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Margery A. Connelly, Ph.D., MBA, FAHA

Strategic Director, Labcorp

215-622-7648

Dr. Margery Connelly has more than 25 years of experience in academia and industry. She received a doctorate in Pathology and Immunology from Stony Brook University School of Medicine and a Master of Business Administration in Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Management from LeBow College of Business, Drexel University. She has published  more than 250 peer-reviewed publications and holds 11 patents to date. Before joining Labcorp, she worked at Janssen R&D discovering therapeutics for atherosclerosis, diabetes and obesity. Dr. Connelly has spent the last 13 years applying her scientific expertise and leadership experience toward the development and clinical validation of new nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy-based tests for various diseases including cardiovascular disease, chronic inflammatory diseases and metabolic disorders as well as liver diseases such as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) and alcoholic liver disease (ALD).

Memberships:

  • Member of the Liver Forum (2015-present)
  • Liver Forum Steering Committee (2018-present)
  • Foundation for the National Institutes for Health (FNIH) Metabolic Disorders Steering Committee (2024-present)
  • American Association for the Study of Liver Disease (AASLD)
  • Fellow of the American Heart Association (FAHA): ATVB Council (1998-present)

Areas of Expertise: Cardiometabolic diseases and inflammation

Publications:

  1. M. S. Siddiqui, M. L. Van Natta, M. A. Connelly, J. Clark, B. Neuschwander-Tetri, A. M. Diehl, S. Dasarathy, R. Loomba, N. Chalasani, K. V. Kowdley, B. Hameed, L. A. Wilson, K. P. Yates, P. Belt, D. E. Kleiner, C. Behling, J. Tonascia and A. J. Sanyal (2026) The Metabolic Vulnerability Index predicts outcomes in patients with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease. Nature Commun. In press.
  2. S. Kalavalapalli, E. G. Leiva, A. O. Rocha, N. Cuervo-Pardo, K. Y. Chun, T. R. Prezant, M. A. Connelly, J. T. Rosenberg, J. R. Grajo, F. Bril, A. Sharma, D. Barb and K. Cusi (2026) High prevalence of at-risk MASH in people screened in primary care and endocrinology clinics. Diab. Obes. Metab. 28:6184–6193.
  3. P. A. Chevli, S. Selvaraj, B. C. Jaeger, A. Hammoud, M. A. Connelly, C. deFilippi, J. Lima, S. S. Khan, D. M. Herrington, M. D. Shapiro and M. Vaduganathan (2026) Integrating ketone bodies in multi-marker risk prediction of incident heart failure in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). Euro. J. Prev. Cardiol. 33:189-198.
  4. A. J. Sanyal, V. Ratziu, Y. Hajji, J. Magnanensi, S. Deledicque, Z. Majd, D. W. Hum, B. Staels, M. A. Connelly, S. Francque and Q. M. Anstee (2025) Serial measurements of NIS2+® enable monitoring disease evolution in patients with MASH: a retrospective cohort analysis. Hepatol. Comm. 9:e0844.
  5. C. Gurevitz, I. Shalaurova, M. A. Connelly and R. S. Rosenson (2025) LpX and LpZ associated hypercholesterolemia in primary sclerosing cholangitis-a case report. Measurement of LpX and LpZ guides therapeutic decisions. J. Clin. Lipidol. 19:1171–1173.
  6. P. A. Chevli, A. C. Razavi, J. K. Evans, R. Kazibwe, M. A. Connelly, S. S. Khan, A. Pandey, M. C. Tattersall, J. H. Stein and M. D. Shapiro (2025) Association between circulating ketone bodies and subclinical atherosclerosis: Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). J. Cardiovasc. Comput. Tomogr. 19:358-359.
