Robert H. Eckel, MD
Endocrinologist
Charles A. Boettcher Endowed Chair in Atherosclerosis Professor of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes, and Division of Cardiology - University of Colorado Anshutz Medical Campus
Robert H. Eckel, MD is the Charles A Boettcher II Endowed Chair in Atherosclerosis, Professor of Medicine with appointments in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes and the Division of Cardiology, and Professor of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Colorado Denver (UCD) and is Director of the Lipid Clinic at the University of Colorado Hospital. He is Director of the Discovery Translation Program of the recently NIH funded Colorado Clinical Translational Sciences Institute.
Dr. Eckel was recently a member of the Scientific Advisory Council of the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and was President of the American Heart Association in 2005. Dr. Eckel’s NIH funded research has focused on the broad area of preventive cardiology in the areas of the pathogenesis and treatment of lipid disorders and obesity. Studies in animals and humans focus on the impact of nutrition/hormones on lipid and carbohydrate metabolism.
In humans, Dr. Eckel has examined the nutritional/metabolic predictors of weight change, lipid disorders and atherosclerosis. In the laboratory, he uses mice with tissue-specific modification of gene expression to address similar issues in more extensive detail. Overall, his research is targeted to favorably modifying the metabolic profile to reduce the risk for heart disease and stroke.