Fellowship Training Program Information
Our Clinical Faculty
- are recognized as national and international leaders in different fields of nephrology
- are recipients of several prestigious national and local award for teaching excellence
- serve on editorial boards of high impact journal, NIH study sections and different national professional organizations’ clinical practice guideline committees
A brief description of each of our faculty’s area of expertise and recent accomplishments can be found below
Emaad Abdel-Rahman, MBBS has clinical interests in geriatric nephrology, hemodialysis and home dialysis. For the past two decades, he has been a favorite teacher for the fellows and also a great resource for junior faculty members.
Rasheed Balogun, MBBS is known internationally for his expertise in the area of therapeutic apheresis. He is the organizer for the annual international Therapeutic Apheresis Academy.
Brendan Bowman, MD completed his residency and fellowship training here at UVA. He is heavily involved in fellows’ education and is ranked among our top educators in both undergraduate and postgraduate medical education. He is currently the regional director of UVA dialysis operations. His interest and experience in the care of ESRD patients, quality improvement and the business operations of dialysis have made him a unique internal resource for our fellows.
Charles Brooks, MD has many years of experience with the care of CKD and ESRD patients. His main area of focus is clinical decision making and quality improvement.
Corey Cavanaugh, DO, Joined the faculty in 2019 after completing his clinical fellowship at Yale University. In spring of 2020 he established a glomerular disease clinic at UVA in collaboration with colleagues in the Division of Rheumatology. Dr. Cavanaugh has established a microscope round with nephrology fellows to introduce them in basic concepts in renal histopathology and typical patterns of glomerular diseases.
Tushar Chopra, MD joined our faculty after completing fellowship training at Vanderbilt University. His main area of clinical interest is acute peritoneal dialysis. Within his short time at UVA he has quickly become one of our fellows’ favorite educators.
Alden Doyle, MD joined the UVA faculty from Drexel University in 2016. He was on faculty at the University of Pennsylvania for nearly a decade. He is currently the Medical Director of Kidney & Pancreas Transplantation at UVA. He has twenty years of experience in immunology, international medicine, and patient-focused transplant care. He is considered one of the top educators by his trainees here at UVA and throughout his career elsewhere. He is the recipient of multiple awards for education excellence. His areas of clinical interest include combined and sequential transplants, transplantation in HIV patients and kidney disease following organ transplantation.
Uta Erdbruegger, MD joined the faculty after completion of her fellowship training at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Her clinical interest is in rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis. Her research involves the functional role of platelet and endothelial microvesicles in health and disease.
Kambiz Kalantari, MD is the director of the Nephrology Fellowship Training Program and the leader of Renal System course in the SOM preclerkship curriculum. He has received several prestigious teaching excellence awards at UVA. He was the recipient of the 2019 ASN mid-carrier award for teaching excellence. He is the chair of the ASN Career Advancement Committee and since 2017 has served as a member of the ASN in-training examination item writing committee. His areas of clinical and research interest include, ICU nephrology, CRRT, electrolyte disorders and contrast enhanced ultrasonography
Jeanne Kamal, MD joined the faculty in 2019. She completed her nephrology fellowship at New York University and her transplant fellowship at Columbia University. She is interested in adult transplant nephrology mainly the recurrence of kidney disease after transplant.
Sana Khan, MD completed her nephrology fellowship at UVA (residency at University of Cincinnati). Her area of clinical interest is peritoneal dialysis.
Anubhav Kumar, MD, joined the faculty in 2019 after completing nephrology and ultrasound fellowships at the University of Pennsylvania. He is interested in curriculum development and is working on training fellows in one-on-one and classroom sessions in the use of point-of-care ultrasound to enhance diagnostics and the delivery of care to patients.
Peter Lobo, MD one of our transplant nephrologists, is one of our immunology experts. He is in charge of the HLA tissue typing laboratory at UVA. Fellows have enjoyed his outstanding teaching style and how he stimulates their critical thinking by asking probing questions.
Angie Nishio-Lucar, MD completed nephrology and transplant nephrology fellowships at UVA (residency at Henry Ford Hospital). Her clinical interest areas include non-infectious complications of renal transplantation, barriers to transplantation, obesity, and transplantation, and living donation.
