Dr. Heinecke earned his MD degree from Washington University in St. Louis in 1981 and then came to the UW for a residency in internal medicine. He was also a postdoctoral fellow in the Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology and Nutrition and then a senior fellow in the UW Department of Biochemistry from 1987 until 1990. He was a faculty member at Washington University in St. Louis from 1991 until 2002, when he was professor of medicine and professor of molecular biology and pharmacology there. In 2002, he returned to the UW to take his current position. He also directs the Mass Spectrometry Resource in the Department of Medicine and is an attending physician at UW Medical Center and a member of the Molecular and Cellular Biology Graduate Program. He holds the Karasinski Chair in Metabolic Research.
Dr. Heinecke has received numerous awards, including the American Heart Association’s Jeffrey M. Hoeg Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Wall Biology Award in 2001 and an Excellence in Mentoring Award from the Washington University Graduate Student Senate in 2002. He is a member of several editorial boards, including the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
The major focus of research in the Heinecke laboratory is to understand the role of HDL and macrophages in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis, diabetes and other inflammatory diseases. Our efforts are directed towards identifying specific proteins that play key roles in cholesterol metabolism and macrophage inflammation in vivo.
Current studies include:
- Investigation of the pathways that promote cholesterol efflux from macrophages, which is of central importance in the cardioprotective effects of HDL.
- Translational studies to determine if altered HDL protein composition, macrophage sterol efflux, and inhibition of macrophage inflammation associate with CAD and diabetic status.
- Human and animal studies exploring the links between the HDL proteome, insulin resistance, and susceptibility to cardiovascular disease.
