Our Team
Sotirios Tsimikas, MD, FACC, FAHA
Founder and Cardiologist
Joseph Witztum, MD
Founder and Endocrinologist
Dr. Joseph L. Witztum is a Distinguished Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego. For more than 40 years, Dr. Witztum has made major contributions to the field of atherosclerosis. Alongside Dr. Daniel Steinberg, he first described the role of OxLDL in atherogenesis, providing fundamental information on its properties and evidence that it existed in experimental models and humans. He first showed that OxLDL was immunogenic, leading to both adaptive and innate immune responses to what he termed “oxidation-specific epitopes,” which fundamentally contributed to the concept that atherosclerosis was a chronic inflammatory disease. More recently, he has focused on defining the role of oxidized phospholipids in atherogenesis, NASH and inflammation in general.
Dr. Witztum has had a career-long interest in lipoprotein metabolism, and has been actively involved in both basic and clinical studies to develop novel therapies for unmet needs, especially in the context of hypertriglyceridemia and elevated Lp(a) levels. As a consultant to Ionis Pharmaceuticals, he has contributed to the development of antisense therapy targeting apoC-III, Lp(a) and ANGPTL3. His research has resulted in more than 460 manuscripts. Dr. Witztum has been an Associate Editor of major scientific journals, including the Journal of Clinical Investigation, and most recently, being Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Lipid Research for 15 years. He has given both the Deuel and the Russel Ross Lectures, the two most distinguished lectureships of the American Heart Association’s Council of Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, and was awarded the First Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Lipid Association.
Dr. Witztum received his Bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University, his MD from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and his residency training at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City. This was followed by a fellowship and faculty position in Endocrinology and Metabolism at Washington University School of Medicine. He has been at UCSD since 1979.
Dr. Sotirios Tsimikas is a practicing Board-Certified Cardiologist and Professor of Medicine and the Director of Vascular Medicine at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine. His obtained his Medical Degree from the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Internal Medicine training at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, and separate fellowships in Cardiovascular Medicine, Atherosclerosis and Molecular Medicine and Interventional Cardiology at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) Medical Center.
He directs a basic and translational research laboratory focused on Lp(a) and their content of oxidized phospholipids as pro-inflammatory mediators of cardiovascular disease, with NIH-R01 funded research. He is the Founding Director of the Vascular Medicine Program within the Cardiovascular Medicine Division. He founded the UCSD “Lp(a) Clinic” as a novel paradigm to diagnose, manage and follow patients with elevated Lp(a). He has published his work in major medical journals, including NEJM, Lancet, Nature, Cell, JACC, Circulation, EHJ, and has over 400 original manuscripts, review articles and book chapters.
In partnership with Dr Joseph Witztum, they defined the role of oxidized phospholipids (OxPLs) in atherosclerosis and vascular inflammation. In translational studies, they demonstrated that OxPL-apoB levels are elevated in individuals at risk for cardiovascular events and serve as both biomarkers and potential causal factors in atherogenesis. Through the development of specific assays and translational studies, they have established OxPL-apoB and OxPL-apo(a) as a mechanistically relevant and clinically actionable target in lipid-driven cardiovascular disease.
Chris Tsimikas
Business Manager
Chris Tsimikas received his Bachelor’s degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania before joining Kleanthi Diagnostics as the business manager. He serves as the day to day contact person for all business related inquiries.