Lisa M. Fitzgerald

Dr. Lisa Fitzgerald brings to BioSurfaces a career-long desire to bring cutting edge scientific discovery from bench-to-bedside as well as extensive experience gained in both academic and industrial settings. Dr. Fitzgerald earned her B.S in Biology from Boston College and Master’s and Ph.D. degrees from Boston University in the Division of Cell and Molecular Biology. Dr. Fitzgerald’s graduate work focused on creating a serum-free culture system for growth and differentiation of bone marrow-derived hematopoietic (blood forming) progenitor cells. While in graduate school, she simultaneously worked as a researcher in the Laboratory of Reproductive Biology for the Division of Urology at Beth Israel-Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), developing a sensitive PCR-based assay to quantify HIV infected cells in matched blood and semen specimens. This work helped to demonstrate an important discordance in HIV infection between the blood and reproductive tract compartments. During this time, she also served as Faculty Member and Scientific Advisor on two World AIDS Foundation grants for HIV training and curriculum development in Fiji and India, respectively. Upon receiving her Ph.D., Dr. Fitzgerald joined the Vascular Surgery Research Lab at BIDMC, her post-doctoral work investigating the molecular basis of anastomotic intimal hyperplasia, a major cause of prosthetic arterial graft failure.