Cardiovascular Institute Consulting Professor
Richard Lawn, PhD

Richard Lawn received a BA degree in astronomy from Harvard College and a PhD in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology from the University of Colorado. His postdoctoral research under Tom Maniatis at Caltech featured the construction of the first human genomic DNA library and the isolation and cloning of the globin genes.

As a senior scientist for ten years at Genentech, his laboratory cloned and characterized a number of important genes and their recombinant proteins in the fields of hemostasis and atherosclerosis, including clotting factor VIII (now a standard treatment for hemophelia), anti-thrombin III, LCAT, CETP, and Lp(a).

Dr. Lawn then served as a Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at Stanford and Vice President, Discovery Research at CV Therapeutics, where he used the emerging techniques of RNA profiling to identify the defect in Tangier disease to reveal the role of the lipid transporter ABCA1 in the HDL cholesterol pathway.

Dr. Lawn has also worked with biotech companies in the development of novel diagnostics using RNA profiling and proteomics. He continues his interest in joining basic research with biotech commitment to translate biomedical research into drug and diagnostic application.