Dr. Helen Hobbs is Professor of Internal Medicine and Molecular Genetics at UT Southwestern and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. She is Director of the McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development at UT Southwestern. Since 1999, she has also led the Dallas Heart Study, a longitudinal, multi-ethnic population-based study of risk factors underlying cardiovascular disease. Her research focuses on genetic factors that contribute to variations in levels of cholesterol in the blood. Dr. Hobbs is also a Howard Hughes Medical Investigator. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is a philanthropic organization that promotes biomedical research. Dr. Hobbs was honored in 2007 with election to the prestigious National Academy of Sciences, and was elected to the National Academy’s Institute of Medicine in 2004. Dr. Hobbs joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 1987.