Robert Mak, MD, PhD, FAAP, FRCP completed his pediatric residency and pediatric nephrology fellowship training at Guy’s Hospital Medical School, London University, United Kingdom, where he also received his PhD.  He has also spent time on post-doctoral research training at Yale University and Heidelberg University. He has previously been on faculty at Stanford University, University of Southern California and Oregon Health and Science University.  Currently he is Professor of Pediatrics on the Ladder Series with tenure at the University of California San Diego and Chief of the Division of Pediatric Nephrology at Rady Children’s Hospital of San Diego, which is the largest Children’s Hospital, with 520 beds, in the Western United States. 

He has served as Councilor representing the United States and also as Chair of the Global Education Committee of the International Pediatric Nephrology Association.  He has served on several Study Sections at the National Institute of Health(NIH).  He was the co-founder and President of the Western Society of Pediatric Nephrology. He has served as Associate Editor for Pediatric Nephrology Journal, Editorial Board member for the Nature Reviews Nephrology and the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.  He is currently on the editorial board for Journal of Renal Nutrition and Pediatric Research.  

His research interests include energy homeostasis, bone-mineral and cardiovascular complications as well as mechanisms of progression in chronic kidney disease. His laboratory is actively studying the molecular mechanism of cachexia associated with chronic kidney disease using rodent models.  He is also engaged in translational research and is on the Steering Committee of the NIH funded National cohort of Chronic Kidney Disease in Children, following more than 1,000 patients and currently in its 18th year.  He has served on several and currently chairs one Data and Safety Monitoring Board for clinical trials. He has trained many post-doctoral fellows, some of whom have won several regional and national basic science research awards at the Western Society of Pediatric Nephrology, American Society of Pediatric Nephrology and the Pediatric Academic Societies of the United States in the last 10 years.