Fellowship Program

Clinical Research Track

Fellows are trained in the concepts and methods of clinical research: epidemiology, biostatistics, study design, and translational research. Clinical research fellows are expected to identify a mentor and an area of research interest during the first year of fellowship. Many educational and training resources are available to fellows in the clinical research track. Members of the Division are active participants in several NIH-sponsored clinical trials of dialysis therapy (both for acute kidney injury and end-stage renal disease), chronic kidney disease, and kidney transplantation.

The Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at UCSF offers educational program and degrees in clinical research, including the Training in Clinical Research Program (TICR), Advanced Training in Clinical Research program (ATCR), Master's Degree in Clinical Research, and Clinical and Translational Sciences Training. Nephrology fellows have obtained Master of Public Health degrees at the School of Public Health at the University of California Berkeley. The Clinical & Translational Institute (CTSI) at UCSF is one of the first 12 academic institutions selected to be part of the National Institutes of Health's national clinical and translational science consortium. The consortium has a charter to transform clinical and translational research to ensure that the best health solutions get to patients as quickly as possible.

Clinical research fellows are expected to apply for extramural funding from outsides sources such as the NIH, American Kidney Fund (AKF), National Kidney Foundation (NKF), the American Heart Association (AHA) and others. Our previous and current fellows have been extraordinarily successful in obtaining extramural individual fellowship funding.

• National Kidney Fund
• American Kidney Fund
• American Heart Association
• NIH F32 Award

Selected Faculty within Division of Nephrology:

• Chi-yuan Hsu, MD, MSc: http://medicine.ucsf.edu/nephrology/faculty/chiyuan_hsu.html
• Manjula Tamura, MD, MPH: http://medicine.ucsf.edu/nephrology/faculty/manjula_tamura.html
• Kirsten Johansen, MD: http://medicine.ucsf.edu/nephrology/faculty/kirsten_johansen.html
• Flavio Vincenti, MD: http://medicine.ucsf.edu/nephrology/faculty/flavio_vincenti.html

Affiliated UCSF faculty who have mentored nephrology fellows:

• Alan S. Go, MD: http://www.dor.kaiser.org/staff/investigators/go.shtml
• Michael Shlipak, MD: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=DetailsSearch&Term=%22Shlipak+MG%22%5BAuthor%5D
• Neil Risch, PhD: http://www.ucsf.edu/dbps/faculty/pages/risch.html

UCSF Links:

• Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics


• TICR, ATCR, and Master's Degree in Clinical Research programs


• Clinical and Translational Sciences Training


• Clinical and Translational Science Institute


• School of Public Health at UC Berkeley

External Links:

• US Renal Data System: http://www.usrds.org/special.htm
• Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort (CRIC) Study: http://porter.cceb.med.upenn.edu:7778/servlet/page?_pageid=55,138&_dad=portal30&_schema=PORTAL30

Common Features of Clinical and Basic Science Research Tracks

Each research fellow will have a research committee of at least three faculty members. The research committee will meet regularly to review the trainee’s research progress and direction and plans for publications and grant submissions. The Renal Research Conference provides a forum for clinical research and basic science fellows to present and discuss research methods, results, and conclusions. All research fellows will receive didactic instruction in writing grants and papers. This instruction in scientific writing includes a 15-part series of interactive seminars on building blocks of writing, structure of the parts of a research paper, and the writing and publishing processes. Each fellow's research mentor will provide guidance regarding research progress, career development, grant submissions, and manuscript preparation.

Additional Information:
Clinical Training and Didactic Teaching
Basic Science Research Track
Clinician Educator Track