Barbara Murphy, MD
Barbara Murphy, MD, MB, BAO, BCh, FRCPI, a world-class physician-scientist known for her innovative research in transplant immunology, has been named Chair of the Samuel F. Bronfman Department of Medicine at The Mount Sinai Medical Center. Dr. Murphy, the Murray M. Rosenberg Professor of Medicine, is the first woman to serve as chair of Medicine at an academic medical center in New York City. She has been the department’s acting chair since June, and Chief of Mount Sinai’s Division of Nephrology since 2004.
Dr. Murphy also serves as the Director of Conduits at Mount Sinai’s Institute for Translational Sciences, and as the Dean of Clinical and Population Based Research. She has been consistently funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1997. Dr. Murphy’s current focus is on the use of genomics and genetics to investigate outcomes following renal transplantation. She holds one patent for a peptide that inhibits the immune response, and is awaiting approval for another for a urinary biomarker that predicts the development of fibrosis in renal transplants.
“As an outstanding leader in the Division of Nephrology, Dr. Murphy has helped elevate Mount Sinai’s renowned transplant programs to a new level,” says Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, The Mount Sinai Medical Center. “Her innovative approach to patient care, research, and education will continue to enhance the Department of Medicine’s standing as one of the finest in the nation.”
Dr. Murphy says, “I am honored to take on the challenge of leading this extraordinarily talented team. The faculty in Mount Sinai’s Department of Medicine—the institution’s largest department—is world renowned. Together we will continue to provide unsurpassed excellence in all areas, including patient care, research, and education.
After receiving her medical degree from the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, Ireland, Dr. Murphy completed her residency, and fellowship in Clinical Nephrology at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin. After moving to the United States to pursue a Nephrology Fellowship in the Renal Division of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School in Boston, she was recruited to Mount Sinai as Director of Transplant Nephrology for the Renal Division.
A past president of the American Society of Transplantation, Dr. Murphy also is widely published, and currently serves as Associate Editor for The Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, and as Consulting Editor for American Journal of Transplantation.
This article was first published in Inside Mount Sinai.