Sanjay Jain, MD, PhD, has been named the Mabel Dorn Reeder Distinguished Professor in the Department of Medicine. A faculty member in the Division of Nephrology since 2006, Dr. Jain also holds appointments in Pathology and Immunology and Pediatrics, and is the founding Director of the Kidney Translational Research Center (KTRC) at WashU.
“I am incredibly honored and humbled to be named the next Mabel Dorn Reeder Distinguished Professor,” says Jain. “I am so thankful and grateful to all the individuals, including my family, mentors, friends, colleagues and my lab members, whose collective support over the last few decades have made this possible.”
Using advanced single‑cell and spatial 2D/3D multi‑omics technologies alongside genetic models, the Jain lab studies mechanisms of how kidney structure develops and is maintained in physiological and pathological states. Their goal is to build foundational knowledge that drives precision medicine and future strategies for engineering kidney tissues to support organ function, regeneration, and repair.
“This professorship will allow my team to continue our work to understand how the human kidneys and lower urinary tract are organized at a molecular, structural, and functional level in health and disease across the lifespan and use this knowledge to find better cures for kidney disease.” Visit the Sanjay Jain Lab to learn more about his exciting research.
In 2007, Jain founded the KTRC at WashU, establishing a state-of-the-art biorepository that provides clinical data and a variety of biospecimens (serum, urine, tissue, plasma, WBC pellet, DNA, frozen biopsies) from more than 4000 adult and pediatric patients with kidney diseases for access to researchers worldwide; it also develops and assists investigators in applying cutting-edge technologies to their kidney research projects.
He also directs the WashU Pediatric Center of Excellence in Nephrology (PCEN), one of the three NIH-funded Centers in the US to advance pediatric kidney research through scientific discoveries, shared resources, pilot funding, career development, and cutting‑edge technologies that accelerate discoveries in pediatric kidney disease. Visit the PCEN website to learn more about the transformation of pediatric nephrology research.
In addition, Jain serves as PI/MPI for major NIH-funded components of the Human BioMolecular Atlas Program HuBMAP (Tissue Mapping Center, HIVE OT2) and the Kidney Precision Medicine Project KPMP (Tissue Interrogation Site) consortia, underscoring his national leadership in kidney precision medicine.
