Newswise — Bruce Kone, M.D., professor in the Division of Renal Diseases and Hypertension at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), has been named chairman of a Scientific Review Group (SRG) that evaluates training grant and career development award applications for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It is called the Kidney, Urologic and Hematologic Diseases SRG.
Each year, the NIH invests more than $30 billion in medical research through competitive grants awarded to more than 300,000 researchers at more than 2,500 universities, medical schools and other research institutions in all 50 states and around the world.
The NIH Center for Scientific Review assigns these requests for financial support to Scientific Review Groups and Kone chairs the 21-member panel that screens applications for the NIH’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. His term extends through June 30, 2017.
The institute supports research training for students and scientists at various stages of their careers and a range of education and outreach programs to bring science-based information to patients and their families, health care professionals and the public.
“The United States has a high death rate for diabetes and kidney disease,” said Kone, noting that diabetes and kidney disease are the seventh and ninth leading causes of death in the United States, respectively. “We’re seeing these troubling trends despite existing treatment.”
Training the next generation of investigators to battle these diseases is critical, he said.
Initiatives to encourage healthier lifestyles are also needed to fight these conditions, he added. “The investment upfront will pay off dramatically. It will result in healthier people and reduced health care costs,” Kone said.
For 34 consecutive years, the NIH has funded Kone’s research on acute kidney injury and other maladies.
Kone earned his medical degree at the University of Florida College of Medicine, completed his residency in internal medicine at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and finished a fellowship in nephrology at Brigham and Women's Hospital-Harvard Medical School.
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