Martin Pollak

Martin Pollak, MD is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Chief of the Division of Nephrology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Pollak is a nephrologist recognized for his studies in the genetic basis of kidney disease. He is known for his contributions to understanding the molecular and genetic basis of diseases of human glomerular function and in understanding the genetic basis of the high rate of kidney disease in individuals of recent African descent. Dr. Pollak is a graduate of Princeton University and New York University’s School of Medicine. He did clinical training in Internal Medicine at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center and in nephrology at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He did postdoctoral research training in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School in the laboratory of Jon and Christine Seidman. Dr. Pollak is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a recipient of the Homer Smith Award from the American Society of Nephrology.

Dr. Pollak’s current research focuses on identifying and understanding genes involved in the development of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) and on studying the extracellular calcium receptor. He is a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, and the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Pollak has published more than 100 papers over the course of his career and has served editorial roles with various organizations, including the Editorial Boards of JASN and Kidney International.