Nephrology Fellowship

UMass Chan Medical School - Baystate is proud to offer an ACGME-accredited, 2-year Nephrology Fellowship Program at Baystate Medical Center with two positions per year.

Our graduates are highly skilled clinicians and human clinical investigators qualified for both private nephrology practice and clinical academic nephrology programs.

Several graduated fellows are now on medical school faculties.

The 10 Critical Factors That Make Us Different

Both of our positions were filled from the 2020 Match—something that 60% of nephrology fellowships are not able to do.

We believe our success is due to these nine critical factors that differentiate us from other U.S. nephrology fellowship programs.

1) Comprehensive Nephrology Training by Exceptional Faculty

Our curriculum includes 18 months of clinical training in all facets of nephrology from our fellowship faculty. Our faculty's primary mission is to provide outstanding nephrology teaching to all of our fellows, residents and medical students. The majority of our faculty have won teaching awards at BMC, in part because they use novel ways to educate including the MATRIX format for Morbidity and Mortality conferences and OSCE format to teach peritoneal dialysis and home hemodialysis.

On the three major rotations, Inpatient Consultation, Chronic Dialysis/ESRD, and Transplant, you will:

• Develop the skills to manage complications associated with access failure, acute infections, malnutrition, anemia, metabolic bone disease, and cardiovascular complications associated with ESRD
• Learn how to evaluate and manage acute rejection, using novel techniques such as plasmapheresis and chemotherapeutic protocols
• Learn aspects of AKI, ICU nephrology, CRRT, acute hemodialysis, acute peritoneal dialysis, and all forms of chronic dialysis care including home therapies

You will also devote 6 months to clinical research (one month in your first year and 5 months in your second year), choosing from our 30+ ongoing clinical trials or investigator-initiated research protocols.

2) Unique On-Call Program Allows You to Sleep and Be Rested

Our nephrology nocturnist program—the first of its kind—allows fellows on-call during the week to get a good night's sleep and be rested for a busy workday the next morning.

• While on-call once a week Sunday through Thursday from 5 to 11 pm, you will work side-by-side with a nephrology attending to care for and teach on all new patient consults.
• After 11 pm, all consult service calls will go only to the attending, not to the fellows.
• Friday and Saturday are the only days you will be on-call all night (each fellow on-call one weekend per month).

3) Wide Range of Renal Disorders: Rare Disorders are Common at UMass Chan-Baystate

• Vasculitis/RPGN: 25 cases/year
• Systemic lupus: 5-10 cases/year
• All glomerular disorders including those genetically linked
• Rare electrolyte and divalent ion disorders such as Gitelman's, Liddle's, Barrter's
• TTP: 5-10 cases/year
• Atypical HUS: 5 cases/year leading to case reports including Gemzar Hus as an example
• A myriad of adult and pediatric genetic glomerular and non-glomerular diseases
• Rare diseases here are common because we serve greater than 1,000,000 patients in our area
• You will be a glomerular disease expert after our fellowship

Rare renal diseases are cared for personally by YOU at UMass Chan-Baystate, not just memorized from a textbook.

4) Experience Enough to Become Expert in All Renal Procedures

• 250-300 ultrasound-guided biopsies per year performed by nephrology attendings, not IR, with fellows usually being the primary operator
• 40 central lines performed per year by fellows for AKI or ESRD
• Expert diagnostic urinalysis
• A new tiered system is being developed with level 2 becoming initially competent at lines and biopsies and level 3 becoming an expert at lines and biopsies

5) Completely Comprehensive Daily Noon Conference Schedule

To jumpstart your fellowship education, we have 40 core conferences scheduled daily throughout July and August. Starting in September, our conference schedule repeats with the pattern below:

• Mondays: Rotate between Renal Pathology and Palliative Care Conferences
• Tuesdays: Transplant Conference
• Wednesdays: Core Conferences for Fellows
• Thursdays: Rotate between Journal Club, Physio Review, Matrix/M&M Conference
• Fridays: Renal Grand Rounds

6) Myriad of Clinical Research Opportunities to Choose From

• Hypertension: Masked hypertension in renal transplant patients; long tern outcome of primary aldosteronism in patients not surgically treated
• Sodium Disorders: long term urea therapy of SIADH and causes for hyponatremia in preeclampsia
• Potassium Disorders: Best EKG criteria for hyperkalemia in ESRD and extreme hyperkalemia without treatment dialysis
• Genetics of FSGS and other glomerulopathies
• Complications in Dialysis: hypotension from hypoaldo treated with Florinef
• Clinical trials funded by industry to slow progressive CKD
• All fellows will have at least one presentation at the national NKF and/or ASN meetings
• The Nephrology Division has more than 30 ongoing studies trying to find better therapies for Diabetic Nephropathy, CKD in general, FJGS, IgA, MPGN, C3GN + APOL1 nephropathy
  We are experts in renal palliative care and a core of investigators are studying fluid and electrolyte disorders, hypertension and AKI

7) Wide Ultrasound Experience: Inpatient and Outpatient

• We have developed an inpatient POCUS curriculum using the Butterfly handheld ultrasound device, plus a doppler to diagnose fluid status in all your patients. Each inpatient team has 1 Butterfly per fellow
• Ultrasound elective with the Emergency Medicine Ultrasound team provides point of care ultrasound education and experience

8) Longitudinal Monthly Clinics: You'll Become a Home Dialysis Expert

• Monthly peritoneal dialysis clinic
• Monthly home hemodialysis clinic
• Twice a month chronic hemodialysis rounds
• All fellows will be experts in home hemodialysis and home peritoneal dialysis when they graduate
• Teaching to become a medical director of a dialysis unit is also provided utilizing the national ESRD forum developed by chief Dr. Daniel Landry

9) Wellness and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

• Our faculty provide great support for our fellows and strive to be their greatest advocate. This is done through emotional support, being proactive in preventing burn out, and enforcing the ACGME maternal/paternal paid leave, to name a few
• We pride ourselves on being diverse and completely supportive of inclusion with an emphasis on equity throughout our program

10) Help Getting the Nephrology Job You Want

Your training at UMass Chan-Baystate prepares you to become an excellent leader in any aspect of nephrology you wish to pursue—clinical, academic, administrative, or private practice.

Our faculty work hard to connect each fellow with the best nephrology job available that meets their individual interests and needs.

We help our graduates navigate all aspects of job search and placement, including advice on contracts. And, we are experts in working with H-1, J-1, and other visa-sponsored fellows.

Interested In Joining Our Program?

Apply today

Email our Program Coordinator at Jonathan.Provost@BaystateHealth.org

Program-at-a-glance

The UMMS-Baystate Nephrology Fellowship is designed to educate fellows to become outstanding nephrology clinicians or clinician educators, qualified to become medical directors of a dialysis facility or clinical faculty members in academia or outstanding private practice nephrologists.

Our Program emphasizes 18 months of exceptional clinical training and includes 6 months of clinical nephrology research in the second year. Subspecialty fellows will receive comprehensive training in all facets of inpatient nephrology while on three major rotations: Inpatient Service, Outpatient Service, and Transplantation.

Baystate Medical Center serves a population of approximately one million patients from Southern Vermont, New Hampshire, Eastern New York, Northern Connecticut and Western Massachusetts.