Clinicn Investigator, Asst Prf Nephrology - Renal Assoc, Mass General Research Institute

Assistant Professor of Medicine Harvard Medical School

Co-Director- Temporary Academic Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Assistant Physician Nephrology, Massachusetts General Hospital

MD Seth G. S. Medical College 1999

acute kidney injury; atrial natriuretic factor; calciphylaxis; cardiovascular surgical procedures; diuretics; hospitalists; hyponatremia; kidney failure, chronic; natriuretic peptides; referral and consultation; renal dialysis; renal insufficiency, chronic; thiosulfates; uremia My research is primarily focused on the areas of calcific uremic arteriolopathy (CUA), a.k.a. calciphylaxis and vascular calcification in dialysis patients.

CUA, a dermal arteriolar calcification disorder seen in dialysis patients, has significant morbidity associated with complicated wounds and non-remitting pain and 60-80% one-year mortality. During my nephrology training, I saw many CUA cases and was astounded by the unmet research needs in the CUA field linked to: 1) Unclear pathogenesis and risk factors, 2) Non-existence of circulating diagnostic biomarkers considering the risk of non-healing ulceration from skin biopsy (the current diagnostic gold-standard) and, 3) Absence of effective therapy.

I am interested in understanding the risk factors and pathobiology of CUA, and to develop and examine strategies to effectively diagnose and treat CUA. In addition, I aim to apply the knowledge gained from CUA research to investigate other forms of vascular calcifications in dialysis patients. Over 70% of dialysis patients have coronary artery, aortic or valvular calcifications, and recent literature attributes 50% of cardiovascular deaths in dialysis patients to vascular calcifications. Although, Virchow described the predisposition to vascular calcifications in kidney disease over a century ago, the biology of vascular calcification remains unclear and this limits development and evaluation of treatment interventions. I believe that CUA research will serve as a high-speed template to understand the biology of vascular calcification and accelerate the T2 translational research in this field.