About the Program

The Nephrology Fellowship Training Program began in 1965 and was first accredited by the ACGME in 1987. Since its establishment, the nephrology training program at the University of Iowa has had a long tradition of clinical and educational excellence. We invite you to explore our website for details about our training program and to consider all the advantages that our program offers. Our dedicated faculty provide an outstanding clinical experience and enthusiastic attention to your education. If you are looking for a program that will challenge you and provide you with the experience and guidance necessary to achieve the milestones in nephrology training, we encourage you to apply to our program. If you have any questions about any aspect of our program, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Program Overview

Welcome to the Nephrology Fellowship Training Program at University of Iowa Health Care, a 2-year accredited clinical program, accepting 3 fellows per year. Additional years of training after the second year are available for those fellows interested in pursuing an academic nephrology career (2 years clinical/1 year research or with approval 1 year clinical/2 years research). We are also pleased to offer a 1-year accredited training program in transplant nephrology. The goal of our training program is to help fellows reach the milestones in clinical training and education that will allow them to be successful practicing nephrologists or academic clinicians.

The Nephrology Division has a substantial commitment to patient care, teaching, and research. Our fellows become acquainted with a wide variety of challenges encountered in the practice of clinical nephrology, dialysis, and transplantation. They develop a solid expertise in the care of the renal patient by getting firsthand experiences in the following:

critical care nephrology
ambulatory nephrology
routine pre- and complex post-transplant care
primary ESRD management
multidisciplinary care of patients with cardiovascular disease, renal disease in pregnancy, rheumatologic disorders, and surgical issues

In addition, the fellowship offers ample opportunity to develop proficiency in procedural skills including kidney biopsy and biopsy interpretation.

Fellows in the program actively participate in teaching medical students and residents on the consult service. For additional training as clinician educators, we encourage our fellows to apply to programs such as the FACE (Fellows As Clinician Educators) and the Masters in Medical Education that can be integrated into the second year of the training program.

The Renal Division is also very proud of its research tradition. Our fellows train under a diverse faculty with nationally and internationally renowned bench, translational, and clinical research programs and participate in the Rare Disease Clinic, nephrology-related health services research through the VA’s CADRE program.

We hope your training will be an exciting and educational experience and look forward to participating in your professional development as a nephrologist!

Sincerely,
Chou-Long Huang, MD, PhD
Division Director

Lisa M. Antes, MD
Fellowship Training Program Director

Jonathan Nizar, MD
Associate Fellowship Training Program Director

Lisa Novak
Fellowship Coordinator

Program Mission

The mission of the Nephrology Training Program at the University of Iowa is to prepare our Fellow trainees be qualified and competent patient care providers, and in addition, physician educators and/or physician scientists as each individual strives for his or her career goals.

Irrespective of career goal, each fellow will receive comprehensive clinical training focused on quality patient care in areas that include critical care nephrology, ambulatory nephrology, routine pre- and post-transplant care, primary ESRD management, glomerular disease, research methodology, quality improvement projects and multi-disciplinary care of patients with other major comorbidities.

Program Aims

Foster a learning environment that promotes fellow’s progressive responsibility and graduated autonomy in approaching complex as well as common renal related problems
Deliver a core curriculum of general nephrology clinical topics necessary for the practice of nephrology
Provide clinical experiences allowing fellows to learn and practice multi-disciplinary care and shared decision that reflects quality patient care and respect for patient values and preferences in both the inpatient and outpatient settings
Provide exposure to transplantation to gain knowledge beneficial for the general nephrologist
Provide opportunities for longitudinal continuity of care of patients with renal related problems
Provide mentorship to support fellow’s learning, scholarly activities, wellness and individualized career plans
Provide opportunities and mentorship in a variety of research tracks tailored to the renal fellows’ interest and talents including bench, outcomes, and clinical and translational research (expanded below)
Maintain a culture of wellness, camaraderie and mentorship
Provide an environment that fosters self-reflection, self-assessment and improvement and develop the skills for lifelong learning.
Promote acquisition of the necessary skills and knowledge for scholarly activity
Promote acquisition of the necessary skills and knowledge for teaching medical students and residents