Joseph A. Hill, M.D., Ph.D.

Clinical Heart and Vascular Center

James T. Willerson, M.D., Distinguished Chair in Cardiovascular Diseases
Frank M. Ryburn Jr. Chair in Heart Research

Internal Medicine - Cardiology
General Cardiology

New Patient Appointment Accepting Virtual Visits or 214-645-8000

Biography

Joseph A. Hill, M.D., Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center and a member of its Division of Cardiology. In addition to holding a secondary appointment in the Department of Molecular Biology, he serves as Director of the Moss Heart Center.

Dr. Hill holds both the James T. Willerson, M.D., Distinguished Chair in Cardiovascular Diseases and the Frank M. Ryburn Jr. Chair in Heart Research.

He earned his medical and doctoral (pharmacology) degrees at Duke University, conducting his dissertation research in cardiac ion-channel biophysics. He then completed a five-year postdoctoral fellowship in molecular neurobiology at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, studying central and peripheral nicotinic receptors. He next completed an internal medicine internship and residency, as well as a clinical cardiology fellowship, at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Hill joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 2002 and is a three-time recipient of the Outstanding Teacher Award.

His research focuses on molecular mechanisms of structural, functional, metabolic, and electrophysiological remodeling in cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure.

Dr. Hill is a Fellow of the American Heart Association (AHA), the American College of Cardiology (ACC), the International Society for Heart Research, and the Pulmonary Vascular Research Institute. He founded the Council on Academic Cardiology at the ACC and serves on the Basic Cardiovascular Sciences Council of the AHA.

In addition to publishing more than 260 scholarly articles, Dr. Hill co-edited a major textbook entitled Muscle: Fundamental Biology and Mechanisms of Disease and has contributed chapters to 14 books.

Dr. Hill serves on the editorial boards and as a manuscript reviewer for a number of prestigious publications, including the Journal of the American Medical Association, Circulation, Circulation Research, American Journal of Cardiology, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA.

A member of professional organizations that include the Heart Failure Society of America, where he serves on the Executive Council, and the International Society for Heart Research, Dr. Hill also has served on many NIH panels and committees and delivered scores of invited lectures in the U.S. and around the world.

His many honors include serving as the President of the Association of University Cardiologists, election to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and the Association of American Physicians, and being named an American Heart Association Established Investigator.

Meet Dr. Hill

General Cardiologist in Dallas

More people than ever are living with varying degrees of heart failure. That makes effective intervention and treatment options critical.

As Chief of UT Southwestern Medical Center’s Division of Cardiology and Director of the Harry S. Moss Heart Center, general cardiologist Joseph Hill, M.D., Ph.D., has special expertise in evaluating and caring for patients with heart failure, high blood pressure (hypertension), and a range of other cardiovascular conditions.

“Once we determine the underlying cause of a person’s heart failure, we can treat it with evidence-based therapies that range from drugs to sophisticated devices – such as pacemakers and left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) – to heart transplantation,” he says.

Dr. Hill also works with his fellow physicians to evaluate and treat people with issues ranging from coronary artery disease to rhythm disorders and valve disease. He is proud of the expertise and experience UT Southwestern’s heart team offers patients.

“There are few places in the nation that really bring together the three key elements of what we do,” he says. “That is, we strive to provide outstanding care to our patients, to move the field forward by discovering and expanding our knowledge base, and to train subsequent generations of providers and investigators.”

Dr. Hill’s own research focus is molecular biology and heart-tissue regeneration, a strategy for treating conditions such as heart failure and cardiac hypertrophy on molecular and the cellular levels.

He’s happy to foster the success of both his team members and cardiologists in training.

“I’m proud of helping to put together an environment where others can flourish, grow, and make a difference in this field,” he says.

“Heart disease has been our society’s number-one killer for many years, so it is exhilarating to help make an impact that has the potential to be seen across a large group of people.”

Education & Training

Fellowship - Harvard Medical School/Brigham & Women's Hospital (1995-1997), Cardiovascular Disease
Internship/Residency - Harvard Medical School/Brigham & Women's Hospital (1992-1995), Internal Medicine
Fellowship - Institut Pasteur (1988-1992), Molecular Biology
Medical School - Duke University School of Medicine (1980-1987)