The Pediatric Nephrology Training Program at the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill began in 2003. This training program is approved for one new trainee each year and it is housed in the University of NC Division of Nephrology and Hypertension under the direction of Dr. Ronald Falk. This division is unique in the institution as it includes both the pediatric and internal medicine nephrology clinical faculty and nephrology training programs for both internal medicine and pediatrics.
In addition to the clinical and teaching missions, the division includes basic science, clinical trials and epidemiology research programs, all of which have extramural funding. The research environment at The University of North Carolina is ideal for clinical and epidemiological research in glomerular diseases, as it is the home of the Glomerular Disease Collaborative Network (GDCN). The GDCN was founded in 1985 by the co-directors Ronald J. Falk, MD, D.J. and J. Charles Jennette, MD, and it is a longitudinal patient registry and it includes collaborators from 39 states in the USA.
Our program has close research and service collaboration with prominent local, national and international organizations such as:
- The UNC School of Public Health and the NIH funded Renal Epidemiology Training Program (T32). This program provides an opportunity for pre- and post-doctoral candidates to participate in graduate level training in epidemiology.
- The North Carolina Department of Health Children and Adolescent Transition Program. This program has Transition-related education with patients, parents and health providers tracks.
- The therapeutic camps in collaboration with the National Kidney Foundation in Hendersonville, NC, the Victory Junction Gang Camp in Randleman, NC and Barretstown in Ireland.
- The Midwest Pediatric Nephrology Consortium, a group of pediatric nephrology practices that have formal collaboration and implementation of research protocols.
- The NAPRTCS: A volunteer registry of end-stage kidney disease pediatric patients representing most of the practices in North America.
- The Ghana, Mexico and Nicaragua Research and Service Programs.
Our teaching activities in the division have been highly recognized due to our didactic approach. A few examples of our teaching systems include:
- The Pediatric Nephrology Fellowship Core Curriculum Lectures are easily accessible to all in a centralized common file.
- The web-based curriculum of pediatric nephrology lectures located at the UNC-CH Pediatric Residency Program website, is accessible both in the in and out-patient settings and contains four main sections:
- Faculty power point lectures
- Review articles in the topic
- Web-based expanding this topic
- Patient-education material
- Case-based lectures for board review throughout the year.
- The Urinary Systems Course. A web-based curriculum with clinical and nephro-pathology correlation.
Our patients come from around the state of North Carolina, but we have patients from other states. The mean number of miles one-way travel is 75 (please refer to our Pediatric Nephrology Practice Map). Patient care facilities are available in the UNC Children’s Hospital for inpatient and outpatient services, the UNC Ambulatory Care Clinic, and the Carolina Dialysis Unit in Carrboro. The nephrology administrative offices and basic science laboratories are located in the Burnett Womack building, adjacent to UNC Hospitals. A great number of our children, adolescents and young adults as well as their parents have given our investigators long-term consent to be registered in longitudinal databases, facilitating research endeavors. This environment forms an exemplary training opportunity.
Pediatric Nephrology is joining the NRMP Match program this year. This means that in addition to making application through the ERAS website, the Match program will follow uniform dates for programs in the USA. All pediatric nephrology training program directors hope that this will provide a better opportunity for residents to interview and prioritize the best program(s) for their needs. Individuals who Match this academic year will begin fellowship training in July, 2010.
Click here to read the International Pediatric Fellows Conference report (pdf)
Program Faculty
The pediatric nephrology training program includes 5 faculty members who serve as supervising faculty in the clinical setting and as lecturers for the program.
- William Primack, MD; Director, Nephrology Clinics, Director, Pediatric Nephrology Fellowship Program
Dr. William Primack, Professor of Pediatrics, joined the UNC Division of Nephrology in 2004. He completed his pediatric certification in 1975 and pediatric nephrology boards in 1976. Doctor Primack serves as a clinician educator and mentor in the pediatric nephrology residency training program. He is a co-investigator for the NAPRTCS and the NIH sponsored clinical trial of vesicoureteral reflux (RIVUR study).
- William Conley, MD, Director, Pediatric Nephrology Outpatient Teaching Program
- Dr. William Conley is the longest-standing member of the Division of Nephrology since 1966. He was the director of the pediatric nephrology clinic from 1966 to 1971. Doctor Conley has participated as a faculty member in the pediatric nephrology clinic providing clinical management for pediatric patients. Doctor Conley is an excellent mentor and teacher in the area of clinical nephrology, practice administration, and conducts nephrology related lectures for medical students, pediatric residents, and sub-specialty residents as a part of his faculty responsibilities at The University of North Carolina.
- Maria Ferris, MD, MPH, PhD, Director, Pediatric Renal Replacement Therapy and the UNC Transition Programs
- Dr. Maria Ferris is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics. She completed a pediatric nephrology fellowship program in UCSD and a Master’s degree in Public Health at the University Of Texas School Of Public Health. She was a member of the Division of Pediatric Nephrology in the Department of Pediatrics at The University of Texas, Houston from 1991 to 2000. She then joined the faculty at the University of North Carolina in 2000 and completed a PhD in Epidemiology in 2006. She has been recognized as a member of the UNC School of Medicine Academy of Educators. Her research interests include the transition of adolescents with chronic disease to adulthood, early markers of kidney disease in the metabolic syndrome. The later is supported by the NIH.
