Jefferson’s Walter J. Koch Receives MERIT Award Grant
Walter
J. Koch, Ph.D., F.A.H.A., director of the Center for Translational
Medicine in the Department of Medicine of Jefferson Medical College of
Thomas Jefferson University, has been awarded a Method to Extend
Research in Time (MERIT) Award from the National Heart, Lung and Blood
Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health.
MERIT
awards are among the most selective research grants given by the NIH,
with less than 5 percent of NIH-funded investigators selected as
recipients. Dr. Koch, who is also the W.W. Smith Professor of Medicine
and the Head of the George Zallie and Family Laboratory for
Cardiovascular Gene Therapy at Jefferson, will receive $3.9 million
over ten years. This is a continuation of an R01 grant that he’s had
since 1998 and renewed twice.
The
Koch laboratory primarily studies the role of a protein called GRK2 in
heart failure. With this grant, Dr. Koch will continue these studies,
and also look at how GRK2 promotes insulin resistance in the heart.
“It
is an honor to have the longevity of our research recognized by
receiving this prestigious award,” Dr. Koch said. “We look forward to
expanding our studies to find out the many roles that GRK2 plays in
heart failure, and now in insulin resistance.”
According
to the NHLBI, the purpose of the MERIT Award program is to provide
productive investigators who have a history of exceptional talent,
imagination and a record of preeminent scientific achievements with the
opportunity to continue making fundamental contributions of lasting
scientific value.
The MERIT Award provides long-term support to investigators. Recipients may receive up to ten years of research support in
two five-year segments, without the need to prepare a renewal application after five years.
Dr.
Koch received a Bachelor of Science degree, cum laude, in 1984 from the
University of Toledo College of Pharmacy. He was honored in 2001 by his
alma mater with their Distinguished Alumnus Award. He went on to earn a
Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Cell Biophysics from the University of
Cincinnati College of Medicine in 1990.
He
completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Pharmacology and Cell
Biophysics at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in 1991.
He then served as a research associate, from 1991 to 1995, at the
Howard Hughes Medical Institute of Duke University Medical Center. He
became a research associate/assistant research professor in Surgery at
Duke in February 1995, rising to tenured full professor of Surgery in
June 2001. He joined Jefferson in September of 2003.
Dr.
Koch is a member of a number of professional and scientific societies,
including the American Heart Association, for which he serves as
Co-Chair of the Basic Cardiovascular Science Council of the Program
Committee. He is also a member of the Heart Failure Society of America,
for which he serves as Co-Chair of the Program Committee. Other society
memberships include the American Society of Gene Therapy and the
International Society for Heart Research, among others. He is also a
Fellow of the American Heart Association.
He holds several U.S. patents and has published widely in a variety of peer-reviewed publications. He currently serves as
Associate Editor of Circulation Research, Executive Editor of Clinical and Translational Sciences, and as an editorial board member of The Journal of Cardiac Failure.
Dr. Koch is frequently invited to speak at scientific meetings and conferences worldwide. The most recent audiences include
the Heart Failure Society of America 13th
Annual Meeting in Boston; The Sixth Annual Symposium of the American
Heart Association Council on Basic Cardiovascular Sciences; and The
Annual Meeting of the International Society of Heart Research, North
American Section.
Media Only Contact:
Emily Shafer
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
Phone: (215) 955-6300
Published: 11/6/2009