Program Directorship
Program Director - Joseph G Verbalis, MD
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
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.
As Program Director, Dr.
Verbalis oversees the day-to-day operation of the GCRC. He is
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 Verbalis, MD
Program Director, General Clinical Research Center
Iterim Chair, Department of Medicine
Voice: 202-444-7520
E-mail: verbalis@georgetown.edu
Associate Program
Director - Jason G. Umans, MD
Dr. Umans holds an appointment as an Associate Professor in the Georgetown University Department of Medicine, Division of Nephrology and Hypertension with a secondary appointment in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. He is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Nephrology, and also in Clinical Pharmacology. Dr. Umans's clinical and laboratory research has focused for the past 18 years on hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and on women with renal disease complicating pregnancy. As a clinical pharmacologist with a particular interest in pregnancy, he led the effort to bring GUMC, GUH, MRI, and WHC together as the Washington Obstetric Pharmacology Research Unit (WOPRU) to apply for the NICHD-supported Obstetric Pharmacology Research Unit (OPRU) network. The application was successful, and now WOPRU is one of four such centers in the U.S. As co-PI of the WOPRU grant, he designs and directs the pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic OPRU protocols, which depend critically on the GCRC. In 2005, Dr. Umans was appointed the Director of the Penn Medical Laboratory at the MedStar Research Institute. In this position, he is well situated to oversee both the clinical research as well as the clinical research training programs at both institutions.
Dr. Umans has primary oversight for the GCRC's educational and training
programs. While at the University of Chicago, he developed the core
curriculum for clinical pharmacology and nephrology fellows. Dr. Umans
served as the Director of Education in the Georgetown Division of
Nephrology and Hypertension, where he established a T32-funded training
program in Nephrology and Hypertension, and developed its educational
curriculum. Dr. Umans' goal is to develop new curricula that will
motivate and enable young physicians to become clinical investigators.
In this regard, he is the PI of our recently funded K30 award. The
DC Clinical Research Training Consortium is a collaborative effort
by GUMC and MedStar Health with participation by Howard University
(HU) and Children's National Medical Center (CNMC) to develop and
implement a program of rigorous didactic coursework and curricular
support, as an adjunct to mentored research training, by providing
selected junior faculty and advanced postdoctoral clinicians the core
skills needed to perform patient-oriented research.
Jason Umans, MD
Associate Program Director, General Clinical Research Center
E-mail: jgu@georgetown.edu
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