Obtain comprehensive but individualized training in a supportive environment as a fellow in the UNM Division of Nephrology
505-272-0407
The Nephrology Fellowship Program within UNM's Department of Internal Medicine (DOIM) was established in 1980. We strive to provide a comprehensive foundation in nephrology within a supportive educational environment, allowing graduates to pursue productive careers in academic medicine -- as clinician-educators, physician-scientists, or public health experts -- or in private practice or industry.
The training program is a two-year clinical fellowship centered at UNM Hospital (UNMH), a busy 556-bed tertiary referral center serving the racially and culturally diverse population of New Mexico. The Division of Nephrology has world-renowned physician scientists and skilled clinician-educators providing cutting-edge kidney care to a population of patients with a high burden of kidney disease. Fellows gain a wealth of experience in renal consultative services including acute kidney injury (AKI), glomerular disease, chronic kidney disease (CKD), and end-stage kidney disease (ESKD). We provide training in acute and chronic hemodialysis, continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT), kidney transplantation, kidney donor evaluation, native and transplant kidney biopsies, and temporary dialysis catheter placement. Our division cares for a large ESKD population treated with both hemodialysis and home peritoneal dialysis in our outpatient chronic dialysis facilities.
We also offer two subspecialty tracks. Fellows in the three-year Interventional Nephrology track receive procedural training under the supervision of ASDIN- (American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology-) accredited faculty to become eligible for ASDIN certification. The three-year Nephrology-Critical Care track consists of two years of clinical nephrology training followed by another year of training in intensive care medicine within the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine.
Though the tremendous depth and breadth of kidney disease encountered at UNMH and the Albuquerque VA remain at the heart of the training program, our fellowship has evolved significantly over the last few years by introducing a series of thoughtful innovations designed to improve the educational experience and overall wellbeing of our fellows. Recently implemented measures designed specifically to increase fellow wellbeing include:
We are a family-friendly program and many of our fellows have taken the opportunity to start a family while completing their training at UNM. We believe that ensuring you are a happy, healthy individual outside our program makes you a stronger physician.
New Mexico offers beautiful scenery and access to all kinds of outdoor activities all year. Skiing, hiking, music, theater, museums, national parks, and culture are everywhere, including right here in Albuquerque.
Kidney disease disproportionally affects minorities and patients of lower socioeconomic status. New Mexico is a majority-minority state and one third of the state's population is below the poverty line, giving trainees extensive experience in navigating intercultural communication. In addition, since 1952 UNMH has served as the primary referral center for the Native American healthcare network within the state and of the Navajo Nation of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. UNM offers unique opportunities for the training of fellows interested in providing healthcare to ethnically diverse, rural, and socioeconomically challenged populations.
The nephrology division of UNM is dedicated to the care of underserved patients with kidney disease, both in our day-to-day clinical operations and our research mission. The Center for Healthcare Equity in Kidney Disease (CHEK-D) is a research program within the division specifically dedicated to reducing or eliminating disparities in kidney disease care.
The promotion of diversity among our trainees and faculty is a priority for our fellowship program. We value diversity in culture, race, religion, age, sexual orientation, and gender identity and are committed to recruiting and training fellows from groups underrepresented in medicine. The program encourages trainees from all backgrounds to apply and performs holistic reviews of applications. To better serve our population, we also prioritize the recruitment of speakers of Spanish, Navajo, and Vietnamese. Fellows have access to resources provided by Offices for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion of both the UNM Health Sciences Center and the School of Medicine (SOM).
I got so much more than what I bargained for. An excellent mix of brilliant upcoming faculty in the field teaching alongside some of the most well-known minds of nephrology. All of whom are thoughtful, kind, and welcoming. A comprehensive training in all aspects of nephrology combined with individual faculty expertise made it an excellent training program for me. Succinctly put, I am extremely proud to be an alumnus of the program.
All applicantions are through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS). A completed application includes:
Invitations for interviews are sent by e-mail. In accordance with AAMC guidelines, all interviews will be virtual only.
The fellowship program is designed to be flexible, equipping you for a career in clinical nephrology, while also allowing fellows interested in academic medicine to pursue opportunities for teaching or research. The first year emphasizes the acquisition of basic skills in inpatient clinical nephrology, including expertise in the management of acute kidney injury, electrolyte and acid-base disorders, renal transplant, acute hemodialysis, and CRRT. First-year fellows also learn outpatient kidney disease management in a once weekly half-day continuity clinic. Along with further clinical experience in inpatient and outpatient nephrology, the second year provides additional focus on outpatient dialysis (both hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis), in partnership with Dialysis Clinic Inc. (DCI), the largest non-for-profit dialysis organization in the U.S. which administers the community dialysis clinics staffed by UNM faculty. Finally, elective time is built into both years of training but increases during the second year, allowing fellows to individualize their pursuit of specific interests, be it the acquisition of new clinical skills (e.g., procedures or plasma exchange), development as a clinician-educator, or experience conducting clinical or basic science research.
