John Chorba, MD

Associate Professor

My interests lie in using chemical tools to probe biological mechanisms of disease, with the ultimate goal of developing a better understanding of heart disease to develop novel therapeutics. Currently, my work focuses on the processing mechanisms of PCSK9, a protein that causes elevated cholesterol levels, so as to develop new drug targets against atherosclerosis.

Education
2022 - Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Champion Training, University of California, San Francisco
Cardiology Fellowship, 2014 - , University of California, San Francisco
Internal Medicine Residency, 2010 - , Massachusetts General Hospital
M.D., 2007 - , Harvard Medical School
Honors and Awards
  • Harrington Scholar Innovator Award, Harrington Discovery Institute, 2021
  • Young Physician Scientist Award, American Society for Clinical Investigation, 2020
  • Jeremiah Stamler Distinguished Young Investigator Research Award, Northwestern Young Cardiovascular Investigators Forum, 2019
  • K08 Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Award, NIH/NHLBI, 2015-2020
  • ASPIRE Cardiovascular Award, Pfizer, 2015-2018
  • Hellman Fellowship, Hellman Fellows Fund, 2015-2017
  • Pilot Investigator Award, UCSF Academic Senate, 2015-2017
  • Catalyst Award, UCSF CTSI, 2015-2016
  • Loan Repayment Program, NIH/NHLBI, 2013-2017
  • Research Scholar in Cardiovascular Disease Award, Gilead Sciences, 2013-2016
  • Ruth L. Kirschstein F32 National Research Service Award, NIH/NHLBI, 2012-2014
  • Laennec Young Clinician Award, American Heart Association, 2011
Websites
Publications

  1. Yang NV, Chao JY, Garton KA, Tran T, King SM, Orr J, Oei JH, Crawford A, Kang M, Zalpuri R, Jorgens DM, Konchadi P, Chorba JS, Theusch E, Krauss RM. TOMM40 regulates hepatocellular and plasma lipid metabolism via an LXR-dependent pathway. Molecular metabolism 2024. PMID: 39489289


  2. Chorba JS. Aligning public and institutional incentives to advance biomedical research. Nature cardiovascular research 2024. PMID: 39195896


  3. Boctor D, Bakke B, Chorba JS. The Silent Threat: Bartonella quintana Endocarditis Unveiling Heart Failure and Severe Pulmonary Hypertension. The American journal of case reports 2023. PMID: 38079378


  4. Prince J, Maidens J, Kieu S, Currie C, Barbosa D, Hitchcock C, Saltman A, Norozi K, Wiesner P, Slamon N, Del Grippo E, Padmanabhan D, Subramanian A, Manjunath C, Chorba J, Venkatraman S. Deep Learning Algorithms to Detect Murmurs Associated With Structural Heart Disease. Journal of the American Heart Association 2023. PMID: 37830333


  5. Chorba JS, Xia VQ, Smith GA, Padmanabhan A. Rapid Multiplexed Flow Cytometric Validation of CRISPRi sgRNAs in Tissue Culture. Bio-protocol 2023. PMID: 36789164


  6. Xia VQ, Ong CM, Zier LS, MacGregor JS, Wu AHB, Chorba JS. Heparin Does Not Regulate Circulating Human PCSK9 (Proprotein Convertase Subtilisin-Kexin Type 9) in a General Population. Arteriosclerosis, thrombosis, and vascular biology 2022. PMID: 36475702


  7. Smith GA, Padmanabhan A, Lau BH, Pampana A, Li L, Lee CY, Pelonero A, Nishino T, Sadagopan N, Xia VQ, Jain R, Natarajan P, Wu RS, Black BL, Srivastava D, Shokat KM, Chorba JS. Cold shock domain-containing protein E1 is a posttranscriptional regulator of the LDL receptor. Science translational medicine 2022. PMID: 36103516


  8. Maidens J, Chorba JS, Thomas JD. Physical Maneuvers and Recent Tools to Break the Silence of Clinically Undetectable Heart Sounds. 2022. PMID: 35377403


  9. Chorba JS, Shapiro AM, Le L, Maidens J, Prince J, Pham S, Kanzawa MM, Barbosa DN, Currie C, Brooks C, White BE, Huskin A, Paek J, Geocaris J, Elnathan D, Ronquillo R, Kim R, Alam ZH, Mahadevan VS, Fuller SG, Stalker GW, Bravo SA, Jean D, Lee JJ, Gjergjindreaj M, Mihos CG, Forman ST, Venkatraman S, McCarthy PM, Thomas JD. Deep Learning Algorithm for Automated Cardiac Murmur Detection via a Digital Stethoscope Platform. Journal of the American Heart Association 2021. PMID: 33899504


