The Louis Levine-Gabriella de Beer Lecture in Genetics was established by Gabriella de Beer in memory of her husband, Professor Louis Levine. A graduate of the College, he earned his Ph.D. in population genetics under the late great evolutionary geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky at Columbia University. Professor Levine’s research centered on population studies of Drosophila and behavior genetics of mice. Human genetics and forensic genetics were among other areas to which he was devoted.

Professor Levine taught in the Department of Biology and in the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education, participated in bi-national research studies in Mexico, was Visiting Professor at the Technion (the Israel Institute of Technology) in Israel, and in later years served as a consultant and expert witness in criminal cases involving DNA evidence.

The aim of these annual lectures is to perpetuate Professor Louis Levine’s lifelong interest in the ever-expanding field of genetics.

About The Speaker: Dr. Helen H. Hobbs

Dr. Helen H. Hobbs is an Investigator of the Howard H. Hughes Medical Institute at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW) in Dallas, Texas. After attending Stanford University and Case Western Reserve Medical School, she trained in internal medicine and endocrinology at Columbia University Presbyterian Medical Center and UTSW. She joined the UTSW faculty in 1987 where she is Professor of Internal Medicine and Molecular Genetics and Director of the McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development. Together with Jonathan Cohen, she has used human genetics to identify sequence variations in genes with large effects on plasma levels of LDL-cholesterol (ABCG5/ABCG8, LDLRAP, PCSK9, NPCILI, ANGPTL3) and triglyceride (ANGPTL3, -4,-8). More recently, she discovered the two most impactful genetic risk factors for fatty liver disease (PNPLA3, TM6SF2). Gene identification is the starting point for studies that have elucidated pathways and processes altered by the defective genes she has identified.

Dr. Hobbs is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Sciences. She is a recipient of The Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences and the Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine.