About The Division of Nephrology

Among the Best

Comprehensive nephrology services offered at Mass General include:

• Inpatient/Outpatient Hemodialysis
• Transplantation
• Chronic Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis
• Continuous Veno-Venous Hemofiltration
• Vascular Access (Interventional Nephrology)

Clinical Services

General and specialized clinics are offered to treat common kidney-related diagnoses. This includes, but is not limited to, clinics for:

• Hypertension
• Inherited Kidney Diseases
• Kidney Stones
• Nephritis and Vasculitis
• Polycystic Kidney Disease
• Early Renal Failure
• Chronic Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis
• Renal Transplantation

Renowned Medical Staff

Each year, our dedicated physicians see over 6,500 patients. Our division consists of approximately 100 clinicians, scientists, educators and administrators. 37 faculty members and 59 postdoctoral graduate students/fellows comprise our clinical and research staff. All faculty, postdoctoral graduate students and fellows have concurrent appointments at Harvard Medical School.

State-of-the-Art Research

The Division of Nephrology has over 20,000 square feet dedicated to its research program. Our research programs are directed towards the elucidation of basic cellular mechanisms and the causes, management, and potential therapies of kidney disease. Members of the unit carry out basic biological and clinical research in a variety of fields such as protein structure and function, cell adhesion, mammalian gene expression, epithelial development and differentiation, branching morphogenesis, autoimmunity, signal transduction, ion transport, transplantation biology, hypertension, renal stones, and kidney development. Several model organisms are utilized in these research efforts including mice, monkeys, Drosophila, C. elegans and zebra fish. Major research activities are carried out by investigators in sixteen research laboratories across the Mass General campus.

History of Division of Nephrology

Until the 1960's, there was no clearly named area of medical practice or research relating specifically to kidney function and disease. There were also no Nephrology Divisions or nephrologists until about 1960, when the International Society of Nephrology was founded. When the third international Congress of Nephrology (1966) was held in Washington, D.C., it was under the sponsorship of the Renal Section of the American Heart Association. It wasn't until 1967 that the American Society of Nephrology had its first meeting in Los Angeles. Learn more