Nephrology Fellowship

The Pediatric Nephrology Fellowship provides fellows with the knowledge and expertise to be highly effective clinicians and investigators who can improve the lives of children with kidney disease.

Nationwide Children’s and The Ohio State University College of Medicine appreciate your interest in our Pediatric Nephrology Fellowship Program. We believe that you will find we offer many excellent opportunities to help you develop and refine the skills necessary to become a well-trained pediatric nephrologist, accomplished investigator in clinical and/or basic science, effective teacher and nephrology advocate.

The Pediatric Nephrology Fellowship Program’s goal is to assure that each fellow finishes our program with the knowledge and expertise to be a highly effective clinician and investigator who can improve the lives of children with kidney disease. Our fellow positions are fully supported by Nationwide Children's Hospital and we offer one to two positions per year. Upon successful completion of the program our fellows will have met the training requirements for Pediatric Nephrology certification by the American Board of Pediatrics.

Download Our Program Brochure (PDF)

What You Need to Know

Program Overview

Quick Facts

Curriculum

Fellows & Faculty

Research & Advocacy

Application & Selection

Contact

Program Overview

Our program encompasses three years of training, with the goal of preparing trainees for a productive career in Pediatric Nephrology. The first year is focused on clinical training, while the latter two years increase the time allotted to develop a focus in research while continuing valuable clinical training.

We also provide one of the few opportunities in the country for motivated medicine-pediatric residents to complete a combined fellowship in adult and pediatric nephrology, in collaboration with the well-respected Nephrology Division and Fellowship Program at OSU. This four-year program integrates adult and pediatric training, and focuses on academic opportunities that address research questions relevant to the strengths and interests of the faculty at both institutions. Our first combined fellow is set to graduate in 2020, we have another starting in July 2019, and if you are interested in learning more about this special program, please reach out to John D. Mahan, MD for more details.

Clinical Training

Clinical care balanced with academics across three year training period
Rotations through multi-disciplinary clinics
- Urology/Nephrology
- Lupus Clinic
Dedicated rotations in renal pathology, urology, and kidney transplantation
Longitudinal outpatient continuity clinic
Multiple opportunities for procedures
- Kidney biopsy, acute PD catheter placement, CRRT and dialysis initiations
Fellows attend CRRT University, the Annual Dialysis Conference, Pediatric Academic Societies, American Society of Nephrology and other important scientific and educational meetings

Pediatric Research Training

Fellows are provided opportunities for clinical, translational and basic science research. They will also learn how to prepare abstracts and manuscripts for publication as well as poster and oral presentations for regional and national meetings.
During fellowship training program, submission of at least one first-authored basic science or clinical research manuscript are required to meet ABP requirements for academic pediatric fellowships. However, we encourage our fellows to develop a wide variety of scholarship skills. These can take the form of contributing to a multicenter study, case studies or case series, review articles, text book chapters, and how to participate as a peer reviewer for academic journals. As a result of this emphasis and mentoring, all of our fellows graduate with multiple publications and presentations at national meetings. We encourage our fellows to submit original work for grant proposals (intramural and national sources) in order to gain experience in applying for funding.
All fellows work with a mentor to help reach these goals.
Each fellow has a Scholarship Oversight Committee responsible for providing direction and oversight of the fellows’ research experiences. These committees include three to five faculty members and meet officially twice a year.
Each fellow is required to complete Institutional Review Board training and attend The Research Institute's Fellows Research Training Series.
Opportunities to participate in course work at The Ohio State University or complete an MPH, MS in Medical Science, MBA, MHA or MEd at The Ohio State University funded by the Department of Pediatrics are available to interested candidates.

Academics

100% pediatric nephrology board pass rate
14 faculty research mentors with nephrology projects

Cross disciplinary research opportunities

Our fellows average four publications during training
Our fellows average four national presentations during training
Fellow graduates have been awarded: two NIH Career Development Grants (K08), six Nationwide Children’s intramural grants and two additional large extramural grants in the last 12 years
Fellows have been awarded two national fellowship research awards during training
Fellows attend on to two biomedical/research meetings per year
Large research coordinator pool to assist fellows in research
Division supported biostatistician
Opportunity for advanced degree (master’s)

Evaluations

Each fellow is evaluated on a each rotation by the faculty assigned to precept the rotation and semi-annually by the identified research mentor.
The fellowship director meets with the fellow every six months to review the evaluations, procedure lists, continuity patient lists and also discuss the fellow’s academic progress, individualized learning plan, in-training examination score and future plans. Additional core competency evaluations focus on assessing competence in procedural skills, written communications, verbal communications, professionalism, practice based learning and quality improvement techniques, and understanding relevant health care systems.
Each fellow completes an evaluation of the faculty for each rotation and participates in scheduled division, clinical, research and fellowship program reviews.

