Jochen Reiser

Jochen Reiser (born June 23, 1971, in Pforzheim, Germany) is a physician-scientist and a healthcare leader. He is the President of the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) and CEO of the UTMB Health System, which includes the oldest medical school and nursing school in Texas. As chief executive officer, he oversees the enterprise which includes multiple campuses, five health science colleges, the Galveston National Laboratory (BSL-4) and the Correctional Health Care Services for most of Texas.

Prior to joining the University of Texas Medical Branch, he served as the Ralph C Brown Professor and the Chairman of Medicine at Rush University Medical Center. Reiser's research has provided important mechanistic insights into the molecular pathogenesis of kidney diseases.

Reiser discovered the role of suPAR (soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor) as a global, circulating risk factor for chronic kidney disease (CKD) and for acute kidney injury (AKI).

suPAR is investigated as potential causative agent contributing to many kidney diseases including focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). These studies have broad clinical significance and lay the foundation for creation of novel diagnostics and pharmaco-therapeutics with potential benefit for a large patient population. His studies on suPAR molecule were featured in Science in 2018. Reiser has been an advocate of science and innovation for two decades and was named as an inventor on multiple patents. He is co-founder of Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Walden Biosciences, an ARCH Venture Partners joint-venture biopharmaceutical portfolio company dedicated to develop first-in-class therapeutics for kidney diseases. Provided by Wikipedia