Dr. Finnerty is a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery. She received her PhD from the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in 2001. Her post-graduate training began in the Sealy Center for Cancer Cell Biology and was completed through the burns research program in the Department of Surgery with the Shriners Hospital for Children-Galveston. In 2005, Dr. Finnerty joined the faculty at UTMB as an Instructor and was promoted to Assistant Professor in 2007. In 2011, she was appointed Associate Professor and later awarded tenure in 2016. Dr. Finnerty is a proud ELUM, having completed her fellowship year with the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Program for Women, in 2019. She is currently Co-Director of the Postdoctoral Training in Trauma and Burns T32 training grant (MPI: Finnerty/Suman/Wolf), and Co-Director of two faculty mentoring programs: the Academy for Research Mentors and the Translational Research Scholars Program. 

Dr. Finnerty’s research has two areas of focus: improving outcomes following burn injury and elevating the patient voice in mast cell diseases. She has been continuously funded since 2006; the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, Shriners International, and other funding agencies have awarded >$12 million to her research program in systemic and tissue-specific inflammation induced by significant burns.  She holds one patent for a device developed in her lab and has published 169 peer-reviewed articles. Over the course of her career, Dr. Finnerty has mentored >170 postdoctoral fellows, research associates, master’s students, high school, and undergraduate students and served as the primary PhD advisor for two PhD students.

CV - Curriculum Vitae

• My research addresses a broad array of clinically relevant studies, including burn wound healing, scarring mechanisms, and treatments.  Ongoing initiatives include the use of physical therapy and exercise to reduce post-burn scarring, the trial of a novel peptide to improve wound healing of combined radiation and burn injuries, and a clinical trial of a novel approach to treating burn scar itch. 
• My additional research interests are in elevating the voice / perspective of patients with mast cell diseases. 

o    Mesa RA, Sullivan EM, Dubinski D, Carroll B, Slee VM, Jennings SV, Finnerty CC, Bohannon LS, Mathias SD, Lahue BJ, Castells MC. Perceptions of patient disease burden and management approaches in systemic mastocytosis: Results of the TouchStone Healthcare Provider Survey. Cancer. 2022 Aug 23. doi: 10.1002/cncr.34421. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35996871. 

o    Mesa RA, Sullivan EM, Dubinski D, Carroll B, Slee VM, Jennings SV, Finnerty CC, Bohannon LS, Mathias SD, Lahue BJ, Castells MC. Patient-reported outcomes among patients with systemic mastocytosis in routine clinical practice: Results of the TouchStone SM Patient Survey. Cancer. 2022 Aug 23. doi: 10.1002/cncr.34420. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35996873.  

o    Jennings SV*, Finnerty CC*, Hobart JS*, Martín-Martínez M*, Sinclair KA*, Slee VM*, et.al. Mast Cell Diseases in Practice and Research: Issues and Perspectives Raised by Patients and Their Recommendations to the Scientific Community and Beyond. J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract. 2022 Aug;10(8):2039-2051. doi: 10.1016/j.jaip.2022.06.018. Epub 2022 Jun 28. PMID: 35777651. * - denotes co-first authors / equal authorship.

o    Rivas E, Foster J, Crandall CG, Finnerty CC, Suman-Vejas OE. Key Exercise Concepts in the Rehabilitation from Severe Burns. Phys Med Rehabil Clin N Am. 25 June 2023. doi: 10.1016/j.pmr.2023.05.003