IB and PGC hosted seminar on Cardiac Disease Modeling (Dr. Michael Zaragoza)

Michael Zaragoza, MD, PhD

Associate Professor, UCI Cardiogenomics Research Program

Department of Pediatrics, Division of Genetics & Genomics, and Department of Biological Chemistry

Michael Vincent Zaragoza, MD, PhD, is a Filipino American physician-scientist and a 20-year faculty member at the University of California Irvine (UCI) School of Medicine. His research and clinical work center on cardiogenomics, particularly the genetic basis of cardiomyopathy and arrhythmia. With over three decades of experience in genetics and genomics—starting with yeast research at UC Berkeley—he completed an MD-PhD at Case Western Reserve University and a Pediatrics-Medical Genetics residency at UCI. Dr. Zaragoza has received NIH funding, including a KO8 award and R01 grant, for studies on mitochondrial cardiomyopathies and Lamin A/C-related cardiac disease using patient-derived iPSCs. He has authored 30 scientific publications and has over ten years of experience in stem cell modeling and analyses of iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes. His experience also encompasses patient care and teaching, serving as a board-certified Clinical Geneticist and Director of UCI's Medical Genetics and Genomics course. Dr. Zaragoza currently is seeking opportunities to contribute to academia/research in the Philippines.