When: March 9th, 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Location: Medical Campus, Couch Biomedical Research Building – Seminar 4001B
Please RSVP HERE

Dr. Sharon Cresci

Official Story

Sharon Cresci, MD, is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Associate Professor of Genetics, with tenure, at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She has a laboratory in the Center for Cardiovascular Research in the Division of Cardiovascular Disease at Washington University. She is an NIH-funded investigator studying health status outcomes, precision medicine and functional genomics among patients with cardiovascular disease. Her early research focused on the association of genetic variation with clinical outcomes, with an ultimate goal of advancing precision medicine approaches to diagnosis and treatment of heart disease. Recently she has expanded her special interest in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy to investigations of racial disparities in the diagnosis and treatment of that inherited cardiovascular disease. She is the Associate Director of the WUMS/BJH Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Center of Excellence and has served as the Director of the Applied Genomics Core Laboratory for the landmark TRIUMPH and BARI 2D studies for more than ten years. She is a fellow of the American Heart Association, fellow of the American College of Cardiology, and fellow of the American Society of Echocardiography. Dr. Cresci has been a member of the American Heart Association Council on Genomic and Precision Medicine Professional/Public Education and Publications Committee since 2015 and currently serves as chair of the committee.

She received her medical degree at New York University School of Medicine and competed residency at New York University/Bellevue Hospital in New York. After serving as chief resident at New York University, she completed a cardiology fellowship at Barnes Hospital/Washington University Medical Center and joined the Cardiology faculty at Washington University. 

Throughout her time at Washington University, Dr. Cresci has been a strong advocate for women in medicine and has mentored many women faculty members at WUSM and other academic medical centers. In 2014 she started the IMPACT (Initiative for Mentoring, Promoting Networking and Advocacy for Cardiology Trainees) program, an ongoing program aimed at supporting and advancing Women Cardiology fellows. She is the Director of the Advancing Women in Academic Medicine (AWAM) program in the Department of Medicine, a program that works with the Department Chair to institute programmatic changes with the mission of achieving equitable career advancement for women fellows and faculty in the Department of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine.

Unofficial Story

Sharon Cresci, MD, has had a long-standing interest in research. She sought out research projects as a college student and medical student and always knew that she wanted a career that included biomedical research. After 2 years of clinical fellowship, she trained in a basic science laboratory studying genes involved in cardiac energy metabolism. Her 5 years of post-doctorate research included 1 year that was funded by a grant she received from the American Heart Association and 2 years that were funded by a grant she received from the NIH. However, at the end of her fellowship, she decided to stay on at WashU as a part-time clinical faculty member, due to family responsibilities. She later transitioned from part-time to full-time and from the Clinical Track to the Investigator Track. She eventually combined her clinical interests in imaging with her research interests and developed a special interest in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. She obtained funding from the NIH for research focused on health status outcomes, precision medicine and functional genomics, and ultimately received tenure. She is now an NIH-funded investigator with an independent laboratory in the Center for Cardiovascular Research with ~75% research time and ~25% clinical commitments. She appreciates that she was able to follow a non-traditional pathway toward achieving the career that she desired. She recognizes the competing pressures that are placed on physician scientists, and especially women physician scientists.