Biography

Jacqueline Tauber Hecht, PhD, MS, is a professor of pediatrics and the Leah Lewis Distinguished Chair at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, where she has led the Pediatric Research Center since 2008 and serves as Vice‑Chair for Research in the Department of Pediatrics. She also co-directs the Lawrence Family Bone Disease Program of Texas and the Center for Craniofacial Research at UTHealth Houston School of Dentistry, reflecting her leadership across pediatrics, dentistry, and translational genetics. From 2012 to 2020, she served as Associate Dean for Research at the School of Dentistry, expanding research infrastructure and mentorship across the health science campus.

A human geneticist by training, Dr. Hecht’s research focuses on craniofacial anomalies and skeletal dysplasias. She has served as multiple‑principal investigator on major NIH‑funded projects, including large gene‑discovery efforts for nonsyndromic cleft lip/palate and long‑term mechanistic studies of COMP‑related pseudoachondroplasia. Her work has advanced understanding of genetic risk, developed whole‑genome approaches, and explored mechanism‑based therapies. Nationally, she has contributed to NIH study sections and oversight committees and served on editorial boards for leading journals. Her achievements have been recognized with numerous honors, including the UT System Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award, election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the IADR Distinguished Scientist Award in Craniofacial Biology Research.

Dr. Hecht earned a B.S. from New York University, an M.S. in Human Genetics and Genetic Counseling from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and a Ph.D. in Epidemiology from the School of Public Health at UTHealth Houston. She joined McGovern Medical School in 1988 as faculty and directed the UTHealth Genetic Counseling Program for nearly two decades while maintaining clinical and consulting roles with Shriners Children’s and other Texas Medical Center institutions. A dedicated educator and mentor, she has taught extensively in genetics, skeletal and craniofacial biology, supervised numerous graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, and contributed to patient advocacy organizations such as Little People of America and the MHE Research Foundation.

Education

B.S., Biology
New York University, 1968
M.S., Human Genetics and Genetics Counseling
University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, 1976
Ph.D., Epidemiology
University of Texas School of Public Health, 1988

Areas of Interest

Clinical Interests

Medical Genetics, Orthopedic Genetic Disorders, Dwarfing Conditions, Craniofacial Disorders.

Research Interests

Gene discovery in cleft lip and palate, Role of mutant cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (MT-COMP) in pseudoachondroplasia.

Publications

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Skeletal dysplasias/ Dwarfing conditions

Coustry, F., Posey, K.L., Maerz, T., Baker, K., Abraham, A.M., Ambrose, C.G., Nobakhti, S., Shefelbine, S.J., Bi, X., Newton, M., Gawronski, K., Remer, L., Veerisetty, A.C., Hossain, M.G., Chiu, F., Hecht, J. T.: Mutant cartilage oligomeric matrix cartilage (COMP) compromises bone integrity, joint function and the balance between adipogenesis and osteogenesis. Matrix Biol., April 2018 PMID:29309831 PMCID: PMC5910205

Posey, K.L., Coustry, F., Veerisetty, A.C., Hossain, M.G., Gambello, M.J., Hecht, J.T.:  Novel mTORC1 mechanism suggest therapeutic targets for COMPopathies.  Am J Pathol 2019 Jan;189(1):132-146. doi: 10.1016/j.ajpath.2018.09.008. PMID: 30553437 PMCID: PMC6412713

Hecht, J.T., Coustry, F., Veerisetty, A.C., Hossain, M.G., Posey, K.L.:  Resveratrol reduces COMPopathy in mice through activation of autophagy. J Bone Min Res Plus 2020 doi,org/10.1002/jbm4.10456

Hecht, J.T., Veerisetty, A.C., Wu, J., Hossain, M.G., Chiu, F., Gannon, F.H., Posey, K.L.: Primary OA phenotype induced by ER-stress is mitigated by resveratrol. Submitted Am J Pathol 2021

Hoover-Fong, J., Alade, A.Y., Hashmi, S.S., Hecht, J.T., Legare, J., Little, M.E., Liu, C., McGready, J., Modaff, P., Pauli, R.M., Rodriguez-Buritica, D., Schulze, K., Serna E., Smil, C., Bober M.B.: CLARITY: Achondroplasia Natural History Study – a multi-center retrospective cohort study of achondroplasia.  In press Genet Med J 2021

Cleft lip and palate gene discovery

Chiquet, B.T., Yuan, Q., Swindell, E.C., Maili, L., Plant, R., Dyke, J., Boyer, R., Teichgraeber, J.F., Greives, M.R., Mulliken, J.B., Letra, A., Blanton, S.H., Hecht, J.T.: Knockdown of Crispld2 in zebrafish identifies a novel network for nonsyndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate candidate genes.  doi: 10.1038/s41431-018-0192-5. Epub 2018 Jun 13 (10):1441-1450. Eur J Hum Genet. October 26, 2018 PMID: 29899370 PMCID: PMC6138754

Maili, L., Letra, A., Silva, R., Buchanan, E.P., Mulliken, J.B., Greives, M.R., Teichgraeber, J.F., Blackwell, S.J., Ummer, R., Weber, R., Chiquet, B., Blanton, S.H., Hecht, J.T.: PBX-WNT-P63-IRF6 pathway in nonsyndromic cleft lip and palate. Birth Defects Res. 2020 Feb 1;112(3):234-244. doi: 10.1002/bdr2.1630. Epub 2019 Dec 11. PMID:31825181

Morris, V.E., Hashmi, S.S., Zhu, L., Urbina, C., Greives, M.R., Buchanan, E.P., Mulliken, J.B., Blanton, S.H., Zheng, W.J., Hecht JT, Letra, A.:  Evidence for craniofacial enhancer underlying nonsyndromic cleft lip and palate.  Hum Genet, 2020 April, doi.org/10.1007/s00439-020-02169-9 PMID: 32318854

Bishop, M.R., Diaz Perez, K.K., Sun, M., Ho, S., Chopra, P., Mukhopadhyay, N., Hetmanski, J.B., Taub, M.A., Moreno-Uribe, L.M., Valencia-Ramirez, C.L., Restrepo, C.P.,  Wehby, G., Hecht, J.T., Deleyiannis, F., Weinberg, S.M., Wu-Chou, Y.H., Chen, P.K., Brand, H., Epstein, M.P., Ruczinski, I., Murrary, J.C., Beaty, T.H., Feingold, E.,  Lipinski, R.J., Cutler, D.J., Marazita, M.L.: Genome-wide Enrichment of De Novo Coding Mutations in Orofacial Cleft Trios doi.org/10.1016/j.ajhg.2020.05.018

Young, J., Lifer, S.S., Blanton, S., Hecht, J.T.: DNA methylation variation is identified inmonozygotic twins discordant for nonsyndromic cleft lip and palate. Submitted Frontiers Cell Dev Biol 2021