington and really how that all got it going \u2013 the faculty members who really stood by my side and helped me grow and taught me how to be a scientist, how to read and understand this material in a way that I previously hadn\u2019t,\u201d he said. \u201cI still to this day rely on a lot of what I learned 25 years ago when I was at Mary Washington.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Daryl Lease \u201985 As head of a lab bearing his name at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Anthony Cammarato \u201995 leads pioneering research in heart disease. But as a first-year at Mary Washington, he wasn\u2019t sure how he was going to make it to graduation. \u201cI think I was quite poorly prepared […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15641,"featured_media":1437,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_advisory_expires_time":"","_advisory_meta_include":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[161,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-profiles","category-departments","entry"],"subheading":"","yoast_head":"\nHeart Research Has Roots at Mary Washington - Fall\/Winter 2019<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/departments\/heart-research-has-roots-at-mary-washington\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Heart Research Has Roots at Mary Washington\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Daryl Lease \u201985 As head of a lab bearing his name at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Anthony Cammarato \u201995 leads pioneering research in heart disease. But as a first-year at Mary Washington, he wasn\u2019t sure how he was going to make it to graduation. \u201cI think I was quite poorly prepared […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/departments\/heart-research-has-roots-at-mary-washington\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fall\/Winter 2019\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-10-31T17:48:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-11-01T14:28:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/files\/2019\/10\/AnthonyCammarato_8-web.jpg?fit=458%2C710&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"458\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"710\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Laura Moyer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Laura Moyer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/departments\/heart-research-has-roots-at-mary-washington\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/departments\/heart-research-has-roots-at-mary-washington\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Laura Moyer\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/#\/schema\/person\/6fc32a9647cda31f7932d56ed07b41c6\"},\"headline\":\"Heart Research Has Roots at Mary Washington\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-31T17:48:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-11-01T14:28:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/departments\/heart-research-has-roots-at-mary-washington\/\"},\"wordCount\":551,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/departments\/heart-research-has-roots-at-mary-washington\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/files\/2019\/10\/AnthonyCammarato_8-web.jpg?fit=458%2C710&ssl=1\",\"articleSection\":[\"Alumni Profiles\",\"Departments\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/departments\/heart-research-has-roots-at-mary-washington\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/departments\/heart-research-has-roots-at-mary-washington\/\",\"name\":\"Heart Research Has Roots at Mary Washington - Fall\/Winter 2019\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/departments\/heart-research-has-roots-at-mary-washington\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/departments\/heart-research-has-roots-at-mary-washington\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/files\/2019\/10\/AnthonyCammarato_8-web.jpg?fit=458%2C710&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-31T17:48:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-11-01T14:28:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/#\/schema\/person\/6fc32a9647cda31f7932d56ed07b41c6\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/departments\/heart-research-has-roots-at-mary-washington\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/departments\/heart-research-has-roots-at-mary-washington\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/departments\/heart-research-has-roots-at-mary-washington\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/files\/2019\/10\/AnthonyCammarato_8-web.jpg?fit=458%2C710&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/files\/2019\/10\/AnthonyCammarato_8-web.jpg?fit=458%2C710&ssl=1\",\"width\":458,\"height\":710,\"caption\":\"Mary Washington professors fueled Anthony Cammarato\u2019s scientific curiosity. Now, he researches how age and disease affect heart function.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/departments\/heart-research-has-roots-at-mary-washington\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Heart Research Has Roots at Mary Washington\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/\",\"name\":\"Fall\/Winter 2019\",\"description\":\"University of Mary Washington\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/#\/schema\/person\/6fc32a9647cda31f7932d56ed07b41c6\",\"name\":\"Laura Moyer\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1da47a15264a4df4bd8ffeaffac7ab972f0548fd9c706af6021d671039dc1089?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1da47a15264a4df4bd8ffeaffac7ab972f0548fd9c706af6021d671039dc1089?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Laura Moyer\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/author\/lmoyer2umw-edu\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Heart Research Has Roots at Mary Washington - Fall\/Winter 2019","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/departments\/heart-research-has-roots-at-mary-washington\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Heart Research Has Roots at Mary Washington","og_description":"By Daryl Lease \u201985 As head of a lab bearing his name at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Anthony Cammarato \u201995 leads pioneering research in heart disease. But as a first-year at Mary Washington, he wasn\u2019t sure how he was going to make it to graduation. \u201cI think I was quite poorly prepared […]","og_url":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/departments\/heart-research-has-roots-at-mary-washington\/","og_site_name":"Fall\/Winter 2019","article_published_time":"2019-10-31T17:48:16+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-11-01T14:28:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":458,"height":710,"url":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/files\/2019\/10\/AnthonyCammarato_8-web.jpg?fit=458%2C710&ssl=1","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Laura Moyer","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Laura Moyer","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/departments\/heart-research-has-roots-at-mary-washington\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/departments\/heart-research-has-roots-at-mary-washington\/"},"author":{"name":"Laura Moyer","@id":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/#\/schema\/person\/6fc32a9647cda31f7932d56ed07b41c6"},"headline":"Heart Research Has Roots at Mary Washington","datePublished":"2019-10-31T17:48:16+00:00","dateModified":"2019-11-01T14:28:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/departments\/heart-research-has-roots-at-mary-washington\/"},"wordCount":551,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/departments\/heart-research-has-roots-at-mary-washington\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/files\/2019\/10\/AnthonyCammarato_8-web.jpg?fit=458%2C710&ssl=1","articleSection":["Alumni Profiles","Departments"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/departments\/heart-research-has-roots-at-mary-washington\/","url":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/departments\/heart-research-has-roots-at-mary-washington\/","name":"Heart Research Has Roots at Mary Washington - Fall\/Winter 2019","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/departments\/heart-research-has-roots-at-mary-washington\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/departments\/heart-research-has-roots-at-mary-washington\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/files\/2019\/10\/AnthonyCammarato_8-web.jpg?fit=458%2C710&ssl=1","datePublished":"2019-10-31T17:48:16+00:00","dateModified":"2019-11-01T14:28:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/#\/schema\/person\/6fc32a9647cda31f7932d56ed07b41c6"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/departments\/heart-research-has-roots-at-mary-washington\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/departments\/heart-research-has-roots-at-mary-washington\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/departments\/heart-research-has-roots-at-mary-washington\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/files\/2019\/10\/AnthonyCammarato_8-web.jpg?fit=458%2C710&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/files\/2019\/10\/AnthonyCammarato_8-web.jpg?fit=458%2C710&ssl=1","width":458,"height":710,"caption":"Mary Washington professors fueled Anthony Cammarato\u2019s scientific curiosity. Now, he researches how age and disease affect heart function."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/departments\/heart-research-has-roots-at-mary-washington\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Heart Research Has Roots at Mary Washington"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/#website","url":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/","name":"Fall\/Winter 2019","description":"University of Mary Washington","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/#\/schema\/person\/6fc32a9647cda31f7932d56ed07b41c6","name":"Laura Moyer","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1da47a15264a4df4bd8ffeaffac7ab972f0548fd9c706af6021d671039dc1089?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1da47a15264a4df4bd8ffeaffac7ab972f0548fd9c706af6021d671039dc1089?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Laura Moyer"},"url":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/author\/lmoyer2umw-edu\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/files\/2019\/10\/AnthonyCammarato_8-web.jpg?fit=458%2C710&ssl=1","acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15641"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}