- Keisha Gibson, MD, MPH, Director, Pediatric Vasculitis Program
- Dr. Keisha Gibson, Assistant Professor, is a graduate of UNC Medical School, MUSC Pediatric Residency Program and the UNC Pediatric Nephrology Training Program. She was funded through the UNC Renal Epidemiology Training Program (T32) during fellowship where she successfully completed a MPH degree at the UNC School of Public Health. Dr. Gibson’s research is focused on Lupus Nephritis, community awareness of CKD and Health Disparities. This effort is coordinated with the UNC Kidney Center Community Outreach Program. She coordinates projects investigating CKD prevalence in West Africa.
Inter-disciplinary Collaborators
Lynn McCoy, RN is a pediatric nephrology nurse coordinator. She provides patient care and case management skills for the most complex of the program including the transplant and progressive kidney disease patients. Ms. McCoy coordinates the annual pediatric nephrology kidney camp in Hendersonville, NC which is sponsored by the National Kidney Foundation-NC affiliate.
Kristi Bickford, BS is the UNC transition coordinator. With her expertise in adolescents who have been in the North Carolina probationary system and community resources, she is uniquely qualified to serve as a liaison between the adolescents/ young adults and the pediatric nephrology team.
Kara Bozik, Pharm D, is a pediatric pharmacist, who assists with therapeutic monitoring of the pediatric renal transplant recipients and a formal lecturer for our subspecialty residents and at the UNC School of Pharmacy.
Laura Hayn, Pharm D, is a pediatric pharmacy resident. Laura assists with pediatric medication management in the pediatric nephrology clinic. In addition, Laura serves as a teaching assistant at the UNC School of Pharmacy.
Jonnie McKeeman, Psych D, a pediatric Psychologist who provides services to the patients with chronic kidney disease.
Laurie MacDonald, MSW
Sharon Wallace, RD
Becky White, Child Life Specialist
Karen Weatherly, M.Ed. is a National Board Certified Exceptional Education teacher who provides direct instruction to hospitalized pediatric nephrology patients, facilitates ongoing liaison between the nephrology team and patients’ community schools, and coordinates school re-entry for the patients after discharge.
Dialysis Unit Staff of three nurses, social worker and dietician
Current Fellows
Nicole Beaufort, MD
Heather Stewart, MD completed her pediatric and medicine training at the University of Florida, Tampa in 2008. She joined the Pediatric and Internal Medicine Nephrology Training Program at UNC in 2008.
Pediatric Nephrology Fellowship Graduates
Keisha Gibson, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Christina Kahl, MD, PhD
Hospitalist, UNC Hospitals
Carla Nester, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Iowa
Jennifer Slickers, MD, MPH
Rockwood Medical Office, Portland, OR
Additional Faculty and Their Research Interests
In addition to these key faculty members from pediatrics, the training at UNC involves all 70 members of the UNC Kidney Center and extensive lecture and research resources from the University of NC-Chapel Hill as a whole. The internal medicine, transplant, renal epidemiology and pediatric nephrology fellows share the educational and research environments.
Clicking on the link will bring you to the articles this person has published and included on PubMed, a database of articles from medical journals.
| Cynthia Denu-Ciocca, MD | Nephrolithiasis |
| Mary Anne Dooley, MD, MPH | Immunology, SLE, Vasculitis |
| Ronald Falk, MD | Glomerular diseases, Vasculitis |
| Randal Detwiler, MD | Transplantation, Transplant Immunology |
| Edwin Fuller, MD | Transplantation |
| William Finn, MD | Acute kidney injury, Transplantation |
| Gerald Hladik , MD | Dialysis methods and dialysis center administration |
| Margaret Kiser, MD, PhD | Dialysis methods and dialysis center administration |
| Philip Klemmer, MD | Ca-P metabolism, hypertension, kidney physiology |
| Abhijit Kshirsagar, MD, MPH | Hypertension, epidemiologic research methods |
| Amy Mottl, MD, MPH | Genetics and Kidney Disease |
| Patrick Nachman, MD | Glomerular diseases, Vasculitis, Immunology, diabetic nephropathy |
| Steven Grossman , MD | General nephrology, hypertension |
| Romulo Colindres, MD, MPH | Hypertension, physiology & epidemiologic research methods |
| Karin True, MD | Transplantation |
Research faculty
| Jia Jin Yang, MD | Basic science research mentor |
| Donna Bunch, PhD | Basic science research mentor |
| Gloria Preston, PhD | Basic science research mentor, lecturer |
| Susan Hogan, PhD, MPH | Epidemiology Training Grant Director, research mentor |
| Melanie Joy, PharmD | Renal pharmacology, clinical trials investigator, lecturer |
Conferences
Regular subspecialty and interdepartmental conferences, rounds, etc., that are a part of the Pediatric Nephrology training program.
| Conferences | Frequency | Conference Director |
| Nephrology Grand Rounds | Weekly | Gerald Hladik |
| Nephrology Fellows' Conference | Weekly | Gerald Hladik & William Primack |
| Pediatric Nephrology Inter-disciplinary Patient Care Conference | Weekly | William Primack |
| Nephrology Journal Club | Weekly | Patrick Nachman |
| Renal Pathology Conference | Weekly | Charles Jennette |
| Hypertension Journal Club | Bi-Monthly | Romulo Colindres |
| Transplantation Journal Club | Weekly | Randy Detwiler |
| Perinatal Conference | Weekly | John Cotton |
| Transplant Education Conference | Weekly | Tomas Kozlowski |
| Pediatric Radiology Conference | Weekly | Lynn Fordham |
| ESKD-CQI Activities | Monthly | Maria Ferris |
| Pediatric Grand Rounds | Weekly | Harvey Hamrick |