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A welcome message from the chief

Dr. Kam Kalantar-Zadeh, chief of the Division of Nephrology
Dr. Kam Kalantar-Zadeh, chief of the Nephrology, Hypertension & Kidney Transplantation

The Division of Nephrology and Hypertension at the UC Irvine Health School of Medicine is committed to providing exemplary care for patients with a variety of kidney diseases. Among these are:

  • chronic kidney disease and acute kidney injury
  • protein and/or blood in urine
  • diabetic and non-diabetic glomerulonephritis
  • polycystic kidney disease
  • progression of renal diseases
  • kidney transplantation, including post-transplant patient management
  • fluid, electrolyte and acid-based disorders
  • dialysis treatment, including treatment both within a dialysis center and at home
  • kidney stones 
  • kidney disease and/or proteinuria in pregnancy
  • rare kidney disorders
  • nutritional management of kidney disease
  • treatment of both hypertension and hypertensive disorders.

We deliver high-quality care to patients with both acute and chronic kidney disorders — at our dialysis center located at UC Irvine Medical Center and at satellite dialysis centers —as well as to patients with a transplanted kidney who would like to be seen by our transplantation team.

Patients with a variety of kidney-related disorders or questions can take advantage of our weekly nephrology clinics as well as other services offered by our faculty physicians.

We are heavily engaged in cutting-edge research and education and lead in kidney disease research nationally and internationally in several arenas. Our Harold Simmons Program in Kidney Disease Research and Epidemiology harbors one of the nation’s most productive and prolific kidney disease research centers.

All of our faculty members, who are board-certified in internal medicine as well as in nephrology, are highly skilled in the diagnosis and management of the broad range of kidney diseases.

In fact, a number of our faculty members have been listed repeatedly in "The Best Doctors in America," "America's Top Physicians," “Top Doctors,” California Best Doctors, and "Orange County Physicians of Excellence."

The division offers an ACGME-accredited fellowship program that includes clinical training at UC Irvine Medical Center and the VA Long Beach Healthcare System. These settings offer our fellows, residents and medical students valuable experience in treating patients with a broad range of renal diseases.

Our fellows receive extensive experience in clinical nephrology, including one-on-one mentoring in clinical skill development during inpatient consultation and outpatient dialysis rounds. Our training program provides extensive didactic core lectures, grand rounds, seminars and journal clubs.

In addition, the division provides continuing education for community physicians and the medical and nephrology community worldwide by participating in or organizing educational conferences and publishing original papers, editorials and review articles in noted peer-reviewed journals and by contributing chapters to various text books. In this context, the UC Irvine Division of Nephrology and Hypertension is widely recognized as a preeminent center of research and scholarship in the nation and abroad.

The division has several highly productive research programs, featuring faculty members who are nationally and internationally recognized for fostering basic, clinical and translational research in renal physiology, kidney disease and hypertension.

Studies carried out in our laboratories on the UC Irvine campus have helped to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of lipid disorders, oxidative stress, inflammation, protein-energy wasting, malnutrition, and vitamin and mineral disorders in kidney disease, epidemiology and outcome research, racial and ethnic disparities, hypertension, and dietetics.

The pioneering research conducted by our faculty members at the VA in Long Beach or in collaboration with other VA nephrology centers has contributed to the understanding of molecular mechanisms of intestinal and renal tubular transport of water-soluble vitamins in health and disease. It has also contributed to better understanding of kidney disease progression, risk factors, outcomes and patient survival. The combined research efforts by our faculty has led to hundreds of original papers, which have been published in prestigious peer-reviewed journals.

In addition to providing the highest-quality care to our patients, we endeavor to stem the ever-growing epidemic of chronic kidney disease by preparing well-trained and highly competent young internists and nephrologists and scientists to prevent and treat chronic kidney disease and to lead cutting-edge research.

To this end, we strive to instill a passion and a commitment to nephrology that will result in the future advancement of research and clinical care in this field. We truly believe in the UC Irvine Health mission, “Discover. Teach. Heal.”