Fibroblast Growth Factor 23

Dr. Faul earned his PhD title at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx in 2005, and conducted his postdoctoral research training at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. He currently is an Associate Professor in the Division of Nephrology within the Department of Medicine and in the Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology (CDIB) at UAB.) He is also a member of the Comprehensive Diabetes Center and Section of Cardio-Renal Physiology and Medicine. He focuses on circulating fibroblast growth factors and their pathological effects on the heart in the context of diabetes and chronic kidney disease. In collaborations with pharma industry, Dr. Faul analyzes beneficial cardiac effects of pharmacological blockers for fibroblast growth factor receptors in animal models with diabetes and kidney injury. Dr. Faul received research funding from the American Diabetes Association (ADA), the American Society of Nephrology (ASN), and American Heart Association (AHA), and the NephCure Foundation, as well as support from pharma industry.

Dr. White studied the molecular genetics of metabolic bone diseases during an NIH-sponsored postdoctoral fellowship at the Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM). He played an instrumental role in discovering the novel hormone FGF23 during this time, and since then his laboratory has been funded to study FGF23 and its co-receptor Klotho. Within the University, he is Director of the MMGE Division of Molecular Genetics and Gene Therapy and currently a member of the Indiana Center for Musculoskeletal Health (ICMH).

Dr. Gutiérrez is the Hilda B. Anderson Endowed Chair in Nephrology, Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology, Associate Director of the Division of Nephrology, and Deputy Director of the Center for Clinical and Translational Science at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Dr. Gutiérrez’s research is focused on understanding pathophysiological mechanisms underlying disorders of phosphorus and vitamin D metabolism in health and in individuals with kidney disease. He has a special interest in delineating environmental and/or behavioral factors that may modulate these associations, particularly those related to health disparities, poverty and nutrition. To this end, his group conducts epidemiologic and patient-oriented studies investigating the impact of disturbances in phosphorus metabolism on kidney and cardiovascular health. He is funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, and industry.