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Gregory G. Germino, M.D., a world-renowned expert in inherited kidney disease, has been appointed as deputy director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), part of the National Institutes of Health, NIDDK Director Griffin P. Rodgers, M.D., has announced.

"Dr. Germino is a highly regarded physician-scientist, a committed mentor to the next generation of researchers, an experienced manager of budgets and people, and a compassionate communicator to professional and patient advocacy organizations," said Rodgers. "We are very fortunate to have him join us."

Germino, who was appointed in May, will help oversee an annual budget of $1.9 billion and a staff of 630 scientists, physician-scientists and administrators at NIDDK's research facilities in Bethesda, Md., and Phoenix. About 80 percent of the institute's budget goes into local economies to support research and research training at universities, institutions and medical centers throughout the United States. The NIDDK's research interests include common conditions such as diabetes and obesity and rare diseases such as sickle cell disease, Cooley's anemia and polycystic kidney disease, an inherited condition characterized by the development of cysts in the kidneys.

"I am honored to have been chosen as the deputy director of the NIDDK," said Germino. "NIDDK's history is distinguished, and I look forward to encouraging and contributing to its future."

As a research investigator at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he was a professor of medicine in the Division of Nephrology and professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Germino made important contributions to understanding the genetic origins of polycystic kidney disease. In addition to the scientific and managerial leadership he will provide to the NIDDK, he will also continue his own research in polycystic kidney disease.

Germino is widely recognized as one of nephrology's premier scientists. His research has generated numerous high-quality antibodies, cell lines and cell culture systems and a series of genetically-altered mouse models that closely mimic human polycystic kidney disease. In the process, Germino has mentored more than 20 postdoctoral fellows, many of whom remain actively engaged in polycystic kidney disease research.

In 1979, Germino received his undergraduate degree in biology from Loyola University of Chicago and in 1983 received his medical degree from the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago. In the same year, he began further training in internal medicine and nephrology at Yale and stayed on as a junior faculty member for another four years. He also spent a research year at Oxford University in England. Germino moved to The Johns Hopkins University in 1992 and became a full professor in 2003.

Germino has been a visiting professor and invited lecturer at universities, medical centers, and professional and nonprofit associations across the United States and around the world. He has authored more than 70 papers in peer-reviewed journals and more than a dozen book chapters. In addition, he has received numerous awards, including the NIH Physician-Scientist Award (1988-1993), the NIH MERIT Award (2000) and the Lillian Jean Kaplan International Prize for the Advancement in the Understanding of Polycystic Kidney Disease (2005). He has served on the boards of several national professional organizations.

NIDDK, part of NIH, conducts and supports basic and clinical research and research training on some of the most common, severe and disabling conditions affecting Americans. The Institute's research interests include: diabetes and other endocrine and metabolic diseases; digestive diseases, nutrition, and obesity; and kidney, urologic and hematologic diseases. For more information, visit www.niddk.nih.gov.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) - The Nation's Medical Research Agency - includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.