Daniel Kelly is the Willard and Rhoda Ware Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and Rachel Ash Presidential Chair at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). He trained in Medicine and Cardiology at Barnes Hospital, then joined the faculty of Washington University School of Medicine where he served as Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics, Chief of the Cardiovascular Division, and the founding Director of the Center for Cardiovascular Research. In 2008, Dr. Kelly assumed the role of founding Scientific Director for the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute in Florida followed by his recruitment to serve as Director of the Penn Cardiovascular Institute. In Spring 2023, he became the founding Director of the CHOP Cardiovascular Institute. 

Dr. Kelly's research interests stem from an early fascination with rare inborn errors in energy metabolism that cause childhood sudden death and heart failure. He defined the genetic basis for a common inborn error in mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation, work that led to the development of practical newborn screening tests.  Thereafter, he became interested in how similar derangements in cardiac fuel and energy metabolism contribute to acquired forms of heart failure in adults.  The Kelly laboratory has recently identified several candidate therapeutic targets to re-balance mitochondrial metabolism in heart failure.

Dr. Kelly served as an Associate Editor for The Journal of Clinical Investigation and is currently on many Editorial Boards. He is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (Council, 2002-05), the American Association of Physicians (president-elect), is a recipient of the AHA Distinguished Achievement Award, AHA Basic Research Prize and the Peter Harris Distinguished Scientist Award from the International Society for Heart Research.