David E. Clapham

David E. Clapham, MD, PhD, is a world-renowned expert in ion channels, with nearly 40 years of research experience.

Dr. Clapham is a senior group leader at Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s (HHMI) Janelia Research Campus, the Aldo R. Castañeda Professor Emeritus of Cardiovascular Research at Boston Children’s Hospital, and a Professor Emeritus of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. His current research is centered on primary cilia in the brain and kidney, and novel ion channels in mitochondria and lysosomes. Past work includes the discovery of the novel role of G protein beta gamma subunits in regulating cardiac potassium channels and the identification and characterization of several transient receptor potential (TRP), mitochondrial, and voltage-gated sodium channels.

Dr. Clapham received the Cole Award of the Biophysical Society for Contributions to Membrane Biophysics in 1995, the Basic Science Award of the American Heart Association in 1996, and the Bristol Myers Squibb Award for Distinguished Achievement in Cardiovascular Research in 2006. Dr. Clapham was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2000, to the National Academy of Sciences in 2006, as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2008, and to the National Academy of Medicine in 2021. In addition, Dr. Clapham served as the VP and Chief Scientific Officer of HHMI from 2016 to 2022

Dr. Clapham earned his Ph.D. and M.D. degrees at Emory University and completed residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He completed postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Nobel-prize winning researcher, Dr. Erwin Neher at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry.