Professor and Chair of Physiology

Dr. William B. Guggino is a professor of physiology and pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is the director of the Department of Physiology.

An acclaimed cystic fibrosis (CF) researcher, Dr. Guggino also serves as director of the NIH Health Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s Cystic Fibrosis Gene Therapy Center (housed at Johns Hopkins) and the Cystic Fibrosis Research Development Program.

Dr. Guggino has dedicated most of his professional life to Johns Hopkins, and his commitment to science is equaled only by his passion for teaching. He has trained and mentored scores of young clinician-scientists in unraveling CF”s mysteries and bringing promising new therapies to patients.

He also has served since 1982 as director of curriculum for first-year medical students, as well as course director in organ-systems physiology and histology.

Among his many accomplishments, Dr. Guggino co-authored with Peter Agre, M.D., a seminal paper published in Science in 1992 detailing the discovery of the first water channel protein. That line of research won Dr. Agre the 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Dr. Guggino’s work has been recognized with honors that include the prestigious Doris F. Tulcin Cystic Fibrosis Research Award – which marked his achievements in both research and education – and the Johns Hopkins Excellence in Teaching Award.

Dr. Guggino earned his Ph.D. in zoology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his M.S. in comparative physiology from Long Island University. He also holds a B.S. in biology from Brooklyn College.

Research Interests

• Ion channels
• Gene therapy
• Polycystic kidney disease
• Epithelial cell biology
• Protein trafficking