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Joseph L Witztum

Joseph Lee Witztum (born 2/18/1944) is an American professor, and physician scientist. He is currently a distinguished professor of medicine at University of California, San Diego.

Career
Joseph L. Witztum, MD has worked in the field of lipoprotein metabolism and atherogenesis for almost forty years, and currently serves as a Distinguished Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Witztum has provided a fundamental understanding of the role of oxidized LDL and immunological mechanisms in atherogenesis. Alongside Dr. Daniel Steinberg, he was the first to describe the role of oxidized LDL in atherogenesis and provided fundamental information on its properties and evidence that it existed in experimental models and humans. Steinberg and Witztum led the clinical trial unit at UCSD as one of the units of the Coronary Primary Prevention Trial. The 10-year study, which ended in 1984, was the first large, randomized, double-blind study to show a statistically significant decrease in heart disease as a result of cholesterol-lowering drug therapy. Witztum and Steinberg’s results significantly changed how physicians treated patients’ high cholesterol levels.In addition, he first showed that OxLDL was immunogenic, leading to both adaptive and innate immune responses, which fundamentally contributed to the concept that atherosclerosis was a chronic inflammatory disease.

Dr. Witztum has been granted numerous patents by the United States Patent and Trademark Office for his groundbreaking work in the field of lipoprotein metabolism and atherogeneis.

Honors
In addition to his career-long interest in lipid and lipoprotein metabolism and seeing patients in a lipid clinic, Dr. Witztum is actively involved in both basic and clinical studies to develop novel therapies for unmet needs in the lipid and lipoprotein area, especially in the context of hypertriglyceridemia and elevated Lp(a) levels. His research in atherosclerosis, lipoproteins, and a variety of related subjects has resulted in publication of more than 430 manuscripts. Dr. Witztum has been an Associate Editor of major scientific journals in the field and stepped down after 13 years as the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Lipid Research.

Education
Dr. Witztum received his Bachelor's Degree from Vanderbilt University, where he graduated magna cum laude, and an MD from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. He completed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City, followed by a fellowship and faculty position in Endocrinology and Metabolism at Washington University School of Medicine. He has been at UCSD since 1979.