About the CRRC
CRRC in the News
2025
Stec Receives Meritorious Research Service Award
Dr. David E. Stec, Director, Cardiovascular-Renal Research Center (CRRC), was recently awarded the Meritorious Research Service Award from the Office of the Associate Vice Chancellor for Research Excellence Awards on Nov. 12, 2025. Dr. Stec, the Billy S. Guyton Distinguished Professor in the Department of Physiology & Biophysics, is a 24-year member of the faculty at UMMC. Dr. Stec was recognized for his outstanding contributions to the research mission at UMMC through his innovative research program, excellence in teaching, and high level of service. Dr. Stec's research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association for over 15 years. He has published over 135 manuscripts in leading cardiovascular journals. Dr. Stec has won several national and local awards for his research. Dr. Stec has mentored several postdoctoral fellows, medical students, graduate students, and undergraduate students. His mentees have won numerous awards from organizations like the American Physiological Society and the American Heart Association. Dr. Stec has a distinguished record of service to the research mission at UMMC, serving on several important committees both locally and nationally. Dr. Stec is also an Associate Editor for several high-impact journals in the field and serves as a regular peer-reviewer for over 35 journals. He has also been a primary organizer or co-organizer for several national and international meetings. The CRRC congratulates Dr. Stec on receiving this prestigious award.
Read more: OAVCR Excellence Awards honor 2025 research accomplishments (UMMC News)
Nelson Lecture
On Tuesday, June 17, 2025, 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.
2024
CRRC Monthly Seminar Series
George Bakris, MD, professor of medicine and director of the AHA Comprehensive Hypertension Center at the University of Chicago Medicine, will give the CRRC Monthly Seminar Series presentation, "An Update of Slowing Diabetic Kidney Disease: A Pillared Approach," at 1 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 12, in Lower Amphitheatre R153.
Nelson Lecture
Dr. Barry A. Borlaug, Professor of Medicine, Chair for Research, Division of Circulatory Failure, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, delivered the Florian and Gertrude Nelson lecture entitled "How times change: It's not your grandfather's (or grandmother's) heart failure anymore" on May 8, 2024. Dr. Borlaug is a world-renowned expert in the area of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). He has received numerous awards for his research, including: Simon Dack Award from the American College of Cardiology, Best Paper of the Year (two times) from Circulation and Circulation Heart Failure, Mayo Clinic Transform the Practice Award, American Society for Clinical Investigation Award, and was listed as the top 2% most-cited scientist in the area of heart failure in 2021. Dr. Borlaug is very active and has leadership positions in several cardiac societies such as the American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association, Heart Failure Society of America, and the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation. Dr. Borlaug has also served on the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institutes (NHLBI) Working Group on Research Priorities in HFpEF as well as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Working Group on Exercise in Heart Failure. Dr. Borlaug serves as an Editor, Guest Editor or member of the Editorial Board of several of the leading journals in the area of heart failure, including: Circulation, Circulation Heart Failure, Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging, European Heart Journal, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, and Journal of Cardiac Failure. Dr. Borlaug has a very strong record of mentoring and has trained numerous cardiology fellows, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students. Dr. Borlaug has been the director of numerous clinical trials in the area of heart failure and holds 20 patents for the treatment of heart failure. His research has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health since 2006 and he has published over 360 manuscripts in leading journals in the area of heart failure. The Florian and Gertrude Nelson lecture was established in the Cardiovascular-Renal Research Center in 1997 and has featured lectures by Nobel Laureate, and Distinguished Leader in the area of cardiovascular medicine and science.
2023
This Week in the CRRC
Available on the CRRC Newsletter Archive page on the intranet.
- August 20, 2023
- August 13, 2023
- July 30, 2023