Dr. Szczesna-Cordary’s research interests are in Oncological Cardiomyopathy and in studying adverse effects of cancer therapies. The field of cardio-oncology has evolved over the past decade as a clinical field addressing the cardiovascular problems that arise from cancer drug therapies. Cardiomyopathy can occur as an adverse effect from cancer chemotherapeutic agents such as anthracyclines that frequently cause DCM. Doxorubicin, a widely used in chemotherapy treatment for many adult and pediatric cancers, has been known to cause adverse cardiac effects that can lead to progressive myocardial damage and heart failure. Dr. Szczesna-Cordary’s is in particular interested in working together with basic and clinical investigators to control cardiac outcomes in patients undergoing cancer therapy. Her lab has developed innovative animal models of dilated and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy that are excellent tools to study the consequences of cancer drugs on intact heart function. She is interested in developing a platform for testing potential cardiac pharmacological interventions to prevent incidence of cardiovascular events in patients undergoing and/or post cancer therapy.