Professional Bio
MacRae F. Linton, MD, is a Professor of Medicine and director of the Atherosclerosis Research Unit in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine in the Department of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
His research programs involve basic science and clinical translational investigations of inherited disorders of cholesterol/lipoprotein metabolism, macrophage biology, and atherosclerosis. Dr. Linton pioneered the use of bone marrow transplantation (BMT) as an approach to investigate the impact of genes expressed by bone marrow-derived cells, including macrophages, on the development of atherosclerosis in mouse models. This initial work demonstrated the ability of macrophage expression of apoE to serve as a vehicle for gene therapy for atherosclerosis. Subsequent studies have investigated genes important in the macrophage's role in inflammation, efferocytosis, and autophagy.
Dr. Linton is currently the Principal Investigator of an NHLBI-funded program project grant on HDL function in human disease. He has also served as the PI of several clinical trials of cholesterol lowering drugs and cardiovascular outcomes studies at Vanderbilt, including recent trials of PCSK9 inhibitors and the ongoing HORIZON trial, evaluating the ability of lowering Lipoprotein(a) with an anti-sense oligonucleotide to reduce cardiovascular events.
Dr. Linton has published more than 230 peer-reviewed papers, many of them in high impact journals, and he has had continuous NIH funding for his research for more than 28 years. His research has been recognized by numerous awards including the Irvine H. Page Young Investigator Award for Atherosclerosis Research from the American Heart Association, the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the Elliott Newman Prize for Basic Research, and the Goodpasture Faculty Award at Vanderbilt. He has been elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) and the Association of American Physicians (AAP), and as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Dr. Linton is the director of the Vanderbilt Lipid Clinic, which he founded in 1994. The VLC has become an established regional referral service for patients with hypercholesterolemia and increased coronary risk. He developed the LDL Apheresis program at Vanderbilt with the Dialysis Center for management of patients with severe hypercholesterolemia in 2003. He was designated one of America's Top Doctors, Cardiovascular Disease, by Castle Connolly/U.S. News (2008-present).
Relevant Links
Publications
Education
MD - University of Tennessee Health Science Center, 1985
Internship - Internal Medicine - Vanderbilt University, 1986
Residency - Internal Medicine - Vanderbilt University, 1988
Fellowship - Endocrinology/Metabolism - University of California, San Francisco, 1991
Contact
Email
Kimryn.Rathmell@Vumc.Org
Address
777 Preston Research Building
2220 Pierce Ave
Nashville, TN 37232-6307