Nephrology is a specialty for both adult internal medicine and pediatric medicine that concerns the study of the kidneys, specifically normal kidney function and kidney disease, the preservation of kidney health, and the treatment of kidney disease, from diet and medication to renal replacement therapy. The word "renal" is an adjective meaning "relating to the kidneys", and its roots are French or late Latin. Whereas according to some opinions, "renal" and "nephro" should be replaced with "kidney" in scientific writings such as "kidney medicine" or "kidney replacement therapy", other experts have advocated preserving the use of renal and nephro as appropriate including in "nephrology" and "renal replacement therapy", respectively.
Proteinuria is the presence of excess proteins in the urine. In healthy persons, urine contains very little protein, less than 150 mg/day; an excess is suggestive of illness. Excess protein in the urine often causes the urine to become foamy. Severe proteinuria can cause nephrotic syndrome in which there is worsening swelling of the body.
Kidney disease, or renal disease, technically referred to as nephropathy, is damage to or disease of a kidney. Nephritis is an inflammatory kidney disease and has several types according to the location of the inflammation. Inflammation can be diagnosed by blood tests. Nephrosis is non-inflammatory kidney disease. Nephritis and nephrosis can give rise to nephritic syndrome and nephrotic syndrome respectively. Kidney disease usually causes a loss of kidney function to some degree and can result in kidney failure, the complete loss of kidney function. Kidney failure is known as the end-stage of kidney disease, where dialysis or a kidney transplant is the only treatment option.
Diabetic nephropathy, also known as diabetic kidney disease, is the chronic loss of kidney function occurring in those with diabetes mellitus. Diabetic nephropathy is the leading causes of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) globally. The triad of protein leaking into the urine, rising blood pressure with hypertension and then falling renal function is common to many forms of CKD. Protein loss in the urine due to damage of the glomeruli may become massive, and cause a low serum albumin with resulting generalized body swelling (edema) so called nephrotic syndrome. Likewise, the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) may progressively fall from a normal of over 90 ml/min/1.73m2 to less than 15, at which point the patient is said to have end-stage renal disease. It usually is slowly progressive over years.
Joseph E. Robertson Jr. is an American ophthalmologist who was the president of Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon from September 2006 to July 2018.
Founded in 1966, the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) is the world's largest professional society devoted to the study of kidney disease. Composed of over 20,000 physicians and scientists, ASN promotes expert patient care, advances medical research, and educates the renal community. ASN also informs policymakers about issues of importance to kidney doctors and their patients.
Dr. Manuel Martínez Maldonado, MD; MACP, an internist and nephrologist, administrator, educator, poet and author, has authored numerous scientific publications and edited several books. His research interests are the regulation of body fluids and the pathophysiology of blood pressure and its effects on the kidneys. He also focuses on the renin angiotensin system, a hormone system that helps regulate long-term blood pressure and blood volume in the body and which is controlled primarily by the kidneys. His clinical research has included polycycstic kidney disease, renal stones and hypercalcemia. Martinez-Maldonado has occupied numerous positions, including Vice President for Research at Oregon Health and Sciences University (1998-2000), President and Dean of the Ponce School of Medicine (2000–2006). He was the executive vice president for research at the University of Louisville from 2000 to 2009.
Ronald Jonathan Falk, MD, FACP, FASN is the Nan and Hugh Cullman Eminent Professor and Chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (UNC). He is a clinical nephrologist and internationally recognized expert in anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody (ANCA)-induced vasculitis and autoimmune kidney disease. His career as a translational physician-scientist spans more than three decades. His clinical practice and translational research focus on characterizing the cell, tissue and physiologic changes in the development of specific autoimmune kidney diseases and developing new approaches for studying autoimmunity, inflammation and basic neutrophil/monocyte biology. He was Chief of the UNC Division of Nephrology and Hypertension from 1993-2015. He co-founded the UNC Kidney Center in 2005 and continues as Co-Director. Falk is a Past-President of the American Society of Nephrology (ASN). Since 2015, he has served as Chair of the Department of Medicine at UNC.
Bruce Molitoris, MD, FASN, is a past President (2012–2013) of the American Society of Nephrology (ASN). He is Professor of Medicine, Director of Nephrology and Director of the Indiana Center for Biological Microscopy at Indiana University.
Tobias Huber is a German nephrologist and internist. He is university professor and Director and Chairman of the III. Department of Medicine at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf.
Vlado Perkovic is an Australian renal physician and researcher who is the Provost at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, having previously been Dean of Medicine & Health at that University between 2019 and 2023.
Patricia Anne Gabow is an American academic physician, medical researcher, healthcare executive, author and lecturer. Specializing in nephrology, she joined the department of medicine, division of renal diseases, at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in 1973, advancing to a full professorship in 1987; she is presently Professor Emerita. She was the principal investigator on the National Institutes of Health Human Polycystic Kidney Disease research grant, which ran from 1985 to 1999, and defined the clinical manifestations and genetics of the disease in adults and children.
Susan E. Quaggin is a Canadian nephrologist. She is the Charles Horace Mayo Professor of Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Director of the Feinberg Cardiovascular Research Institute, prior chief of the Division of Nephrology, now Chair of the Department of Medicine.
Reshma Kewalramani, is the president and chief executive officer of Vertex Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company based in Boston, Massachusetts, as of April 1, 2020. She is the first female CEO of a large US biotech company. She was previously the chief medical officer and vice president of global medicines development and medical affairs at Vertex.
Adeera Levin MD, FRCPC is a Professor of Medicine, and is head of the Division of Nephrology at University of British Columbia.
Samira Farouk, MD, MS, FASN is a board-certified transplant nephrologist and Associate Professor of Medicine and Medical Education at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS). She teaches medical students, residents, and fellows, and also develops and studies innovations in medical education. Her clinical research interests include the pathogenesis of kidney fibrosis in regards to transplant survival and chronic kidney diseases. Farouk is also cofounder of the free mobile-friendly nephrology teaching tool NephSIM, Associate Program Director of the Nephrology Fellowship at ISMMS, and Director of Mentoring and Trainee Engagement of KIDNEYcon.
Katalin Susztak (Suszták) is a Hungarian American scientist and nephrologist at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a professor of medicine and genetics, and currently the codirector of the Complications Unit at the Institute for Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism. Her laboratory made major contributions to the current understanding of kidney disease development. She is also the founder of the Transformative Research In DiabEtic NephropaThy (TRIDENT), a collaborative network of physicians and basic scientists, to find cures for diabetic kidney disease.
Catharine Isobel Whiteside, CM, FRCPC, FCAHS is a Canadian physician and medical researcher. She is Director, Strategic Partnerships of Diabetes Action Canada and Chair of the board of the Banting Research Foundation. Whiteside is the former Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto.
Morgan Erika Grams is an American nephrologist. She is the Co-Director of the Division of Precision Medicine, and the Susan and Morris Mark Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Population Health at NYU Langone Health.
Deidra C. Crews MD, ScM is an American nephrologist and epidemiologist. She is the Deputy Director of Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity and a Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Crews research focuses on social drivers of disparities in kidney disease and hypertension.
