Robert Geoffrey Nelson, M.D., Ph.D.

Senior Investigator

Chronic Kidney Disease Section, Phoenix Epidemiology & Clinical Research Branch

NIDDK

Research Topics

Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney disease worldwide and is a major cause of death and disability. Our research goal is to find the causes and identify new and effective treatments to slow the progression or prevent the development of diabetic kidney disease.

Current Research

Our lab has worked with the Pima Indians in Arizona since 1986, focusing primarily on the kidney complications of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Current activities include identifying biomarkers and underlying mechanisms for diabetic kidney disease and characterizing the structural and functional changes within the kidneys that occur with the development and progression of diabetic kidney disease. Gene expression in kidney tissue and epigenetic modification of gene expression is also a major focus of our work.

Biography

Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles, 1998
M.P.H., Harvard University, 1986
B.S., M.D., Loma Linda University, 1978

Selected Publications

Inker LA, Eneanya ND, Coresh J, Tighiouart H, Wang D, Sang Y, Crews DC, Doria A, Estrella MM, Froissart M, Grams ME, Greene T, Grubb A, Gudnason V, Gutiérrez OM, Kalil R, Karger AB, Mauer M, Navis G, Nelson RG, Poggio ED, Rodby R, Rossing P, Rule AD, Selvin E, Seegmiller JC, Shlipak MG, Torres VE, Yang W, Ballew SH, Couture SJ, Powe NR, Levey AS, Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration.. New Creatinine- and Cystatin C-Based Equations to Estimate GFR without Race. N Engl J Med. 2021;385(19):1737-1749.
Nelson RG, Knowler WC, Kretzler M, Lemley KV, Looker HC, Mauer M, Mitch WE, Najafian B, Bennett PH. Pima Indian Contributions to Our Understanding of Diabetic Kidney Disease. Diabetes. 2021;70(8):1603-1616.
Satake E, Saulnier PJ, Kobayashi H, Gupta MK, Looker HC, Wilson JM, Md Dom ZI, Ihara K, O'Neil K, Krolewski B, Pipino C, Pavkov ME, Nair V, Bitzer M, Niewczas MA, Kretzler M, Mauer M, Doria A, Najafian B, Kulkarni RN, Duffin KL, Pezzolesi MG, Kahn CR, Nelson RG, Krolewski AS. Comprehensive Search for Novel Circulating miRNAs and Axon Guidance Pathway Proteins Associated with Risk of ESKD in Diabetes. J Am Soc Nephrol. 2021;32(9):2331-2351.
Kobayashi H, Looker HC, Satake E, Saulnier PJ, Md Dom ZI, O'Neil K, Ihara K, Krolewski B, Galecki AT, Niewczas MA, Wilson JM, Doria A, Duffin KL, Nelson RG, Krolewski AS. Results of untargeted analysis using the SOMAscan proteomics platform indicates novel associations of circulating proteins with risk of progression to kidney failure in diabetes. Kidney Int. 2022;102(2):370-381.
Nelson RG, Grams ME, Ballew SH, Sang Y, Azizi F, Chadban SJ, Chaker L, Dunning SC, Fox C, Hirakawa Y, Iseki K, Ix J, Jafar TH, Köttgen A, Naimark DMJ, Ohkubo T, Prescott GJ, Rebholz CM, Sabanayagam C, Sairenchi T, Schöttker B, Shibagaki Y, Tonelli M, Zhang L, Gansevoort RT, Matsushita K, Woodward M, Coresh J, Shalev V, CKD Prognosis Consortium.. Development of Risk Prediction Equations for Incident Chronic Kidney Disease. JAMA. 2019;322(21):2104-2114.