Indian Scientists in America Honor

UHCOP's Hussain Earns ASIOA Distinguished Scientist Award for Kidney Injury, Hypertension Research

May 15 — University of Houston College of Pharmacy's Tahir Hussain, Ph.D., FAHA, FASN, associate dean for research and graduate programs and Joseph P. and Shirley Shipman Buckley Endowed Professor, has been honored with as co-recipient of the Association of Scientists of Indian Origin in America (ASIOA) 2023 Mario Toppo Distinguished Scientist Award at the organization's 41st Annual Meeting April 22 in Long Beach, Calif.

The Mario Toppo award is given to established senior scientists of Indian origin who have made outstanding scientific contribution to the sciences, with Hussain specifically recognized for his "exceptional contributions to the field of kidney injury and hypertension."

Hussain has a long history of service and recognition with ASIOA. He joined the organization in the early 1990s, shortly after moving to the U.S. to start his career in research academia. In 1994, he was awarded the inaugural Junior Scientist Award. Hussain served as ASIOA secretary from 2004 to 2006, and received the association's Service Award in 2016.

Hussain earned bachelor's, two master's and Ph.D. degrees from Aligarh Muslim University in India. Except for a one-year stint at another institution in 2011-12, Hussain has been with UHCOP since 1995. In addition to his faculty and administrative positions at the college, Hussain also serves as director of its Heart & Kidney Institute.

As either principal investigator or co-investigator, Hussain has been awarded nearly $10 million in National Institutes of Health grants in his investigations into the role and mechanisms of renal angiotensin II-AT2 receptors in obesity and diabetes. A fellow of the American Heart Association and the American Society of Nephrology, he has authored or coauthored more than 100 original articles in peer-reviewed journals as well as more than 60 presentations and abstracts. He also serves as an associate editor and editorial board member of the journal, Clinical and Experimental Hypertension.

Hussain has taught hundreds of Pharm.D. students, served as graduate advisor or co-advisor for more than a dozen Ph.D. students, and mentored several professional, undergraduate and high school students on summer or special research projects.

Established in 1981, the non-profit ASIOA has more than 140 life members working as full-time scientists in the pharmaceutical industry and national research laboratories as well as faculty members, postdoctoral fellows and students in research academia.