Robert Alpern, M.D.

Dean, Yale School of Medicine
Professor of Internal Medicine
Nephrology

General Interests

Fluid and ectrolytes, acid base

Biographical Sketch

Dr. Robert Alpern is the Ensign Professor of Medicine and Dean of Yale School of Medicine. His career has combined interests in research, clinical practice, and teaching.

During his fellowship, Dr. Alpern trained with Floyd Rector in the study of membrane transport in the kidney. In 1982, Dr. Alpern joined the faculty at the University of California, San Francisco, as Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine, and in 1987 he was recruited to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center as Associate Professor and Chief of the Division of Nephrology. At Southwestern Dr. Alpern became Professor of Internal Medicine, and held the Ruth W. and Milton P. Levy, Sr. Chair in Molecular Nephrology and the Atticus James Gill, M.D. Chair in Medical Science. In July 1998 Dr. Alpern was appointed Dean of Southwestern Medical School and in June 2004, he moved to the Yale University School of Medicine to become the Ensign Professor of Medicine, Professor of Internal Medicine and Dean of the medical school.

Dr. Alpern’s research has centered on the regulation of kidney transport proteins. In the course of his career, Dr. Alpern has defined mechanisms of hydrogen and bicarbonate transport in the renal proximal tubule and proved the existence of an electrogenic sodium-coupled bicarbonate transporter in mammals. More recently, his research has focused on the molecular mechanisms by which the renal proximal tubule Na/H antiporter, encoded by NHE3, is regulated. Studies have demonstrated important roles for PyK2, c-Src, ERK, endothelin-1, Fos and Jun.

As Chief of Nephrology, Dr. Alpern built one of the strongest programs in the country. He has served the Nephrology community in many ways, serving on the leadership committees of the National Kidney Foundation and the American Society of Nephrology. He was elected President of the American Society of Nephrology in 2000-01.

Dr. Alpern has served as Associate Editor of the American Journal of Physiology: Renal, as Associate Editor of Hospital Practice: Physiology in Medicine, as Section Editor of the Renal and Electrolyte section of the Annual Review of Physiology, as Section Editor of the Molecular Cell Biology and Physiology of Solute Transport section of Current Opinion in Nephrology and Hypertension, as Consulting Editor of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, as Consulting Editor of Kidney International, and on the editorial board of numerous journals. He was elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, and the Institute of Medicine and has served on the Advisory Council of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Dr. Alpern recently served as co-editor of the textbook, Seldin and Giebisch’s The Kidney.

Education:

Undergraduate B.S., Northwestern University Graduate M.D., University of Chicago Internal Medicine, Columbia Presbyterian Postdoctoral Nephrology Fellowship, University of California, San Francisco

Curriculum Vitae and Links

• Nephrology at Yale

Contact

Campus Address
SHM C203

Mailing Address
333 Cedar St.
New Haven, CT 06510

E-mail
Robert.alpern@yale.edu

Office Phone
(203) 785-4672