Giuseppe Remuzzi

Prof. Giuseppe Remuzzi was born in Bergamo, Italy in 1949. Upon completion of his medical training at the University of Pavia in 1974, he received specialty training in Hematology and Nephrology at the University of Milan. Since 1975 he has pursued an academic career at Bergamo’s Papa Giovanni XXIII hospital, where he was appointed Director of the Department of Medicine and Transplantation (1996-2013), Director of the Department of Immunology and Transplant Medicine (2004) and, from 2011 until 2015, Director of the Department of Medicine. He has also been Head of the Division of Nephrology and Dialysis at the same hospital (1999-2018). In June 2015 he was nominated Chiara Fama Professor of Nephrology at the University of Milan. From 1984 to 2018 he also coordinated the Negri Bergamo Laboratories of the “Mario Negri” Institute for Pharmacological Research and the affiliated Clinical Research Center for Rare Diseases “Aldo e Cele Daccò” in Ranica (BG), a group of basic scientists, physiologists, pharmacologists, molecular and cellular biologists, pathologists and clinicians devoted to the study of human renal diseases and their corresponding animal models from the perspective of pathophysiology and therapeutic intervention. He touched major advances in many areas of nephrology. For example, his studies have led to new insights into many disorders, including the interactions between platelets and endothelium, pathophysiology of glomerular diseases and the factors that influence the progressive loss of kidney function. Work focused on improving the outlook for patients with end stage renal disease. Giuseppe Remuzzi pays tribute to the work of pioneers such as Barry Brenner, who delved deep into the processes behind glomerular function and their possible reversibility. Early work on the use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors to slow the decline of glomerular filtration rates proved dialysis was avoidable, not inevitable. Studies on immunologic mechanisms that influence the survival of transplanted organs, understanding of immunologic tolerance in the disorders that are linked to autoimmunity and finally, genetic diseases of the kidney have also been areas of investigation. Concerned by kidney donation shortages and deploring the current practice of discarding suboptimal donor kidneys, his team has shown that transplanting such kidneys in pairs is feasible and have set up an international effort to validate this approach. Giuseppe Remuzzi is investigating the kidney's ability to regenerate itself.