Physician and professor to lecture in Ocala
Dr. Bradlee Heckmann will speak about mitochondria at IHMC on April 9.
Dr. Bradlee Heckmann [Photo courtesy IHMC]
On April 9, the Institute for Human & Machine Cognition will host guest speaker Dr. Bradlee Heckmann in its ongoing Evening Lecture Series.
Heckmann’s talk is titled, “From the Mitochondria with Love—Bioenergetic Factors in Healthy Aging and Disease.” He will discuss emerging insights into how mitochondrial pathways regulate longevity and how their disruption contributes to disease progression. He also will examine promising therapeutic opportunities aimed at restoring mitochondrial function, improving bioenergetic capacity and promoting healthy aging.
Heckmann is the co-founder, president and chief scientific officer of Asha Therapeutics. His academic laboratory studies the regulation of neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration resulting from aberrant bioenergetic regulation in diseases including Parkinson’s, ALS, and Alzheimer’s disease. He serves as an advisor to multiple pharmaceutical and biotech companies and research foundations.
He received his doctoral degree in molecular biology and biochemistry from the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine & Science and holds academic professorships in molecular medicine and medical engineering at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine and USF Health Neuroscience Institute.
IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System and is affiliated with several Florida universities. It has a main campus in Pensacola, which opened in 1999, and a branch campus in Ocala, opened in 2010.
It was a colleague of Heckmann’s, Dr. Dominic D’Agostino, at the USF Morsani College of Medicine, who introduced him to Dr. Ken Ford, the founder of IHMC.
Heckmann, who was born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky, said he was always very active, focusing on sports and athletics throughout high school rather than being a top academician.
“It wasn’t until my freshman year at the University of Kentucky that my interests shifted to research and, in particular, drug delivery technologies,” he shared.
“From a very early age I had my sights set on becoming a physician. I used to have my mother take me to the college’s medical bookstore to get anatomy books rather than being your average school aged kid who would go after more appropriate literary works such as ‘James and the Giant Peach,’ ‘The Berenstain Bears,’ etc… Surprisingly I kept many of those textbooks and still have them in my office to this day,” he added.
Of getting on his current path, Heckmann offered, “I switched career trajectories early in college. I had the opportunity to become involved in early-stage drug development and quickly realized I had a passion for the ‘why’ behind the disease and, importantly, the curiosity of how we can change it. This led me to basic science and then drug discovery rather than clinical care.”
As for his personal life, Heckmann shared that he is married and has “two amazing and brilliant girls.”
“In our spare time, we love tennis and traveling and never say no to a fantastic meal. As a family we are passionate about trying to make a difference, whether that is developing new therapies in the day job to trying to advance resources to address homelessness here in Florida. God has blessed us immensely and it’s our responsibility to help others in any way we can,” he shared.
IHMC is located at 15 SE Osceola Ave., in downtown Ocala. Each IHMC evening lecture begins with a catered reception at 5:30 p.m., followed by the talk at 6 p.m. The events are free to attend, but seating is limited so advance registration is encouraged.
To register, go to https://ihmc-20260409.eventbrite.com
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