Education

Nephrology Conferences

A series of multi-disciplinary seminars and conferences provide a framework of formal instruction to complement the practical training of the postdoctoral fellowship in Nephrology.  Faculty members and the fellows attend and may present at weekly conferences. A representative weekly schedule of conferences is as summarized in the following table.

July Core Lecture Series: 

Daily lectures covering basic topics in clinical nephrology are presented in July by various nephrology faculty members as well as faculty outside the division (pathology and radiology).  These lectures are primarily for the benefit of first year fellows, but serve as a review for second year fellows.

Core Curriculum Conference:

This is a weekly multi-disciplinary series taught by clinical and basic science faculty members from the Johns Hopkins University Departments of Medicine, Pathology, Urology, Radiology, Surgery, Immunology, and outside institutions, as well as by nephrology fellows.  These lectures include topics in pathology, fluid, electrolyte and acid-base disorders, hypertensive disorders, mineral metabolism (including renal osteodystrophy), end-stage renal disease and dialysis (HD, PD, CRRT), urinary tract infections, renal disorders of pregnancy, vascular disease (including atherosclerotic diseases), systemic renal disease (diabetes), genetic and hereditary renal diseases, urinary tract abnormalities, glomerular and tubulointerstitial disease, transplant nephrology, pathology and immunology, acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease.  The purpose of this conference is to provide a systematic review of clinical nephrology for the benefit of the nephrology fellows and members of the faculty. 

Renal Grand Rounds:

Johns Hopkins faculty or invited speakers discuss various aspects of nephrology through a presentation of research often involving a case discussion.  Invited speakers, who are selected because of their leadership in their respective fields of expertise in Nephrology, have lunch with fellows during which fellows have the opportunity to “stump the professor” through presentation of interesting clinical cases or to simply gain wisdom from renown leaders in nephrology.

Journal Club:

This weekly conference reviews important basic science and clinical research articles in nephrology with the objectives of imparting skills on the critical review of medical literature and familiarizing fellows with previous and current important works in the field of nephrology. Relevant publications from the medical literature are reviewed and are assessed for design, methods, results and discussion among the fellows and faculty members present. For articles of basic science nature, cellular and molecular biology as it pertains to renal disease is emphasized. For clinical research articles, epidemiological, and biostatistical methods are emphasized along with clinical decision theory.

Clinical Pathologic Correlation Conference:

This weekly conference provides relevant medical history and clinical data to the renal pathology faculty members for cases from Johns Hopkins Hospital. Renal pathologists review native and transplant renal biopsy cases obtained within Johns Hopkins Hospital as well as outside institutions from the previous week with the fellows.  This conference allows for informal interaction between fellows and renal pathology faculty.

Renal Tran splantation Conference: 

Topics covering various aspects of renal transplantation are reviewed by Hopkins faculty members and invited speakers each week.  The Nephrology Transplantation team, (nephrology fellow, nephrology transplant fellow, nephrology nurse practitioner, and transplant attending) and members of transplant surgery jointly attend this multidisciplinary conference.

Renal Disease Interest Group: 

This conference is attended by fellows in the clinical research track, Welch Center faculty and Nephrology faculty. One of the two conferences per month is reserved for fellows’ presentations of proposed or ongoing research projects. During these particular sessions, the presenting fellow receives input as to their study’s design, methods and results from the Welch Center and Nephrology faculty.

Kidney -Pancreas Transplant Meeting: 

Specific potential renal transplant donor and recipient issues that arise after initial patient evaluation are discussed weekly to confirm final transplantation status.  Psychosocial, ethical, cultural as well as medical issues are jointly discussed with all members of the transplant team. This multidisciplinary team includes nurse coordinators, social workers, psychologists, transplant surgeons and the nephrology transplant team, consisting of the nephrology fellow and attending rotating on the transplantation service.

Autopsy Conference:

Fellows attend the Autopsy Conferences organized by the Department of Pathology when patients cared for by nephrology fellows have autopsies performed. In addition to these conferences, the slides are also posted on OslerNet in addition to the formal report in the Electronic Patient Record.

The second year fellows have important roles in determining the content and organization of the Core Curriculum and Journal Club.  In addition, one second or third year fellow serves as the fellow representative for educational curriculum issues. This fellow helps the program director review educational goals and effectiveness of the implementation of these goals. The fellow representative is present for dedicated faculty meetings focused on curriculum issues.