Dr. Segal’s research focuses on the mechanisms of the increased cardiovascular disease in patients with diabetes, chronic kidney disease, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and women who have preeclampsia or preterm delivery.   His hypothesis is that a key determinate of whether an individual will develop chronic kidney disease or atherosclerosis is the ability of the individual’s endothelium to tolerate their level of blood pressure, glycemia, or other stressors to the endothelium. 

Samy Habib joined the Department of Cellular & Structural Biology in April 2011. He also holds the position as Research Scientist in the South Texas Veterans Health Care System at Audie Murphy VA Hospital since 2005. He was a recipient of several research grant awards from American Diabetes Association, American Heart Association, National Kidney Foundation, New Investigator Award and Merit Review Award from Veterans Affairs, and Pilot Reserach Award from NIH/NIDDK. He has recently received the Excellent of Performance Award from the VA. Dr. Habib has been a regular member of the Kidney Cancer Study Section of the Medical Research Program, Department of Defense. He is also an editorial board member of 5 journals.

The major emphasis of the work in Dr. Habib's laboratory is on identifying the molecular mechanisms mediating fibrosis, hypertrophy and apoptosis in diabetic nephropathy, as well as defining the role of diabetes in the development of renal tumors. Novel finding from his lab confirmed that tuberin, a tumor suppressor protein, regulates the DNA repair enzyme OGG1 pathway. Dysregulation of this pathway leads to accumulation of oxidative DNA damage and predisposes tissue to cancer. Studies at his laboratory are carried out in cultured cells, animal models, and in kidney tumors of patient with Tuberous Sclerosis Complex(TSC) disease.

Kumar Sharma is the Director of Translational Research in Kidney Disease and a Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Sharma is a leading translational researcher whose major area of interest is diabetic complications and kidney disease. His studies have identified several key mediators of early and progressive kidney disease associated with diabetes and obesity. His landmark studies demonstrating the role of the growth factor, TGF-b, have led to the development of clinical applications using approaches to block TGF-b for human diabetic nephropathy. In addition, Dr. Sharma has been involved in his own anti-fibrotic approaches for patients with advanced diabetic nephropathy and recently completed an NIH-funded randomized clinical trial. Most recently, Dr. Sharma’s group has identified a key role for the hormone adiponectin to play a role in early proteinuria associated with obesity. His studies have been published in the JCI, PNAS, JBC, PlOS-Medicine, JCB, AJP-Renal, JASN and Kidney International. Dr. Sharma has recently joined UCSD to lead translational research in kidney disease. He was recently appointed as Chair of the ISN Nexus Symposiums. He has continuous NIH funding since 1996 and presently has several NIH grants, ADA and JDRF support for his research.

Dr. Sharma's research efforts have focused on the pathogenesis of diabetic kidney disease (DN). His laboratory helped define the central role of the cytokine Transforming Growth Factor-b (TGF-b) in DN using cell culture and animal models and translated these findings to the human condition. These studies contributed to the development of the highly innovative anti-fibrotic approaches that are currently being tested in clinical research trials under Dr. Sharma’s guidance. Recently, Dr. Sharma has focused his attention on the contribution of the kidney to cardiovascular disease in diabetes and obesity. His group was the first to describe the role of adiponectin on podocyte function. His group has also used novel proteomic methods for clinical applications and for kidney disease. The goal of his research efforts is to develop new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for personalized medicine in diabetes complications and kidney disease.

Grande Joseph has worked as a renal pathologist at the Mayo Clinic for more than 20 years. His PhD work in pathology from the University of Chicago\'s Medical Scientist Training Program focused on the effects of hyperlipidemia and mechanical force on collagen production by aortic smooth muscle cells. After receiving post-doctoral training in pathology at the University of Michigan in 1991, he established an NIH-funded experimental renal research program at Mayo. Dr. Grande\'s research interests have focused on signaling mechanisms leading to chronic renal disease, with emphasis on inflammation, TGF-beta signaling, and a role of phosphodiesterase inhibitors in abrogating this process. He has collaborated with clinical nephrologists in basic, translational, and clinical studies related to a potential role of fish oil in preventing chronic renal disease, IgA nephropathy in particular. He has served as the study pathologist for DeKAF, an NIH-funded study to define histopathologic features of chronic renal allograft dysfunction. For this project, a number of quantitative histopathologic approaches to assess chronic renal disease, inflammation, and innate immune system activation were developed. More recently, his work has focused on critical signaling pathways responsible for chronic renal injury in renovascular hypertension.

Renal pathology, Understanding of basic mechanisms of fibrogenesis

Kenneth graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Suma Cum Laude with Distinction, was a Teagle and Grupe Scholar at Weill Medical College of Cornell University, and trained as a physician-scientist at Cornell and NIH. Dr. Maiese has been elected to America\\\'s Top Physicians and The Best of U.S. Physicians.

