Department of Internal Medicine
Nephrology Faculty
Gerald F. DiBona, M.D.
Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Molecular Physiology
and Biophysics
Dr. DiBona joined the faculty in 1969 and was promoted to professor in 1975. In 1977, Dr. DiBona was appointed vice chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine and chief of the Medical Service at the Iowa City VA Medical Center. His research has focused on the neural control of renal function in physiologic and pathophysiologic states, such as hypertension, heart failure, and cirrhosis with ascites and is supported by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Veteran's Affairs.
Following a sabbatical year at the University of Oslo (Norway) and the University of Gothenburg (Sweden) as a Fogarty International Fellow, Dr. DiBona developed and applied a technique for the recording of renal nerve activity in conscious experimental animals to further define renal neural control mechanisms in health and disease. Dr. DiBona is a past president of the American Federation for Clinical Research and councilor of the Central Society for Clinical Research. He currently serves as councilor of the American Physiological Society. He is also a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians. Dr. DiBona is receiving editor for Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Physiology. He is consulting editor for Hypertension and on the editorial board for the American Journal of Physiology. He received an honorary Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Gothenburg (Sweden, 1993), the International Research Award of the International Society of Hypertension in 1994, and the Middleton Award for Outstanding Achievement in Biomedical Research of the Veterans' Administration in 1995. |
Medical School:
Tufts University
Residency:
University of Pennsylvania
Fellowship:
Harvard University Peter Bent Brigham Hospital |
Dr. DiBona was the recipient of a Nobel Fellowship from the Nobel Foundation, Stockholm, Sweden in support of his off-campus research activities at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden during 1998-1999.
In recognition of his contributions during his annual off-campus assignmnet, Dr. DiBona was appointed Foreign Adjunct Professor, Karolinska Institute in 2000.
Current research interests include:
Neural Control of Renal Function:
- Role of Central Angiotensin II in Regulation of Renal Sympathetic Nerve Activity: Gerald F. DiBona, M.D. and Susan Y. Jones, B.S.
In normal rats, dietary sodium intake is adjusted so as to produce changes in activity of the renin-angiotensin system. Then, using microinjection techniques, antagonists to angiotensin II receptors are administered into discrete brain areas known to be involved in the regulation of renal sympathetic nerve activity.
- Functionally Specific Renal Sympathetic Nerve Fibers: Gerald F. DiBona, M.D., and Susan Y. Jones, B.S..
Techniques of power spectral and transfer function analysis of recorded renal nerve activity and computer-designed parameters of renal nerve stimulation are being used to identify functionally specific groups of renal nerve fibers.
Honors, Awards, and Organizations
- Alpha Omega Alpha
- Diplomate, American Board of Internal Medicine and Board of Nephrology
- American Clinical and Climatological Association
- American College of Physicians, Fellow
- American Federation for Clinical Research, President, 1978-79
- American Heart Association
- Council for High Blood Pressure Research: Lewis K. Dahl Memorial Lecturer
- Council on Circulation
- Council on Kidney in Cardiovascular Disease
- President, American Physiological Society
- American Society for Artificial Internal Organs
- American Society for Clinical Investigation
- American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
- American Society of Nephrology
- Associate Editor, Hypertension Journal of the American Society of Nephrology
- Association of American Physicians
- Central Society for Clinical Research
- International Society of Hypertension
- 1994 International Research Award
- International Society of Nephrology
- NIH, Cardiovascular and Renal Study Section (Chairman)
- National Kidney foundation
- Sigma Xi
- Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine
- Fogarty International Fellow
- Associate Editor, Journal of the American Society of Nephrology
- Receiving editor, Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Physiology
- Honorary Doctor of Medicine, University of Gothenburg
- Editorial Board, American Journal of Physiology
- Veterans Administration
- Middleton Award for Outstanding Achievement in Biomedical Research
- Foreign Adjunct Professor, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
- President, American Physiological Society, 2000-1
- Novartis Award for Hypertension Research, Council for High Blood Pressure Research, American Heart Association, 2002
Recent Publications
- DiBona, G.F. and Sawin, L.L.: Frequency Response of the Renal Vasculature in Congestive Heart Failure. Circulation 107:2159-2164, 2003.
- DiBona, G.F. and Jones, S.Y.: Endogenous Angiotensin II Affects Responses to Stimulation of Baroreceptor Afferent Nerves. J Hypertension 21:1-8, 2003
- DiBona, G.F. and Sawin, L.L.: Losartan Corrects Abnormal Frequency Response of Renal Vasculature in Congestive Heart Failure. Am J Physiol 285:H1857-H1853, 2003.
- Click here for additional publications.
Links of Interest
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