Scientific Advisory Board

Rajiv Agarwal, M.D.

Professor of Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN

Dr. Agarwal is a Professor of Medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine, where he joined the faculty in 1996. He is a staff physician in the Department of Medicine at Roudebush VA Medical Center in Indianapolis, Indiana. Dr. Agarwal’s scientific investigations focus in the area of hypertension in hemodialysis. Dr. Agarwal has independent NIH support to study hypertension in hemodialysis patients and is recognized as an expert in this field.

He earned his MBBS degree and completed his residency, including one year as Chief Resident, from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, India. In 1993 he completed a Nephrology Fellowship from University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX. Dr. Agarwal is a Fellow of the American Heart Association, Fellow of the American Society of Nephrology and an ASH Certified Hypertension Specialist. He serves on the editorial board of Kidney International, Nephrology Dialysis and Transplantation, Hypertension, Seminars in Dialysis, World Scientific Journal and Current Clinical Pharmacology. He is an Associate Editor of NephSAP and American Journal of Nephrology.

Anatole Besarab, M.D.

Director of Clinical Research, Division of Nephrology and Senior Staff Physician, Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, MI

Dr. Besarab has been a practicing nephrologist for 25 years. In the past decade, his work in ESRD has focused on optimizing the management of anemia and detecting vascular access dysfunction prior to thrombosis. He has been a consultant to industry and has served on local and national committees. Dr. Besarab has published more than 100 articles, ranging from basic science to clinical practice, and his work has been presented at most of the national and international nephrology society meetings. He has been on the editorial board of several journals and has been active in many societies. His current research interests include evaluation of diagnostic tests to detect angioaccess dysfunction, evaluating the added value of prospective surveillance of vascular access, promoting the need for maintenance iron therapy in ESRD hemodialysis patients, and developing algorithms which maximize hematopoietic response to erythropoietin-stimulating agents (ESAs).

James Cook, M.D.

Former Phillips Professor of Medical Research and Director of Hematology, and currently retired Professor Emeritus, Kansas University, Kansas City, Kansas

Dr. Cook is an expert in human iron metabolism with special emphasis on iron absorption, internal iron kinetics and the clinical assessment of iron status. Dr. Cook has served as Chairman on several national and international research/advisory committees including the Expert Panel on Iron, International Committee for Standardization in Hematology (1981); Subcommittee on Nutritional Anemia, American Society of Hematology (1979); Subcommittee on Iron Methodology, National Committee for Clinical and Laboratory Standards (1979-95); International Center for Control of Nutritional Anemia (ICCNA), University of Kansas Medical Center (1982-94), and Iron Subcommittee, FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on Requirements of Vitamin A, Iron, Folate and Vitamin B12 (1985). Dr. Cook retired from teaching and clinical practice as Professor Emeritus at Kansas University in 2007. Dr. Cook graduated from Queen's University, Canada with an M.D. degree in 1960 and M.Sc (Med) in 1963. He obtained his clinical training in Internal Medicine at Boston City Hospital and hematology training at the University of Washington, Seattle, where he remained on faculty until 1975.

Ajay Gupta, M.D.

Chief Scientific Officer

Ajay Gupta, 51, is the Chief Scientific Officer and has served in that position since he joined the company in June of 2009. Dr. Gupta has been a member of Rockwell’s Scientific Advisory Board since November, 2005. From 2002 to 2005, Dr. Gupta was an Associate Professor of Medicine at UCLA and Charles Drew University Schools of Medicine in Los Angeles; while at UCLA, he has had an active nephrology practice. Dr. Gupta is the inventor of dialysate iron therapy using Soluble Ferric Pyrophosphate (SFP) as well as the inventor of intravenous (IV) iron therapy using slow continuous infusion of SFP. He has filed a number of patents in the areas of drugs, medical devices and diagnostic tests. Dr. Gupta earned his MBBS degree and completed his residency in Internal Medicine from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. In 1990, he completed a Nephrology Clinical/Research Fellowship from Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri. He has served on the faculty at Washington University, St. Louis; State University of New York, Syracuse; University of Alabama, Birmingham and Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, MI. Dr. Gupta is the founder and Chairman of the Indian Society for Bone and Mineral Research.

Richard Hurrell, Ph.D.

Professor for Human Nutrition and Head of the Laboratory of Human Nutrition, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland

Dr. Hurrell is the Professor for Human Nutrition and Head of the Laboratory of Human Nutrition at the Institute of Food Science and Nutrition, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland. He is a consultant on food fortification to leading multinational food companies and international agencies and was previously the Head of the Micronutrient Research Team and the Coordinator for Infant Nutrition Research at the Nestlé Research Center, Lausanne. Dr. Hurrell has more than 130 publications in the areas of iron bioavailability, iron fortification, iron and iodine nutrition in developing countries, mineral absorption using stable isotopes, influence of food processing on nutritional value of foods. Dr. Hurrell holds a Ph.D. in Nutrition from Cambridge University and BSc Honors Degree in Food Technology from Reading University.

Jur T. Strobos M.D.

Of Counsel, Olsson Frank Weeda Terman Bode Matz P.C., Washington, DC

Dr. Strobos currently serves as Of Counsel at Olsson Frank Weeda Terman Bode Matz P.C., a leading FDA, USDA and health care law firm in Washington, DC. Dr. Strobos has extensive scientific and legal training as well as substantial management experience in the pharmaceutical industry. He served as the Director of the Policy Research Staff in the Office of the Commissioner at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and after practicing regulatory law in Washington, DC, held executive positions at three pharmaceutical firms as their VP of clinical research and regulatory affairs. Dr. Strobos has performed a pivotal role in the regulatory and/or clinical strategy of several marketed products, including Ferrlecit, the DePuy ACS Knee, Perlane, Solodyn, Restylane, Hectorol, ResQPOD, as well as many products currently under IND. Dr. Strobos graduated cum laude from Johns Hopkins University with a BA in 1974. He obtained his M.D. from the University of Chicago in 1978 and his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1987.

Richard Zager, M.D.

Director of Nephrology, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Professor of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle

Dr. Zager currently serves as the Director of Nephrology at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. He is a board certified internist and nephrologist with 35 years of clinical experience. He has supervised a NIH funded basic research laboratory for the past 30 years, with a primary interest in acute renal injury and acute renal failure. His work focuses on cellular pathways of acute oxidant and non-oxidant injury, and subsequent post-injury adaptive responses. He has had a particular interest in iron-mediated renal injury, as induced by either porphyrin iron containing proteins (most notably, hemoglobin, myoglobin, or cytochrome) or by clinically employed iron-carbohydrate complexes (e.g., Fe sucrose, gluconate, dextrose, as used to treat clinical iron deficiency). He is an elected member of the Association of American Physicians. Dr. Zager graduated from Northwestern Medical School and did his post graduate medical training at UCLA Medical Center, The University of Washington in Seattle, Boston University, and Harvard Medical School.