Dr. Muredach Reilly Inducted into Association of American Physicians

Dr. Muredach Reilly will be initiated into the Association of American Physicians on Saturday, April 26 at a black-tie induction ceremony dinner. To be eligible for nomination for membership, one has to be nominated by a member and seconded by an additional member. Election to the AAP is an honor extended to physicians with outstanding credentials in basic or translational biomedical research and is limited to 70 persons per year.

Dr. Reilly uses genomics and human physiology to define new mechanisms of atherosclerotic diseases. These include novel smooth muscle cell states and functions and cell-specific actions of non-conserved non-coding RNAs. Through his leadership in clinical and translational research at the Irving Institute, he has transformed the impact of translational science at Columbia University and nationally.            

Dr. Muredach P. Reilly serves as Director of the Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research and Vice Dean for Clinical and Translational Research at the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and Director of the Cardiometabolic Precision Medicine Program in the Division of Cardiology. 

Translational research takes discoveries from basic biological research and applies them to clinical trials, leading to therapeutic opportunities and advancements. Dr. Reilly, a cardiologist and Herbert and Florence Irving Professor of Medicine, was recruited from the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) to lead Columbia’s Irving Institute into a new era of genomics and translational personalized healthcare. His research program is dedicated to precision medicine studies of cardiovascular disease and related metabolic disorders. This translational research emphasizes humans as the most ideal “model” to understand mechanisms of human disease and therapeutic opportunities for prevention. Clinically, Dr. Reilly is an expert in preventive cardiology and provides expert care for patients with rare cholesterol disorders and premature heart disease. Through his leadership role at the Irving Institute, his translational research, as well as aligning with institutional and national initiatives, Dr. Reilly builds programs to drive forward the field of precision cardiovascular medicine.  

Prior to his role at Columbia, Dr. Reilly held faculty positions at UPenn and lead initiatives in clinical and translational research, including in his roles as Director of Translational Core Laboratories, Associate Director of General Clinical Research Center, and as Associate Director of the Cardiovascular Fellowship Program. Dr. Reilly received his medical degree from University College Dublin, Ireland and completed his residency and fellowship training in Medicine and Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where he also received a M.S. degree in clinical epidemiology. In 2010, Dr. Reilly was elected to the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland as well as to the American Society of Clinical Investigation. In addition, he has received numerous awards, including the 2006 UPenn Donald B. Martin Teaching Service Award, the 2013 William Osler Patient Oriented Research Award, American Heart Association’s Mentor of Women Award in 2015 and, in 2018, the Jeffrey M. Hoeg Award for Basic Science and Clinical Research from Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology (ATVB). In 2025, he was inducted into membership in the Association of American Physicians, an honorary society.