John Bertram

Background

About John Bertram

John Bertram is a Professor in the Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology and the Biomedicine Discovery Institute at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. John's research focuses on kidney development, kidney pathology, imaging and morphometrics. He and his collaborators were the first to identify the 10-fold range in nephron number in normal human kidneys, the strong direct correlation between human birth weight and nephron number, the lower numbers of nephrons in Aboriginal Australians versus Australian whites, and links between low nephron number and increased risk of hypertension and kidney disease in adult life. In animal studies he has shown that a range of perturbations to the fetomaternal environment result in a permanent nephron deficit, often leading to high blood pressure and kidney pathology. He has published more than 300 original research articles, review articles and book chapters, and has delivered invited talks at more than 50 international conferences. He has helped organise numerous national and international meetings, and in 2019 was the Chair of the X1th World Congress on the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD). John was the Head of the Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology at Monash University from 1998-2016 and Acting Head 2019-2021. In that role he built the department to be a world leader in developmental biology research and anatomy and developmental biology education.