  7. S. K. Kunutsor, M. A. Connelly, A. Shah, S. J. L. Bakker and R. P. F. Dullaart (2025) Associations of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, particles and subspecies with the risk of hypertension: Findings from the PREVEND prospective study. J. Hyperten. 43(6):1066-1074.
  8. M. Chvatal-Medina1, Y. Li, M. C. Trillos-Almanza, A. Post, M. A. Connelly, H. Moshage, TransplantLines Investigators, S. J. L. Bakker, V. E. de Meijer, H. Blokzijl and R. P. F. Dullaart (2025) Plasma beta-hydroxybutyrate and all-cause mortality in patients- with cirrhosis. Biomedicines. 13:1120.
  9. K. O. Kuku, J. J. Shearer, J. Joo, A. T. Remaley, M. A. Connelly, S. J. Bielinski and V. L. Roger (2025) Cross-sectional evaluation of the Metabolic Vulnerability Index in heart failure populations. BMC Cardiovasc. Disord. 25(1):292.
  10. Y. Li, M. Chvatal-Medina, M. C. Trillos-Almanza, M. A. Connelly, H. Moshage, Transplantlines Investigators, S. J. L. Bakker, V. E. de Meijer, H. Blokzijl and R. P. F. Dullaart (2024) Circulating citrate is reversibly elevated in patients with end-stage liver disease: Association with all-cause mortality. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 25:12806.
  11. A. Pandey, K. V. Patel, M. Segar, C. Ballantyne, S. S. Virani, V. Nambi, E. D. Michos, M. Blaha, K. Nasir, M. Cainzos-Achirica, C. Ayers, B. D. Westenbrink, J. L. Flores-Guerrero, S. J. L Bakker, M. A. Connelly, R. P. F. Dullaart and A. Rohatgi (2024) Association of high-density lipoprotein parameters and risk of heart failure: a multi-cohort analysis. JACC Heart Fail. 12(7):1242-1253.
  12. S. Turecamo, C. G. Downie, A. Wolska, S. Mora, J. D. Otvos, M. A. Connelly, A. T. Remaley, K. M. Conners, J. Joo, M. Sampson, S. J. Bielinski, J. J. Shearer and V. L. Roger (2024) Lipoprotein insulin resistance score and mortality risk stratification in heart failure. Amer. J. Med. 137(7):640−648.
  13. C. L. Palm, I. Shalaurova, M. A. Connelly, S. J. L. Bakker, B. D. Westenbrink and R. P. F. Dullaart (2024) Fasting plasma ketone bodies are associated with NT-proBNP: a mechanism to provide fuel for the failing heart. J. Clin. Med. 13:1541.
  14. Q. M. Anstee, J. Magnanensi, Y. Hajji, A. Caron, Z. Majd, C. Rosenquist, D. Hum, M. A. Connelly, R. Loomba, S. A. Harrison, V. Ratziu and A. J. Sanyal (2024) Impact of age on NIS2+™ and other non-invasive blood tests for the evaluation of liver disease and detection of at-risk NASH. JHEP Reports. 6(4):101011.
  15. A. Deets, P. H. Joshi, A. Chandra, K. Singh, A. Khera, S. S. Virani, C. M. Ballantyne, J. D. Otvos, R. P. F. Dullaart, E. G. Gruppen, M. A. Connelly, C. Ayers, A. M. Navar, A. Pandey, J. Wilkins and A. Rohatgi (2023) Novel sized-based HDL subspecies demonstrate inverse associations with incident vascular events: Vascular associations of novel sized-based HDL subspecies in a pooled multi-ethnic population. J. Amer. Heart Assoc. 12(21):e031160.
  16. W. Amjad, I. Shalaurova, E. Garcia, E. G. Gruppen, R. P. F. Dullaart, A. DePaoli, Z. G. Jiang, M. Lai and M. A. Connelly (2023) Circulating citrate is associated with liver fibrosis in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 24(17):13332.
  17. S. Niezen, M. A. Connelly, C. Hirsch, J. Kizer, M. E. Benitez, S. Minchenberg, M. L. Love, M. C. Perez-Matos, Z. G. Jiang and K. J. Mukamal (2023) Elevated plasma level of ketone bodies is associated with all-cause mortality and incidence of heart failure in older adults: The Cardiovascular Health Study. J. Amer. Heart Assoc. 12(17):e029960.
