Santhi Kalaichelvi Ganesh, MD

Dr. Santhi Ganesh is a physician in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and Section of Vascular Medicine, and she specializes in spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD), fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD), and genetic considerations of arterial diseases. She is a Professor (with tenure) of Internal Medicine and Professor of Human Genetics where she is jointly appointed. Her clinical work and research program is connected with the multidisciplinary faculty of the Arterial Dysplasia Program. Dr. Ganesh serves as the Associate Chief of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine.

Dr. Ganesh is a leader in the genetics of vascular diseases and runs an independent research laboratory as Principal Investigator, with extramural funding from NIH and other foundations and professional organizations. The laboratory is working to define the genetic basis of cardiovascular diseases and study these genetic effects in model systems, bringing together trainees from all levels and faculty from diverse clinical and scientific backgrounds. Dr. Ganesh has published over 140 scientific papers in high impact journals. Her contributions include the discovery of clinically actionable gene findings and understanding of new biology underlying several vascular diseases, including FMD, arterial dissections, aneurysms and renovascular hypertension and other hypertensive disorders. Dr. Ganesh has been inspired to work on these and other diseases, because she sees a great unmet clinical need. Her lab is working towards the development of novel treatment strategies for these diseases.

As a testament to her impact in the field, she has received numerous awards and honorifics. She is the inaugural David J. Pinsky Endowed Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and the mBIOFAR award at the University of Michigan, and has received awards from the American Heart Association, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and National Institutes of Health.

She serves as the Director for the M-BRISC initiative at the University of Michigan Health Frankel Cardiovascular Center focused on understanding sex differences of cardiovascular diseases. She is a distinguished teacher and mentor, and collaborates effectively across disciplines.

Dr. Ganesh completed undergraduate and medical school at Northwestern University, after which she trained in Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan and in Cardiovascular Medicine at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She completed postdoctoral fellowships at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Human Genome Research Institute, and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Institute of Genetic Medicine.

Vascular diseases, inherited cardiovascular disease, general cardiology.

University of Michigan Health participates with most health insurance plans.

Human genetics; vascular biology; arterial remodeling; interactions between blood and vascular diseases.