Many assume that Travis Hinson, M.D. of UConn Health/JAX is a surgeon, someone who spends his days repairing defects and abnormalities of the human heart. In a way, they’re not entirely wrong.
As a clinical cardiologist and scientist specializing in inherited cardiovascular diseases, Hinson operates at the molecular level. Instead of surgical tools, he employs what he calls “molecular scissors” — cutting-edge genetic techniques that go beyond identifying mutations linked to heart failure, enabling their repair. His ultimate goal is to develop targeted treatments tailored to each patient’s unique genetic makeup.
“My work is about fixing genetic problems early, so surgery is never needed,” he explained.
Hinson holds a joint faculty appointment as an associate professor at The Jackson Laboratory and serves UConn School of Medicine as the Jim Calhoun Endowed Associate Professor of Cardiology and Genetics at UConn Health and its Calhoun Cardiology Center. When he’s not seeing patients, he’s in his JAX laboratory, using mouse and human stem cell models to unravel the genetic mechanisms behind heart failure.
His research embodies the core promise of precision medicine: developing customized therapies with higher success rates and fewer side effects than traditional treatments.
From engineer to physician
Growing up in Louisiana, Hinson was surrounded by mentors who worked as engineers in the petroleum industry. He initially followed in their footsteps, launching his early career as a chemical engineering intern at DuPont. There, he helped produce chemicals that contributed to cleaner energy and safer construction materials. However, he soon realized that he wanted to do more than just produce these materials at scale — he wanted to help discover them.
Driven by this curiosity, Hinson pivoted to medicine where potential discoveries could more directly impact human health, earning his medical degree from Harvard University. Yet his engineering mindset remains central to his approach to human health.
“I think about practicality,” he said. “An engineer might discover a chemical that makes paint safer or a car run cleaner. What if I could make a discovery that helps people live longer and feel better?”
That question fuels his research into gene-based treatments for heart failure, a condition affecting more than seven million Americans and the leading cause of death among adults.
A personal approach to saving lives
Hinson’s work in the clinic continues to affirm his commitment to transforming human health. Some of his most rewarding experiences have involved using genetics to “solve the puzzle” of complex medical cases that had stumped other doctors. In one instance, his team identified a genetic mutation responsible for dilated cardiomyopathy within a large extended family. This discovery enabled them to screen and proactively treat multiple family members — many of whom had no symptoms yet — potentially saving their lives.
“It started with one patient and one discovery, but it ended up impacting hundreds of people across the country,” he said.
Looking ahead: The future of precision medicine
At JAX, Hinson is excited to continue developing targeted therapies for heart failure, aiming to correct the genetic mutations underlying the disease. He hopes to soon advance these therapies to first-in-human trials at UConn and is eager to build a team of like-minded researchers and clinicians dedicated to making a difference.
His work could also have broader implications, extending beyond heart failure to other diseases affecting organs like the brain, liver and lungs, which share similar genetic and pathological features.
“It’s thrilling to identify a problem before a patient even knows they have it,” he said. “And even more rewarding to offer them a treatment that could save their life.”
