Dr. Nicolas J. Guzman is Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine, The George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences, and Senior Director and Global Clinical Program Lead for Research & Development in Nephrology at AstraZeneca. Dr. Guzman is also member of the Board of Directors of the American Society of Nephrology Kidney Health Initiative. He is a guest lecturer in several universities and learned societies in the US and many countries around the world.
Dr. Guzman received his MD degree from Cayetano Heredia University in Lima, Peru, and completed Clinical Pharmacology and Nephrology Fellowships at Harvard Medical School and the University of Florida. He is American Board of Internal Medicine Diplomate in Internal Medicine & Nephrology, and American Society of Hypertension Diplomate in Clinical Hypertension. He led a research laboratory and received continuous federal and foundation funding for basic and clinical research in nephrology and cardiovascular biology during17 years. Dr. Guzman has been responsible for editorial and peer review activities for multiple medical journals including the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, Kidney International, Hypertension, Circulation, American Journal of Medicine, and American Journal of Physiology. Dr. Guzman has also participated in multiple advisory boards and Special Review Committees including in NIDDK (multiple areas such as chronic kidney disease, diabetic nephropathy, cardiovascular biology, post-doctoral training grants), US National Institute of General Medical Science, National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, US DHHS Office of Minority Health, US Department of Veteran Affairs (Nephrology, CV and Alcohol & Drug Abuse Sections), the American Heart Association and the National Kidney Foundation.
In addition to his long trajectory of more than 25 years of leadership in academic nephrology involving a busy clinical practice, patient advocacy, basic and clinical research experience, and extensive mentoring of doctoral students and post-doctoral fellows, Dr. Guzman has many years of in-depth experience in the field of clinical drug development in the field of kidney diseases. At AstraZeneca he currently provides clinical leadership in the renal therapy area strategy, and in the design, development and delivery of large global renal and cardiovascular outcomes trials that investigate novel therapies for the treatment of chronic kidney disease and its complications. Among these innovative therapies, current research includes the use of novel hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase inhibitors in the treatment of anemia of chronic kidney disease and zirconium silicate-based compounds for the treatment of hyperkalemia. Dr. Guzman is responsible for optimizing and innovating clinical trial design to achieve more efficient delivery of large and complex global clinical studies. The task of designing and delivering these large global studies requires a strong knowledge of drug development. This knowledge includes among other aspects the ability to both identify and establish external expert consensus, sound expertise in the use of retrospective or prospective data, such as registries and/or global databases, and understanding of data standards. In addition, clinical trial design and delivery also involve having a strong understanding and knowledge of the regulatory environments both in the US and globally, as well as collaborating and communicating closely with regulatory agencies, commercial and payer entities, professional organizations, patient advocacy groups, health practitioners, and all other stakeholders in the field of kidney-related and other diseases. All of these activities are currently in the realm of Dr. Guzman’s expertise and utilized in his daily work at AstraZeneca.