Richard Austin
Dr. Richard Austin is a Professor in the Department of Medicine, McMaster University and is the Amgen Canada Research Chair in Nephrology, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton. He is currently the Research Director at the Hamilton Centre for Kidney Research and is a Career Investigator of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. Dr. Austin earned his Ph.D in Medical Sciences in 1991 from McMaster University. Following a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Human Genetics at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Dr. Austin joined McMaster University in 1993 as an Assistant Professor in Pathology and Molecular Medicine. Dr. Austin is a molecular/cellular biologist who devotes his efforts to research on vascular biology as it relates to the development and progression of diabetes, cardiovascular and renal disease. Dr. Austin holds multiple peer-reviewed research grants and has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers, book chapters and review articles. In addition, Dr. Austin holds numerous patents aimed at using novel treatment strategies to reduce the risk of vascular disease and its complications. Some of the recent discoveries in Dr. Austin’s laboratory include: (i) identifying the cellular stress pathways that contribute to vascular disease, and (ii) identifying TDAG51 as a major cellular regulator of diabetes and obesity. Novel strategies aimed at regulating the expression and/or activity of TDAG51 represent a potential treatment strategy aimed at prevent the onset of diabetes and vascular disease.