People news: Masonic Medical Research Institute names new assistant professor

UTICA, N.Y. — The Masonic Medical Research Institute (MMRI) recently promoted Chase Kessinger, Ph.D., to assistant professor and added a new lab to the growing institute.

Kessinger’s research utilizes imaging techniques to study a range of interests including deep-vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, heart failure, atherosclerosis, and other cardiovascular diseases.

He joined MMRI in 2018 as an instructor in associate professor Jason McCarthy’s lab, which focuses on nanoparticle drug-delivery platforms and fluorescence-imaging technologies. Kessinger also manages the histology, imaging, and surgery-core facilities at MMRI.

Prior to joining the research institute, Kessinger was an instructor at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. He completed his postdoctoral fellowship training at Massachusetts General with Dr. Farouc A. Jaffer at the Cardiovascular Research Center.

Kessinger earned his Ph.D. in cancer biology from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. He earned his bachelor’s degree in microbiology from Texas A&M University.

Founded in 1958, the Masonic Medical Research Institute’s research focuses on multiple areas of cardiac research including congenital heart disease, hypertrophic and dilated cardiomyopathy, heart failure, inflammation, stem cells, genetics, electrophysiology, diabetes and obesity, metabolism, autoimmunity, neurodegeneration, and cancer.