Ursula Heilmeier, MD

Research Associate
TICR Graduate Programs
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Biography

Ursula Heilmeier studied medicine at the University of Regensburg Medical School, Germany funded through a scholarship from the German National Academic Foundation (Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes). After graduating from Medical School in 2008 she started her residency training in radiology at the Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) hospital in Munich. In 2012, she finished her doctoral thesis (Dr.med.) summa cum laude; in her thesis she investigated macrophage and dendritic cell differentiation. In the same year she joined MQIR at UCSF as a postdoctoral scholar to study musculoskeletal aging. Her research work centers around bone and cartilage health and senescence, with an emphasis on diabetic bone disease and osteoarthritis. She received several awards for her work on diabetic bone disease including the ASBMR Young Investigator Award, the ECTS New Investigator Award as well as awards from the ESCEO and the ISCD.

Honors and Awards

ESCEO-AgNovos Healthcare Young Investigator Award, European Society for Clinical and Economic Aspects of Osteoporosis, Osteoarthritis and MSK Diseases, 2019
Best Clinician Abstract Award, International Society for Clinical Densitometry, 2019
ASBMR Young Investigator Award, American Society for Bone and Mineral Research, 2016
ECTS New Investigator Award, European Calcified Tissue Society, 2016

Publications

Heilmeier U, Burghardt AJ, Tse JJ, Kapoor P, Stok KS, Manske S, Voll RE, Schett G, Finzel S. Analysis of Hand Joint Space Morphology in Women and Men with Hereditary Hemochromatosis. Calcif Tissue Int. 2023 04; 112(4):440-451.
Feldmann D, Jandova I, Heilmeier U, Kollert F, Voll RE, Finzel S. Inflammatory arthritis in systemic sclerosis is associated with elevated C-reactive protein and requires musculoskeletal ultrasound for reliable detection. Front Med (Lausanne). 2022; 9:933809.
Heilmeier U, Hackl M, Schroeder F, Torabi S, Kapoor P, Vierlinger K, Eiriksdottir G, Gudmundsson EF, Harris TB, Gudnason V, Link TM, Grillari J, Schwartz AV. Circulating serum microRNAs including senescent miR-31-5p are associated with incident fragility fractures in older postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Bone. 2022 05; 158:116308.
Heilmeier U, Joseph GB, Pasco C, Dinh N, Torabi S, Darakananda K, Youm J, Carballido-Gamio J, Burghardt AJ, Link TM, Kazakia GJ. Longitudinal Evolution of Bone Microarchitecture and Bone Strength in Type 2 Diabetic Postmenopausal Women With and Without History of Fragility Fractures-A 5-Year Follow-Up Study Using High Resolution Peripheral Quantitative Computed Tomography. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2021; 12:599316.
Heilmeier U, Mamoto K, Amano K, Eck B, Tanaka M, Bullen JA, Schwaiger BJ, Huebner JL, Stabler TV, Kraus VB, Ma CB, Link TM, Li X. Infrapatellar fat pad abnormalities are associated with a higher inflammatory synovial fluid cytokine profile in young adults following ACL tear. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2020 01; 28(1):82-91.
Shimizu T, Cruz A, Tanaka M, Mamoto K, Pedoia V, Burghardt AJ, Heilmeier U, Link TM, Graf J, Imboden JB, Li X. Structural Changes over a Short Period Are Associated with Functional Assessments in Rheumatoid Arthritis. J Rheumatol. 2019 07; 46(7):676-684.
Kretzschmar M, Heilmeier U, Foreman SC, Joseph GB, McCulloch CE, Nevitt MC, Link TM. Central osteophytes develop in cartilage with abnormal structure and composition: data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative cohort. Skeletal Radiol. 2019 Sep; 48(9):1357-1365.
Neumann J, Guimaraes JB, Heilmeier U, Joseph GB, Nevitt MC, McCulloch CE, Link TM. Diabetics show accelerated progression of knee cartilage and meniscal lesions: data from the osteoarthritis initiative. Skeletal Radiol. 2019 Jun; 48(6):919-930.
