Medicine Grand Rounds- Dr. Ron Falk, MD, FACP, FASN Chair of the DOM presents: “De-Widgetizing” Clinical Care in the Department of Medicine- An Experiment

Dr. Falk was appointed as Chair of the University of North Carolina Department of Medicine in July 2015 after having served as Chief of the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension from July 1993 through May 2015.

Dr. Falk is recognized as an international expert in vasculitis and autoimmune kidney disease. His career as a translational physician-scientist spans more than three decades. His practice and translational research focus on characterizing the cell, tissue, and physiologic changes in the development of specific autoimmune kidney diseases and developing new approaches for studying autoimmunity, inflammation, and basic neutrophil/monocyte biology. After the discovery in 1988 by Dr. Falk and colleagues of myeloperoxidase anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies (MPO-ANCA), his laboratory has focused on clinical and translational science investigation of the immunogenesis, pathogenesis, and response to treatment of ANCA vasculitis and other autoimmune kidney diseases.

Dr. Falk is a highly respected scholar and mentor who has guided, for over three decades, young physicians, scientists, and physician-scientists to successful careers in academia and industry.

Dr. Falk has served in various capacities within the American Society of Nephrology, including numerous committees and the ASN Council. He served as its president from 2011-12. A notable achievement during his term as president was the founding of the Kidney Health Initiative in 2012, which is a public/private partnership of the American Society of Nephrology and the U.S. FDA. During his tenure as ASN President, the American Society of Nephrology Foundation for Kidney Research was established with a substantial endowment. He has also served or chaired numerous study sections and special emphasis panels within the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Falk continues to receive funding in a P01 Program Project Grant, “ANCA Glomerulonephritis: From Molecules to Man,” UM1, “GDCN Clinical Center—Advancing Clinical Research in Primary Glomerular Diseases,” and a T32 Renal Epidemiology Training Grant.