  10. Gordon DE, Jang GM, Bouhaddou M, Xu J, Obernier K, White KM, O'Meara MJ, Rezelj VV, Guo JZ, Swaney DL, Tummino TA, Huettenhain R, Kaake RM, Richards AL, Tutuncuoglu B, Foussard H, Batra J, Haas K, Modak M, Kim M, Haas P, Polacco BJ, Braberg H, Fabius JM, Eckhardt M, Soucheray M, Bennett MJ, Cakir M, McGregor MJ, Li Q, Meyer B, Roesch F, Vallet T, Mac Kain A, Miorin L, Moreno E, Naing ZZC, Zhou Y, Peng S, Shi Y, Zhang Z, Shen W, Kirby IT, Melnyk JE, Chorba JS, Lou K, Dai SA, Barrio-Hernandez I, Memon D, Hernandez-Armenta C, Lyu J, Mathy CJP, Perica T, Pilla KB, Ganesan SJ, Saltzberg DJ, Rakesh R, Liu X, Rosenthal SB, Calviello L, Venkataramanan S, Liboy-Lugo J, Lin Y, Huang XP, Liu Y, Wankowicz SA, Bohn M, Safari M, Ugur FS, Koh C, Savar NS, Tran QD, Shengjuler D, Fletcher SJ, O'Neal MC, Cai Y, Chang JCJ, Broadhurst DJ, Klippsten S, Sharp PP, Wenzell NA, Kuzuoglu D, Wang HY, Trenker R, Young JM, Cavero DA, Hiatt J, Roth TL, Rathore U, Subramanian A, Noack J, Hubert M, Stroud RM, Frankel AD, Rosenberg OS, Verba KA, Agard DA, Ott M, Emerman M, Jura N, von Zastrow M, Verdin E, Ashworth A, Schwartz O, d'Enfert C, Mukherjee S, Jacobson M, Malik HS, Fujimori DG, Ideker T, Craik CS, Floor SN, Fraser JS, Gross JD, Sali A, Roth BL, Ruggero D, Taunton J, Kortemme T, Beltrao P, Vignuzzi M, García-Sastre A, Shokat KM, Shoichet BK, Krogan NJ. A SARS-CoV-2 protein interaction map reveals targets for drug repurposing. Nature 2020. PMID: 32353859


  11. Galvan AM, Chorba JS. Cell-associated heparin-like molecules modulate the ability of LDL to regulate PCSK9 uptake. Journal of lipid research 2018. PMID: 30463987


  12. Chorba JS, Galvan AM, Shokat KM. A High-Throughput Luciferase Assay to Evaluate Proteolysis of the Single-Turnover Protease PCSK9. Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE 2018. PMID: 30222160


  13. Chorba JS, Galvan AM, Shokat KM. Stepwise processing analyses of the single-turnover PCSK9 protease reveal its substrate sequence specificity and link clinical genotype to lipid phenotype. The Journal of biological chemistry 2018. PMID: 29728531


  14. Chorba JS, Galvan AM, Shokat KM. Stepwise processing analyses of the single-turnover PCSK9 protease reveal its substrate sequence specificity and link clinical genotype to lipid phenotype. The Journal of biological chemistry 2017. PMID: 29259136


  15. Wertheim BM, Aguirre AJ, Bhattacharyya RP, Chorba J, Jadhav AP, Kerry VB, Macklin EA, Motyckova G, Raju S, Lewandrowski K, Hunt DP, Wright DE. An Educational and Administrative Intervention to Promote Rational Laboratory Test Ordering on an Academic General Medicine Service. The American journal of medicine 2016. PMID: 27619354


  16. Chorba JS, Shokat KM. The proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) active site and cleavage sequence differentially regulate protein secretion from proteolysis. The Journal of biological chemistry 2014. PMID: 25210046


  17. Rost NS, Biffi A, Cloonan L, Chorba J, Kelly P, Greer D, Ellinor P, Furie KL. Brain natriuretic peptide predicts functional outcome in ischemic stroke. Stroke 2011. PMID: 22116811


  18. Dewland TA, Chorba JS, Goldschlager N, Marcus GM. Sustained ventricular fibrillation in a conscious patient. Archives of internal medicine 2011. PMID: 21670368


  19. Li J, Chorba JS, Whelan SP. Vesicular stomatitis viruses resistant to the methylase inhibitor sinefungin upregulate RNA synthesis and reveal mutations that affect mRNA cap methylation. Journal of virology 2007. PMID: 17301155


  20. Watterson SH, Carlsen M, Dhar TG, Shen Z, Pitts WJ, Guo J, Gu HH, Norris D, Chorba J, Chen P, Cheney D, Witmer M, Fleener CA, Rouleau K, Townsend R, Hollenbaugh DL, Iwanowicz EJ. Novel inhibitors of IMPDH: a highly potent and selective quinolone-based series. Bioorganic & medicinal chemistry letters 2003. PMID: 12565968


  21. Dhar TG, Watterson SH, Chen P, Shen Z, Gu HH, Norris D, Carlsen M, Haslow KD, Pitts WJ, Guo J, Chorba J, Fleener CA, Rouleau KA, Townsend R, Hollenbaugh D, Iwanowicz EJ. Quinolone-based IMPDH inhibitors: introduction of basic residues on ring D and SAR of the corresponding mono, di and benzofused analogues. Bioorganic & medicinal chemistry letters 2003. PMID: 12565969