Thursday, 18 January 2018
Professor Tony Merriman, a researcher with the Edgar Diabetes and Obesity Research Centre (EDOR), has received a Fulbright New Zealand Scholar Award to undertake research in the United States.
Professor Merriman, of the Department of Biochemistry, has been awarded $US37,500 to support research for three to five months in the US. He will investigate the genetic basis of urate control and gout in African-Americans, at the University of Alabama Birmingham. Gout, which is of particular relevance to New Zealand due to the high prevalence and severe disease in Māori and Pacific people, is also associated with diabetes, chronic kidney disease and heart disease.
Fulbright New Zealand Scholar Awards are for New Zealand academics, artists or professionals to lecture and or conduct research at US institutions. Their aim is to promote mutual understanding through educational and cultural exchanges between New Zealand and the US.
