FULL POFESSOR Dr. RAFAEL RADI MD, PhD.
Rafael Radi, PhD, MD.
Rafael
Radi, MD, PhD (Universidad de la República, Uruguay, 1988 and 1991),
was born in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1963. Postdoctoral fellow at the
University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA (UAB) from 1989 to 1992 and
then was appointed to the tenured faculty (1992 to present) of the
Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de la República. Radi currently holds
the position of Full Professor and Chairman of the Department of
Biochemistry (2006) and Director of the Center for Biomedical Research
(CEINBIO) at Universidad de la República.
Dr. Radi´s
research activities focus on the production, chemical biology, cell
signaling actions and pathological effects of oxidants and free
radicals (transient reactive species produced biologically and which
participate in disease processes). He has made seminal observations
regarding the biochemical mechanisms of the pathogenic actions of
nitric oxide through its interaction with superoxide radicals and the
formation of peroxynitrite. These events in turn have relevance to
disease processes including atherogenesis, hypertension,
neurodegeneration and inflammation. Dr. Radi's lab has
pioneered the concept that oxygen radicals serve to “shift” the
physiological signaling actions of nitric oxide towards
pathophysiology. In response to this new insight, he has
participated in the development, testing and chemical characterization
of synthetic antioxidant molecules that serve as peroxynitrite
decomposition catalysts to attenuate peroxynitrite-dependent toxicity
(e.g. manganese porphyrins; mitochondrial-targeted antioxidants). In
addition, his lab has shown that peroxynitrite and L-arginine
metabolism play central roles during the cellular immune response to
pathogens and in particular to the causative agent of Chagas
disease, Trypanosoma cruzi. Novel anti-parasitic drug developments
from these studies are now in progress. Overall, Dr. Radi´s
research activities are directed toward defining the biochemistry of
cell and tissue redox reactions and their role in disease states.
Honors and awards Dr. Radi has received include
election as Foreign Member of the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS,
2015), Howard Hughes Medical Institute International Research Scholar
(2000-2011), First Level Researcher in Biology and Chemistry of the
National Research System of Uruguay (since 1999) and Honorary Professor
of the Universities of Buenos Aires (Argentina), Alabama
at
Birmingham (USA) and Pittsburgh (USA). He was a fellow of the
International Union of Biochemistry (1991), a Senior Fulbright Foreign
Scholar (1998), Guggenheim Fellow (2003-2004). He has been also elected
to The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS) (2004), the
Argentinean National Academy of Sciences (2004) and the Brazilian
Academy of Sciences (2006). He is a founding member and current
Secretary of the Uruguayan Academy of Sciences (2010). Radi was twice
awarded the national prizes in research of Biology (1996) and Basic
Sciences (1999), the Discovery Award of the Society for Free Radical
Biology and Medicine (2011) and Leloir Award to international
cooperation (2013). He was President of the Society for Free
Radical Biology and Medicine and is the President of the Society for
Free Radical Research International. He has published over 200 original
research articles and 40 review articles. He has been cited over 19,000
times and has an H index of 70.
Radi has lectured
extensively in both at regional and international Universities and
International Research Conferences and Courses since 1991. He has
participated in various national and international committees for
evaluation of research thesis, fellowships and research projects. He is
a Member of the External Advisory Board of the Center for Free Radical
Biology of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA and Pasteur
Institute Montevideo and a consultant of the University of Pittsburgh.
He has served on the Organizing Committees of numerous International
Meetings and Courses. He was the Chair of the Gordon Research
Conference on Oxygen Radicals in Ventura, CA, 2006, Free Radicals in
Montevideo 2007 and the Annual Meeting of the Society for Free Radical
Biology and Medicine 2007. Radi is currently an Associate Editor of
Free Radical Biology and Medicine and Free Radical Research and he has
been or is member of the Editorial Boards of Archives of
Biochemistry and Biophysics, Chemical Research in Toxicology, Brazilian
Journal of Medical and Biological Research and IUBMB Life.
He has obtained national and international grants
including from the National Institutes of Health (present),
National Research Council and from Universidad de la República, the
Howard Hughes Medical Institute (2000-2011), Fogarty-National
Institutes of Health (1994 to 2003) and NIH Consortium Agreements with
US Universities (2003-2012), International Centre for Genetic
Engineering and Biotechnology (1998-2001; 2007-2010), Swedish Agency
for Research Cooperation (1990-2000) and The Academy of Sciences for
the Developing World (1993).
In addition to his role as teacher
in Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de la República, Radi has trained
a cohort of scientists in Uruguay, where he has directed numerous PhD
theses in the areas of biochemistry, medicine and chemistry. In
addition, Dr. Radi has contributed to the development of research
infrastructure and is responsible of the installation and use of
national core facilities such as those in Electron Paramagnetic
Resonance and Stopped-Flow Spectrometry for Rapid Kinetic studies and
the creation the new laboratories of the Center for Free Radical and
Biomedical Research. He has also participated in the definition of
national research policies as a member of the National Research Council
of Uruguay and critically contributed to establishment of the national
programs for PhD and MD, PhD studies at Universidad de la República.