THE TRAILBLAZERS ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON MEDICAL SCHOOL Avedis Khachadurian, MD: A Physician-Scientist Whose Investigations Led to the Understanding of Familial Hypercholesterolemias — and Statins B B Y LY N D A RUDOLPH PORTRAIT BY JOHN EMERSON 26 Robert Wood Johnson I MEDICINE orn in Aleppo, Syria. Educated in Armenian and French schools. Working first as an accountant. Later tending patients for free. The physician-scientist who identified the pathogenesis of familial hypercholes- terolemias, Avedis K. Khachadurian, MD, has always believed in taking a different path. “I remember the first time I met Dr. Khachadurian, when I was a candidate for assistant professor,” says Louis Amorosa, MD, interim chief, division of endocrinology, metabolism and nutrition. He expected to be interviewed at the medical school in Piscataway. Instead, Dr. Khachadurian invited Dr. Amorosa to his house in Princeton. “On a Saturday afternoon, we had a lovely meeting. His wife made coffee and served Mediterranean desserts,” recalls Dr. Amorosa. “He interviewed me, we talked, and in the spring, he invited me to the hospital for grand rounds. After that, I received a job offer—and I had never even set foot in the medical school.”