I am a physician scientist who began a bench-research program during my nephrology fellowship, and have since remained in academic medicine, holding appointments continuously at the Birmingham Veterans Affairs Health Care System and University of Alabama at Birmingham.  I have managed my laboratory through extramural funding from the Department of Veterans Affairs and National Institutes of Health.  My laboratory focuses on 1) how protein-protein interactions and redox signaling events promote tubular nephron injury and clinical kidney injury through inflammation and fibrosis; and 2) endothelial and vascular smooth muscle cell function in health and in disease states that promote kidney disease progression. I remain an active clinician who cares for patients at all stages of their kidney disease, and my patients serve as a source of inspiration and motivation and further inform my research activities.