Dr. MariaSanta Mangione was treating cardiac patients and publishing cardiovascular research at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center when her name entered the national conversation. Her brother, Luigi Mangione, faces murder charges in the December 4, 2024 shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel.
The 35 year old cardiologist has spent the past decade building credentials that place her among rising physician scientists in heart disease research. While her family name now dominates headlines for different reasons, her professional record tells a separate story.
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The Academic Foundation
Mangione graduated from the University of Maryland in 2012 with a degree in cell biology and molecular genetics. She earned admission to Vanderbilt University School of Medicine’s competitive M.D./Ph.D. program, spending eight years studying cell and developmental biology alongside clinical training.
At Vanderbilt, she worked in the Gould Lab under Dr. Kathleen L. Gould. The National Institutes of Health awarded her a grant in 2016 to study Cdc15, a protein involved in how cells physically separate during division. Her research examined the mechanics of cytokinesis, the final stage when one cell becomes two.
She published her findings in the Journal of Cell Science in 2019. The paper, “Molecular Form and Function of the Cytokinetic Ring,” examined how actin and myosin proteins form contractile structures that pinch dividing cells apart. Other researchers have cited her work nearly 200 times, according to Google Scholar metrics.
From Cell Biology to Cardiology
After receiving her M.D. and Ph.D. in 2020, Mangione shifted from basic cellular research to clinical cardiology. She joined UT Southwestern as a fellow, where she now treats patients with heart disease while conducting research on cardiovascular inflammation and transplant medicine.
Her recent publications show this transition. In January 2023, she co-authored a Clinical Transplantation study analyzing desensitization treatments for heart transplant candidates. The research tracked 25 patients who received plasma exchange, immunoglobulin, and bortezomib to reduce antibodies that could trigger organ rejection.
The results showed 76% of treated patients received transplants within a median of 91 days. The protocol reduced certain antibodies but had limited effect on others, findings that inform current transplant protocols.
Her 2024 work examines how mTOR, a protein complex that regulates cell growth, influences macrophage behavior in inflamed heart tissue. Another paper investigated the cGAS-STING pathway’s role in bone marrow responses to heart attacks. Both studies address how immune cells contribute to heart damage and repair.
The Baltimore Family
Mangione grew up in Towson, Maryland, the oldest of three children born to Louis and Kathleen Zannino Mangione. The family operates businesses across the Baltimore area, including Turf Valley and Hayfields Country Clubs and nine Lorien Health Services nursing facilities.
Her paternal grandfather, Nicholas Mangione Sr., immigrated from Baltimore’s Little Italy neighborhood and built a real estate development business. He purchased Turf Valley Country Club in 1978 and Hayfields in 1986. The family also owned WCBM radio station.
The Mangiones have donated more than $1 million to Greater Baltimore Medical Center, where all three grandchildren were born. The hospital named its high risk obstetrics unit after the family.
MariaSanta’s cousin, Nino Mangione, serves in the Maryland House of Delegates representing parts of Baltimore County. Her sister Luciana works as an artist after leaving the retail industry. Her brother Luigi graduated as valedictorian from the Gilman School in 2016 before attending the University of Pennsylvania.
December 2024
On December 9, police arrested Luigi Mangione at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania. He faces charges including murder and terrorism related counts in New York. Brian Thompson, 50, was shot multiple times outside the New York Hilton Midtown as he walked to an investor conference.
The family released a statement through Delegate Nino Mangione: “We only know what we have read in the media. Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest. We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson.”
Following the arrest, MariaSanta Mangione’s social media accounts went dark. Her LinkedIn profile, Instagram account, and X account linked from her Vanderbilt faculty page were all deactivated or set to private.
Newsweek reached out for comment through LinkedIn but received no response.
Current Work in Dallas
Dr. Mangione continues her cardiology fellowship at UT Southwestern, ranked among the top 20 medical centers in the nation by U.S. News. Her work focuses on patients with advanced heart failure, transplant candidates, and inflammatory cardiovascular conditions.
The research she publishes moves between laboratory bench and hospital bedside. She studies how proteins and immune cells behave in damaged hearts, then applies those findings to improve treatments for transplant patients and those recovering from heart attacks.
Her verified Google Scholar profile lists cardiometabolic disease, cardiology, cell biology, genetics, and cytokinesis as areas of expertise. The profile shows active publication through 2024, with papers appearing in Basic Research in Cardiology and the Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology.
Medical training and family tragedy now intersect in ways MariaSanta Mangione likely never anticipated. She built her career studying how cells divide and hearts heal. That work continues in Dallas, separate from the courtroom proceedings 1,400 miles away in New York.
