Grant to Aid UCI Kidney Research
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A Newport Beach businessman has donated $250,000 to support the research of a UC Irvine professor who studies cardiovascular problems in patients with chronic kidney diseases, officials announced Friday.
Dr. Nick Vaziri, a professor of medicine and chief of UCI’s division of nephrology, has been conducting research on the issue since 1974 and has published more than 300 articles on the subject.
The gift is from Thomas Yuen of Newport Beach, chairman and chief executive of SRS Labs, a Santa Ana computer firm.
Yuen, an alumnus of UCI’s School of Engineering, is a longtime supporter of the College of Medicine, university officials said, and his previous gifts include a cutting-edge radiological device used for biomedical research and diagnosing neurological disorders.
University officials said Vaziri’s studies have yielded information that may lead to new methods of protecting patients from cardiovascular complications, the leading cause of death among patients with kidney disease.
“The incidence of chronic renal disease is rising, and we’re seeing an increasing number of patients with diabetes and hypertension--the main risk factors for developing kidney disease,” said Vaziri, whose laboratory will now bear Yuen’s name.
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