Dominic Raj, M.D., Professor of Medicine and of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and of Biochemistry and of Molecular Biology at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences and Director of the Division of Renal Disease and Hypertension at the GW Medical Faculty Associates has been nominated to be a standing member of the Clinical and Integrative Cardiovascular Sciences Study Section (CICS), a subcommittee of the Cardiovascular and Respiratory Sciences Integrated Review Group of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Center for Scientific Review.
The 19-member study section is responsible for reviewing grant applications for patient-oriented research involving the cardiovascular system and related regulatory organ systems. Raj’s main goal for his four-year term, which began in June, is to ensure that kidney disease is integrated with the study of cardiovascular disease. “Kidney disease used to be a disease of the minority, but with the epidemic of obesity and diabetes it is affecting the affluent as well,” he said. “A lot of people focus on cardiovascular disease, but they do not realize even a small decrease in kidney function is the strongest risk factor for cardiovascular disease.”
Topics covered by the CICS include: human clinical studies; modulation of cardiac/cardiovascular responses and adaptations; neural control of the cardiovascular system; clinical, population, or translational studies of the responses of the cardiovascular system to trauma or surgery; and environmental stresses and modifying conditions.
Raj, whose own research on inflammation and cardiovascular disease in patients with chronic kidney disease has been funded by NIH, sees his nomination as recognition of GW as much as of himself. He stresses the value of the collaborations that it fosters between renowned institutions and says it is “intimidating, but exhilarating” to work with physicians and researchers of such high caliber. “That’s what makes the hard work worth it,” he said.
