ACGME Fellowship

Overview

The University of Chicago Fellowship Program in Nephrology prepares physicians for careers in clinical nephrology including basic, clinical and translational investigation. The program is well-suited for internists who wish to develop a career in academic medicine and research, community-based clinical practice, industry, public policy, or business and medicine.

The first year in the fellowship program is devoted to in-depth, rigorous training in both inpatient and outpatient clinical nephrology. Through rotations at the University of Chicago Medical Center and at the NorthShore University Health System Hospital, clinical fellows develop expertise in the evaluation and management of fluid and electrolyte disorders, hypertension, acute and chronic kidney failure, proteinuria, hereditary kidney disorders, renal transplantation, glomerulonephritis, nephrolithiasis, bone and mineral metabolism, renal disorders in pregnancy and health disparities as they relate to kidney disease. Also included are a variety of procedures including renal biopsy with renal ultrasonography and access placement for dialysis treatment. Procedural training occurs both through simulation exercises in the dedicated Simulation Center along with patient procedures. With supervision, fellows have primary responsibility for the procedures of intermittent and continuous hemodialysis, as well as peritoneal dialysis.

The second year of training is a more focused and individualized program based on the fellow’s particular interests and is organized using an individual development plan (IDP). During this year, the fellow has a chosen area of study (i.e. genetics in renal medicine, nephrolithiasis, metabolic bone disease, vascular access, home dialysis, acute kidney injury, nephro-oncology, or hypertension). Clinical and scholarly pursuits are a part of the IDP, contributed to by the fellow and their faculty mentors at the end of the first year of training. In addition fellows will rotate at our outpatient and home hemodialysis clinics, renal biopsy clinic (transplant and native), transplant clinic, hereditary kidney disease, resistant hypertension and glomerulonephritis clinics. The overarching goal of the second year of fellowship is that the fellow will become a subject matter expert in his or her chosen area by the end of training.

Additional years of training after the second year are available, contingent either on faculty grant support, T32 training program availability, or through special consideration of the Nephrology Section. Potential interdisciplinary opportunities at the University of Chicago exist in Clinical Therapeutics (Committee on Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacogenomics T32GM0719), in the Sleep, Metabolism, and Health Center (T32 Trans Chicago in the Northwestern Center for Circadian and Sleep Medicine) and via the Institute for Translational Medicine (Program in clinical and translational research 5TL1TR000432-10). Additional opportunities exist for further training with specialization and ABIM certification in hypertension as well as in transplant nephrology. A Master’s Program in Clinical Research and Epidemiology (MSCR), requiring a 3rd year of training, is also available for qualified applicants.

The minimum requirements for admission to our fellowship program are:

1. M.D. or equivalent degree
2. Successful completion of an ACGME-approved residency in internal medicine
3. Commitment to a 2-year Nephrology Fellowship training program, with a possibility for additional years of research training