UW News

March 13, 2008

Robert Knopp named first McMillen Professor

Robert H. Knopp, professor of medicine and head of the Section of Metabolism, Endocrinology and Nutrition at Harborview Medical Center, has been named the first holder of the Robert B. McMillen Professorship in Lipid Research at UW Medicine.


Knopp, director of the Northwest Lipid Research Clinic, is a national leader in the study of diabetes, lipids, cardiovascular disease, and related issues of prevention and treatment. He is an active teacher and mentor, investigator and clinician.



A graduate of Cornell University Medical College, Knopp trained at Harvard and Northwestern. He served on the faculty of Harvard Medical School before coming to the UW in 1974 as associate professor and deputy director of the Northwest Lipid Research Clinic. He has been director of the clinic since 1978. He is the author of more than 400 research papers, chapters, textbooks and other educational materials.


He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the American College of Physicians, a past president of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine, and a past board member of the National Lipid Association, among many other national and local leadership positions in his field. He has received the Lester R. Sauvage Hope Heart Award, the Distinguished Service Citation of the American Diabetes Association, the Meritorious Service Award of the American Heart Association of Washington, the Harborview Cares Award, and numerous other honors.


Knopp directs the Clinical Research Core of the Clinical Nutrition Research Unit and is principal investigator of an R01 grant, Diets for Dyslipidemia in the Metabolic Syndrome.


The McMillen Professorship is intended to support research on the causes and treatments of lipid disorders, such as high blood pressure. Funds supporting it were donated by Michael D. Garvey, Frederick M. Goldberg, and Leonard H. Shapiro of Saltchuk Resources, Inc., in honor of their associate at Saltchuk, the late Robert B. McMillen. Mr. McMillen, who died in 2002, was a patient and longtime supporter of Harborview and of the Northwest Lipid Research Clinic.


He served on the UW Foundation board of directors and the Tyee board. Saltchuk Resources is a Seattle-based company that invests in the maritime industry.