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Rujun Gong Lab

About Rujun Gong, MD, PhD, FASN

Rujun Gong, MD, PhD, FASNProfessor of Medicine
Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine
University of Toledo College of Medicine

Office: 419.383.4033
Fax: 419.383.6244
Email: Rujun.Gong@UToledo.edu

Rujun Gong, MD, PhD, FASN is currently Professor of Medicine and Director of Kidney Research in the Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine at the University of Toledo College of Medicine or Medical College of Ohio (MCO). Administratively, Dr. Gong serves as Vice Chair for Research of the Department of Medicine. Besides, he also holds joint professorship at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology. Prior to his joining the University of Toledo College of Medicine in 2018, Dr. Gong had been Associate Professor of Medicine and the founding Director of Kidney Research at Brown University School of Medicine and Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island, USA.
  
Dr. Gong completed the seven-year Medical Education Program (MD degree) at Nanjing University in Nanjing, China, and later earned his PhD degree in Renal Physiology there. The Research Institute of Nephrology at Nanjing University is a premier clinical and investigative nephrology program. There, he received systemic and intensive residency training in internal medicine and renal fellowship training in both clinical and investigative nephrology. After that, he completed his postdoctoral research fellowship training at Brown University. In 2004, he was recruited to the Faculty of Medicine at Brown University and was later promoted to Assistant and Associate Professor there.
    
Dr. Gong's research interests center on pathogenesis and novel therapies of glomerular diseases, in particular podocytopathies and nephrotic syndrome and glomerulopathies; and pathogenic mechanisms of renal fibrogenesis and inflammation. His other research interests include epistasis in common kidney diseases; immunopathogenesis of lupus nephritis; transplant immune tolerance; and mechanisms of acute and chronic kidney injury, repair and regeneration. His research has been well funded by the US National Institutes of Health, private foundations and industry, and has been very active and productive with book chapters, patents and over 90 scientific papers published in high impact journals, including Nature Reviews Nephrology, Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, Kidney International, American Journal of Transplantation, American Journal of Kidney Disease, Journal of Pathology, etc. Dr. Gong was awarded the Young Investigator Award in 2011 by the Chinese American Society of Nephrology for his cutting-edge research on the fundamental role of GSK3 and melanocortinergic pathways in kidney disease. He is an elected Fellow of the American Society of Nephrology (FASN) and is the current Treasurer for the Chinese American Society of Nephrology. He has served as Editor-in-Chief or editorial board member for a number of nephrology and molecular biology journals, and act as study section member for a number of funding agencies, including the US National Institutes of Health, the US Department of Veterans Affair Merit Award, the UK Medical Research Council and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

 

Education

M.D. Clinical Medicine (7-year medical education program)
Cum Laude
Nanjing University School of Medicine
Nanjing, China. 1999.

Ph.D. Renal Physiology
Research Institute of Nephrology, Nanjing University School of Medicine
Nanjing, China. 2001.

M.A. Brown University
Providence, Rhode Island, USA. 2013. (Ad Eundem)

Postgraduate Training

    • 1997 ~ 1998   Internship/Residency
      Nanjing University School of Medicine
      Nanjing, China.

  • 1998 ~ 2001   Nephrology Fellowship
    Research Institute of Nephrology
    Nanjing University School of Medicine
    Nanjing, China.

  • November, 2001 ~ June, 2004   Postdoctoral Fellowship
    Division of Renal Diseases, Department of Medicine
    Brown University School of Medicine
    Providence, Rhode Island, USA.

Academic Appointments

  • July, 2004 ~ June, 2006: Instructor in Medicine
    Department of Medicine, Brown University School of Medicine
    Providence, Rhode Island, USA.

  • July, 2006 ~ June, 2012: Assistant Professor of Medicine (Research Scholar Track)

    Department of Medicine, Brown University School of Medicine
    Providence, Rhode Island, USA.

  • July, 2012 ~ March, 2018: Associate Professor of Medicine (Research Scholar Track)
    Director of Kidney Research, Department of Medicine, Brown University School of Medicine
    Providence, Rhode Island, USA.

  • November, 2001 ~ March, 2018: Medical Research Scientist
    Rhode Island Hospital
    Providence, Rhode Island, USA.

  • March, 2018 ~ present: Professor of Medicine 
    Director of Kidney Research, Division of Nephrology
    University of Toledo College of Medicine
    Toledo, Ohio, USA.

Awards and Commendations

  • November, 2004 Young Investigator Finalist Award
    12th Annual Research Celebration
    Lifespan & Brown Medical School
    Providence, Rhode Island, USA.

  • July, 2005 Young Investigator Award
    Rhode Island Foundation for Health
    Providence, Rhode Island, USA.

  • October, 2006 Young Investigator Finalist Award
    Northwestern Cardiovascular Young Investigators' Forum
    Chicago, Illinois, USA.

  • November, 2011 Young Investigator Award
    Chinese American Society of Nephrology
    Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

  • October, 2017 Elected to Fellow of American Society of Nephrology (FASN)
    American Society of Nephrology
    Washington, D.C., USA

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBER

Scientific journal reviewers

  • Journal of the American Society of Nephrology
  • Kidney International
  • American Journal of Pathology
  • Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology
  • American Journal of Physiology Renal Physiology
  • American Journal of Kidney Disease
  • British Journal of Pharmacology
  • Cell Biology International
  • Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry
  • Journal of Zhejiang University-SCIENCE B
  • Hypertension
  • Nephron Clinical Practice
  • Nephron Experimental Nephrology
  • Physiological Genomics
  • Mediators of Inflammation
  • Free Radical Biology and Medicine
  • PloS ONE
  • Current Drug Safety
  • Neoplasia
  • Renal Failure
  • American Journal of Nephrology
  • International Journal of Nephrology and Renovascular Disease
  • International Journal of General Medicine
  • Oncotarget
  • Physiological Reports

grant reviewer

  • The American Society of Nephrology Kidney Week 2012 Abstract Reviewer
  • NIH Autoimmunity Centers of Excellence Special Emphasis Panel/Scientific Review Group 2014/01 ZAI1 PA-I (J1) 1 meeting; 11/18/2013-11/19/2013, SRO: Drs. Paul Amstad and Andrea Wurster
  • The Nebraska Research Initiative, grant reviewer 2012, 2013
  • Medical Research Council (MRC), UK, grant reviewer 2015, 2016, 2017
  • American Association for the Advancement of Science, grant reviewer 2015
  • Kidney Research, UK, grant reviewer, 2017
  • VA Fall 2017 BL/CS Nephrology-NEPH Merit Review Committee meeting Fall 2017; 11/28/2017, SRO: Dr. Karen L. Block
  • VA Spring 2018 BL/CS Nephrology-NEPH Merit Review Committee meeting Spring 2018; 05/17/2018, SRO: Dr. Mario Rinaudo
  • 2019/01 ZRD1 NEPH-B (01) 1 - ORD Special Emphasis Panel (SEP); 11/27/2018, SRO: Dr. Karen L. Block
  • 2020/08 Council ZRD1 NEPH-C 01 1, 05/21/2020, SRO: Dr. Alex Chiu
  • NIH Special Emphasis Panel ZRG1 DKUS-P 03 M, 07/27/2020, SRO: Dr. Jonathan K Ivins

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Last Updated: 7/15/24