During the first year, we identify a faculty mentor who provides you with general support and guidance for long-term career planning. For fellows interested in research, the faculty mentor will help you connect with the faculty best equipped to help you develop and pursue your research interest.
*Not an exhaustive list of available electives.
Once per month, fellows are excused entirely from clinical duties (no pre-rounding or rounding) for the full morning for in-person dedicated fellow-only teaching. That morning the faculty are responsible for all clinical care, including rounding and writing notes on all patients on the inpatient services, allowing this teaching time to be completely protected. A typical academic half-day schedule would be:
Division-wide conference, attended by faculty and fellows alike, is held every Monday at noon to 1 pm. Sessions include general didactic topics, division-wide journal clubs (usually focused on recent important publications), and Renal Grand Rounds, in which local or visiting faculty present updates or research developments in nephrology.
On weeks without an academic half-day, another hour of protected time is provided for fellow-only board review. These sessions are typically question-based interactive sessions led by the faculty.
Arkana conferences are among the most popular in the division. In lieu of weekly noon conference, four times per year the world-class subspecialty renal pathologists from Arkana lead renal pathology conference via Zoom. UNM fellows or faculty present interesting local cases, first generating interactive discussion of the clinical features of the case. The pathologists follow with an in-depth review of the histopathologic features of each case, concluding with a series of high-yield teaching points.
With students, residents, and fellows from other programs frequently rotating on electives with our inpatient services at UNMH and the VA, teaching opportunities abound for interested fellows. Formal training in medical education is also available through the UNM SOM Office for Continuous Professional Learning, including the popular Residents as Educators course.
Dr. J. Pedro TeixeiraDr. Teixeira has been at UNM since 2019. He obtained his medical degree from Dartmouth Medical School and completed internal medicine residency at the University of Washington, chief medical residency at the University of Washington-Boise VA, nephrology fellowship at the University of Colorado, and critical care fellowship at Washington University/Barnes-Jewish Hospital. His academic interests lie in all areas of overlap between nephrology and critical care, and he carries out clinical trials and other research on acute kidney injury, septic shock, COVID-19, and ECMO. At UNM he attends on the inpatient nephrology consult service and in the medical ICU and cares for patients with ESKD on maintenance hemodialysis at DCI. An enthusiastic medical educator, Dr. Teixeira was the Nephrology-Critical Care Track Director and an Associate Program Director (APD) since arriving at UNM and was honored to become the Program Director in 2022.
Dr. Namita SinghDr. Singh has been at UNM since 2020. She obtained her medical degree from Maulana Azad Medical College in India and completed internal medicine residency at Johns Hopkins University/Sinai Hospital and nephrology fellowship at Maine Medical Center/Tufts University. She practiced nephrology in Maine and Utah before coming to UNM. Her academic interests include transplant, hypertension, home dialysis, young adults with kidney disease, and novel therapies for glomerular disease targeting the complement pathway. At UNM she cares for patients on the inpatient general consult and transplant services and in nephrology clinic and oversees the provision of hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis to patients with ESKD at DCI. Soon after becoming the APD for Fellow Didactics in 2021, she partnered with Dr. Teixeira in leading a major overhaul of the curriculum which included the introduction of the protected nephrology fellow academic-half days in 2022.
Dr. Darren SchmidtDr. Schmidt earned his medical degree at Louisiana State University and completed internal medicine residency, chief medical residency, and nephrology fellowship at UNM. He next moved to the University of Mississippi where he served as an academic nephrologist and APD for the nephrology fellowship for five years. In 2009, he moved back to the region to work at a practice based in Durango, CO. After a decade serving a largely rural population in southwest Colorado, he returned to UNM in 2020. His academic interests include health care disparities in patients living in rural areas, acute and chronic kidney disease, and renal replacement therapy. In addition to caring for patients in all settings at UNM -- inpatient general consult service, transplant service, nephrology clinic, and chronic hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis at DCI -- Dr. Schmidt serves as the director of the general nephrology clinic at UNMH and become the fellowship APD for Outpatient Nephrology in 2021.
Dr. Darlene VigilA native New Mexican, Dr. Vigil earned her medical degree and completed her internal medicine residency and nephrology fellowship at UNM. After fellowship, she joined the faculty at the UNM as a staff nephrologist at the Albuquerque VA. Her academic interests include all areas of general nephrology including home dialysis. She attends on the inpatient nephrology consult service and in general nephrology clinic at the VA and oversees one of the largest peritoneal dialysis programs across the entire VA system nationwide. She served as the nephrology fellowship PD from 2018 until 2022, when she stepped down to become the section head of nephrology at the VA, and she continues to work with nephrology fellows on a daily basis as the APD for the VA Medical Center.
