Tim Assimes

Themistocles L. Assimes, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, and by courtesy, Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Stanford University School of Medicine

Research Description: Dr. Assimes’ research program over the past 15 years has made important contributions to our understanding of the genetic and non-genetic determinants of insulin resistance as well as on the relationship between diabetes, insulin resistance and the risk of atherosclerosis related outcomes. These contributions have been made through his involvement in large scale genome wide association studies (GWAS) of direct and surrogate measures of insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, as well coronary heart disease in multi-ancestry populations. He is also conducting large scale plasma proteomic studies of direct measures of insulin sensitivity and leveraging large scale genomic studies to conduct instrumental variable analyses that shed light on the causal vs. non-causal nature of relationships between cardiometabolic and non-cardiometabolic traits. 

Selected relevant publications (Stanford DRC Members in BOLD):

  1. Vujkovic M, Keaton JM, Lynch JA, Miller DR, Zhou J, Tcheandjieu C, Huffman JE, Assimes TL, Lorenz K, Zhu X, Hilliard AT, Judy RL, Huang J, Lee KM, Klarin D, Pyarajan S, Danesh J, Melander O, Rasheed A, Mallick NH, Hameed S, Qureshi IH, Afzal MN, Malik U, Jalal A, Abbas S, Sheng X, Gao L, Kaestner KH, Susztak K, Sun YV, DuVall SL, Cho K, Lee JS, Gaziano JM, Phillips LS, Meigs JB, Reaven PD, Wilson PW, Edwards TL, Rader DJ, Damrauer SM, O'Donnell CJ, Tsao PS; HPAP Consortium; Regeneron Genetics Center; VA Million Veteran Program, Chang KM, Voight BF, Saleheen D. Discovery of 318 new risk loci for type 2 diabetes and related vascular outcomes among 1.4 million participants in a multi-ancestry meta-analysis. Nat Genet. 2020 Jul;52(7):680-691. doi: 10.1038/s41588-020-0637-y. PMCID: PMC7343592. 

  2. Chang YC, Hee SW, Lee WJ, Li HY, Chang TJ, Lin MW, Hung YJ, Lee IT, Hung KY, Assimes T, Knowles JW, Nong JY, Lee PC, Chiu YF, Chuang LM. Genome-wide scan for circulating vascular adhesion protein-1 levels: MACROD2 as a potential transcriptional regulator of adipogenesis. J Diabetes Investig. 2018 Sep;9(5):1067-1074. doi: 10.1111/jdi.12805. PMCID: PMC6123039. 

  3. Zanetti D, Rao A, Gustafsson S, Assimes TL, Montgomery SB, Ingelsson E. Identification of 22 novel loci associated with urinary biomarkers of albumin, sodium, and potassium excretion. Kidney Int. 2019 May;95(5):1197-1208. doi: 10.1016/j.kint.2018.12.017. PMCID: PMC6535090.

  4. Kho PF, Wary N, Zanetti D, Abbasi F, Knowles JW, Panyard DJ, Watson KT; RISC Investigators; Stell L, Lazzeroni LC, Gustafsson S, Lind L, Petrie JR, Assimes TL. Cross-sectional, interventional, and causal investigation of insulin sensitivity using plasma proteomics in diverse populations. Metabolism. 2025 Aug;169:156263. doi: 10.1016/j.metabol.2025.156263. Epub 2025 Apr 11. PMID: 40221021; PMCID: PMC12170150. 

  5. Zanetti D, Stell L, Gustafsson S, Abbasi F, Tsao PS, Knowles JW; RISC Investigators; Zethelius B, Ärnlöv J, Balkau B, Walker M, Lazzeroni LC, Lind L, Petrie JR, Assimes TL. Plasma proteomic signatures of a direct measure of insulin sensitivity in two population cohorts. Diabetologia. 2023 Sep;66(9):1643-1654. doi: 10.1007/s00125-023-05946-z. Epub 2023 Jun 17. PMID: 37329449; PMCID: PMC10390625. 

  6. Schnurr TM, Katz SF, Justesen JM, O'Sullivan JW, Saliba-Gustafsson P, Assimes TL, Carcamo-Orive I, Ahmed A, Ashley EA, Hansen T, Knowles JW. Interactions of physical activity, muscular fitness, adiposity, and genetic risk for NAFLD. Hepatol Commun. 2022 Jul;6(7):1516-1526. PMID: 35293152; PMCID: PMC9234625. 

  7. Saliba-Gustafsson P, Justesen JM, Ranta A, Sharma D, Bielczyk-Maczynska E, Li J, Najmi LA, Apodaka M, Aspichueta P, Björck HM, Eriksson P, Schurr TM, Franco-Cereceda A, Gloudemans M, Mujica E, den Hoed M, Assimes TL, Quertermous T, Carcamo-Orive I, Park CY, Knowles JW. A functional genomic framework to elucidate novel causal metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease genes. Hepatology. 2025 Jul 1;82(1):165-183. doi: 10.1097/HEP.0000000000001066. Epub 2024 Aug 27. PMID: 39190705; PMCID: PMC11865357.