Richard P. Lifton

Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut Sterling Professor of Genetics; Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. Identified more than twenty disease genes causing hypertension, electrolyte disorders, and cardiovascular disease. Established the primacy of salt homeo-stasis in control of blood pressure. Similarly, in research on osteoporosis, identified gain of function mutations in IRP5, a component of the WNT signaling pathway, in development of high bone density. Work led to efforts to identify small molecules that impact this pathway to protect against and/or reverse osteoporosis in the general population. His group was the first to apply whole exome sequencing to clinical practice to diagnose genetic disease. Played a leadership role in many national and international organizations dealing with policy issues in biomedical research in general and genetics in particular. Member, Institute of Medicine of the National Academies and the National Academy of Sciences. Received the Basic Science Prize of the American Heart Association, the Homer Smith Award of the American Society of Nephrology, and the MSD International Award of the International Society of Hypertension.