The Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) Nephrology Training Program has been continuously funded for thirty years. We identify promising postdoctoral fellows, who are committed to understanding regulation of normal kidney function and the pathogenesis of kidney diseases, and train them to become independent investigators. Support is requested for three postdoctoral physicians or Ph.D. scientists for two or more years of research training. The principal training mechanism is performance of research under the supervision of one or more of the primary training faculty. This group is highly interactive and collaborative, consisting of 17 investigators in the adult or pediatric Divisions o Nephrology at the CWRU affiliated teaching hospitals and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and 16 other clinical and basic scientists, all of whom actively study kidney biology and disease. The training faculty are based in six departments: Medicine, Pediatrics, Biochemistry, Pathology, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and Physiology and Biophysics. Research interests of the primary faculty include glomerular development and disease, nephron development, podocyte biology, epithelial cell biology and ion transport, genetic epidemiology, chronic kidney disease progression, hypertension, transplant immunology, health disparities, and clinical trials. Center faculty apply cellular, molecular biological, genetic, imaging, genomic and epidemiological methods to in vitro models, animal models, and/or individuals with kidney disease. Faculty laboratories contain over 20,000 square feet of state-of-the-art space. The resources of the CWRU Clinical and Translational Collaborative are available for patient-oriented research. Training also includes lectures, weekly seminars and, if appropriate, course work (formal degree programs or individual classes). Trainees present their work at local seminars and national meetings. Career mentoring is an integral aspect of the program; each trainee has a mentoring committee that oversees progress. A formal mechanism of administration, governance and program evaluation assures program quality. Our interdisciplinary Nephrology Training Program uses state-of-the-art research experiences within the rich environment of the CWRU School of Medicine and its affiliated hospitals to develop independent investigators, interested in kidney biology and disease.
The prevalence of end stage renal disease is approximately 1500 per million population in the United States. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects nearly 20 million people and the prevalence of advanced CKD in the United States continues to rise. Trainees supported by this program will develop into independent scientists focused on reducing kidney disease burden in the U.S.
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