The National Institutes of Health National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive Diseases has awarded Dean Assimos, M.D., professor and chair of the University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Urology, and co-investigators a one-year R01 grant amounting to approximately $322,544.

The grant will fund his project “Effect of weight loss on urinary oxalate excretion in obese calcium oxalate kidney stone formers.”

Obesity is a risk factor for the development of kidney stones, most commonly composed of two chemicals: calcium and oxalate. The proposed studies will determine if weight loss, through dieting, reduces oxalate coming out in the urine of obese kidney stone formers.

Co-investigators are Kyle Wood, M.D., assistant professor, John Knight, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Urology, Amy Goss, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Nutrition Sciences, and Robert Oster, Ph.D., professor, Department of Medicine.