APSA Newsletter - Phi Psi » 2010 Spring, Volume 4, No. 3 » Physician-Scientist Spotlight: Joseph L. Goldstein, MD

Physician-Scientist Spotlight: Joseph L. Goldstein, MD

Shane Stecklein, University of Kansas School of Medicine

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APSA is delighted to highlight the distinguished career of Dr. Joseph L. Goldstein, MD, a Nobel Prize-winning geneticist and biochemist who pioneered the study of cholesterol metabolism.Dr. Goldstein received his Bachelors of Science in chemistry from Washington and Lee University in 1962 and then completed his Doctor of Medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in 1966.  Along with his close colleague, Michael S. Brown, M.D., Dr. Goldstein uncovered and characterized the fundamental role of Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) receptors in extracting cholesterol from the bloodstream.  This research identified the genetic lesion that causes familial hypercholesterolemia and characterized a new mechanism by which cells take up material from the extracellular environment—a process they coined “receptor-mediated endocytosis.”  For this work, Goldstein received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and the Albert D. Lasker Award in Basic Medical Research in 1985 and the U.S. National Medal of Science in 1988.  Furthermore, Brown and Goldstein’s research lead to the development of statins, which are used by more than 30 million adults worldwide to treat hyperlipidemia and are currently the most widely prescribed pharmaceutical class in the United States.