Advancing Kidney Health and Physiology Research

Advancing Kidney Health and Physiology Research

Discover how Jeanie Park, MD, combines patient care, scientific discovery, and mentorship to improve outcomes for those with chronic kidney disease and hypertension.

Jeanie Park, MD, is an associate professor of medicine and interim associate director of renal medicine at Emory University. She is a staff nephrologist and deputy associate chief of staff for research at the Atlanta VA Healthcare System. Her research interests are in autonomic regulation and neural control of blood pressure in patient populations at increased cardiovascular risk, such as those with chronic kidney disease and hypertension. Here’s what she shared with us:

Building relationships. As a nephrologist, I really enjoy building relationships with my patients and helping them improve their health. I was also drawn to science because of the opportunity to improve health at a community level. As a physician-scientist, I am privileged to care for people living with kidney diseases, as well as developing and testing new solutions to improve their health and quality of life. 

Driving change. My favorite parts of my job are related to making a positive impact on my patients, students and mentees, while contributing to scientific knowledge. I enjoy the scientific process of identifying gaps in knowledge and testing hypotheses that could have a real clinical impact and improve outcomes. I also find it very rewarding to mentor and help early-career investigators develop their academic careers.

Taking it outside. When I first started the human integrative physiology laboratory at Emory and the Atlanta VA, the only manufacturer of the nerve traffic analyzer that was used for microneurography stopped making the device. I partnered with another company to build the device from scratch. During one of our troubleshooting sessions, I wasn’t sure if we weren’t getting the nerve recording because of an issue with the device itself or because of interference inside the building. So, I took the nerve traffic analyzer, along with a stretcher, outdoors to test the device. I did microneurography on the lawn in front of the VA hospital!

Old school? Not true. Some may say that physiology is “old school” and no longer relevant. This is a major misconception! Physiology is all about how the body works and is central to developing new therapies.

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This article was originally published in the March 2025 issue of The Physiologist Magazine. Copyright © 2025 by the American Physiological Society.