Chief of Nephrology and Hypertension
Center for Hypertension, Kidney and Vascular Research
Georgetown University Medical Center
Sweden
Dr.Wilcox has been the Chief of the Georgetown Nephrology Division and the George E.Schreiner Professor of Nephrology since 1994. Prior to this he held distinguished positions at University of Florida, Harvard Medical School, Yale Medical School, University of Cambridge, and London University. He holds numerous grants and leads a large group of clinical and basic scientists, who are actively and continuously publishing the latest developments in their field. He has been Chair of several NIH/NIDDK Study Sections, and is the Vice Chair and Chair Elect of the AHA Council of High Blood Pressure Research. He has received many national and international honors and distinguished lecturer positions.
His research is focused on the interaction between blood pressure and the kidney. His basic research entails studies of genes, cells, tissues and animal models. Currently, he is investigating the hypothesis that oxidative stress is a proximate cause of most of the diseases of the second half of life. He studies this in animal models of hypertension, kidney disease, menopause and aging using a combination of methods including isolated, perfused renal afferent and mesenteric arterioles from mice, and long term whole animal studies. He has developed new catalytic long-acting drugs to combat oxidative stress and validated them in his rat and mouse models. His clinical/translated research is focused on better methods to manage the complications of chronic kidney disease and hypertension. He investigates small human arterioles dissected from a skin biopsy to study the origin of vascular disease. He is developing a new long-acting diuretic that he has taken through Phase 1 clinical trials in normal subjects. He hopes to be able to test the new antioxidant drug in patients in the future.