Title

Professor of Medicine

Specialty/Subspecialty

Nephrology

Clinical Interest(s)

Glomerular diseases

Research Interest(s)

• Glomerulonephritis
• IgA Nephropathy
• IgA vasculitis

Current / Former SSCI Roles

About Dana V.. Rizk, MD

Dr. Dana Rizk is currently Professor of Medicine in the Division of Nephrology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). She completed her residency, chief residency and fellowship at Emory University Hospital and later joined the UAB faculty as Assistant Professor in 2008.

Dr. Rizk's exposure to clinical research started during her fellowship and she fell in love with this career path. However, beyond the science, clinical research opened her eyes to patients, families and volunteers' dedication and commitment to the advancement of science. Her current clinical and research interests revolve around glomerular diseases and, in particular IgA Nephropathy (IgAN). She is the principal investigator of several clinical trials and is part of several federally funded multi-disciplinary translational research projects focused on the pathogenesis of IgAN and the role of biomarkers.

About five years ago, Dr. Rizk was appointed Director of Clinical Trials Research in the Division of Nephrology. She set out to re-organize the infrastructure and teamwork behind the clinical trials in her division. Her goal was to have clinical trials accessible to patients. She also wanted to streamline the submission and budget negotiation process to make it more efficient and successful. In doing so, she hoped to engage junior investigators and trainees and build future ambassadors in clinical research.

In 2020, she was appointed Medical Director of the Clinical Trials Administrative Office which is part of the Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS). She was tasked to work with investigators on campus to grow the clinical trials portfolio. She is also in charge of the Clinical Investigator Training Program meant to introduce junior faculty and research fellows to clinical research and inform them of the role and responsibilities of a principal investigator. The course also raises their awareness of the many resources available to them on campus.

On the education side, Dr. Rizk is involved in residents and fellows' training. She serves on the clinical competency committees of both programs. She has mentored many trainees in clinical research. She is the proud recipient of numerous teaching awards.

In 2013, Dr. Rizk was elected member of the Southern Society of Clinical Investigation. She has served as council member of the Southern American Federation of Medical Research (SAFMR) since 2017 and as president of SAFMR (2018) she helped organize the Southern Regional Meeting in New Orleans.