Bio of Andrea Hevener, PhD

Andrea Hevener, PhD, is an NIH-funded investigator for over two decades studying transcriptional regulation of metabolism and insulin action by hormone-responsive nuclear receptors. Dr. Hevener has extensive expertise in advancing technical and conceptual innovation in metabolism research at UCLA. She currently holds the Roberts Chair in Cellular and Molecular Endocrinology and is the basic science research director of the Iris Cantor-UCLA Women’s Health Center. Dr. Hevener is a contributing PI for an NIH-funded Specialized Center of Research Excellence award in Sex Differences and Women’s Health related to metabolism, and is a funded investigator and member of the NIH Common Fund-supported Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium (MoTrPAC). Dr. Hevener is also a driving force behind the decades-long success of the NIH funded UCSD-UCLA Diabetes Research Center, as she is involved in the center as a member of the Executive Committee, the Enrichment Core, and the director of the Metabolic and Molecular Physiology Core (MMPC). Dr. Hevener mentors trainees across all research stages in a variety of venues at UCLA and the Southern California region, including the NIDDK-funded LIFT-UP program -  Leveraging Institutional Support for Talented, Underrepresented Physicians and/or Scientists.

Dr. Hevener’s laboratory has made important advances in our understanding of estrogen action and estrogen receptor (ER) biology in metabolic tissues. Her research is focused on understanding the tissue-specific target genes of action, as well as the cellular processes controlled by ERs. Much of her research has shown that ERalpha plays a critical role in mitochondrial remodeling, oxidative metabolism, and quality control. Dr. Hevener’s research team interrogates the impact of ERalpha loss and gain of gene expression in a variety of cells and tissue types including skeletal and cardiac muscle, adipose tissue, immune cells, and liver. Her laboratory has determined how impairment of estrogen action contributes to cardiometabolic-related diseases and certain forms of cancer, and identified the beneficial effects of heightened ERalpha action to combat metabolic dysfunction and diet-induced insulin resistance. Similar to this work, her team has advanced the fundamental understanding of the molecular mechanisms that underlie the metabolic health benefits of daily physical activity.