‘World-class’ kidney expert Johnson to lead UF nephrology division

Nephrologist Richard J. Johnson, M.D., a leading hypertension researcher and clinician, has been appointed to lead the University of Florida College of Medicine’s division of nephrology, hypertension and renal transplantation. He also will direct UF’s Hypertension Center.

Johnson, former renal section chief with Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, will assume the position Sept. 1. He succeeds interim division chiefs Anupam Agarwal, M.D., and Edward A. Ross, M.D.

“Dr. Johnson has a long track record of successes in all the major areas — patient care, clinical research, laboratory research, writing, teaching,” said Ross, a UF associate professor of medicine. “He has a world-class reputation.”

Johnson’s research interests include causes of hypertension, the role of uric acid in hypertension and vascular disease, and treatments to fight kidney disease by strengthening the vascular endothelium, cells that line the vessels supplying blood to the kidneys.

In 1994, Johnson received the American Society of Nephrology’s Young Investigator Award, one of the highest awards in nephrology. He is chairman of the National Kidney Foundation’s basic science section, a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, a member of editorial boards for the journals Hypertension and American Journal of Physiology — Renal Physiology, and co-editor of the textbook Comprehensive Clinical Nephrology, now in its second edition.