2025 Distinguished Scientist Christie Ballantyne, MD, FAHA

Christie Ballantyne, MD, FAHA

Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas

Christie Ballantyne is an internationally renowned expert on lipoproteins, inflammation, atherosclerosis and heart disease prevention. His outstanding research in the prevention of heart disease has led him to receive continuous funding from the NIH since 1988 in basic research of leukocyte-endothelial interactions, translational research in biomarkers and clinical trials.

His accomplishments have included being an Established Investigator of the American Heart Association, election as Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians. In 2012, he received the American College of Cardiology Distinguished Scientist Award (Basic Domain). In 2014 and 2015, Thomson Reuters recognized Christie as one of “The World's Most Influential Scientific Minds.” Clarivate Analytics, Web of Science, named Dr. Ballantyne as a “Highly Cited Researcher” 2017-24 in the top 1% of researchers most cited. In 2019, Dr. Ballantyne received the Baylor College of Medicine Michael E. DeBakey, MD, Excellence in Research Award. His research in biomarkers has led to the FDA approval of two biomarkers for cardiovascular risk prediction, and he has played a prominent role in the development and FDA approval of new therapies for the treatment of lipids and atherosclerosis.

With over 1,000 publications in atherosclerosis, lipids, genomics, biomarkers and inflammation, Christie also serves on the Editorial Board for Circulation and JACC. Christie is the Chief of Cardiovascular Research and Cardiology at Baylor College of Medicine, along with being the Director of the Cardiometabolic Disease Prevention Center at Baylor College of Medicine.

He received his MD from Baylor College of Medicine, with internal medicine residency at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School and cardiology fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine and an AHA Bugher fellowship at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Institute for Molecular Genetics at Baylor.