Meet ASN’s Next President

Restricted access

Ronald Falk, MD, FASN, will begin his year as ASN President November 13, 2011. Dr. Falk, Allen Brewster Distinguished Professor of Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is also Chief of the UNC Division of Nephrology and Director of the UNC Kidney Center.

Dr. Falk’s research probes questions focused on immune-mediated kidney diseases, especially glomerulonephritis. His clinical and basic science interests include both ANCA glomerulonephritis and small vessel vasculitis. A central objective of Falk’s research is elucidating the causes of ANCA necrotizing and crescentic glomerulonephritis. Unraveling the cause of this disease requires considering a number of factors involved in the development of ANCA glomerulonephritis. Falk conceptualizes this process as opening the vasculitis lock with a key that has a number of “ridges and valleys” analogous to those factors that contribute to the development of this autoimmune disease. He participates in a research group that, in a large study over the last four years, has revealed a number of avenues of investigation and new approaches to ongoing questions that pertain not only to ANCA glomerulonephritis, but to the general fields of autoimmunity, inflammation, and basic neutrophil and monocyte biology.

Save