Combined Adult – Pediatric Nephrology Fellowship Program

One of a handful of functioning combined fellowship in adult and pediatric nephrology programs in North America.
Strong collaboration with the well-respected Nephrology Division and Fellowship Program at OSU.
Four year program that integrates adult and pediatric training (both pediatric and adult clinical experiences each year)
Focus on academic opportunities that address research questions relevant to the strengths and interests of the faculty at both institutions (e.g., glomerular disease across age groups, transition challenges for adolescent and young adults, mechanisms of UTI across the ages, etc.)
Our first combined fellow graduates in 2020, and we have another starting in July 2019; if you are interested in learning more about this special program, please reach out to John D. Mahan, MD for more details.

Quick Facts

Since starting our fellowship program in 2006 we have graduated 11 fellows – all are in academic nephrology positions:
- Two division chiefs
- Four physician-scientists
- One MPH
- One masters or science degree
- One hypertension program director
- One dialysis director
- One research director
- Two urology/nephrology clinical directors
Our fellows have a 100 percent pass rate for the pediatric nephrology boards.
The Section of Nephrology is highly ranked in the nation by U.S. News and World Report.
We offer opportunity for advanced degrees to fellows (such as Master of Public Health, Master of Medical Science, Master of Education). Over the last ten years, 30% of our fellows have elected to enroll and completed such degree programs to enhance their career development and aid in important outcomes like acquiring NIH grant awards.
Our fellows have won national, regional and institutional awards during their training.
Our graduated fellows and their present place of employment:
- Rose Ayoob, MD: University of West Virginia (Charleston)
- Brian Becknell, MD, PhD: Nationwide Children’s Hospital
- Stephen Cha, MD: Akron Children’s Hospital
- David Hains, MD: Le Bonheur Children's Hospital
- Sue Ingraham, MD, PhD: University of Hawaii
- Franca Iorember, MD: Children's Hospital of San Antonio
- Halima Janjua, MD: UT Southwestern Medical Center
- Kirsten Kusumi, MD: Akron Children's Hospital
- Arwa Nada, MD: Le Bonheur Children's Hospital
- John David Spencer, MD: Nationwide Children’s Hospital
- Reeti Kumar, MD: Duke University
- Rachel Millner, MD: Arkansas Children’s Hospital
- Neha Pottanat, MD: Riley Children’s Hospital
- Jason P. Thomas, MD: Helen DeVos Children's Hospital
- Jessica Greco, MD: Ohio State Medical Center

Key Fellowship Components

A nationally-recognized and busy clinical program providing comprehensive training in all aspects of clinical nephrology, including glomerulonephritis, nephrotic syndrome, hypertension, urinary tract infection, congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract, kidney stones, acute and chronic peritoneal dialysis (PD), acute and chronic hemodialysis (HD), continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT), intensive care nephrology, renal transplantation and metabolic bone disorders.
10 full-time pediatric nephrologists and two basic science PhD investigator with strong interests and experiences in basic science, translational and clinical research.
Outstanding basic science research opportunities within the Section of Pediatric Nephrology, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, the Division of Nephrology at The Ohio State University College of Medicine and other clinical and basic science departments in The Ohio State University.
Outstanding clinical research opportunities through The Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, The Ohio State University General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) and the Midwest Pediatric Nephrology Consortium.
Annual Ohio Kidney Camp
Nephrology advocacy

ASPN, ASN
Three ASPN JELF scholars

Training in medical education
Active involvement in ASPN

Three previous fellows have served as Chairs of pFENA
Members of ASPN committees

Curriculum

The goal of the pediatric Nephrology fellowship program is to produce well trained and proficient pediatric nephrologists. This is achieved by combining broad clinical exposure in pediatric nephrology and related disciplines with tailored research experiences and attentive instruction and learning opportunities.

Fellows & Faculty

Research

Research education and training are vital to the mission of Nationwide Children's Hospital and The Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital. As a top-ten free-standing pediatric research center and an academic affiliate of The Ohio State University, The Research Institute has an outstanding faculty, dedicated to training and mentoring the next generation of scientists in pediatric research.

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Research at Nationwide Children's Hospital

Advocacy

Advocacy training fosters and encourages interest in child advocacy by early involvement and exposure to its many aspects such as addressing social determinants of health, community collaboration, health finance, health policy and legislative advocacy.

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Explore Our Passion for Advocacy

Application & Selection

Applications for the Nephrology Fellowship must be submitted via the Electronic Residency Application Program (ERAS). The pediatric nephrology fellowship application process has switched to the July Application Cycle. In this cycle, applicants may submit their application starting on July 1. Applications are available for download by the fellowship programs starting on July 15. When your completed application has been received and reviewed, you will be notified of the action taken and if you will be offered an opportunity to interview for a fellowship position commencing July of the following year.

Applications will be considered from July through November. Interviews will be conducted August through November of each year. We encourage applicants to apply earlier in the application process to insure flexibility with interview scheduling.

We appreciate your interest in our fellowship program and look forward to reviewing your completed application.

To apply to the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Nephrology fellowship program, please register with ERAS. We require three letters of reference. While we encourage use of the standardized reference form, letters of recommendation will be accepted in letter format. As well, we require USMLE scores, CV and a personal statement from the applicant.

International Graduates

In accordance with Nationwide Children’s policy, foreign medical graduates must have a J1 VISA, which will require approval from the Designated Institutional Official and the Nephrology program director.