Heilmeier U, Wamba JM, Joseph GB, Darakananda K, Callan J, Neumann J, Link TM. Baseline knee joint effusion and medial femoral bone marrow edema, in addition to MRI-based T2 relaxation time and texture measurements of knee cartilage, can help predict incident total knee arthroplasty 4-7 years later: data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative. Skeletal Radiol. 2019 Jan; 48(1):89-101.
Joseph GB, McCulloch CE, Nevitt MC, Neumann J, Gersing AS, Kretzschmar M, Schwaiger BJ, Lynch JA, Heilmeier U, Lane NE, Link TM. Tool for osteoarthritis risk prediction (TOARP) over 8 years using baseline clinical data, X-ray, and MRI: Data from the osteoarthritis initiative. J Magn Reson Imaging. 2018 06; 47(6):1517-1526.
Shimizu T, Choi HJ, Heilmeier U, Tanaka M, Burghardt AJ, Gong J, Chanchek N, Link TM, Graf J, Imboden JB, Li X. Assessment of 3-month changes in bone microstructure under anti-TNFα therapy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis using high-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (HR-pQCT). Arthritis Res Ther. 2017 Oct 04; 19(1):222.
Hofmann FC, Neumann J, Heilmeier U, Joseph GB, Nevitt MC, McCulloch CE, Link TM. Conservatively treated knee injury is associated with knee cartilage matrix degeneration measured with MRI-based T2 relaxation times: data from the osteoarthritis initiative. Skeletal Radiol. 2018 Jan; 47(1):93-106.
Chanchek N, Gersing AS, Schwaiger BJ, Nevitt MC, Neumann J, Joseph GB, Lane NE, Zarnowski J, Hofmann FC, Heilmeier U, McCulloch CE, Link TM. Association of diabetes mellitus and biochemical knee cartilage composition assessed by T2 relaxation time measurements: Data from the osteoarthritis initiative. J Magn Reson Imaging. 2018 02; 47(2):380-390.
Joseph GB, McCulloch CE, Nevitt MC, Gersing AS, Schwaiger BJ, Kretzschmar M, Heilmeier U, Link TM. Medial femur T2 Z-scores predict the probability of knee structural worsening over 4-8 years: Data from the osteoarthritis initiative. J Magn Reson Imaging. 2017 10; 46(4):1128-1136.
Link TM, Heilmeier U. Bone Quality-Beyond Bone Mineral Density. Semin Musculoskelet Radiol. 2016 Jul; 20(3):269-278.
Heilmeier U, Patsch JM. Diabetes and Bone. Semin Musculoskelet Radiol. 2016 Jul; 20(3):300-304.
Gersing AS, Schwaiger BJ, Heilmeier U, Joseph GB, Facchetti L, Kretzschmar M, Lynch JA, McCulloch CE, Nevitt MC, Steinbach LS, Link TM. Evaluation of Chondrocalcinosis and Associated Knee Joint Degeneration Using MR Imaging: Data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative. Eur Radiol. 2017 Jun; 27(6):2497-2506.
Serum microRNAs are indicative of skeletal fractures in postmenopausal women with and without type 2 diabetes and influence osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation of adipose-tissue derived mesenchymal stem cells in vitro. J Bone Miner Res 2016 Jun 27. doi: 10.1002/jbmr.2897 [Epub ahead of print]. 2016.
Heilmeier U., Cheng K., Pasco C., Parrish R., Nirody J., Patsch JM., Zhang CA., Joseph GB., Burghardt AJ., Schwartz AV., Link TM., Kazakia, GJ. . Cortical bone laminar analysis reveals increased midcortical and periosteal porosity in type 2 diabetic postmenopausal women with history of fragility fractures compared to fracture-free diabetics. Osteoporos Int. 2016 Sep;27(9):2791-802, [Epub ahead of print]. 2016.
Eur Radiol. 2016 Oct 4. [Epub ahead of print]. 2016.
Heilmeier U, Patsch JM.. Semin Musculoskelet Radiol. Diabetes and Bone. 2016; 3(20):300-304.
Ku E, Pedoia V, Tanaka M, Heilmeier U, Imboden J, Graf J, Link T, Li X. Evaluating radiocarpal cartilage matrix changes 3-months after anti-TNF treatment for rheumatoid arthritis using MR T1ρ imaging. J Magn Reson Imaging. 2017 05; 45(5):1514-1522.
