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Dr. Germino Named Deputy Director of NIDDK

Gregory G. Germino, M.D., an expert in inherited kidney disease who has served on the PKD Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Committee, spoken at PKD National Conventions and received an international award for excellence in PKD research, was named Deputy Director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) in May.

In addition to his research in polycystic kidney disease (PKD), Germino will now help to oversee an annual budget of $1.9 billion and a staff of 630 scientists, physician-scientists and administrators at NIDDK, part of the National Institutes of Health. Of the $1.9 billion dollars he will oversee, last year $41 million of that went to PKD research.

About 80 percent of the institute’s budget funds nation-wide research ranging from common conditions such as diabetes and obesity to rare diseases such as sickle cell disease, Cooley’s anemia and PKD.

“I am honored to have been chosen as the deputy director of the NIDDK,” Germino said. “NIDDK's history is distinguished, and I look forward to encouraging and contributing to its future.”

Germino’s research has generated important contributions to understanding the genetic origins of PKD. He has mentored more than 20 postdoctoral fellows, many of whom continue to research PKD. In 2005, Germino received the Lillian Jean Kaplan International Prize for the Advancement in the Understanding of Polycystic Kidney Disease.

“Dr. Germino is a highly regarded physician-scientist, a committed mentor to the next generation of researchers, an experienced manager of budgets and people, and a compassionate communicator to professional and patient advocacy organizations,” said NIDDK Director Griffin P. Rodgers, M.D. “We are very fortunate to have him join us.”

Germino graduated with a degree in biology from Loyola University Chicago in 1979 and in 1983, he received his medical degree from the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago. In the same year, he began further training in internal medicine and nephrology at Yale and stayed on as a junior faculty member for another four years. He also spent a research year at Oxford University in England. Germino moved to The Johns Hopkins University in 1992 and became a full professor in 2003.

Germino has been a visiting professor and invited lecturer at universities, medical centers and professional and nonprofit associations across the United States and around the world. He has authored more than 70 papers in peer-reviewed journals and more than a dozen book chapters. In addition, he has received numerous awards and served on the boards of several national professional organizations.