Steven Grinspoon

Steven Grinspoon is an American physician and a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. His work investigates the neuroendocrine regulation of body composition and the physiological consequences of fat distribution on cardiovascular disease and inflammation. In 2015, he became the principal investigator of the NIH-funded Nutrition Obesity Research Center at Harvard.

Early life Steven Grinspoon is the son of Eileen and Harold Grinspoon, a real estate developer. He graduated from Cornell University in 1983 and attended the University of Rochester School of Medicine, graduating in 1988.

Career Grinspoon is chief of the Massachusetts General Hospital’s (MGH) Metabolism Unit, and Director of the Nutrition and Obesity Research Center at Harvard. He is the MGH Endowed Chair in Neuroendocrinology and Metabolism.

In 2003, he was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation. In 2016, he received the Gerald D. Aurbach Laureate Award for Outstanding Translational Research from the Endocrine Society. Hypothesizing that augmentation of GH pulsatility might reduce visceral fat, Grinspoon led a series of studies demonstrating that that growth-hormone-releasing drug Tesamorelin reduced visceral fat and triglycerides, while improving adiponectin in patients with HIV.

Subsequent studies, published in JAMA and Lancet HIV, demonstrated that Tesamorelin reduced hepatic steatosis as well, the first drug to demonstrate a significant effect among patients with HIV lipodystrophy. Tesamorelin was also studied in individuals with generalized obesity, where it was observed to reduce cIMT, inflammatory markers, lipids, and visceral adiposity.

He investigated the mechanisms and strategies for addressing cardiovascular disease (CVD) in HIV. His work began with epidemiologic studies that demonstrated increased myocardial infarction rates among HIV patients. He identified a higher prevalence of plaque, particularly noncalcified, lipid-rich plaque. He used FDG PET imaging to demonstrate significant arterial inflammation in asymptomatic, low-traditional risk HIV patients. He conducted studies that characterized coronary plaque morphology in HIV patients, revealing an increased prevalence of high-risk plaques with low attenuation and positive remodeling—features that make them more prone to rupture.

Since 2013, he has been leading the REPRIEVE trial, a global primary prevention study conducted across 12 countries. The REPRIEVE trial was recently halted early by its Data Safety Monitoring Board due to a robust efficacy signal, showing that statin therapy reduced major adverse cardiovascular events—including heart attacks, strokes, and cardiovascular deaths—by 35% over five years compared to placebo.

He was among the first to assess metformin and rosiglitazone to reverse insulin resistance and increase adipogenesis in this population. He recognized reduced DICER as a factor that may contribute to dysfunctional adipose tissue in HIV.

Personal life He married Winifred Ann Sandler in 1988. They have three children together.

Works

Grinspoon, Steven K. (April 2003). "Weight loss and wasting in patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus.” Clinical Infectious Diseases 36 (69-78). Grinspoon, Steven K. (19 June 2008). “Initiative to Decrease Cardiovascular Risk and Increase Quality of Care for Patients Living With HIV/AIDS”.Circulation (journal) 18 Grinspoon, Steven K. ;Lake, Jordan, Stanley, Takara; Apovian, Caroline; Brown, Todd. (15 May 2017). “Practical Review of Recognition and Management of Obesity and Lipohypertrophy in Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection”. Clinical Infectious Diseases 64 (1422–1429).

Grinspoon, Steven K; Brown, Todd T. (2020) Williams Textbook of Endocrinology:”Endocrinology of HIV/AIDS”. Elsevier.

Grinspoon, Steven K; Stlanley, Takara L. (January 2022) Oxford Textbook of Endocrinology and Diabetes: “Abnormalities in HIV Infection”. Oxford University Press.

Grinspoon, Steven K; Zanni, Markella V.; Fitchenbaum, Carl J. (July 23, 2023) New England Journal of Medicine: “Pitavastatin to Prevent Cardiovascular Disease in HIV Infection”. Massachusetts Medical Society.