Samir M. Parikh Appointed Chair of Internal Medicine
Dr. Samir M. Parikh, Professor and Chief of the Division of Nephrology, has been named Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine, effective June 15. He will assume the role from Ezra Burstein, M.D., Ph.D., who has served as interim Department Chair since September 2025.
Dr. Parikh joined UT Southwestern in 2021 and holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Pharmacology. As Chair, he will lead a Department of nearly 900 faculty members, with more than $108 million in National Institutes of Health funding in fiscal year 2025 and the second-largest Internal Medicine residency program in the nation.
Dr. Parikh holds a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Harvard College, which he earned magna cum laude. He received his medical degree from Vanderbilt University and completed his internal medicine residency training, along with research and clinical fellowships in nephrology, at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where he was a Harvard Medical School Fellow in General Medicine. He began his career at Harvard, rising to Professor of Medicine and serving as Co-Director of the Center for Vascular Biology Research and Associate Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess.
In clinical practice, Dr. Parikh specializes in acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease. His research over the past two decades has focused on aging mechanisms in the vasculature, kidneys, and energy metabolism. His laboratory has received more than $40 million in support from the NIH and other funders, and his findings have been published in leading journals including Science, Nature, Nature Medicine, and Cell Metabolism.
Dr. Parikh is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the American Association of Physicians, and the American Clinical and Climatological Association. His honors include the NIH Outstanding Investigator Award, the American Society of Nephrology and American Heart Association’s Donald W. Seldin Young Investigator Award, and the University of Texas System’s STARs Award. He currently serves as the 59th President of the American Society of Nephrology.
Dr. Parikh will hold the Donald W. Seldin Distinguished Chair in Internal Medicine and Ruth W. and Milton P. Levy Sr. Chair in Molecular Nephrology.
"Dr. Parikh’s commitment to all areas of our mission will further the Department of Internal Medicine and our institution’s national reputation for providing excellent clinical care, advancing meaningful research, and fostering a unique environment for biomedical education," said Dr. W. P. Andrew Lee, Executive Vice President for Academic Affiars and Provost and Dean of UT Southwestern Medical School.
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Dr. Burstein holds the Berta M. and Cecil O. Patterson Chair in Gastroenterology.
Dr. Lee holds the Atticus James Gill, M.D. Chair in Medical Science.