January 27, 2020
Erin Heinzen, Pharm.D., Ph.D., has been hired as an associate professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics with a joint appointment in the UNC Department of Genetics.
Heinzen received her Pharm.D. (2001) and her Ph.D. (2004) in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She then went on to do postdoctoral training with Dr. Richard Mailman in the UNC Department of Psychiatry and Dr. David Goldstein at Duke University. Heinzen comes to the School from Columbia University where she previously served as Deputy Director of the Institute of Genetic Medicine and was the Herbert Irving Assistant Professor of Department of Pathology & Cell Biology.
Heinzen’s research broadly focuses on the study of the genetic and genomic bases of epilepsy. She has contributed to the discovery of 15 novel epilepsy genes, and the gene responsible for Alternating Hemiplegia of Childhood, a rare neurodevelopmental disorder. She is part of multiple highly collaborative research groups including the Epi4K Consortium, Epi25 Collaborative, EPIGEN, the ILAE Consortium of Complex Epilepsies, Pediatric Status Epilepticus Research Group, and the Epilepsy Genetics Initiative. She has active research programs studying the role of somatic variants in epilepsy and disease mechanisms underlying SLC35A2 epilepsy. She has published over 80 peer-reviewed articles. Heinzen looks forward to integrating her genomic research into the research programs at the Eshelman School of Pharmacy to drive new treatment options for patients suffering from epilepsy and other neurological disorders.
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