2013 Robert W. Berliner Award for Excellence in Renal Physiology

Abstract

Announcement2013 Robert W. Berliner Award for Excellence in Renal PhysiologyPublished Online:01 May 2013https://doi.org/10.1152/ajprenal.00163.2013This is the final version - click for previous versionMoreSectionsPDF (97 KB)Download PDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesGet permissionsTrack citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInEmail William H. Dantzler, MD, PhD, was selected by the Renal Section as the recipient of the 2013 Robert W. Berliner Award. Bill is an internationally recognized leader in physiology. He is especially noted for his research in comparative renal physiology, where he defined the crucial mechanism of urate secretion in reptilian and avian proximal tubules. His work in birds also provided key information that furthered our understanding of loop of Henle function in the mammalian kidney. He has published over 140 peer-reviewed articles as well as numerous book chapters, reviews, and similar contributions. Bill has been a stalwart leader in the American Physiological Society (APS) and at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, where he has been a faculty member in the Department of Physiology since 1968, and Head of that department from 1991 until he became an Emeritus Professor in 2005.Dr. William H. DantzlerDownload figureDownload PowerPointAfter graduating from Princeton, Dr. Dantzler received his MD from Columbia University in 1961, and his PhD in Zoology from Duke in 1964. At Duke he worked in the laboratory of Dr. Bodil Schmidt-Nielsen, who was the ideal mentor to foster Bill's research and teaching career. He went directly from her laboratory to an Assistant Professorship in the Pharmacology Department of Columbia, which he left in 1968 to accept an Associate Professorship in Physiology at Arizona.Dr. Dantzler's research on the physiology of reptilian and avian nephrons established the functional importance of the anatomic organization of the renal medulla. Comparison of renal concentrating and diluting capacity in these animal classes with that in mammals provided seminal insights into the operation of the mammalian concentrating and diluting mechanisms. Even after achieving emeritus status, Bill, in collaboration with Tom Pannebecker, has used three-dimensional computer reconstruction of immunohistochemical images to provide an elegant picture of the organization of both nephron segments and critical transporters in the mammalian inner medulla.Throughout his career, Bill used innovative technologies such as these to address key questions in renal physiology. In the early 1970s he was one of the first investigators to isolate and perfuse nephron segments in vitro. By measuring unidirectional fluxes of urate in proximal nephron segments from snake kidneys, Bill characterized the mechanism of active urate secretion, which is essential for both nitrogen excretion and water conservation in reptiles and birds. In a long-standing collaboration with Stefan Silbenagl, Bill also used in vivo micropuncture and microperfusion to demonstrate recycling of amino acids between vasa recta and Henle's loops in the rat renal inner medulla.The corpus of Bill's research has been recognized by numerous awards, his long-standing support from the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation, his editorship of AJP-Regulatory, Integrative. and Comparative Physiology, and his herculean task of assembling and editing the Handbook of Comparative Physiology.Dr. Dantzler is an outstanding teacher and has received numerous teaching awards from the University of Arizona. He also has been a leader in the APS, serving as President (1993–94) and chairperson of both the Renal and Water and Electrolyte sections. Bill is truly a most deserving recipient of the Berliner Award, which was established to recognize distinguished lifetime achievement in renal physiological research.This year's Robert W. Berliner Award Committee was composed of Heddwen Brooks (Renal Section Chair), Thomas Kleyman (Editor of AJP-Renal Physiology), and Volker Vallon (Chair of Renal Awards Committee).This article has no references to display. Previous Back to Top FiguresReferencesRelatedInformation More from this issue > Volume 304Issue 9May 2013Pages F1230-F1230 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2013 the American Physiological Societyhttps://doi.org/10.1152/ajprenal.00163.2013History Published online 1 May 2013 Published in print 1 May 2013 PDF download Metrics Downloaded 64 times