Outstanding Young Alumni
Dr. Katelyn Bruno
Awarded 2024
Newberry, Florida
Katelyn Bruno, PhD, FHFSA, FACC is a tenure-track Assistant Professor at the University of Florida (UF) whose research spans broad areas of the field of medicine. Her accomplishments have received recognition at the highest stage, earning her Sam Houston State University’s Outstanding Young Alumni distinction.
Dr. Bruno was a fundamental member of the U.S. COVID Convalescent Plasma Expanded Access Program (EAP), a national program that enrolled 105,000 patients across the U.S. in five months who were hospitalized with severe or life-threatening COVID-19. The FDA and Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) funded the project for $65 million. She built the database that housed the data from patients enrolled in the EAP, ran the program’s data integrity team, and was a member of the EAP’s oversight committee. The study is housed in the Library of Congress due to its contribution during the pandemic.
Bruno received her Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice in 2010 and another Bachelor of Science in Chemistry in 2011 from SHSU. She received her PhD in Environmental Health Sciences with a focus on molecular and translational toxicology from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2016, where her research focused on the mechanisms of hormones and endocrine disruptors in myocarditis (inflammatory heart disease). She then pursued a post-doctoral fellowship at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, where she continued studying myocarditis, focusing on new diagnostics tools. She was recruited to UF in 2022, where she runs a research laboratory, mentors students, and teaches undergraduate, graduate, and medical school courses. She utilizes basic and translational research tools, patient samples and data to study the mechanisms of myocarditis, dilated cardiomyopathy and heart failure to make discoveries that could improve patient diagnosis and care in pediatric and adult populations.
Bruno’s research is funded by the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, the Department of Defense and UF. She holds volunteer roles in several healthcare-based nonprofits to personally connect with the families affected by the diseases she studies. She is also involved in leadership roles for several scientific organizations and within her institution.
Her plethora of accomplishments include fellowships with the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the Heart Failure Society of America (HFSA); the ACC Special Achievement Award; HFSA Future Leader in Heart Failure Designation; Selected Mentee for the ACC Clinical Trails Research Program and the European Society of Cardiology Heart Failure Association (ESC-HFA) Translational Science Meeting; multiple Team Science Awards; ESC-HFA Young Investigator of the Year Award and American Pediatric Association Environmental Scholar.
Bruno graduated magna cum laude with highest honors and academic distinction in Chemistry from SHSU. She was a Golden Key International Honor Society member, an Elliot T. Bowers Honors College student, and an Honors Ambassador. In 2008, she won the Outstanding First Year Student Leader at The Sammy’s. She lives in Florida with her husband, Stephen (’19), and their two children.