Brian M. Murray, associate professor of medicine, has been appointed interim chair of the Department of Medicine, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB.

He will assume his new duties on Jan. 2.

Murray succeeds Anne B. Curtis, who is resigning as chair to return to her faculty role as SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Medicine.

A highly respected physician in the fields of nephrology and internal medicine, Murray has been a Jacobs School faculty member for more than three decades.

He has also been affiliated with Erie County Medical Center (ECMC) for nearly 40 years, serving as the medical staff president, medical director of dialysis services and interim director of the Transplant and Renal Center of Excellence. He has been ECMC’s chief medical officer since 2008.

His clinical activities are focused on caring for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and those with end-stage renal disease undergoing renal replacement therapy; his research addresses population health management using bioinformatics to develop methods for early detection of kidney disease. His past research has included study of the neurohormonal control of the renal circulation, the diagnosis and treatment of viral diseases in transplant patients, vascular access problems in hemodialysis patients, and the early identification and treatment of CKD.

A native of Dublin, Ireland, Murray received his medical degree from Trinity College, University of Dublin, where he also completed his internship and residency. He completed a renal fellowship at the University of Minnesota Hospital.

A fellow of the American College of Physicians and of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, Murray has received numerous other honors and awards, including the Gift of Life Award from the National Kidney Foundation of WNY, ECMC’s Distinguished Physician Award and designation as one of Castle Connolly’s Top Doctors in America.

He is active in the community, serving in roles with Upstate New York Transplant Services (now Connect Life), the End Stage Renal Disease Network of New York State and the Irish Classical Theater, among many others.