Katherine A. Fitzgerald, PhD

Executive Vice Chancellor
Research

Katherine A. Fitzgerald, PhD, the Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research Chair III, is executive vice chancellor for research and the chief research officer at UMass Chan Medical School.

Dr. Fitzgerald is professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Innate Immunity in the Department of Medicine. She is an internationally recognized immunologist whose seminal discoveries have advanced our understanding of the innate immune system. Her work has advanced understanding of the mechanisms underlying inflammation in infectious, autoinflammatory and autoimmune diseases. In addition, her work is identifying innate immune pathways with significant therapeutic potential for the treatment of human disease.

Fitzgerald received her bachelor’s in biochemistry from University College Cork, Ireland and her PhD in biochemistry from Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. After pursuing a post-doctoral fellowship at Trinity College Dublin, she joined UMass Chan in 2001 and is currently a tenured professor.

Fitzgerald is an elected fellow of the American Society of Microbiology and an elected member of the Royal Irish Academy, the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine. She is the recipient of several awards including the Thermo-Fischer Meritorious Career Award (from the American Association of Immunologists), the Saint Patrick’s Day Medal (from the Irish Government and Science Foundation Ireland) and the Milstein Award for Excellence in Interferon and Cytokine research (from the International Cytokine and Interferon Society), among others.

Fitzgerald has served on local and national advisory boards for the National Institutes of Health, several foundations, biotechs and pharma. She is also a recent past president of the International Cytokine and Interferon Society.