Michael G. Levin, MD — Levin Lab

◆  Levin Lab
Levin Lab — University of Pennsylvania

Human genetics, translated into medicine.

We use human genetics and bioinformatics to identify therapeutic targets, predict cardiovascular risk, and translate both into the clinic.

Michael G. Levin, MD
Michael G. Levin, MD, MSTR
Cardiologist & genetic epidemiologist · Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania · Staff Cardiologist, Philadelphia VA Medical Center
Research

From discovery to the bedside.

Drug target identification & validation
Large-scale genetic discovery across common and rare variants — built on bioinformatics and deep phenotyping — paired with fine-mapping, colocalization, and Mendelian randomization to nominate candidate genes and evaluate their putative causal roles.
Cardiovascular risk prediction
We build, benchmark, and clinically evaluate polygenic risk scores against deeply phenotyped biobank and clinical cohorts for cardiovascular risk stratification.
Clinical translation
Genetically-informed clinical trials and mechanistic clinical studies that test what genetic discoveries imply about human biology.

We work with biobanks including the Million Veteran Program, Penn Medicine BioBank, UK Biobank, and All of Us — across cardiovascular phenotypes including atherosclerosis, lipoproteins including lipoprotein(a), and heart failure and cardiomyopathy.

Highlights

100+ publications in journals including JAMA, Nature Genetics, and Circulation.

From gene to trial
A missense variant in IL6R protects against peripheral artery disease (Circulation Research, 2021) — a genetics-nominated target now being tested in our ongoing clinical trial of colchicine in PAD.
Toward the clinic
Widely-used coronary heart disease polygenic risk scores give discordant individual-level risk estimates (JAMA, 2025) — defining a clinical-implementation gap that must close before PRS reach the bedside.
Selected Publications
Tsaggaris JC, Mimouni N, Judy RL, Xue D, Morley MP, Wang X, Cotney JL, Kelly DP, Day SM, Cappola TP, BioBank PM, Damrauer SM, Levin MG. Shared additive- and variance-associated genetic architecture of cardiac structure and function. 2026. doi:10.64898/2026.11.04.26367193
Hartmann K, Gannon M, Natarajan P, Greenland P, Biobank PM, Levin M. Association of a polygenic risk score with coronary atherosclerotic burden in clinical CT angiograms. 2026. doi:10.64898/2026.05.26.26353801
Sharma P, Judy R, Yuan S, Gellatly C, Saxby KL, Rader DJ, Bown MJ, Levin MG, Damrauer SM. Lipoprotein(a) Is Associated With Increased Risk of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm. JACC: Basic to Translational Science. 2026;11(2):101457. doi:10.1016/j.jacbts.2025.101457. Authorship Note: MGL and SMD contributed equally
Sierra-Pagan JE, Levin MG. Cardiovascular Risk Prediction in Breast Cancer Survivors: Are Polygenic Scores Ready for Prime Time? JACC: CardioOncology. 2026;8(1):77-79. doi:10.1016/j.jaccao.2025.12.001
Sharma P, Levin M. MRI-Derived Fat Depots and Cardiometabolic Pathways Underlying Heart Failure Risk: A Mendelian Randomization Study. 2026. doi:10.64898/2026.07.06.26357230
View all publications →
Open to research collaborations, partnerships, and trainees joining the lab. Get in touch →
Google Scholar ORCID GitHub LinkedIn
Last updated November 07, 2026