Advisors on Grant Selection

David J. Salant, M.D.

Dr. Salant is Chief of the Renal Section and Professor of Medicine at Boston University. He obtained his medical degree from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa and joined the full-time faculty at Boston University after completing research training with Dr. William G. Couser at Boston University. Prior to that he was a member of the Renal Section at the Johannesburg General Hospital in South Africa where he gained extensive experience in renal transplantation, dialysis and other aspects of clinical nephrology.

Dr. Salant is a senior investigator whose research is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health. His research into the mechanisms of glomerular injury is of considerable topical interest and has received national and international recognition. His work has been regularly presented at scientific sessions of the American Society of Nephrology and other scientific meetings. He has further contributed to the proceedings of these organizations by reviewing abstracts, chairing scientific sessions and symposia, and delivering invited lectures. He also served for several years as a member of a NIH Study Section.

In addition to more than 130 contributions to the scientific literature, Dr. Salant has written several clinical papers on diverse nephrological subjects and book chapters on glomerular diseases and vasculitis of the kidney. He was an author of MKSAP IX and chairman of the ABIM Subspecialty Board of Examiners in Nephrology.

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Pierre Ronco, MD, PhD

Dr. Ronco graduated from the University Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC, Paris, France) where he was appointed in 1986 as a Professor of Renal Medicine. He became chief of the renal division at Tenon hospital in 1995 and of the INSERM Unit 489/702 in 1998.
His main fields of interest are renal immunopathology, and genetics, and the mechanisms of kidney repair. He wrote over 300 articles in peer-reviewed journals, book chapters and monographs. He received several national and international prizes including the Jean Hamburger Award (1999, City of Paris); Marguerite Delahautemaison Award (2000, French Foundation for Medical Research); the Jean Valade Award (2005, Fondation de France); and the 2007 ISN Jean Hamburger Award, for his conbtribution to clinical and translational nephrology in the area of pathomechanisms of glomerular disease. He is a member of the French Academy of Medicine, the Royal Academy of Medicine (Belgium), and the Institut Universitaire de France.

He has been a member of American Society of Nephrology Programme Committee for the 2008 Annual Meeting (Philadelphia) and a co-chair of the Scientific Programme Committee of the World Congress of Nephrology in Milan 2009. He is currently serving as the President of the ERA-EDTA meeting in Paris, 2012.

He trained over 50 PhD and postdoc fellows in the past 20 years and received a special award for excellence in teaching from UPMC University.


Ronald Falk, MD

Dr. Falk's research probes questions focused on immune mediated kidney diseases, especially glomerulonephritis. His clinical and basic science interests include both ANCA glomerulonephritis and small vessel vasculitis (SVV). A central objective of Falk's research is elucidating the causes of ANCA necrotizing and crescentic glomerulonephritis. Unraveling the cause of this disease requires considering a number of factors involved in the devolpment of ANCA glomerulonephritis. Falk conceptualizes this process as opening the vasculitis lock with a key that has a number of "ridges and valleys" analogous to those factors that contribute to the development of this autoimmune disease. He participates in a research group that, in a large study over the last four years has revealed a number of avenues of investigation and new approaches to ongoing questions that pertain not only to ANCA glomerulonephritis, but to the general fields of autoimmunity, inflammation and basic neutrophil and monocyte biology.

Ilya Hulinsky, MD, PhD.

Dr. Hulinky’s research focuses on Clinical Endocrinology, with an emphasis on Islet physiology, transplantation, growth and regeneration and well as immunology. Journal articles include “Insulin Secretion and DNA Synthesis of Cultured Islets of Langerhans is influenced by Matrix,” Pancreas, 1995 (with Harrington J., Cooney S., and Silink M.); and “Alterations in Parameters of Cellular Immunology in Type 1,” Diabetes.

Awards of note: The R.L. Cooper Foundation research awards in 1991, 1992 and 1994, including Leo Dientenfass Prize for ‘Most Interesting Research Project’ in 1991; Distinction of the Dean for ‘Outstanding Academic Performance’ presented by the Dean, Faculty of Medicine, Charles’ University. Upon graduation in 1985; and Prize of the Dean for ‘Best Student of the Year’ presented by the Dean, Faculty of Medicine, Charles’ University in 1981;

He received his M.D. from Charles’ University, Prague in 1985 and PhD in 1989 from Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, PhD. His postgraduate degrees include Diplomate in Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, Certification Examination, American Board of Internal Medicine, USA; Diplomate in Internal Medicine, Certification Examination in Internal Medicine, American Board of Internal Medicine, USA; Specialist Physician Diploma in Internal Medicine (Grade II); and Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education, Prague, Czech Republic. Hospital affiliations include Griffin Hospital and Bridgeport Hospital (both of Yale New Haven Health), Hospital of St Raphael and St Vincent's Medical Center, all in Connecticut.

Stuart Evan Seropian, MD

Dr. Seropian graduated from George Washington University Medical School and served as a fellow at Yale University School of Medicine. He also completed a residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital before becoming Associate Professor of Medicine at Yale. He specializes in Hematology and Oncology. His clinical interests range from Hodgkin's disease, Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (NHL), multiple myeloma, bone marrow transplant and stem cell transplantation.

John Hardin, MD

He has a distinguished career in rheumatology, biomedical research, and medical administration. He is a graduate of the Medical College of Georgia, and received postdoctoral training at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, NY, the National Institutes of Health, and the Massachusetts General Hospital. He was a member of the faculty of Yale University School of Medicine (1976-1991), Professor and Chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of Georgia (1991-2000), and most recently Professor of Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY and a Consultant to the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, Bethesda, MD.

Presently, Dr. Hardin serves as the Chief Science Officer of the Arthritis Foundation. He has served the Arthritis Foundation in multiple roles over the years including Chair of the Research Committee, participation on peer review study sections, and as a member of the New York Chapter Board of Directors.

The Arthritis Foundation has played an important role in Dr. Hardin’s career. In 1984, Dr. Hardin, in conjunction with his collaborators Drs. Joan Steitz and Michael Lerner, received the Arthritis Foundation’s first Lee Howley Prize for outstanding research. The team’s research served as a milestone in the understanding of how genetic information is translated into the proteins that make up all of the cells of the body.

Dr. Hardin’s subsequent work showed that the immune system of patients with lupus responds to these Sm and U1-RNP particles as though they were foreign pathogens. This work set the stage for current work that seeks to understand why the immune system produces specific autoantibodies in the different diseases that cause arthritis. Hardin remains active in research and is currently studying how factors such as vitamin D regulate the immune system and thereby help protect against arthritis.

He has made numerous contributions to autoimmunity research, and published approximately 120 original articles, book chapters, and reviews.