Dr. Patel holds the Yin Quan-Yuen Distinguished Professorship in Nephrology in the Department of Internal Medicine at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
Dr. Patel's research focuses on mRNA translation regulation, RNA chemical modifications, and noncoding RNAs in the context of polycystic kidney disease (PKD) and kidney development. His laboratory provided the first evidence that microRNAs directly inhibit PKD1 (the gene mutated in PKD) and thereby promote PKD pathogenesis. The team devised an endogenous, mutation-agnostic PKD1/2 mRNA therapy for autosomal-dominant PKD. This drug is now in clinical trials, marking a major advance in the field. In addition, his laboratory has identified many other microRNAs that may play a pathogenic role in PKD.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has funded Dr. Patel's laboratory continuously since 2009, with the Department of Defense providing additional funding. The research has resulted in several patents and has been published in prestigious journals such as the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, Nature Communications, and Cell Metabolism.
Dr. Patel is active in several national leadership positions. He serves as a member and chair of several NIH and Department of Defense grant study sections. He chairs the Scientific Advisory Committee and is a member of the board of directors of the PKD Foundation. He serves as a consultant for many pharmaceutical companies.
Dr. Patel obtained his medical degree from Pramukhswami Medical College in Karamsad, India. He completed his internal medicine residency at Northwestern University and a clinical nephrology fellowship at UT Southwestern. Following his clinical training, he was an NIH-funded physician-scientist trainee at UT Southwestern, studying kidney genetics and primary cilia biology.
