phone: (314) 454-6093
Dr. Beth Kozel is a clinical geneticist and a Lasker Clinical Research Scholar. She directs the Laboratory of Vascular and Matrix Genetics at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health. She is also the director of the Williams syndrome clinic at Washington University School of Medicine/St. Louis Children’s Hospital. At the NIH, her emphasis is on understanding the genetic underpinnings of rare vascular diseases, especially those caused by connective tissue defects.With extensive experience in vascular and matrix biology as well as genetics, Dr. Kozel focuses her work on the study of elastin-mediated arteriopathy in mice and humans. Work by her group has contributed to greater understanding of the process of elastic fiber assembly as well as the mechanism by which elastin insufficiency causes arterial stiffness. Current efforts include identification of genes/pathways that modify the impact of elastin insufficiency on blood vessels and harnessing those pathways to design rational treatments for individuals with those diseases.