Atherotech is a privately-held medical diagnostic company and specialty reference laboratory that develops and markets the Vertical Auto Profile Test, a next-generation cholesterol test that improves the detection rate of those at risk for heart disease. The laboratory provides advanced lipid testing services, helping prevent death and illness due to undetected and under-treated cardiovascular disease. The company provides its unique testing services to physicians, hospitals, clinics and laboratories throughout the United States. Atherotech is a CLIA approved clinical reference laboratory located in Birmingham, Ala. Company founder, Jere Segrest, an expert in the study of cholesterol, developed the VAP Test. Segrest now serves as a consultant to Atherotech, and is an internal medicine physician, acting professor and director of the Atherosclerosis Research Unit at the University of Alabama, Birmingham.