Juan Pablo Arroyo Ornelas, MD, PhD

2026 Carl W. Gottschalk Research Scholar Grant

Institution: Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Project Title: Dissecting the Function of Kidney-Expressed Vasopressinase: Insulin Regulated Aminopeptidase (IRAP) in the Association Between Water Balance and Insulin Resistance

How would you sum up your overall research focus in one sentence?

I study how water balance impacts metabolic health.

Provide a brief overview of the research you will conduct with help from the grant.

Vasopressin is the hormone that controls water balance. Vasopressin is degraded by IRAP, an enzyme that is regulated insulin. In this proposal we will study how IRAP in the kidney plays a role regulating water balance and draw physiologic links between hydration, vasopressin, and metabolic regulation.

What inspired you to focus your research in this area?

I've always been fascinated by extreme examples in biology. One of these are marine mammals. They don't drink sea water but need water to live. So, how do whales and other sea mammals drink water? The answer is, for the most part, they don't. They make their own by regulating metabolism; thus, there's a link between water balance and metabolism.

What impact do you hope your research will have on patients?

We hope that our research is able to further clarify the role of the kidney in the regulation of whole-body metabolism. We have this operating model, where we see the kidney as the "metabolic thermostat" that can then trigger other organs to change whole-body metabolism.

What are your career goals at the end of the grant period? Five years out? Ten years out?

The ultimate goal is to cure metabolic associated kidney disease and hopefully find new solutions to obesity and diabetes by studying the kidney. This will take continuous grant funding and institutional support, but we're excited about the data and direction our lab is headed in.

What has surprised you most about your career?

How even today, there are huge gaps in our knowledge of how the kidney and the body work. When I was in medical school I thought physiology was pretty much settled and we knew how things worked. Now, every day is filled with excitement and new discoveries about how the body works, which fills me with hope about finding new treatments that target previously undiscovered physiologic pathways.

What are the major challenges facing nephrology research today?

The basic science research that I focus on requires a significant resource investment upfront. The lack of resources coupled with a waning interest in a physiology based approach to research are hurdles that we need to overcome. Most of the nephrologists and kidney-related researchers I know fell in love with kidney physiology! We need to get people excited about that again!

What advice would you give to others to encourage them to apply for this grant funding?

Submitting kidney related projects to be evaluated by people who eat,breathe, and live the kidney is incredible. My advice would be write with excitement about what you're trying because the reviewers are exactly the people that will get excited with you and for you! It's a really special award mechanism and I'm honored to have been awarded the grant.

Something you may not know about me is…

I would happily eat tacos for every meal for the rest of my life.

In my free time, I like to…

Spend time with my family, read, I try to stay hydrated!