Department of Medicine

Nephrology, Hypertension & Renal Transplantation

Fellowship Program

The training program offered by the Division of Nephrology, Hypertension and Transplantation is fully accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Clinical fellows are exposed to an active diagnostic and treatment service drawing from 548 beds in Shands Hospital and 433 beds in the adjacent Gainesville Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The clinical rotations are designed to emphasize the diagnosis and management of renal disease, fluid and electrolyte disorders and hypertension. Over 100 diagnostic renal biopsies are performed over the course of a year, providing extensive experience in biopsy interpretation.

A particularly strong aspect of our training program is the extensive one-on-one interaction fellows enjoy with the faculty in both the clinical and laboratory setting. This interaction is strengthened by the commitment of the faculty to excellence in teaching.

Visit our Current Fellows page here.

Clinical Fellowship

The division supports an active transplant program that performs 150 kidney transplants each year. Fellows participate fully in the pre-transplant evaluation of potential recipients and in the inpatient and outpatient post-operative management of the transplanted patient.

An extremely active and varied outpatient experience is included as part of the clinical training program. This experience includes participation in clinics at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Shands Hospital.

Following the first year of training, extensive experience in clinical investigation is offered in several disciplines, including transplantation, dialysis, hypertension and general clinical nephrology. Current clinical research projects include treatment of transplant rejection, development of new techniques for mass clearance adsorption in the treatment of autoimmune diseases, and investigation of the nutritional requirements of dialysis patients. In addition, the University of Florida is participating in a multicenter clinical trial, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, to determine the optimum anti-hypertensive drug regimen to slow the progression of renal failure in African-Americans with hypertensive nephrosclerosis.

The hemodialysis program provides fellows with the opportunity to manage acute renal failure using a variety of techniques including hemodialysis, hemofiltration, peritoneal dialysis, CAVH, CAVHD, CVVH and CVVH-D. A large outpatient hemodialysis population provides practical experience in the management of patients with end-stage renal disease requiring dialysis. A chronic ambulatory peritoneal dialysis program provides additional experience in the treatment of end-stage renal disease.

Research Fellowship

Fellows are also offered the opportunity to obtain research experience in one of several laboratories in the division. The faculty offer extensive research training in renal physiology, cell biology, renal pathology, transplantation immunology, molecular biology and biochemistry, hypertension and related disciplines. There is also active collaboration currently in areas of mutual interest between members of the division and faculty in the departments of pharmacology, biochemistry and molecular biology, pathology, physiology and medicinal chemistry, and fellows have the opportunity to participate in these activities.

Fellowship Application Information

Each applicant should have completed, or plan to complete, three years of internal medicine training (internship plus two years of residency) and be board eligible or board certified in internal medicine prior to beginning the fellowship. Individuals interested in a fellowship position should apply through the AAMC ERAS system. Evaluation of applicants is based upon the application, academic and clinical training record, letters of recommendation and a personal interview.

For additional information contact:

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY/AFFIRMATIVE ACTION EMPLOYEE