Hypertension and kidney disease in pregnancy, Genetics of essential hypertension and preeclampsia, Coagulation abnormalities in preeclampsia, Prostaglandin metabolism in pregnancy-induced hypertension

Anil Mandal is a native of India and a naturalized citizen of the United States of America. He is board certified in Internal Medicine and Nephrology (Kidney disease and hypertension). Sugar diabetes is the most common cause of kidney failure in the USA and world wide. This strong association between diabetes and kidney failure has inspired Dr Mandal to develop the frame work of Mandal Diabetes Research foundation to assist diabetic patients to live a good life with medical treatment, and not go to dialysis. Sugar diabetes is the most common cause of kidney failure in the USA and world wide. This strong association between diabetes and kidney failure has inspired Dr Mandal to develop the frame work of Mandal Diabetes Research foundation to assist diabetic patients to live a good life with medical treatment, and not go to dialysis.

Anil Madal's passion for diabetes care led him to found the Mandal Diabetes Research Foundation with a goal of reducing end stage renal disease and the need for dialysis. His efforts are tireless in research and writing to develop a paradigm of therapy that will enable diabetics to live a full, happy life.

Sharma S. Prabhakar is a distinguished nephrologist currently at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, where he is a tenured professor in the Departments of Medicine and Cell Physiology and Molecular Biophysics, and the Chief of Nephrology Division and Vice Chairman, Department of Medicine. He is an established researcher examining pathophysiologic mechanisms of diabetic nephropathy and of insulin resistance in vitro and animal models.Dr. Prabhakar has over 100 publications including original articles, reviews, book chapters and published abstracts in prestigious journals, such as the American Journal of Physiology, Journal of American Society of Nephrology, and Kidney International. In recognition of his excellence in practice of medicine, Dr. Prabhakar was awarded an endowed chair by the University Medical Center. He is active in several professional societies and organizations and is the current President of American Federation for Medical Research.

Professional interests include research and also educating physicians and general community in hypertension, diabetes and kidney disease.

John Maesaka is a graduate of Harvard College and Boston University School of Medicine with medical residencies in internal medicine at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, MO and Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York City, and nephrology fellowship at Mt. Sinai Medical Center. He spent 5 years in the micropuncture laboratory at Mt. Sinai, studying uric acid and phosphate transport. Dr. Maesaka was chief of the renal section at the E. Orange VA Medical Center in New Jersey, chief of nephrology and hypertension at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center and presently at Winthrop-University Hospital, which is the clinical center of SUNY Stony Brook Medical School where he is professor of medicine. His publications presently focus on urate metabolism, most importantly the determination of fractional urate excretion rates in hyponatremic conditions.

His current interest is in contributing to a better understanding of hyponatremia, focusing mainly on renal salt wasting, SIADH and reset osmostat resulting in a paradigm shift in classification of hyponatremia.

Kamyar Kalantar-Zadeh studied medicine in Germany at the University of Bonn (M.D., 1991). He also received a Master’s degree in Public Health (M.P.H.) and an additional doctorate degree in Epidemiology (Ph.D.) from University of California Berkeley, School of Public Health.
Dr. Kalantar’s postgraduate training includes an internship in Medicine/Nephrology in Nuremberg, Germany, residency in Internal Medicine and also in Pediatrics in State University of New York (SUNY) in Brooklyn and Staten Island (SUNY, 1993-97), and a nephrology fellowship at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF, 1997-2000).
During 2000-2012 Dr. Kalantar was a faculty at Harbor-UCLA, Professor of Medicine, Pedaitrics and Public Health at UCLA, and medical director of DaVita dialysis clinic in Long Beach, CA. Since mid-2012 he has promoted to the Chief of the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension at University of California Irvine (UC Irvine) School of Medicine, in Orange. In addition to serving as Professor of Medicine, Public Health and Pediatrics at UC Irvine, He is also an adjunct Professor of Epidemiology at UCLA Fielding School of Public Health in Los Angeles, CA.
Dr. Kalantar-Zadeh is triple board certified in Internal Medicine, Pediatrics and Nephrology by the American boards of specialties in the USA and has been named by several prestigious top-physician directories in the US including TOP DOCTORS, BEST DOCTORS, and TOP PHYSICIANS.
Dr Kalantar is also a standing member of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) study section KNOD, Kidney, Nutrition, Obesity and Diabetes). He has had several grants including from the NIH (R01’s, K24 mid-career award, R21’s, R13, etc.), National Kidney Foundation, American Heart Association, etc. His research group is also supported by a generous philanthropic grant from Mr. Harold Simmons, and Dr Kalantar is the director and founder of Harold Simmons Center for Kidney Disease Research & Epidemiology.
Prof. Kalantar-Zadeh has published over 300 scientific articles, authored 15 chapters, and presented over 300 abstracts and numerous grand rounds lectures in national and international conferences. He is currently editor of 2 nephrology and nutrition textbooks that will be published in 2013.

