Mary Glendenning Chair of Medicine, Professor in Medicine
Head of Department, Department of Medicine, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago.
Consultant Nephrologist and Head of Nephrology, Southern District Health Board.
Prof Walker is the senior academic nephrologist in New Zealand with extensive experience in the areas of clinical and experimental nephrology research with a particular emphasis on cardiovascular risk factors in chronic kidney disease and hypertension. He is the director of ‘The Kidney in Health and Disease’ Research group based at the University of Otago.
He is the Honorary Secretary for the Asian Pacific Society of Nephrology and is one of the Oceania – South East Asia councillors for the International Society of Nephrology. He has had a leading role in continuing medical education programmes for the Australian & New Zealand Society of Nephrology and the Asian Pacific Society of Nephrology. He has also been the co-chair of the scientific programme committee for the Asian Pacific Congress of Nephrology (Beijing 2018).
Areas of research interest include dialysis outcomes in the elderly; cardiovascular risk factors associated with renal disease; hypertension, obesity and inflammation; the impact of insulin resistance on cardiovascular risk factors; renal drug handling and pharmacokinetics, drug induced nephrotoxicity; the impact of drugs and exercise on kidney function and genetics in renal disease. His basic science research has focused on drug-induced kidney injury and mechanisms of chronic kidney fibrosis particularly lithium induced chronic interstitial fibrosis. He has had over 35 years of experience in clinical trials. This research has resulted in over 236 publications in leading international peer-reviewed journals.