T. Alp Ikizler, MD, an internationally known expert on the nutritional and metabolic aspects of kidney disease, will succeed Raymond Harris, MD, as director of the Department of Medicine’s Division of Nephrology and Hypertension in the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine effective July 1.
“It’s been my privilege to serve as the chief of the division for the past 18 years,” said Harris, the Ann and Roscoe R. Robinson Professor of Nephrology, professor of Medicine and professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics.
“I am proud of all that we have accomplished in Nephrology and am delighted that Alp has agreed to take over as the next director,” he said. “I am confident that under his leadership our division will become even stronger in clinical operations, research and education.”
“I am both humbled and excited about this opportunity,” said Ikizler, the Catherine McLaughlin Hakim Professor of Vascular Biology and professor of Medicine. “Under Dr. Harris’ guidance, the Division of Nephrology grew into one of the best academic divisions in the world.”
Harris “has been a tireless advocate for excellence in every aspect of academic enterprise including but not limited to clinical programs with outstanding outcomes, innovative research programs with highest levels of funding and education programs that train the best nephrologists in the country,” Ikizler continued.
“With its unprecedented faculty and the extensive resources offered by Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), the division is poised to excel even better,” he said.
Nancy Brown, MD, chair and physician-in-chief of the Department of Medicine, agreed.
“This division is one of the premier divisions of nephrology in the world,” said Brown, the Hugh J. Morgan Professor of Medicine and professor of Pharmacology. “It is important to ensure continued excellence across the spectrum of discovery, translation and clinical care, as well as to innovate for the future.”
Ikizler earned his medical degree from Istanbul University in 1987. Following residency training in internal medicine in Istanbul, he came to Vanderbilt in 1993. After completing a three-year clinical fellowship in Medicine (Nephrology) at Vanderbilt, he joined the faculty in 1996.
The author or co-author of nearly 300 scientific publications, Ikizler is a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation and past president of the International Society of Renal Nutrition and Metabolism (ISRNM) and the National Kidney Foundation of Middle Tennessee.
He received the foundation’s Joel Kopple Award in 2011 and the Thomas Addis Medal from the ISRNM in 2012 for outstanding contributions to the field.
Ikizler also is highly committed to training physician-scientists.
He directed the Master of Science in Clinical Investigation program from 2006 to 2017, and in 2016 received the VUMC Excellence in Mentoring Translational Scientists Award.
Harris will continue to direct the Vanderbilt Center for Kidney Disease, the Vanderbilt O’Brien Mouse Kidney Physiology and Disease Center and a strategic alliance with Bayer to accelerate development of innovative approaches for treating kidney disease.