Mark Okusa, MD, is the chief of the Division of Nephrology at UVA. He served as the President of the American Society of Nephrology from 2018-2019. He is known internationally for his contributions to understanding the pathophysiology of acute kidney injury. Despite his busy schedule. Despite his busy schedule, Dr. Okusa has made fellow education a priority. He continues to attend the inpatient ICU and floor consult services and supervises fellows in their continuity clinic. Fellows have consistently ranked Dr. Okusa as one of their top educators.
Negiin Pourafshar, MD, joined the faculty at UVA in 2017 after completing residency and fellowship at the University of Florida. Dr. Pourafshar’s clinical and research interests include renal-related aspects of heart failure, disorders of fluid homeostasis, cardiorenal syndrome, and renal pathology after a heart transplant.
Amanda D. Renaghan, MD joined the UVA faculy in 2017 after completing internal medicine residency and nephrology fellowship training at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. She has established the first dedicated onco-nephrology clinic at UVA Cancer Center to care for patients living with cancer and kidney disease. Her research is primarily focused on this unique specialty, and includes investigating the effects of chemotherapy on the kidneys. She is active in medical student, resident, and fellow education.
Mitchell Rosner, MD Is the chair of the UVA Department of Medicine. He was the recipient of the 2019 ASN Robert G. Narins Award for lifetime achievement in teaching excellence. He has won several prestigious teaching awards at UVA, served as the director of ASN nephrology board review course and the chair of the ASN Renal week program committee. His areas of clinical and research interest include, ADPKD and disorders of sodium and water balance. He supervises fellows during their inpatient rotations and in their continuity clinics.
Julia Scialla, MD, MHS joined the faculty at UVA in 2019. Her primary focus is on epidemiology and outcomes research in chronic kidney disease. Dr. Scialla is deeply committed to mentoring fellows who wish to experience the clinical research process first-hand and to bring their curiosity and ideas to improve patient care and prevention in kidney disease.
Karen Warburton, MD joined UVA faculty from University of Pennsylvania in 2016. She is a transplant nephrologist. Dr. Warburton has a great deal of experience in medical education and is currently the director of Graduate Medical Education Professional Development in the Department of Medicine. She is a member of the ASN Workforce and Training Committee and one of the founders of the ASN Kidney STARs (students and residents at Kidney Week) program. Her areas of clinical interest include immunosuppressive medication, hypertension and chronic kidney disease following solid organ transplantation.
The UVA Division of Nephrology holds conferences throughout the week. Fellows Conference runs year-round; the remainder normally run from September through May. Most conferences are held in the Kidney Center Conference Room on the 5th Floor, Multistory West Complex, Room 5101. Periodically, one of the other conferences described below will be rotated into a slot for a regularly scheduled meeting in order to ensure that faculty and fellows have an opportunity to review and discuss cases and direct patient care in the conference setting.
Monday (12-1pm)
Research in Progress
Kidney Center Conference Room
Tuesday (12-1pm)
Renal Grand Rounds
Kidney Center Conference Room
Wednesday (12-1pm)
Journal Club/Case Conference
Kidney Center Conference Room
Thursday (12-1pm)
Topic Reviews
Kidney Center Conference Room
Friday (8-9am)
Transplant Conference
Strickler Transplant Conference Room
Friday (12-1pm)
Medicine Grand Rounds
Education Resource Center Auditorium
Conference Descriptions
Summer Core Curriculum
A core nephrology curriculum is provided at the beginning of each academic year. This 2-month curriculum is intended to provide fundamental practical concepts on various topics in nephrology early in the training program. This permits the accelerated acquisition of core information used in management of outpatients and inpatients. Topics may vary from year to year but include: evaluation of renal function, hemodialysis (including continuous hemodialysis), peritoneal dialysis, evaluation and management of patients with acute and chronic renal failure, evaluation and management of acid-base and electrolyte disorders, evaluation and management of renal transplant patients, and others.
