2026 Joseph Heitman: Microbiology Researcher – H-Index, Publications & Awards

Discipline name	D-Index	World Ranking	Current World Ranking	National Ranking	Current National Ranking	Publications	Citations
Microbiology	156	21	20	12	11	760	76519
Genetics	152	130	126	67	66	554	66237

Research.com Recognitions

2026 - Research.com Genetics in United States Leader Award
2026 - Research.com Microbiology in United States Leader Award
2025 - Research.com Genetics in United States Leader Award
2025 - Research.com Microbiology in United States Leader Award
2024 - Research.com Genetics in United States Leader Award
2023 - Research.com Genetics in United States Leader Award
2021 - German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina - Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina – Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften Microbiology and Immunology
2020 - Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
2019 - ASM Award for Basic Research, American Society for Microbiology
2004 - Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
2003 - Oswald Avery Award, Infectious Diseases Society of America
Member of the Association of American Physicians
Member of the Association of American Physicians
Member of the Association of American Physicians
Member of the Association of American Physicians
Member of the Association of American Physicians
Member of the Association of American Physicians

Overview

Joseph Heitman is affiliated with Duke University in the United States. Their research primarily spans the fields of Medicine, Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology, and Agricultural and Biological Sciences.

The scientist's work covers several interconnected subfields including Plant Science, Epidemiology, Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, and Infectious Diseases.

Main topics explored by Joseph Heitman include:

Fungal Infections and Studies
Plant Pathogens and Fungal Diseases
Antifungal resistance and susceptibility
Plant Disease Resistance and Genetics
Yeasts and Rust Fungi Studies
Mycorrhizal Fungi and Plant Interactions
Nail Diseases and Treatments

Recent papers authored or co-authored by Joseph Heitman include:

"Threats Posed by the Fungal Kingdom to Humans, Wildlife, and Agriculture," 2020, published in mBio
"5-fluorocytosine resistance is associated with hypermutation and alterations in capsule biosynthesis in Cryptococcus," 2020, published in Nature Communications
"Centromere scission drives chromosome shuffling and reproductive isolation," 2020, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
"Loss of centromere function drives karyotype evolution in closely related Malassezia species," 2020, published in eLife
"The evolving species concepts used for yeasts: from phenotypes and genomes to speciation networks," 2021, published in Fungal Diversity

Frequent co-authors collaborating with Joseph Heitman include:

Vikas Yadav
Sheng Sun
Shelby Priest
Marco A. Coelho
Anna Floyd Averette

Joseph Heitman has contributed extensively to several publication venues, with numerous works appearing in:

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
Faculty Opinions - Post-Publication Peer Review of the Biomedical Literature
mBio
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
UNC Libraries

Throughout their career, Joseph Heitman has received several awards and honors including:

German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina - Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina - Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften in 2021 for Microbiology and Immunology
Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2020
ASM Award for Basic Research, American Society for Microbiology, in 2019
Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2004
Oswald Avery Award, Infectious Diseases Society of America, in 2003
Member of the Association of American Physicians

Best Publications

Targets for cell cycle arrest by the immunosuppressant rapamycin in yeast.

J Heitman;NR Movva;MN Hall

2553
Citations
The paleozoic origin of enzymatic lignin decomposition reconstructed from 31 fungal genomes

Dimitrios Floudas;Manfred Binder;Robert Riley;Kerrie Barry

1937
Citations
Evolution of pathogenicity and sexual reproduction in eight Candida genomes.

Geraldine Butler;Matthew D. Rasmussen;Michael F. Lin;Michael F. Lin;Manuel A. S. Santos

1227
Citations
Signal Transduction Cascades Regulating Fungal Development and Virulence

Klaus B. Lengeler;Robert C. Davidson;Cletus D'souza;Toshiaki Harashima

1131
Citations
A metabolic enzyme for S-nitrosothiol conserved from bacteria to humans

Limin Liu;Alfred Hausladen;Ming Zeng;Loretta Que

1081
Citations
A nomenclature for restriction enzymes, DNA methyltransferases, homing endonucleases and their genes

Richard J. Roberts;Marlene Belfort;Timothy Bestor;Ashok S. Bhagwat

934
Citations
The Genome of the Basidiomycetous Yeast and Human Pathogen Cryptococcus Neoformans

Brendan J. Loftus;Eula Fung;Paola Roncaglia;Don Rowley

882
Citations
The TOR signaling cascade regulates gene expression in response to nutrients

Maria E. Cardenas;N. Shane Cutler;Michael C. Lorenz;Charles J. Di Como

734
Citations
Nuclear protein localization.

Jose Garcia-Bustos;Joseph Heitman;Michael N. Hall

726
Citations
Calcineurin is required for virulence of Cryptococcus neoformans

Audrey Odom;Scott Muir;Eric Lim;Dena L Toffaletti

626
Citations
Same-sex mating and the origin of the Vancouver Island Cryptococcus gattii outbreak

James A. Fraser;Steven S. Giles;Emily C. Wenink;Scarlett G. Geunes-Boyer

614
Citations
Sexual Cycle of Cryptococcus neoformans var. grubii and Virulence of Congenic a and α Isolates

Kirsten Nielsen;Gary M. Cox;Ping Wang;Dena L. Toffaletti

564
Citations
The Biology of the Cryptococcus neoformans Species Complex

Xiaorong Lin;Joseph Heitman

557
Citations
Galleria mellonella as a Model System To Study Cryptococcus neoformans Pathogenesis

Eleftherios Mylonakis;Roberto Moreno;Joseph B. El Khoury;Alexander Idnurm

526
Citations
Threats Posed by the Fungal Kingdom to Humans, Wildlife, and Agriculture.

Matthew C. Fisher;Sarah J. Gurr;Christina A. Cuomo;David S. Blehert

503
Citations
The MEP2 ammonium permease regulates pseudohyphal differentiation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Michael C. Lorenz;Joseph Heitman

502
Citations
Cryptococcus neoformans mating and virulence are regulated by the G-protein alpha subunit GPA1 and cAMP

J. Andrew Alspaugh;John R. Perfect;Joseph Heitman

495
Citations
Cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase regulates pseudohyphal differentiation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Xuewen Pan;Joseph Heitman

489
Citations
Sensing the environment: lessons from fungi

Yong Sun Bahn;Chaoyang Xue;Alexander Idnurm;Julian C. Rutherford

488
Citations
Sexual reproduction between partners of the same mating type in Cryptococcus neoformans

Xiaorong Lin;Christina M. Hull;Christina M. Hull;Joseph Heitman

482
Citations
A nomenclature for restriction enzymes, DNA methyl transferases, homing endonucleases and their genes

RJ Roberts;M Belford;T Bester;AS Bhagwat

9
Citations
Mandell, Douglas, and Bennett's Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases

Joseph Heitman

3
Citations

Frequent Co-Authors

John R. Perfect Duke University

Maria E. Cardenas Duke University

Gary M. Cox Duke University

Alexander Idnurm University of Melbourne

James A. Fraser University of Queensland

Wenjun Li University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School

Christina A. Cuomo Broad Institute

Kirsten Nielsen University of Minnesota

Fred S. Dietrich Duke University

Xiaorong Lin University of Georgia

External Links

Wikipedia of Joseph Heitman Personal website of Joseph Heitman

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