Dr. Jonathan OwenDr. Owen obtained his medical degree from Louisiana State University (LSU) and completed internal medicine residency and nephrology fellowship at UNM. After training, he moved back to LSU where he practiced academic nephrology and obtained training in interventional nephrology. In 2017, he moved back to UNM and launched our interventional nephrology program based at our affiliate hospital, UNM Sandoval Regional Medical Center (SRMC). His academic interests include hypertension, novel diagnostics and therapeutics for diabetic kidney disease, percutaneous endovascular arteriovenous fistulas, and safety and best practices for kidney biopsies. Though he occasionally attends at UNM downtown, he primarily practices inpatient and outpatient nephrology at SRMC where he performs and trains fellows in a full gamut of interventional nephrology procedures as the Interventional Nephrology Track Director and APD for SRMC.
Dr. Christos ArgyropoulosDr. Argyropoulos obtained his medical degree and PhD from the University of Patras in Greece and completed internal medicine residency at the University of Cincinnati and nephrology fellowship at the University of Pittsburg Medical Center (UPMC). Having worked in both academics and industry as a physician-scientist, he has published over 75 peer-reviewed journal articles in his areas of expertise including statistical analysis, kidney transplantation, and diabetic kidney disease. He moved from UPMC to join the faculty at UNM in 2014, becoming the Division Chief of Nephrology in 2017. Along with his research and administrative roles, he works daily alongside our fellows caring for patients with kidney disease in all settings at UNM, including the general nephrology consult service, the transplant service, nephrology clinic, and multiple DCI hemodialysis centers.
Kathleen BurkettMs. Burkett, or Kat as she likes to be called, is the newest addition to our nephrology fellowship. She worked at UNM in the 1980s for the Comptroller’s Office and the Drug Abuse Program. She received a Business Computer Programming Certificate from Central New Mexico Community College (CNM) and worked for Albuquerque Public Schools. She then moved with her husband in 2001 to Toledo, Ohio, where she worked for the Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center in both the internal medicine and emergency medicine residency programs for nearly 15 years, providing her with excellent experience, knowledge, and skills in graduate medical education that she now utilizes as our program coordinator. Toledo was a great experience, but New Mexico is home. In her free time, Ms. Burkett loves gardening and acrylic painting.
Research is an important aspect of nephrology training at UNM. All fellows are required to carry out at least one scholarly project during fellowship, which may include a case report abstract presented at a local or national conference. However, nephrology is among the most productive divisions within the DOIM in research. The division is also the home of the Center for Healthcare Equity in Kidney Disease (CHEK-D), a signature research program of the UNM Health Sciences Center focused on developing and supporting scientists and clinicians in basic, clinical, and translational research to reduce and eliminate disparities in health processes and outcomes related to kidney disease.
Our faculty have the knowledge, resources, and experience to support fellows interested in research of all kinds, including health services research and epidemiology, medical education research, clinical trials, and basic science. Interested fellows will be paired with a faculty mentor with research expertise in the fellow's area of interest and they will provide personalized support every step of the way. The fellows can use dedicated research time in the second year to carry out research projects based on their interests. We strongly encourage fellows to submit and present their research at national meetings, such as the American Society of Nephrology and National Kidney Foundation, and funding for travel to such conferences is often provided by the division.
Fellow names in bold.
Beyond the two-year general nephrology followship, a third year of specialized training is available through the Nephrology-Critical Care and the Interventional Nephrology tracks. Interested applicants must rank these specific tracks within the NRMP system (Nephrology/Critical Care, 1962148F1; Nephrology/Other-Interventional, 1962148F2).
Fellows in the three-year Interventional Nephrology track work closely with Dr. Jonathan Owen, FASDIN (Fellow of the American Society of Diagnostic and International Nephrology) at our affiliate hospital, Sandoval Regional Medical Center (SRMC), and develop expertise in all manner of procedures, leading to ASDIN certification. Procedures performed include percutanous native and transplant kidney biopsies, fistulograms, percutaneous peritoneal dialysis catheter placement, percutaneous arteriovenous fistula creation, and temporary and tunneled hemodialysis catheters. Fellows are also provided a one-month away rotation to specifically increase their experience performing procedures with arteriovenous grafts.
