Ali J. Marian

Ali J. (AJ) Marian is an American physician-scientist in the fields of cardiovascular medicine and genetics.

He is a professor of molecular medicine (Genetics), professor of medicine (Cardiology), and director of the Center for Cardiovascular Genetic Research at the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, TX.

He also holds the James T. Willerson Distinguished Chair in Cardiovascular Research and is most known for his works on the molecular genetics, genomics, and biology of cardiomyopathies.

Marian obtained his M.D. degree from Tehran University in Iran in 1981.

He completed an Internal Medicine residency at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County in Chicago and a Cardiology fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine.

He also completed The American Heart Association-Bugher Foundation research fellowship in human molecular genetics at Baylor College of Medicine.

Marian began his academic career in 1992 at Baylor College of Medicine as an instructor in medicine and was promoted to assistant professor in 1993 and associate professor in 2000, both in the Department of Medicine.

He then joined the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine as professor to establish the Center for Cardiovascular Genetic Research.

Moreover, he also held clinical appointments at The Houston Methodist Hospital, Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center, and Ben Taub General Hospital.

Marian has focused on delineating the molecular genetics and pathogenesis of hereditary hypertrophic, dilated, and arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathies.

He and his colleagues have identified several causal and modifier genes and mutations and have characterized several pathogenic pathways for hereditary cardiomyopathies.

The group was among the first to implicate haplo-insufficiency as a mechanism in the pathogenesis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Likewise, their work also established the reversibility of cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis in cardiomyopathies and facilitated the development of therapies to prevent, attenuate, and reverse the phenotype in cardiomyopathies.

Marian and his trainees have defined the pathogenic role of the mechano-sensitive signaling pathways, including the Hippo and the canonical WNT pathways in arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy, and delineated the cellular basis of its unique phenotype of fibro-adipogenesis and arrhythmias.

Furthermore, the group also defined the genomic features of lamin A (LMNA)-cardiomyopathy and delineated several mechanisms.

A notable focus of Marian's research is the identification and characterization of DNA double-stranded breaks (DSBs) in the heart.

His group has defined the genome-wide DSBs in cardiac myocytes and determined their contributions to heart failure.

Moreover, the group also demonstrated the protective effects of the LMNA against DSBs, through increased DNA methylation and suppressed gene expression, demonstrating the involvement of transcription stress in the generation of DSBs in cardiac myocytes.

Marian has published about 250 articles in peer-reviewed journals, which collectively have garnered ~ 22,000 citations and an H index of 73.

He is a former Deputy Editor for Circulation Research, Associate Editor for Circulation, and European Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Moreover, he serves as the Deputy Editor for Cardiovascular Research, the Section Editor on Genetics for Current Opinion in Cardiology, and the Editor-in-Chief and Founding Editor of The Journal of Cardiovascular Aging.