Program Director
Dr.
Verbalis is a Professor of Medicine and Physiology. He served as
the Chief of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism at Georgetown
University from 1995-2004. Since the fall of 2004 he has been serving
as the interim Chair of the Department of Medicine. His research
has focused on the regulation of neurohypophysial physiology for
the last 25 years, and he is a recognized authority on osmotic and
non-osmotic regulation of vasopressin and oxytocin secretion and
clinical disorders of water metabolism. His research group has also
worked extensively in the area of adaptation to hyponatremia, and
he developed and characterized the animal model of long-term hypoosmolality
that has become widely utilized for hyponatremia research. His laboratory
also has extensively studied the central controls of ingestive behaviors
in animals, using expression of the immediate early gene product
cFos to identify cells activated by specific stimuli to study the
role of neurohypophysial peptides secreted within the brain to modulate
the intake of NaCl, food and water. Recently, his laboratory has
focused on the renal effects of AVP during kidney adaptation to
hypoosmolality, and specifically the mechanisms underlying renal
escape from vasopressin-induced antidiuresis. His research has been
continuously funded by the NIH for the last 14 years. Throughout
his research career Dr. Verbalis has integrated clinical research
studies with his basic laboratory research in all of the above areas
of study: neurohypophyseal regulation, regulation of food intake,
and disorders of water metabolism. As a result of his expertise
in these diverse areas, Dr. Verbalis's laboratory has developed
the ability to integrate in vivo behavioral and physiological models
with basic methods of cellular and molecular analyses and clinical
research studies in humans in order to understand the central and
peripheral control mechanisms involved in the regulation of body
fluid and caloric homeostasis. He has served on the Editorial Boards
of both basic research and clinical research journals, including
the American Journal of Physiology, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology
and Metabolism, Journal of Neuroendocrinology, Clinical Nephrology
and Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology. He was elected to the American
Society for Clinical Investigation in 1987, and holds numerous memberships
in both basic and clinical research societies.
Dr. Verbalis served
as chair of the GCRC Advisory Committee from the inception of the
Georgetown University GCRC in 1999 until August of 2001, when he
was named interim Program Director upon the departure of Dr. Raymond
Woosley. He accepted the permanent directorship of the GCRC in August
2002. Over the past four years he has led the GCRC through a period
of stabilization, followed by the current phase of increased growth
and expansion (see section IV.B.1). As Program Director, Dr. Verbalis
oversees the day-to-day operation of the GCRC. He is thus responsible
for executing GCRC policies as established by the GCRC program and
by the GAC, including the organization and management of the GCRC
staff, the efficient operation of the core laboratories and ensuring
the care and safety of the research subjects and patients admitted
to the Center.
Joseph
G. Verbalis, MD
Chief, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism
Professor of Medicine and Physiology
Voice: 202-687-2818
Fax: 202-784-1505
E-mail: verbalis@georgetown.edu
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