Multidisciplinary Stone Clinic
The University of Arizona Divisions of Nephrology and Urology recently launched a new Multidisciplinary Stone Clinic in cooperation with the UA Division of Urology (in the Department of Surgery) and the Department of Nutritional Sciences (at the UA College of Agriculture and Life Sciences) that involves specialists from nephrology, urology and nutrition working together to provide the best possible care for patients in Southern Arizona with kidney stones.
The clinic, originally projected to open in July, finally began accepting patients in mid-September.
Initial funding for the clinic came from a Banner Health Best Use grant that was submitted by Sireesha Koppula, MD, MPH, a former UA associate professor in the Division of Nephrology who is now a physician executive for population health and clinical informatics at Beaumont Medical Group in Detroit, and Benjamin Lee, MD (left), a UA professor and chief of the Division of Urology in the Department of Surgery. 
The clinic will be led by Sangeetha Murugupandian, MBBS, and Bijin Thajudeen, MD, from Nephrology and Dr. Lee and David Tzou, MD, from Urology. The goal of the clinic will be to provide a comprehensive one stop service for the prevention and treatment of kidney stones. A special emphasis will be placed on teaching, training, clinical research and the use of the latest most effective technologies.
Kidney Patient Panel
Jackie May, a nurse practitioner in the Division of Nephrology, continues to see benefits from a “Kidney Patient Panel Discussion – ‘Presenting Treatment Options’” hosted May 24 that is part of an expansion of patient education services for those suffering from chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end stage renal disease (ESRD) offered through the division.
The goal of the panel was a focus on patients learning from other patients. The panel comprised a variety of people living with kidney disease, or who had been touched by kidney disease, and included kidney donors, transplant recipients and dialysis patients. The event was attended by about 40 people, including patients, caregivers, nurses, dieticians and coordinators.
“We hope that this panel will be the first of many in Southern Arizona and we hope to extend this model to other parts of the state and region,” said Prabir Roy-Chaudhury, MD, PhD, chief of the Division of Nephrology and a professor of medicine.
Plenary Session Lecture at the Southwest Nephrology Conference
Dr. Sangeetha Murugapandian delivered an outstanding plenary session lecture at the annual Southwest Nephrology Conference in Phoenix on Oct. 6, 2018. She spoke on the topic of “Modality Choice for Older Patients with ESRD.” Both Drs. Murugapandian and Thajudeen were also on the planning committee of for the conference, which was co-hosted with the 6th Annual Cardio Renal Metabolic Conference at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort. Dr. Murugapandian, who is dually trained in both nephrology and geriatrics also will be setting up a dedicated Geriatric Nephrology clinic, working in coordination with the UA Center on Aging and UA Division of Geriatrics, General Internal Medicine and Palliative Medicine. In addition, she has been appointed as associate program director for the UA Nephrology Fellowship, for which Daniel Veres is now the program coordinator.
Invited Presentation at LSU Shreveport's Transplant & Access Symposium
Chyi Chyi Chong, MD, was invited to be a faculty member and speaker at the 5th Annual John C. McDonald Transplant & Dialysis Access Symposium.
The event was hosted Oct. 13 by Louisiana State University, Shreveport.
The topic of her talk was, “Ultrasound Use in the Dialysis Unit.”
Fellow Survival App
Hannah Tiu, MD, created a Nephrology Fellow Survival App 
with detailed information available at the tips of your fingers.
Specific modules for the downloadable mobile app include administrative (hemodialysis units/community groups/hospital wards), therapeutic (CKD/Dialysis/Transplant/Glomerulonephritis/AKI) and reference (NKF Blog/Library) information.
Look for additional information on the app and its availability soon.
Invited Book Chapters
Drs. Thajudeen 
and Murugapandian have been invited to write a chapter for the second edition of Chronic Kidney Disease, edited by Paul Kimmel and Mark Rosenberg. The cover of the first edition is pictured at left.
The chapter focuses on “Novel Therapies for Chronic Kidney Disease.” Frank Brosius, MD, also will be writing a chapter on “Diabetic Kidney Disease” in the same book.
American Society of Nephrology Annual Meeting, San Diego 2018
Members of the UA Division of Nephrology were extremely active during the recent American Society of Nephrology meeting, Kidney Week 2018, Oct. 23-28, in San Diego. This is the largest nephrology gathering in the world with almost 13,000 nephrologists registering for this meeting.