  18. A. J. Sanyal, J. Magnanensi, Z. Majd, C. Rosenquist, D. M. Vera, J. P. Almas and M. A. Connelly (2023) NIS2+, a non-invasive test for the diagnosis of at-risk nonalcoholic steatohepatitis with liver fibrosis in adults 65 years and older. Hepatol. Commun. 7(9):e0223.
  19. S. N. Voorrips, E. M. Boorsma, J. C. Beusekamp, R. A. de Boer, M. A. Connelly, R. P. F. Dullaart, P. van der Meer, D. J. van Veldhuisen, A. A. Voors, K. Damman and B. D. Westenbrink (2023) Longitudinal changes in circulating ketone body levels in patients with acute heart failure: A post-hoc analysis of the EMPA-response-AHF trial. J. Card. Fail. 29(1):33-41.
  20. V. Byers Kraus, S. Ma, R. Tourani, G. Fillenbaum, B. Burchett, D. Parker, W. E. Kraus, M. A. Connelly, J. D. Otvos, H. J. Cohen, M. C. Orenduff, C. F. Pieper, X. Zhang and C. F. Aliferis (2022) Casual analysis identifies small HDL particles and physical activity as key determinants of longevity of older adults. eBioMedicine. 85:104292.
  21. K. Hu, M. C. Perez-Matos, J. A. Ballbe, E. Vilar-Gomez, I. Shalaurova, E. Bullitt, G. Sugahara, H. Deng, S. Tran, H. Cai, H. He, M. Ventura-Cots, K. Marx, Y. Popov, M. Lai, M. Curry, N. Afdhal, G. Szabo, R. Malik, A. J. Sanyal, M. A. Connelly, T. Saito, J. D. Otvos, N. P. Chalasani, R. Bataller and Z. G. Jiang (2022) Serum lipoprotein Z exerts direct free cholesterol-mediated hepatotoxicity and predicts 90-day outcome in alcoholic hepatitis. Hepatol. 75:968–982.
  22. J. L. Flores-Guerrero, B. D. Westenbrink, M. A. Connelly, J. D. Otvos, D. Groothof, I. Shalaurova, E. Garcia, G. Navis, R. A. deBoer, S. J. L. Bakker and R. P. F. Dullaart (2021) Association of beta-hydroxybutyrate with development of heart failure: Sex differences in a Dutch population cohort. Euro. J. Clin. Invest. 51(5):e13468.
  23. M. L. Y. de Koning, B. D. Westenbrink, S. Assa, E. Garcia, M. A. Connelly, D. J. van Veldhuisen, R. P. F. Dullaart, E. Lipsic and P. van der Harst (2021) Circulating ketone bodies are associated with functional outcomes after ST-elevation myocardial infarction. J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 78(14):1421-1432.
  24. S. Bedi, E. Garcia, E. J. Jeyarajah, I. Shalaurova, M. C. Perez-Matos, Z. G. Jiang, R. P. F.  Dullaart, S. P. Matyus, W. J. Kirk, J. D. Otvos, W. S. Davidson and M. A. Connelly (2020) Characterization of LP-Z lipoprotein particles and quantification in subjects with liver disease using a newly developed NMR-based assay. J. Clin. Med. 9(9):2915.
  25. M. A. Connelly, J. Velez Rivera, J. R. Guyton, M. S. Siddiqui and A. J. Sanyal (2020) Review article: The impact of liver-directed therapies on the atherogenic risk profile in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. Aliment. Pharm. Ther. 52:619–636.

Notable Roles

  • ORISE Alexander Hollaender Distinguished Post-Doctoral Fellowship (1993-1996)
  • SUNY School of Medicine, Targeted Research Opportunities, Cardiovascular Research Award (1998)
  • Atorvastatin Research Award (ARA), Pfizer, Inc. (1999)
  • Janssen Platinum Encore Award (2012)
  • Janssen Bronze Encore Award (2012)
  • Janssen Bronze Encore Award (2012)
  • Covance Scientific Council Science and Technology Grant (2017)

Education

  • B.S., Biochemistry, Stony Brook University
  • Ph.D., Immunology and Pathology, Renaissance School of Medicine, Stony Brook University
  • Smith College Executive Education Course: The Leadership Edge
  • Harvard Strategic Leadership Course, Harvard Business School
  • 4Sight, Leadership Development for Emerging R&D Leaders
  • MBA, Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Management, LeBow College of Business, Drexel University