Ana Garcia

Ana Garcia, MD, is an obstetrician/gynecologist at MedStar Harbor Hospital and MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center.

Dr. Garcia’s research has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including Diabetologia and the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. She is a junior fellow of the American Congress of Obstetrics and Gynecology and a postdoctoral research fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences. In addition, she is a member of the American Academy of Gynecologic Laparoscopy and the American Society of Reproductive Medicine. She is a research member of the American Society of Nephrology.

Dr. Garcia received her medical degree from Universidad El Bosque, Colombia, and completed an internship in Internal Medicine at Lincoln Hospital of Weill Cornell Medical College, New York. She continued her training with a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Stamford Hospital of Columbia University, CT.

Research Interests

Dr. Garcia’s research interests include

• Women’s health
• Preeclampsia
• Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)
• Hypertension in pregnancy

Selected Research

Differential Expression of the VEGF Receptor in Placentas from Normal and Hypertensive Pregnancies

Little is known about the role of membrane-bound VEGF receptors in the development of preeclampsia and hypertension during pregnancy. In this pilot study, Dr. Garcia and colleagues explored differences in the expression of membrane-bound VEGF receptors in placentas from patients with preeclampsia, patients with chronic hypertension, and patients with neither condition. The investigators found that preeclampsia and chronic hypertension, although difficult to distinguish clinically, develop through different molecular pathways. This work was published in Reproductive Sciences (2013;20[3 suppl]).

Selected Publications

Lorenzen J. Shah R. Biser A. Staicu SA. Niranjan T. Garcia AM. Gruenwald A. Thomas DB. Shatat IF. Supe K. Woroniecki RP. Susztak K. The role of osteopontin in the development of albuminuria. J Am Soc Nephrol. 19:884-890.

Veron D, Bertuccio CA, Marlier A, Reidy K, Garcia AM, Jimenez J, Velazquez H, Kashgarian M, Moeckel GW, Tufro A. Podocyte vascular endothelial growth factor (Vegf(164)) overexpression causes severe nodular glomerulosclerosis in a mouse model of type 1 diabetes. Diabetologia. 2011;54:1227-1241.