Education
Division of Nephrology
EDUCATION
Nephrology fellowship director Kambiz Kalantari, MD, with 2014-15 second-year fellows (l–r) Atul Bali, MD; Helga Vamenta-Morris, MD; and Rohit Arora, MD.
The Division of Nephrology and the CIIR maintain a vigorous educational program that spans the spectrum from medical students and residents to fellows and continuing medical education for physicians. The division’s post-graduate fellowship program, where future leaders and researchers in nephrology are mentored and taught, is the centerpiece of these efforts. Associate Professor of Medicine Kambiz Kalantari, MD, has been director of the fellowship program since 2012, and is currently revamping it to incorporate changes in Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education curriculum requirements. The fellowship program’s research component has been strengthened with support from a National Institutes of Health T32 training grant.
First-year fellows receive training in patient care.
Nephrology faculty members have received numerous teaching awards, including UVA School of Medicine’s Robley Dunglison Award and the American College of Physicians’ Evergreen Award. Educators from the division have played a leading role in developing the School of Medicine’s NextGen curriculum and medical students have given the Nephrology section an “outstanding” rating.
Dr. Kalantari was the recipient of the School of Medicine Mulholland Award (2014, 2015). Fellows choose the recipients at the end of their second year, after completing the basic science curriculum; this is the second year in a row that Dr. Kalantari has won the award, a testimony to his outstanding teaching skills and commitment to education at UVA.
Clinical fellows, 2014–2015
Nephrology’s Heather Perry Awarded Sharon Anderson Research Fellowship
Heather M. Perry, PhD, an NIH T32 research fellow in the lab of Nephrology chief Mark Okusa, was awarded a Sharon Anderson Research Fellowship from the American Society of Nephrology’s Foundation for Kidney Research. The two-year fellowship, which begins July 1, 2015, provides $50,000 a year to support “original, meritorious research projects.” Heather’s project is titled “Endothelial Sphingosine-1-phosphate Receptor-1 is Necessary for Recovery from Ischemia Reperfusion Injury and Prevents Fibrosis.”
The ASN’s Foundation for Kidney Research awards 10 new research fellowships each year; the Sharon Anderson Fellowship is named for the ASN’s first female president.
Second-Year Fellows:
- Rohit Arora, MD
- Atul Bali, MD
- Mary Muoneke, MD
- Helga Vamenta-Morris, MD
First-Year Fellows:
- Thurein Kyaw, MBBS
- Amritpal Pannu, MBBS
- Brandi Wright, MD
Transplant Fellow:
- Vishal Jaikaransingh, MD
Research Fellows:
- Joseph Gigliotti, PhD
- Pei-Lun Chu, MD, PhD (Le Lab; awarded ASN
2014 Lipps Research Fellowship) - Heather Perry, PhD
- Isaah Vincent, PhD
- Gabor Bodonyi-Kovacs, MD
- Tsuyoshi Inoue, PhD
Accepted for 2015–2016:
- Malik Asad Anjum, MBBS
- Eric Loman, DO
- Baidaa Mohammed, MBChD
- Ajay Rathore, MBBS
- May Christine Zeta, MD