Robert Provenzano, MD, FACP
Chief, Department of Nephrology
Medical Director, Transplantation Services
Director Acute Dialysis Service
Director of Research

Jukaku Tayeb, MD
Director, Dialysis Services

Henry Oh, MD, FACS
Surgical Director, Transplant Services

Joel Topf, MD
Clinical Nephrology

Quresh Khairullah, MD
Director, CAPD Services

Keith Bellovich, DO
Clinical Nephrology
Program Director, Nephrology Fellowship

Mohammed El-Ghoroury, MD
Assistant Medical Director
Transplant Services
Program Director
Renal Transplant Fellowship

Mohammed Saberi, MD
Director, Pediatric Nephrology

Susan Steigerwalt, MD
Section of Hypertension
Hypertension Research

Lisa M. Flynn, MD
Director, Interventional Nephrology

Youssef Rizk, DO
Interventional Nephrology

David Lorelli, MD
Interventional Nephrology

St. John Hospital and Medical Center offers a fully accredited two-year fellowship in the subspecialty of Nephrology. This program also offers an optional third year to be spent in special study in the area of Transplantation (kidney and pancreas) or Clinical Nephrology Research, or Interventional Nephrology.

First-Year Fellowship

• Inpatient Nephrology — 3 months
• Transplantation — 2 months
• Dialysis (CAPD, acute and chronic hemodialysis)*
• Inpatient Consultative Service — 4 months
• Pediatric Nephrology — 1 month
• Research — 1 month
• Elective — 1 month

Second Year

• Inpatient Adult Nephrology — 3 months
• Consultative Nephrology — 4 months
• Transplantation — 1 month
• Pathology — 1 month
• Research — 1 month
• Dialysis (CAPD, Acute/Chronic Hemodialysis)*
• Elective — 1 month
• Hypertension — 1 month

*All fellows are assigned 25-30 hemodialysis patients and 10-15 CAPD patients to follow during the 24 month fellowship.

Facilities

The Nephrology program is located on-site at St. John Hospital & Medical Center. Outpatient chronic kidney disease (CKD) clinics are located immediately adjacent to the hospital, steps from the department offices and supervising faculty. The outpatient hemodialysis facility conveniently resides in the same building. St. John Dialysis Corporation provides acute dialysis services to nine hospitals totaling 1,500 beds spanning from Detroit to Port Huron. Only the latest in dialysis technology is utilized to provide care in the ICU setting, including plasmapheresis, continuous renal replacement therapy, and conventional dialysis.

A 36-bed hospital unit, with a 10-station dialysis unit, is dedicated exclusively for the inpatient care of kidney disease patients. Staffed with experienced nurses along with arterial, central venous and telemetry monitoring; this state-of-the-art facility provides comprehensive care to dialysis and transplant patients alike. This service is consistently highly rated by residents and fellows as an outstanding learning environment. The supervising fellow has the opportunity to manage an appropriate workload with the assistance of a team of residents, itnerns and medical students under the direct mentoring of our academic staff.

Fellows provide primary evaluation and management of all nephrology cases on this unit while teaching the residents who rotate through the service.

Interventional Nephrology

The Interventional Nephrology Suite is an 8,000 sq. ft., ultra modern, surgical/radiological suite, with two fully equipped operating/radiology theaters. It is physically contiguous with the Department of Nephrology and fellows’ offices, and includes a pre- and postoperative patient area. The suite is fully staffed with registered nurses and accredited radiologic technicians. It offers fellows the opportunity to gain accreditation in all nephrologic interventional procedures as indicated.

Nephrology Consult Service

Fellows have an opportunity for extensive inpatient consultation experience both of an acute and chronic nature. They are primarily responsible for patient evaluations, assessing immediate patient needs, and initiating treatment plans (under the guidance of the nephrology staff). Should dialysis be required, the fellows have the responsibility for determining the dialysis modality best suited for the patient and initiating this treatment. A great deal of independence is offered to fellows based on their medical maturation.

Transplantation Service

SJH&MC has a fully accredited pancreatic and renal transplantation service. Approximately 50-60 renal transplants and 5-to-10 pancreas transplants are performed each year. Fellows have the opportunity to perform outpatient pre-transplant work-ups in the Transplant Clinic and to gain exposure in acute inpatient transplant care, including but not limited to immunosuppressive therapy and the infectious disease complications of transplant patients. Fellows continue to follow these patients post-transplant in their clinics and dealing with the immediate post-transplant complications and develop skills in management of emerging transplant protocols.

SJH&MC is one of very few transplant centers performing laparoscopic living donor nephrectomies. This procedure is the preferred method of nephrectomy resulting in quicker recovery rates in donors.

Dialysis

Acute and chronic hemodialysis in addition to continuous cyclic peritoneal dialysis, continuous venovenous hemodialysis and plasmaphoresis are available at SJH&MC. Fellows gain exposure to each of these modalities and learn the technical and physiologic aspects of each. Each fellow is assigned a group of patients to be managed throughout the duration of fellowship training in nearby CAPD and dialysis clinics.

Pathology

Pathology monthly biopsy conference is led by a board certified renal pathologist to educate in the evaluation of renal biopsies using standard histologic staining, electromicroscopy and immunofluorescent studies. Fellows have full opportunity to develop the manual dexterity necessary for performing both native and transplant renal biopsies.

Pediatric Nephrology

Elective time is spent both in inpatient and outpatient pediatric rotations where exposure to acute pediatric nephrologic diseases is made available. In addition, fellows have the opportunity to rotate through Detroit Children's Hospital at the Wayne State Medical Center complex if so desired.

Research

Fellows are expected to initiate and compelte at least one clinical or bench research project during their fellowship. Research is directed by a staff nephrology mentor and by the Director of Nephrology Research. All aspects of clinical, statistical and bench research are made available at the fellows’ request. A research nurse and statistician are available to the department.

Interventional Nephrology

The fellow will have the opportunity to become proficient in the following procedures:

• Renal biopsy (native and transplant)*
• Placement of temporary hemodialysis catheters (femoral and internal jugular)*
• Placement of cuffed venous hemodialysis catheters
• Placement of permanent Tenckoff catheters
• Angiography, angioplasty, thrombosis and stenting of arteriovenous grafts and fistula.
  
  * Mandatory

For more information or an application you can write to the following address
or e-mail Laura Peppler-Maloney.

Medical Education Department
St. John Hospital and Medical Center
22101 Moross Road
Detroit, Michigan  48236