Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology

Biography

Dr. Hein serves as Peter K. Knoefel Endowed Chair of Pharmacology, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology, Distinguished University Scholar, and Vice Provost for Academic Strategy at the University of Louisville. He also directs the National Cancer Institute-funded Cancer Education Program. Dr. Hein previously served as the founding director of the NIH Minority Biomedical Research Support Program at Morehouse School of Medicine and the NIEHS T32 pre- and post-doctoral training program in environmental health sciences at the University of Louisville. He chaired Departments of Pharmacology & Toxicology at Morehouse School of Medicine and the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences prior to his recruitment to the University of Louisville in 1997. Dr. Hein has led development and implementation of pharmacology and toxicology PhD partnerships with Wenzhou Medical University, Jilin University, Cairo University and Ain Shams University. Numerous students have completed thesis and dissertation research training in his laboratory and he contributes towards instruction of undergraduate, graduate and health professional students.

Research Interest

Dr. Hein’s research program includes studies of the molecular epidemiology of cancer susceptibility, pharmacogenetics, genomics, personalized medicine, and functional genomics. Our research in molecular epidemiology identifies individuals genetically susceptible to the development of cancer from environmental and occupational chemicals in order to focus treatment and prevention public health strategies on those at greatest risk. His research in pharmacogenetics/genomics and personalized medicine improves our understanding of the genetic causes for drug failure and/or drug toxicity in order to optimize clinical drug therapy for each individual patient. His research in functional genomics improves understanding of the mechanistic and clinical consequences of genetic variation in the biotransformation of carcinogens and drugs. Dr. Hein has coauthored over 225 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, 75 published gene sequences, and about 600 abstracts. The publications have over 12,000 citations with an h-index 53. Dr. Hein serves as director of funded training programs in environmental health sciences and cancer for pre-doctoral, post-doctoral, undergraduate and professional students. In addition, he has served as principal investigator/co-investigator/mentor on over 75 grants and contracts totaling over $50M.