The Heinrich Lab investigates physiological responses to hypoxia and high altitude.  Human populations have evolved for thousands of years in high-altitude environments on the Tibetan Plateau, the Andean Altiplano, and the Ethiopian highlands.  There is large variation in the adaptive strategies utilized by different high-altitude groups to survive in these environments, highlighting the significance of genetic variation in our physiological responses to environmental stress. Understanding the diversity of physiological responses to high altitude will provide insights into how we respond to chronic hypoxia as a result of disease. 

Awards
NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein Institutional National Research Service Award (F32), National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), Genetic determinants of variation in the hypoxic ventilatory response in low- and high-altitude populations, 2016

Grover C. Stephens Memorial Fellowship Award, UC Irvine, 2013

Best Poster Award, Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, 2012

Jonathan Wade Psoras Award, Arizona State University, 2010

Ametek-Edax Best Poster Award, Arizona Imaging and Microanalysis Society, 2010