Main Content

Helen Hobbs, MD

"Steatotic Liver Disease: Ancient Mutations for a Common Disease"
Tuesday, June 17, 2025
University of Mississippi Medical Center

Dr. Helen H. Hobbs, Professor of Internal Medicine/Molecular Genetics and Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, gave the annual Nelson Cardiovascular Lecture at UMMC. Dr. Hobbs is a pioneer in the area of cholesterol metabolism and the biology of low-density lipoprotein receptors. Dr. Hobbs received her medical training from Case Western University and, after a brief Internship at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City, was recruited to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW). At UTSW, Dr. Hobbs was the director of the McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development for 24 years. Dr. Hobbs played a pivotal role in the establishment of the Dallas Heart Study, a large-scale population study examining cardiovascular health and disease. Dr. Hobbs has received numerous awards and honors over her career including the Distinguished Scientist Award from the American Heart Association (2007), the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences (2016), Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine from the American Society for Clinical Investigation & Harrington Discovery Institute (2018), Gerald D. Auerbach Award for Outstanding Translational Research from the Endocrine Society (2019), Ross Prize in Molecular Medicine from the Feinstein Institute (2023), and the Stanford Drug Discovery Lifetime Achievement Award (2024). In addition, Dr. Hobbs has received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine (2006) and the Distinguished Biomedical Science Educator Award from UTSW. Dr. Hobbs has given Distinguished lectureships all over the world and has served on the scientific advisory boards of numerous Societies, Work groups, and Steering committees all in the area of cholesterol and lipid metabolism. Dr. Hobbs has elected membership in the American Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Academy of Sciences and Letters.  Dr. Hobbs has published over 210 manuscripts of original work in prestigious journals, including Science, the New England Journal of Medicine, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Hepatology, and the Journal of Clinical Investigation, among others. Dr. Hobbs has made significant contributions to our understanding of the genetics behind cholesterol and fatty acid metabolism. Her work has demonstrated the important role of PCSK9, ANGPTL, Pnpla3 in the hepatic metabolism of cholesterol and fatty acids.  Dr. Hobbs has received five patents for her work in this area. The Florian and Gertrude Nelson lecture was established in the Cardiovascular-Renal Research Center in 1997 and has featured lectures by Nobel Laureates and Distinguished leaders in the area of cardiovascular medicine and science.