A middle-aged man with short hair wearing a light-colored shirt, looking at the camera against a wooden background.

Steven C. Hunt, PhD

Languages spoken: Afrikaans, German, English, Russian

Academic Information

Departments Adjunct - Internal Medicine

Divisions: Epidemiology

Steven C. Hunt, PhD, is a research professor in the Cardiovascular Genetics Division, Department of Internal Medicine. His research is centered around genetic and environmental causes of cardiovascular disease, particularly focusing on hypertension and severe obesity. He directs multiple research grants to find genes that increase the risk of hypertension, salt sensitivity, dyslipidemia, and severe obesity. Relatives in extended, high risk pedigrees are recruited to the research clinic for detailed studies assessing underlying cardiovascular and obesity risk factors and disease outcomes. He is trained in biostatistics, genetic epidemiology, physiology, and computer applications to biomedical research.

Research Statement

My focus is on finding genes for common cardiovascular disease, with particular emphasis on hypertension and obesity. I also study the genetics of lipids, diabetes, heart disease, and the risk factors associated with these diseases. We study large case/control, large pedigree, and longitudinal cohort databases of subjects examined over the last 28 years in Utah and at collaborating universities across the country.

Education History

Undergraduate University of Utah
 BS
Doctoral Training University of Utah
 PhD

Selected Publications

Journal Article

  1. Hopkins PN, Ellison RC, Province MA, Pankow JS, Carr JJ, Arnett DK, Lewis CE, Heiss G, Hunt S (2006). Association of coronary artery calcified plaque with clinical coronary heart disease in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's Family Heart Study. The American journal of cardiology, 97(11), 1564-9. (Read full article)
  2. Chang YP, Liu X, Kim JD, Ikeda MA, Layton MR, Weder AB, Cooper RS, Kardia SL, Rao DC, Hunt SC, Luke A, Boerwinkle E, Chakravarti (2007). Multiple genes for essential-hypertension susceptibility on chromosome 1q. American journal of human genetics, 80(2), 253-64. (Read full article)
  3. Stone S, Abkevich V, Russell DL, Riley R, Timms K, Tran T, Trem D, Frank D, Jammulapati S, Neff CD, Iliev D, Gress R, He G, Frech GC, Adams TD, Skolnick MH, Lanchbury JS, Gutin A, Hunt SC, Shattuck (2006). TBC1D1 is a candidate for a severe obesity gene and evidence for a gene/gene interaction in obesity predisposition. Human molecular genetics, 15(18), 2709-20. (Read full article)
  4. Leon JM, Freedman BI, Miller MB, North KE, Hunt SC, Eckfeldt JH, Lewis CE, Kraja AT, Djousse L, Arnett D (2007). Genome scan of glomerular filtration rate and albuminuria: the HyperGEN study. Nephrology, dialysis, transplantation, 22(3), 763-71. (Read full article)
  5. Adams TD, Gress RE, Smith SC, Halverson RC, Simper SC, Rosamond WD, Lamonte MJ, Stroup AM, Hunt S (2007). Long-term mortality after gastric bypass surgery. The New England journal of medicine, 357(8), 753-61. (Read full article)