The Department of Medicine announces the upcoming retirement of Jeff Sands, MD

Please join the department in congratulating Jeff M. Sands, MD, Director of the Division of Renal Medicine, and Juha P. Kokko Professor of Medicine, on his upcoming retirement. Dr. Sands plans to retire on January 2, 2024, after an impressive 35-year career at Emory University and Emory Healthcare. After retiring from Emory, he will become the Chief Medical Officer for NephroDI Therapeutics, a company developing a novel therapy for Congenital Nephrogenic Diabetes Insipidus.

Dr. Sands has been an invaluable contributor to the Emory community for over three decades, serving as a highly respected investigator, clinician, educator, and leader. Dr. Sands is a graduate of Harvard College and Boston University School of Medicine and joined the Emory faculty as an assistant professor in 1989. He was then promoted to associate professor in 1993 and professor of medicine in 1998. He accepted the Kokko Professorship and Division Director position at Emory in 2002. He then served as Associate Dean for Clinical and Translational Research from 2006 to 2010 and Executive Vice Chair of Medicine from 2009-2015.

From 2001-2007, Dr. Sands served as editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Physiology – Renal Physiology, and in 2018, he was elected president of the American Physiological Society (APS). He was awarded the Doctor Medicinae Honoris Causa (dr.med.h.c.) from Aarhus University in Denmark in 2018. This past year, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the science of nephrology, Dr. Sands was awarded the prestigious Homer W. Smith Award from the American Society of Nephrology, which recognizes one of the major intellectual forces in renal physiology.

Dr. Sands’ research focuses on the molecular physiology of urea transporters, aquaporins, and the urine concentrating mechanism and the translation of these basic research findings into novel therapies for nephrogenic diabetes insipidus. He leads a team of investigators in the Emory University Division of Renal Medicine that specializes in analyzing the transport proteins involved in producing concentrated urine and seeing how they interrelate in the body’s response to conditions that result in polyuria. His research identified novel signaling pathways to increase urine concentration in the absence of vasopressin. This led to the formation of NephroDI Therapeutics, which is developing a small molecule therapy for congenital nephrogenic diabetes insipidus.

Over the years, Dr. Sands has served in leadership positions in the American Physiological Society and the American Heart Association (AHA). He is a member of the American Association of Physicians, the American Society for Clinical Investigation, and the American Clinical and Climatological Association. He has served on study sections for the NIH, AHA, and NKF, and the NIDDK Board of Scientific Counselors. He was chair of the 2004 Program Committee of the American Society of Nephrology, a councilor of the American Physiological Society from 2003-2006, and chair of the Kidney Council of the American Heart Association from 2008-2010.

Congratulations to Dr. Sands on his upcoming retirement after over three decades at Emory and his many invaluable contributions to the practice of renal medicine.

After Dr. Sands’ retirement on January 2, 2024,  Janice Lea, MD, will serve as the Interim Division Director for Renal Medicine, and Jeanie Park, MD, will serve as the Interim Associate Division Director. The search for Dr. Sands’ permanent replacement will begin soon. More details will be provided as they become available.