Saba Sile, M.D.
VUMC researcher lands career development grant
Saba Sile, M.D., instructor in the Division of Genetic Medicine, was recently awarded a grant from the Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program. This ongoing program administered by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation aids in the career development of faculty from historically disadvantaged backgrounds.
The four-year research award is offered to physicians who are committed to excellence in biomedical research, clinical investigation or health services research, and who are interested in improving the health of underserved populations and furthering the understanding and elimination of health disparities.
Under the guidance of mentors Alfred L. George, M.D., director of Genetic Medicine, and Nancy J. Brown, M.D., professor of Clinical Pharmacology, Sile is investigating the genetic underpinnings of high blood pressure, a disease that affects minority populations at a staggering rate.
Sile's research will focus on the kidneys, which play an important role in regulating blood pressure. She is interested in investigating how genes might predispose one to various types of abnormal blood pressure, including essential hypertension, or high blood pressure with no known cause.
The grant will support Sile's research examining two particular kidney genes — CLCNKB and its accessory subunit BSND.
Sile is a 1997 graduate of University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She completed her fellowship in nephrology at Vanderbilt in 2003.