Kidney disease outcome & epidemiology, cardiovascular risks in CKD, malnutrition & wasting in chronic diseases, inflammation & cachexia, diabetes & obesity, renal osteodystrophy & mineral disorders, sodium & potassium disarrays, anemia & iron deficiency

Pedro A. Jose received his MD degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Santo Tomas, Philippines and received his PhD degree in Physiology from Georgetown University. He has published more than 330 articles; 4 as covers of scientific journals and 5 as subject of editorial commentaries. His research has been recognized (2007 Ernest H. Starling Lecture, 2003 Lewis K. Dahl Memorial Lecture, and NIH MERIT Award). Deciphering the role of variations of the GRK4 in the causation of human essential hypertension was cited by the Director of the NHLBI for its FY 2004 Budget Justification to the US Congress.

His specialities are in the areas of pediatrics and nephrology (kidney care) and his interests are in hypertension and cardiovascular research.

Kambiz Kalantarinia received an MD degree from Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in Iran. He completed his Internal Medicien residency at Prince George\'s Hospital Center in Maryland where he was the chief resident as well. He completed Nephrology Fellowship at the University of Virginia and has been a faculty member at UVA since 2002. Dr. Kalantarinia\'s main research focus is on the utility of contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEU) in monitoring changes in renal blood flow in different clinical settings, including AKI and CKD and in response to other phsyiologic and pharmacologic interventions. He is supported by an NIH k23 grant (2007 - 2012) to study the role Adenosine A2a agonist in diabetic nephropahty. In that study CEU is used to monitor changes in renal blood flow.

Ultrasound imaging of the kidney and the use of novel techniques of contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEU) in monitoring the changes in total and regional renal blood flow,hemodialysis vascular access, specifically factors leading to failure to mature among the arteriovenous fistulae (AVF), and study of potential predictors of AVF maturation, pathways involved in the development and progression of diabetic kidney disease, especially the role of inflammatory molecules

Volker Nickeleit is an internationally recognized expert in kidney pathology with a special interest in transplant kidney diseases. He is subspecialty trained in nephropathology and transplant pathology at the Massachussetts General Hospital (MGH)/Harvard Medical School in Boston and the University of Basel, Switzerland and has over 15 years of experience. Dr. Nickeleit joined UNC in 2001. He currently serves as an elected councilor of the Renal Pathology Society and will be the society President in 2013.

Volker Nickeleit's laboratory specializes in the diagnostic and scientific evaluation of kidney diseases .His major interest centers around different aspects of renal allograft pathology and he closely collaborates with other investigators in Switzerland and Italy. One area of Dr. Volker’s investigation focuses on adjunct markers for the diagnosis of graft rejection in order to better define rejection and minimal threshold levels for the diagnosis of rejection. Over the last few years, he has established a non-human primate model of vascular kidney transplant rejection (i.e. transplant endarteritis). This is an important step since rejection in primates closely mimics changes seen in humans, and vascular rejection is the number one graft killer of kidney and heart transplants. His next goal is to systematically define cellular responses leading from early intimal inflammation to late intimal scarring. These studies require various immunhistochemical and molecular biological techniques including FISH analyses with primate specific probes. In the past, he has defined a new disease entity affecting renal allografts, BK-Virus nephropathy, and introduced surrogate markers into clinical pratice for improved patient management. His future studies will focus on better identifying risk factors for developing BK-virus nephropathy.

Pradeep Kadambi completed his MBBS training at Bangalore Medical College and then trained at the Hospital of Saint Raphael, a Yale affiliate, in Internal Medicine and Nephrology. Due to his passion for kidney transplantation, he pursued a Transplant Nephrology fellowship at the University of Chicago, where he was the first fellow to undergo this training under the guidance of Dr. Michelle Josephson. He subsequently stayed on as faculty at the University of Chicago till UTMB was able to recruit him. He held leadership positions including the Director of the Nephrology Outpatient Practice, and the Director of the Medicine Inpatient Bed Flow Control. Currently, Dr. Kadambi is the Medical Director of the Kidney and Pancreas Transplant Program at UTMB, and is also an active member of the Clinical Enterprise Marketing Committee.

Dr. Pradeep's interests include management of kidney and kidney-pancreas transplant recipients, optimization of immunosuppression, infectious complications in transplantation, performing kidney biopsies, and educating students, residents and fellows.

As transplant nephrologist at the UC Davis Transplant Center, Dr. Gallay evaluates prospective kidney and pancreas transplant patients and conducts pre- and post-transplant medical evaluations and follow-up. Gallay has published studies on aldosteronism, glomerulonephritis and hepatitis C.