The 2021 R T Hall Lecture was presented by Dr Helen Hobbs at the 2021 CSANZ ASM. Dr Hobbs is Director of the Eugene McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development and a professor of internal medicine and molecular genetics at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
2021 RT Hall Lecture: Human genetics reveals new therapeutic targets for cardiometabolic disorders
View Dr Hobbs’ presentation here – follow link to the CSANZ ASM video on Vimeo.
Dr Helen H. Hobbs attended Stanford University and then Case Western Reserve Medical School. She trained in internal medicine at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital before completing her medical training at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. She trained in the laboratory of Drs. Joseph Goldstein and Michael Brown and then joined the faculty of UT Southwestern in 1987. Together with Jonathan C. Cohen, she has identified new sequence variations/genes contributing to differences in plasma levels of LDL-cholesterol and triglyceride (TG). These studies have provided new insights into the pathogenesis of coronary heart disease and led to the development of two new lipid-lowering therapies. She also has identified genetic differences contributing to susceptibility and resistance to fatty liver disease. Gene identification is just the starting point for her studies. She has performed functional studies to characterize the pathways and processes that are altered by the defective genes she identifies. She was elected to the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Among the prizes she has received are the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, the Grand Prix Award from the Institute of France, and the Harrington Prize for Innovation and Medicine.