Fellows in the Nephrology-Critical Care track start receiving regular specialized critical care didactics and rotate for one month in the Medical ICU during their second year of fellowship before dedicating their third year to intensive care, receiving their ICU training from our colleagues in the Pulmonary/Critical Care Division. The didactic program preparing the second-year fellows for critical care training is delivered in dedicated one-on-one sessions by UNM's critical care nephrologist, Dr. J. Pedro Teixeira. Highlights of being a critical care fellow at UNM including exposure to multiple subspeciality ICUs (medical, trauma-surgical, neurosurgical, and cardiothoracic-vascular), significant hands-on exposure to ECMO and other forms of mechanical cardiovascular support, and extensive procedural training. The Medical ICU at UNMH is a truly multidisciplinary environment that welcomes intensivists of all backgrounds and is staffed by faculty with training in pulmonary medicine, internal medicine, emergency medicine, anesthesia, nephrology, and infectious disease.
International Medical Graduates (IMGs) should apply through ERAS using instructions from the ECFMG office. Please contact ECFMG directly for further information.
In general, most IMGs that receive interviews meet the following requirements:
The following benefits are provided to all UNM housestaff:
Additional information about UNM housestaff benefits is available here.
The UNM faculty are some of the most supportive, kindest people you will ever meet. They are all brilliant masters in the field of nephrology, which is only overshadowed by how big their hearts are. The division supports their fellows in every way they conceivably can.
Hometown: Adjuntas, Puerto Rico
Medical School: Universidad Central del Este, School of Medicine, Dominican Republic
Residency: Damas Hospital, Ponce, Puerto Rico
Fellowship (Endocrinology): University District Hospital / University of Puerto Rico
Year/Track: First-year, General Nephrology
Hometown: Minneapolis, MN
Medical School: St. George's University School of Medicine, Grenada
Residency: Las Palmas Del Sol Internal Medicine Program, El Paso, TX
Year/Track: First-year, Nephrology - Critical Care
Hometown: Nkwerre, Nigeria
Medical School: University of Ghana School of Medicine and Dentistry, Ghana
Residency: Quinnipiac University Netter School of Medicine/St. Vincent's Medical Center, Bridgeport, CT
Year/Track: First-year, Interventional Nephrology
Hometowns: San Juan and San Germán, Puerto Rico
Medical School: Ponce Health Sciences University School of Medicine, Puerto Rico
Residency: Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY
Year/Track: First-year, General Nephrology
Hometown: Karachi, Pakistan
Medical School: Chandka Medical College, Larkana, Pakistan
Residency: Lyari General Hospital Karachi, Pakistan
Year/Track: Second-year, General Nephrology
Hometown: Jacksonville, Florida
Medical School: Liaquat University of Medical & Health Sciences Jamshoro, Pakistan
Residency: University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Harlingen, TX
Year/Track: Second-year, Nephrology - Critical Care
2023 fellow graduation party.
Conference presentation of a case of fibrillary GN by Dr. Jon Owen during the January 2023 academic half-day.
Dr. Anil Pal (class of 2023) presenting his case report abstract alongside Dr. J. Pedro Teixeira at 2022 ASN Kidney Week Conference in Orlando.
ICU RN priming CRRT circuit being used for experimental "stem cell" therapy during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Party at UNMH Transplant Clinic.
EKG from patient admitted to UNMH ICU with severe hyperkalemia (who survived after dialysis prescribed by an UNM Nephrology fellow!). (Shared with permission.)
2022 fellow graduation party.
2023 fellow graduation party.
Fellows Dr. Pamela Vasquez (class of 2022) and Dr. Chandra Kodavanti (Nephrology-Critical Care, class of 2023) with clinic director Dr. Darren Schmidt at UNMH General Nephrology Clinic.
RBC cast found in urine microscopy of patient with rapidly progressive GN diagnosed at UNMH. (Shared with permission.)
Fellows Dr. Chandra Kodavanti (Nephrology-Critical Care, class of 2023), Dr. Pamela Vasquez (class of 2022), Dr. Michelle Shieh (Nephrology-Critical Care, class of 2023), and Dr. Anil Pal (class of 2023) at dinner in Albuquerque.
Chest x-ray of patient requiring VV-ECMO and CRRT for pulmonary-renal syndrome from ANCA vasculitis treated by UNM nephrology consult service with cyclophosphamide with eventual full recovery. (Shared with permission.)
Dr. Michelle Shieh (Nephrology-Critical Care, class of 2023) teaches students and residents her approach to acid-base status in the patio outside the UNMH adult ICUs.
He consistently goes above and beyond to ensure the success of his fellows in achieving their goals. Despite his demanding schedule, he willingly carves out time to impart his knowledge on a range of subjects. In fact, his dedication to my personal success is so profound that it rivals the unwavering concern of my own mother.
Department of Internal Medicine
UNM School of Medicine
MSC04 2785 1 University of New Mexico