Wise BL, Niu J, Guermazi A, Liu F, Heilmeier U, Ku E, Lynch JA, Zhang Y, Felson DT, Kwoh CK, Lane NE. Magnetic resonance imaging lesions are more severe and cartilage T2 relaxation time measurements are higher in isolated lateral compartment radiographic knee osteoarthritis than in isolated medial compartment disease - data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2017 01; 25(1):85-93.
Goldman LH, Tang K, Facchetti L, Heilmeier U, Joseph GB, Nevitt MC, McCulloch CE, Souza RB, Link TM. Role of thigh muscle cross-sectional area and strength in progression of knee cartilage degeneration over 48 months - data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2016 12; 24(12):2082-2091.
Semin Musculoskelet Radiol. 2016; 3(20):269-278.
Kretzschmar M, Heilmeier U, Yu A, Joseph GB, Liu F, Solka M, McCulloch CE, Nevitt MC, Link TM. Longitudinal analysis of cartilage T2 relaxation times and joint degeneration in African American and Caucasian American women over an observation period of 6 years - data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2016 08; 24(8):1384-91.
Joseph GB, Hou SW, Nardo L, Heilmeier U, Nevitt MC, McCulloch CE, Link TM. MRI findings associated with development of incident knee pain over 48 months: data from the osteoarthritis initiative. Skeletal Radiol. 2016 May; 45(5):653-60.
Heilmeier U, Youm J, Torabi S, Link TM. Osteoporosis Imaging in the Geriatric Patient. Curr Radiol Rep. 2016 Apr; 4(4).
Gersing AS, Solka M, Joseph GB, Schwaiger BJ, Heilmeier U, Feuerriegel G, Nevitt MC, McCulloch CE, Link TM. Progression of cartilage degeneration and clinical symptoms in obese and overweight individuals is dependent on the amount of weight loss: 48-month data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2016 07; 24(7):1126-34.
Liu J, Pedoia V, Heilmeier U, Ku E, Su F, Khanna S, Imboden J, Graf J, Link T, Li X. High-temporospatial-resolution dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) wrist MRI with variable-density pseudo-random circular Cartesian undersampling (CIRCUS) acquisition: evaluation of perfusion in rheumatoid arthritis patients. NMR Biomed. 2016 Jan; 29(1):15-23.
Hackl M, Heilmeier U, Weilner S, Grillari J. Circulating microRNAs as novel biomarkers for bone diseases - Complex signatures for multifactorial diseases? Mol Cell Endocrinol. 2016 09 05; 432:83-95.
Plett SK, Hackney LA, Heilmeier U, Nardo L, Yu A, Zhang CA, Link TM. Femoral condyle insufficiency fractures: associated clinical and morphological findings and impact on outcome. Skeletal Radiol. 2015 Dec; 44(12):1785-94.
Yu A*, Heilmeier U* (* shared first authors), Kretzschmar M, Joseph GB, Liu F, Liebl H, McCulloch CE, Nevitt MC, Lane NE, Link TM. . Osteoarthritis Cartilage. Racial differences in biochemical knee cartilage composition between African-American and Caucasian-American women with 3Tesla MR-based T2 relaxation time measurements - Data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative. 2015; S1063-4584(15)01143-7.
Heilmeier U, Carpenter DR, Patsch JM, Harnish R, Joseph GB, Burghardt AJ, Baum T, Schwartz AV, Lang TF, Link TM. Volumetric femoral BMD, bone geometry, and serum sclerostin levels differ between type 2 diabetic postmenopausal women with and without fragility fractures. Osteoporos Int. 2015 Apr; 26(4):1283-93.
Liebl H, Heilmeier U, Lee S, Nardo L, Patsch J, Schuppert C, Han M, Rondak IC, Banerjee S, Koch K, Link TM, Krug R. In vitro assessment of knee MRI in the presence of metal implants comparing MAVRIC-SL and conventional fast spin echo sequences at 1.5 and 3 T field strength. J Magn Reson Imaging. 2015 May; 41(5):1291-9.
Liebl H, Joseph G, Nevitt MC, Singh N, Heilmeier U, Subburaj K, Jungmann PM, McCulloch CE, Lynch JA, Lane NE, Link TM. Early T2 changes predict onset of radiographic knee osteoarthritis: data from the osteoarthritis initiative. Ann Rheum Dis. 2015 Jul; 74(7):1353-9.
Heilmeier U, Decker C, Miller C, Hintschich C, Reiser MF, Mueller-Lisse UG. Radiologe. 2010 Oct;50(10):902-6. doi: 10.1007/s00117-010-2067-9. German. An unusual case of non-traumatic enophthalmos.