CIIR Seminar Series
Research from faculty-sponsored research projects are presented by faculty, postdoctoral fellows, or graduate students. Outside faculty are also invited to present research. Research in Progress presentations are made during this conference by UVA faculty, fellows, and trainees.
Renal Grand Rounds
Distinguished national and international experts, from UVA and other institutions, present topics on different aspects of nephrology (clinical and basic science).
Medical Grand Rounds
Faculty from UVA and other institutions are invited to discuss clinical topics in medicine. Several times each year, nephrology faculty present. Internationally recognized nephrology faculty are invited as visiting professors.
Journal Club
The purpose of the journal club is to mentor/develop the ability to critically analyze data reported in the recent or landmark clinical and basic science literature. In general, papers are presented and discussed from high-quality clinical journals (NEJM, Kidney Int, Ann Int Med, Lancet, Transplantation) and basic science journals (Nature, J Biol Chem, Cell, Science, Proc Natl Acad Sci, J Clin Invest, Am J Physiol).
Fellows Conference
These conferences are dedicated to the discussion of interesting cases based a review of important topics in nephrology. Fellows present cases and relevant information from the literature on diagnosis and management to the group for discussion. Topics are selected to cover the required material for board preparation and practice of general nephrology.
Transplant Conference
Members attend this conference from multiple subspecialties including Gastroenterology, Cardiology, Surgery, and Nephrology. Topics in organ transplantation are presented and discussed by faculty and fellows.
Morbidity and Mortality (M & M)
These conferences are held at least quarterly and are used to review near misses in daily work or patient care. They follow a scripted agenda and are aimed to improve the quality of care and operations with a focus on medical knowledge, patient care, delivery of care, and communications.
Pathology Conference
These conferences are held monthly. Histiopathic findings of kidney biopsies are presented by our dedicated renal pathologist for clinical discussion.
Hemodialysis Vascular Access
This is a multidisciplinary meeting of nephrology faculty and fellows, dialysis nurses, vascular surgeons and residents, interventional radiology faculty and staff in which care as presented, angiogram films reviewed and literature is reviewed. Participants work on improving the processes of patient care and communications by developing and revising protocols.
The University of Virginia Medical Center has been ranked as the number 1 hospital among 130 hospitals in the Commonwealth of Virginia for the third consecutive year the U.S. News & World Report in its 2018-2019 publication. UVA Nephrology was ranked #46 in the nation in 2016 and #42 in 2018 by the U.S. News & World Report. UVA is ranked in the top 25 medical schools in the nation. The University of Virginia offers training to over 790 residents and fellows in 73 ACGME-accredited specialties and subspecialties.
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Application Information
Nephrology Training Program applicants should apply through ERAS. The UVA Nephrology Fellowship program participates in the National Residency Match Program (NRMP).
Applicants for the T32 research training program should apply by email to Nephrology_T32@virginia.edu and indicate their interest in the Nephrology training grant. Applicants to the T32 training program must meet the citizenship/residency requirements at the time of the award.
ERAS application requires the following:
- Completed ERAS data form
- Updated curriculum vitae
- Three (3) letters of reference, including a letter from the applicant’s residency program director
- Personal statement
- USMLE board scores
- Medical school transcript
Graduates from foreign medical schools are encouraged to apply and all visa subtypes are considered.
Following receipt of the completed application and letters of reference, interviews are arranged. Interviews are conducted in the summer and early fall.
For information on house staff benefits, credentialing requirements, and other important information, please visit the UVA Graduate Medical Education web site.
Fellowship Education Contact Information
If you have an interest in our program, please contact us to discuss opportunities:
Fellowship Training
- Kambiz Kalantari, MD, MS
Harrison Distinguished Teaching Associate Professor of Medicine
Director, Nephrology Fellowship Training Program
Medical Director of the Inpatient Dialysis (Renal) Unit
kk6c@virginia.edu
Research Training
- Mark D. Okusa, MD, FASN
John C. Buchanan Distinguished Professor of Medicine
Division Chief, Nephrology,
Center for Immunity, Inflammation and Regenerative Medicine
mdo7y@virginia.edu
Application Information
- Monica Olsen
Fellowship Coordinator
mso4n@virginia.edu
434-297-7199