Directory Entry For: Helen Collins

Biography

Dr. Helen E. Collins received both her BSc (Hons) degree in Biological Sciences in 2006 and her PhD focused on diurnal variation in cardiac excitation-contraction coupling in 2011 from the University of Leicester in England. In 2012, she joined the laboratory of Dr. John Chatham at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (UAB) as a postdoctoral fellow to elucidate the role of STIM1 in the adult heart. While there, she collaborated on studies on the circadian clock in the cardiomyocyte with Drs. Jianhua Zhang and Martin Young. In 2019, Dr. Collins joined the University of Louisville as an Assistant Professor in the Division of Environmental Medicine in the Center for Cardiometabolic Science. Dr. Collins' laboratory focuses on understanding the mechanisms contributing to female cardiovascular health and resilience in the setting of physiological and pathological stressors, such as during pregnancy and in the setting of myocardial infarction. Currently, NIH-funded studies in the Collins lab focus on understanding the metabolic mechanisms contributing to pregnancy-induced cardiac growth and its reversal. As a faculty member, Dr. Collins has received several awards, including a New Investigator award from the Cardiovascular Section of the American Physiological Society, an AHA Live fierce award, and became a fellow of the American Heart Association. She is also active with numerous scientific societies, including the Society for Heart and Vascular Metabolism, where she served as an executive board member from 2019 to 2023. In 2024, she joined the Early Career Committee of the International Society for Heart Research and the AHA BCVS Communications Committee. She is also currently serving on the Editorial Board of Circulation Research, American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory, Diabetes, and Physiological Reports.

Research Interests

Historically, females have been understudied in the context of preclinical and clinical trials, contributing to a reduced knowledge of basic female cardiovascular biology and how the female heart responds to physiological and pathological stress. Therefore, the overall mission of the Collins lab is to understand the mechanisms contributing to female cardiovascular health and resilience. 

Under this larger thematic focus, the Collins lab has several areas of active investigation, including:

• Understanding the mechanisms that contribute to pregnancy-induced cardiac growth and its reversal.
• Pathophysiological and etiological mechanisms of peripartum cardiomyopathy and other pregnancy-associated cardiovascular complications.
• The response of the female heart to pathological stressors and mechanisms underlying sex-dependent changes in post-infarction remodeling.

The Collins lab is located at the University of Louisville in the Center for Cardiometabolic Science.

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