Dr. Bakris' academic interests are focused on understanding the factors that influence kidney disease progression. A specific focus is ethnic disparities in kidney disease development and progression. His specific area of interest involves the interaction of hypertension in the presence and absence of diabetes on development of kidney disease. Dr. Bakris has been involved in a number of national and international trials that investigate declines in the rate of kidney function. He was one of the Principal Investigators of the NIH funded African American Study of Kidney Disease (AASK) trial completed in 2008. Additionally, he was Co-Principal Investigator of one the research groups funded through a SCOR mechanism to identify specific genes that may account for such disparities. More recently, he served on the executive committee of the ACCOMPLISH trial which resulted in a paradigm shift of blood pressure treatment guidelines. Additionally, he was the Co-Principal Investigator of the Simplicity HTN-3 trial that focused on a new technique for controlling refractory hypertension by denervating arteries that feed the kidneys. Currently, he is the Principal Investigator of the FIDELIO trial evaluating a novel agent to slow diabetic nephropathy and on the Steering committee of two other trials in diabetic nephropathy. He is also the Chair of the American Diabetes Association Blood Pressure Consensus Report and serves on several guideline committees including the AHA/ACC updated resistant hypertension guidelines in progress