NIH Training Grant in Molecular Basis of Renal Disease

The objective of this NIH Training Grant in Molecular Basis of Renal Disease is to mentor outstanding young MDs, MD/PhDs, and PhDs and talented predoctoral PhD and MD/PhD students for successful careers in investigative nephrology. Icahn School of Medicine offers diverse scientific opportunities in an outstanding research environment with faculty dedicated to training physician-scientists and predoctoral students for a career in academic nephrology.

All candidates for this training program will be expected to devote a minimum of two years to training in either basic or clinical research. The trainees will select a preceptor from one of the eight areas encompassed by this program: glomerular disease, virology and gene therapy, immunology/transplant, genetics, developmental and stem cell biology, adhesion molecules and matrix, molecular basis of transport, vascular biology, and clinical research. Throughout the training period, trainees will devote approximately 90 percent of their time to research. The primary focus and vast majority of the trainee's time will be devoted to working on a specific, individualized research project under the guidance of one or more faculty preceptors. In addition, trainees will participate in weekly laboratory meetings, spend a portion of their time attending specific divisional, departmental and institutional research-oriented conferences, and will enroll in at least one didactic, graduate-level course during the first- and second-years of training. MDs will not be assigned clinical duties during the period of their training.

A diverse faculty has been integrated into the program from the:

  • Cardiovascular Institute and Center for Cardiovascular Health
  • Center for Immunobiology
  • Recanati/Miller Transplantation Institute

and the Departments of:

  • Gene and Cell Medicine
  • Oncological Sciences
  • Human Genetic
    • Medicine (including Nephrology, Hematology and Medical Oncology, Liver Diseases, Infectious Diseases, Cardiology, and General Medicine)
    • Ophthalmology
    • Pediatrics (including Nephrology, Liver Diseases, and Infectious Diseases)
    • Pharmacology and Biological Chemistry
    • Molecular Physiology and Biophysics 

Please see the attached chart for participating faculty members:

Name/Degree(s)RankPrimary (& Secondary)
Appointment(s)
Role in
Program
Research
Interest
Brown, Brian, PhD Associate Professor Genetics and Genomic Sciences Mentor Role of microRNA in autoimmune disease
Cagan, Ross, PhD Professor and Assoc Dean Developmental and Regenerative Biology (Graduate School of Biological Sciences) Mentor Using flies to screen anti-cancer drugs. Using flies to study diabetic kidney disease
Campbell, Kirk, MD Associate Professor Medicine-Nephrology Mentor Novel pathways in podocyte injury and glomerular disease progression
Chen, Benjamin, MD, PhD Associate Professor Medicine - Infectious Diseases (Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics) Mentor HIV-host cell interactions HIV entry in kidney epithelial cells
Coca, Steven, DO Associate Professor Medicine-Nephrology Mentor Biomarkers in Diabetic Kidney Disease and Acute Kidney Injury
Daehn, Ilse Sofia, PhD Assistant Professor Medicine – Nephrology   Mentor the impact of glomerular endothelial injury and mitochondrial damage in chronic kidney disease and its progression
Dudley, Joel, PhD Assistant Professor Genetics and Genomic Sciences Mentor Systems biology analysis of complex genetic disease
Friedman, Scott, MD Professor and Dean Medicine -  Liver Diseases (THERAPEUTIC DISCOVERY) Mentor Mechanisms of hepatic injury and fibrosis and how they predispose to hepatocellular carcinoma
Garcia-Sastre, Adolfo, PhD Professor and Director Microbiology (GLOBAL HEALTH AND EMERGING PATHOGENS INSTITUTE) Mentor Type I interferon antiviral responses, viral immunity, and influenza virus molecular biology, pathogenesis and vaccines.
Gusella, Luca Gabriele, PhD Associate Medicine – Nephrology   Mentor the mechanisms of PKD cystogenesis
Hajjar, Roger, MD Professor Medicine- Cardiology Mentor Gene therapy for heart failure
He, John Cijiang, MD, PhD Professor Medicine – Nephrology (Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics) PI and Mentor Podocyte biology and glomerular disease, systems biology of kidney disease
Heeger, Peter, MD Professor Medicine – Nephrology (Immunology Institute) Mentor Translational transplant immunology: mechanisms of rejection/tolerance in mouse models, biomarkers and outcomes in human transplant recipients
Iyengar, Ravi, PhD Professor Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics (Experimental Therapeutics Institute) Mentor Systems biology, systems pharmacology, podocyte biology and modeling
Kaufman, Lewis, MD Associate Professor Medicine-Nephrology Mentor Podocyte injury in FSGS and HIVAN
Lemischka, Ihor, PhD Professor and Director Developmental and Regenerative Biology (Black Family Stem Cell Institute) Mentor Stem cell biology
Li, Xiu-Min, MD Professor Pediatrics, Allergy and Immunology Mentor Immunology and alternative medicine
Lira, Sergio, MD, PhD Professor, Co-Director Medicine, Clinical Immunology (Immunology Institute) Mentor Role of Chemokines in autoimmune disease
Mehrotra, Anita, MD Assistant Professor Medicine- Nephrology Mentor Clinical trials in nephrology and transplant nephrology Non-classical effects of Vitamin D  
Mlodzik, Marek, PhD Professor, and Chair Developmental and Regenerative Biology (Ophthalmology) Mentor Epithelial cell polarity
Murphy, Barbara, MD Professor, and Chair Medicine, Nephrology (Department of Medicine) Mentor and co-PI Transplant immunology, pathogenesis of chronic allograph nephropathy
Ross, Michael, MD Associate Professor Medicine- Nephrology Mentor HIV and HIV drug-induced kidney tubular cell injury
Satlin, Lisa, MD Professor, and Chair Pediatrics (Medicine, Nephrology) Mentor Regulation of potassium channel
Schadt, Eric, PhD Professor, and Chair Genetics and Genomic Sciences (Institute For Genomics and Multiscale Biology) Mentor Systems biology
Sokol, Segei, PhD Professor Developmental and Regenerative Biology Mentor Wnt-signaling and development
Stewart, Andrew, MD Professor, and Director Medicine – Endocrinology, Diabetes and Bone Disease (Diabetes Obesity and Metabolism Institute) Mentor Mechanisms of cell cycle control and upstream signaling in human and rodent beta cell regeneration
Weber, Thomas, PhD Assistant Professor Medicine – Cardiology (Developmental and Regenerative Biology) Mentor Gene therapy for heart failure
Wyatt, Christina, MD Associate Professor Medicine-Nephrology Mentor Role of HIV and hepatitis viruses in kidney disease

To apply, please contact Dr. John Cijiang He:

Division of Nephrology
Tel: 212-241-8004
Fax: 212-987-0389

One Gustave L. Levy Place
Box 1243
New York, NY 10029

Cijiang.he@mssm.edu