Richard P. Lifton, M.D., Ph.D.

Richard P. Lifton, M.D., Ph.D., professor of medicine, genetics and molecular biophysics and biochemistry, has been named this year's recipient of the Homer Smith Award of the American Society of Nephrology for his laboratory's research into the molecular genetics of hypertension and kidney disease. The award, the society's highest scientific prize, was announced this month and will be presented at the society's annual meeting in Philadelphia in October. Dr. Lifton received his M.D. degree from Stanford University in 1982 and received his Ph.D. there in 1986. He joined the Yale faculty in 1993 as an assistant professor of medicine and genetics. His laboratory uses genetic approaches to identify inherited causes of hypertension, renal and cardiovascular disease. To date the group has identified the molecular basis of a dozen such diseases, which have provided important insight into disease causation, diagnosis and treatment.