Kansas University Medical Center's efforts to turn the Kansas City area into a major hub for life science research aren't happening fast enough to keep a top researcher on staff.
Billy Hudson, a nationally known kidney researcher, said he was leaving the Med Center to pursue better research opportunities at Vanderbilt University.
Vanderbilt's advantages, he said, include an established department for proteomics, the study of proteins. Proteomics are a main focus of the initiative between the Med Center and other Kansas City research institutions.
"I'm at that stage of my career that time is of the essence," said Hudson, 60.
Hudson came to KU in 1974 and has served as dean of research at the Med Center. He's been chairman of biochemistry and molecular biology since 1994.
Hudson's research involves matrix biology, which studies the foundations that hold cells together to form tissues. Those foundations are impaired in people who have certain diseases.
Hudson has focused on kidney diseases, including diabetes. He has developed a drug for the treatment of diabetic renal disease.
He also has a drug awaiting tests that was designed to suppress tumor growth by keeping blood vessels from developing at the site.
Hudson's research has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health for 29 years and has been approved for another 10 years of funding.
Hudson, who will serve as professor of medicine and director of the Vanderbilt Center for Matrix Biology, said 10 of his 12 research assistants also will go to Vanderbilt, which is in Nashville, Tenn.
Hudson was a key player in developing the proteomics proposal that is tied to Kansas City's life science initiative, which is drawing on the resources of public and private institutions, most notably the well-funded Stowers Institute.
Deborah Powell, dean of the School of Medicine, said the project would continue, even without Hudson at KU. Powell said recruiting a new department chairman who should be in place by this fall would allow KU to hire someone with a strong proteomics background.
"Billy's leaving is not in any way imperiling the proteomics project," she said.
Hudson said he was confident Kansas City could develop strong proteomics research even if it's too late to help his research.
"There are other institutions that are a lot further along than we are," he said. "We can get there. It just takes a major investment and time. It can happen right here in the city."
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