Nader G. Abraham, Ph.D., Dr. H.C., F.A.H.A., an internationally recognized researcher in the field of obesity and vascular disease, is Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine’s inaugural vice dean for research.
Widely recognized for his research on vascular disease, Abraham and his team specifically study heme oxygenase, the most potent antioxidant gene in the human body. The team’s research also includes an emphasis on translational medicine. Abraham is currently the principal investigator on two National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants focusing on stem cells-heme oxygenase, hormonal regulation of blood pressure, obesity and diabetes. Over his 30-year-plus career, Abraham has served as principal investigator or co-investigator on grants or projects totaling more than $17.3 million. As project leader for a program project in pharmacology, he has worked on five grants with total NIH funding of more than $60 million, bringing his total career grant support to more than $77 million.
Dr. Abraham has served as an invited lecturer internationally, including in China, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, Sweden, Copenhagen, Czech Republic and Poland. He is the author or co-author of more than 300 original articles and has mentored numerous postdoctoral and graduate students. He is a Fellow of the American Heart Association.
Abraham earned his Ph.D. in 1976 from the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. He spent his postdoctoral fellowship at The Rockefeller University, where he discovered and isolated the rat and human heme oxygenase gene responsible for the over-production of bilirubin in newborn infants, which manifests as jaundice. In early 1982, he developed inhibiters of heme oxygenase for the prevention of jaundice with his mentor Dr. A. Kappas, former vice president of The Rockefeller University and physician-in-chief.
In 1977, he became an associate scientist at New York Medical College in New York. He initiated the college’s first program project on heme oxygenase in 1985. During his time there, he was promoted to the rank of professor with tenure in medicine in 1993.
Abraham was named a visiting professor of medicine at New York University in 1993, at which time he also continued his affiliation with The Rockefeller University as a visiting scientist.
In 1996, he re-joined New York Medical College as a professor in the departments of pharmacology and medicine and also served as director of the stem cell and gene therapy program.
In 2009, while maintaining affiliations with both the New York Medical College and The Rockefeller University, Abraham was named chairman and professor of the department of physiology and pharmacology at The University of Toledo College of Medicine. During his tenure as chair of the department at Toledo, NIH and pharmaceutical support increased from $2.5 million to more than $7 million in less than four years. He is also affiliated with the University of Catania in Italy.