joseph leonard goldstein formemrs (born april 18, 1940) is an american biochemist. he received the nobel prize in physiology or medicine in 1985, along with fellow university of texas southwestern researcher, michael brown, for their studies regarding cholesterol. they discovered that human cells have low-density lipoprotein (ldl) receptors that remove cholesterol from the blood and that when ldl receptors are not present in sufficient numbers, individuals develop hypercholesterolemia and become at risk for cholesterol related diseases, notably coronary heart disease. their studies led to the development of statin drugs.