Dedicated to the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease
Dr. Christie Mitchell Ballantyne is teaching Medicine-Athero & Lipo and Molecular and Human Genetics in the Baylor College of Medicine. Also he serves as the director in The Maria and Alando J. Ballantyne, M.D. Atherosclerosis Clinical Research Laboratory in the Baylor College of Medicine and in the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention of the Methodist DeBakey Heart Center and as Co-Director in Lipid Metabolism and Atherosclerosis Clinic of The Methodist Hospital.
The general area of his research interest is the role of inflammation and cell adhesion molecules in vascular disease.
He and his colleagues have developed mutant mice deficient in various cell adhesion molecules to be studied in models of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury, vascular injury and acute inflammation. Characterization of the mutant mice involves a wide range of techniques, including molecular biology, cell biology, and integrative physiology.
Dr. Ballantyne’s clinical research is the prevention of atherosclerotic vascular disease. His interest includes pharmacological studies to assess the efficacy and benefits of lipid-lowering drug therapy including trials which utilize ultrasound and MRI to examine the effects of lipid-lowering drugs on the progression of atherosclerosis. He is also studying whether genetic variation in combination with novel biomarkers might be useful in identifying individuals at high risk for cardiovascular disease, the metabolic syndrome and diabetes.
The doctor received his BA from University of Texas at Austin in 1977 and his MD from Baylor College of Medicine in 1982.