Robert Jay Alpern, MD, Past President
Dr. Robert J. Alpern is the Ensign Professor of Medicine and Cellular and Molecular Physiology at Yale School of Medicine. He attended undergraduate school at Northwestern University where he majored in Chemistry and received his M.D. degree from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. He performed a residency in Internal Medicine at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York and a postdoctoral fellowship in Nephrology and Renal Physiology at the Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco.
In 1982, Alpern joined the faculty at the University of California, San Francisco, and in 1987 he moved to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center as Chief of the Division of Nephrology and was appointed to the Ruth W. and Milton P. Levy, Sr. Chair in Molecular Nephrology and the Atticus James Gill, M.D. Chair in Medical Science. In 1998 Alpern was appointed Dean of Southwestern Medical School and in 2004 he moved to the Yale University School of Medicine as the Ensign Professor of Medicine and Dean of the School of Medicine. In 2020, he stepped down as dean and has since served on the faculty.
Alpern’s research has focused on the regulation of kidney transport proteins with a focus on regulation by pH and its effects on health. In addition, he has been highly committed to teaching and clinical medicine.
In 2000 he was elected President of the American Society of Nephrology. He was elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians and the National Academy of Medicine and has served on the Advisory Council of the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Alpern also served as a director on the boards of Abbott (2008-2026), AbbVie (2013-2026), and Atias (2023-present).
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