I am an honorary consultant nephrologist in the Oxford Kidney Unit and an MRC-Kidney Research UK Professor David Kerr Clinician Scientist, based in the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Physiology within the Nuffield Dept. of Medicine.
I consider myself both town and gown, as I was born in Oxford and attended a state school 12 miles away in Witney. I trained in pre-clinical medicine in Cambridge, and clinical medicine in Oxford, and following junior doctor posts around the south coast I returned to Oxford to train in renal medicine. I completed a DPhil with Professor Richard Cornall in 2014. Along the way I have been joined by my partner Ben, two daughters and a tortoise.
My current research seeks to link clinical genetics to molecular understanding in the kidney, by developing in vitro and in vivo genetic and immune kidney disease models. I am interested in urinary protein leak, a hallmark of many renal pathologies. Highly specialised, terminally differentiated podocyte cells are key to maintenance of the glomerular renal filtration barrier, and we are harnessing advances in gene editing and sequencing to gain functional insights into these cells, with direct relevance for human disease. This work combines genomics, transcriptomics, CRISPR gene editing and molecular cell biology techniques. I am funded by an MRC Clinician Scientist Award and a University Fund for Bright’s Disease.
I see patients at the Oxford Kidney Unit, and run a dedicated clinic for genetic and metabolic renal disease. I am the local Principal Investigator for the NURTURE-CKD and NURTURE-NEPHROS studies and I teach on the renal course for graduate entry medical students.
