Samir Parikh, M.D., had one eye on the rich history of UT Southwestern and the other on its promising future when he accepted the position of Chief of the Division of Nephrology in the Department of Internal Medicine.

“This institution has a reputation for being dedicated to research, serving the needs of the patient population, and being a unique environment for biomedical education,” he said. “Very few places look far into the future, but I think this is one of those places. That is exciting and something I wanted to be a part of.”

“Dr. Parikh is an outstanding physician-scientist who reflects the ideals of the clinical scholar exemplified by the late Donald Seldin, M.D.,” said Thomas Wang, M.D., Chair of Internal Medicine. Dr. Seldin led the Department of Internal Medicine from 1952 until 1988 and is viewed as the intellectual father of UT Southwestern. “We have an outstanding and historic Nephrology Division, and I am excited to see it continue to advance under Dr. Parikh’s leadership,” Dr. Wang said.

Dr. Parikh, also Professor of Internal Medicine and Pharmacology, brings an enthusiasm for research, teaching, and clinical care to his new role and has focused on kidney disease throughout his career. “Kidney disease is extremely common, but it’s also complex and silent,” he said. “Other than transplantation, there’s really no magic bullet for our patients.”

To date, Dr. Parikh’s research has emphasized mechanisms underlying acute kidney injury and sepsis. His work has sought to understand how patients with kidney disease survive major stressors such as surgery or severe infection.

Dr. Parikh was recruited to UT Southwestern from Harvard Medical School, where he was Professor of Medicine and Associate Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard with a degree in chemistry and later received the Founder’s Medal for highest academic standing from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Dr. Parikh, who completed residency and fellowship training in nephrology at Beth Israel Deaconess and Harvard, has mentored more than 10 trainees who have attained the job title of Assistant Professor or higher.

The pandemic was among the factors in his decision to join UTSW. Like many people, he chose to focus more on his long-term goals because of COVID-19 and its worldwide impact.

“I started asking myself, ‘How can I find a way to make more of an impact?’ ” Dr. Parikh said. He found his answer at UT Southwestern.

“We have truly distinguished faculty in Nephrology and our fellows are among the best in the nation. It is a privilege to join this dedicated group as we try to improve the health of North Texas kidney patients,” he said. “We have people here thinking about what comes next and how medicine will look in five, 10, 20 years.”