- Erica Bracamonte, MD: 6 Pathology pre-course lectures
- Akinlolu Ojo, MD, MPH, PhD: 4 posters
- Titilayo Ilori, MD: 1 poster
- Amy Sussman, MD: 1 poster
- Lance Bechtold, MD: 1 poster
- Dr. Frank Brosius: Symposium Moderator and poster
- Diego Celdran-Bonafonte, DVM, PhD, and team: 2 posters
- Dr. Prabir Roy-Chaudhury: 2 symposium presentations/ASN TV Interview/Moderator/5 posters/1 oral communication
Poster at ADVICE Conference
Tom Jan, clinical research coordinator in the Division of Nephrology, had a poster and also manned a booth at the “2018 ADVICE COLLABORATIVE: Patient Engagement,” an annual conference held June 21 at the Black Canyon Conference Center in Phoenix.
The annual ADVICE (Arizona Developing Value Through Innovation and Communication with ESRD Providers) event is hosted by the Arizona Department of Health Sciences.
Fellow Poster Presentation
Dr. Lance Bechtold, a UA nephrology fellow, was the lead presenter on a poster on IgA Nephropathy, known as Berger’s disease and occurring when an antibody called immunoglobulin A (IgA) lodges in your kidneys, at the American Society of Nephrology, annual meeting—a.k.a., Kidney Week—in San Diego.
Arizona Kidney and Vascular Center Poster
Diego Celdran-Bonafonte, DVM, PhD, assistant professor in the Division of Nephrology, presented a poster at Kidney Week 2018.
He also was appointed as the chair of the Veterans Administration IACUC (Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee) and is a member of the University of Arizona IACUC.
Interim Director of Kidney and Pancreas Transplant
Thanks to Lavanya Kodali, MD, for performing an outstanding job as the interim director of kidney and pancreas transplant from October 2017 to September 2018.
She shouldered this additional responsibility with confidence and style and strengthened the more-than-100-kidney-transplants-a-year program at the University of Arizona, Dr. Roy-Chaudhury said.
Welcome to New Transplant Nephrologists
An enthusiastic welcome to our new medical director of kidney and pancreas transplantation and clinical professor of medicine, Angelo de Mattos, MD, MPH, and to Pablo Loarte-Campos, MD, who is joining as a clinical assistant professor of medicine.
Nephrology Teaching and Training
Dr. Amy Sussman, continues to lead educational activities within the UA College of Medicine – Tucson at a divisional (Nephrology fellowship program director) and departmental (associate chair overseeing the DOM Office of Education and Medicine Clerkship director overseeing 3rd-year medical student elective) level. Dr. Sussman will be presented with Outstanding Achievement in Teaching by a Clerkship and Educator of the Year, Years 3 and 4, honors at the 39th Annual UA College of Medicine – Tucson Faculty Teaching Awards and the Vernon and Virginia Furrow Awards Ceremonies on Nov. 8.
ASN Councilor and KHI Recognition
Dr. Prabir Roy-Chaudhury was elected as a Councilor at Large of the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) starting January 2019. The eight-member council serves as the apex leadership group of the 20,000 member strong ASN) which is the largest professional nephrology organization in the world. Dr. Roy-Chaudhury was also recognized at an ASN plenary session for his leadership of the Kidney Health Initiative, a public-private partnership between ASN and U.S. Food and Drug Administration, over the last 6 years, as co-chair along with Patrick Archdeacon, MD, a medical officer in the Office of Medical Policy with the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) at the FDA.
As outgoing KHI co-chair, Dr. Roy-Chaudhury, did a TV interview during ASN Kidney Week 2018. In the interview, he reflected on his time with KHI and emphasized the importance of convening various stakeholders in a pre-competitive environment in order to mitigate barriers to the development of new therapies for people living with kidney diseases. Watch the full interview below or here.
Clinical and Academic Productivity
In addition, the UA/Banner – University Medical Center Tucson Kidney Transplant Program celebrated a record 10 transplants completed in one week this past summer (June 17-23).
And, since January 2018, faculty in the Division of Nephrology have published over 20 manuscripts and have delivered over 30 invited presentations across the globe.
A big thank you goes to Dr. Prabir Roy-Chaudhury for helping compile the above list of achievements and activities for the University of Arizona Division of Nephrology.
ALSO SEE:
“UA Nephrology, Urology, Nutritional Sciences to Launch Kidney Stone Clinic at Banner – University Medicine North in July” | Posted May 28, 2018
“Banner Advanced Kidney Disease Classes Designed to Inform Patients of Treatment Options” | Posted Aug. 14, 2017