Martin R. Pollak
Harvard University
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Primary Section: 42, Medical Physiology and Metabolism Secondary Section: 41, Medical Genetics, Hematology, and Oncology Membership Type:
Member
(elected 2014)
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Biosketch
Martin Pollak, MD is a Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Chief of the Division of Nephrology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston Massachusetts. Dr. Pollak is a nephrologist recognized for his studies in the genetic basis of kidney disease. He is known for his contributions to understanding the molecular and genetic basis of diseases of human glomerular function and in understanding the genetic basis the high rate of kidney disease in individuals of recent African descent. Martin is a graduate of Princeton University and New York University’s School of Medicine. He did clinical training in Internal Medicine at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center and in nephrology at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He did postdoctoral research training in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School in the laboratory of Jon and Christine Seidman.
Research Interests
Martin Pollak’s laboratory in interested in the molecular genetic basis of human kidney disease, with a particular focus on diseases of the glomerulus. His laboratory uses a combination of methods, including human genetics, mouse genetics, cell biology, and biochemical tools to understand the connection between phenotype and genotype and to understand glomerular physiology. He and his colleagues have shown that variants in the APOL1 gene both lead to increased rates of kidney disease in people of recent African ancestry, as well as resistance to certain forms of trypanosomal infection. He and his colleagues continue to study the genetics and biology of APOL1-associated kidney disease, a major public health problem in the U.S.
