Sharon Anderson

Sharon A. Anderson (born 1949) is an American physician, educator, and researcher practicing in Portland, Oregon. She has contributed extensively to the study of the progression of chronic kidney disease. Her research has focused on diabetic nephropathy, polycystic kidney disease and the pathophysiology of the aging kidney. She was the first woman to serve as President of the American Society of Nephrology (ASN). She was the Chief of the Department of Medicine at the Veteran's Affairs Medical Center in Portland and is currently the Chair of the Department of Medicine at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU). She has been appointed to the National Institutes of Health Council of Councils. Her publications as author or co-author number greater than 150. Biography and training Sharon Anderson was born in 1949. She earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Maryland in 1971 and her medical degree from the Louisiana State University School of Medicine in 1979. As part of her post-graduate training, she completed an internship in 1979 and residency in 1983 at the University of Oregon Health Sciences Center, which would later become OHSU. She subsequently completed a one-year fellowship in nephrology at Beth Israel Hospital and Harvard Medical School in 1983 and then a two-year research fellowship in nephrology at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School. She is a Fellow of the American Society of Nephrology (FASN). She currently lives with her husband Edmund T. Curtis in Portland, Oregon. Research and career In her career as a researcher, she has expanded understanding of the pathophysiology of diabetic nephropathy, which has, in turn, changed the practice patterns for treatment of the disease. Her work uncovered the important effect of ACE inhibitors in modifying the progression of diabetic nephropathy. Her studies provided support for initiating large scale clinical trials, which have resulted in improvements in patient care. This has contributed to lower predicted numbers of patient who will require dialysis due to end-stage kidney disease.