Renal Fellowship Program Overview

Thank you for your interest in the Nephrology Fellowship Program of the University of Pennsylvania Renal-Electrolyte and Hypertension Division. Ours is a diverse and comprehensive training program that offers extensive clinical experience in virtually all aspects of nephrology and a virtually endless opportunity to engage in exciting clinical, epidemiologic, and bench laboratory research.

Briefly, we typically accept six fellows each year. First year fellows spend time on each of the various in-patient clinical services at The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, HUP, including the Renal Transplant Service, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, and the Philadelphia VA Medical Center. First year fellows also spend ½ day each week in a continuity ambulatory experience at one or more of the hospitals.

The second year experience varies depending on whether the fellow is planning to do a two-year “clinical track” fellowship or a three-year or longer “research track” fellowship.

Clinical fellows spend the second year gaining extensive additional exposure to clinical nephrology, including ambulatory experience in caring for patients with complex hypertension, kidney stones, chronic kidney disease, and general clinical nephrology, including glomerular disease, interstitial renal diseases, genetic renal diseases, and fluid-electrolyte disorders. Clinical fellows typically also have 2-day continuity ambulatory clinic sessions each week and two or three 2-week blocks on an ICU service at HUP. Second year clinical fellows are expected to participate in at least one research project and show evidence of scholarship productivity, such as publication or presentation of abstracts at national meetings. The clinical track is designed for those fellows who are most interested in pursuing careers in clinical nephrology, including full-time academic positions.

Research fellows spend at least two years actively immersed in clinical, epidemiologic, or basic science research under the direct mentorship of a faculty member of the Renal-Electrolyte and Hypertension Division or others within the Penn medical and science community. Specific research areas of Division faculty members include basic and applied immunology and immunobiology, renal genetics and cancer, transplantation, epidemiology and biostatistics, kidney development and structural biology, the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy, hypertension, cardiovascular disease in CKD, and renal cystogenesis. Research fellows spend ½ day each week in a continuity ambulatory experience at HUP and one or two 2-week blocks on an ICU service at HUP. During the third year research fellows attend on the Renal Service at the VA Medical Center. The research track is designed for those fellows who are most interested in pursuing academic careers in nephrology and related disciplines.

All fellows complete one 4-week rotation in Pediatric Nephrology at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and one 2-week rotation in GU and Interventional Radiology at HUP during the first or second year.

An extensive series of conferences begins with a Physiology, Pathophysiology, and Histopathology course that runs from July through early September. Other conferences that run through all or most of the academic year include Renal Grand Rounds, Physiology Conference, Dialysis Conference, Research Conference, Journal Club, Fellow’s Case Conference, and Fellow’s Pathology Conference, as well as Department of Medicine Grand Rounds.