People

Sagar Nigwekar, MD, MMSc is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School and an Assistant in Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Nigwekar conducts translational research in the areas of calciphylaxis (calcific uremic arteriolopathy) and vascular calcification. He also has research interests in improving olfaction/malnutrition in patients with kidney disease and approaches to prevent nephrolithiasis. Dr. Nigwekar is the PI on multiple clinical trials including for VitK-CUA (NCT02278692), the first randomized trial for calciphylaxis patients. Dr. Nigwekar has been a prior recipient of Young Investigator Award from the National Kidney Foundation and Clinical Scientist in Nephrology award from the American Kidney Fund. He is a co-chair of the International Consensus Panel on calciphylaxis.

Sahir Kalim, MD, MMSc is an an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School and an Assistant in Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital. His academic focus involves understanding the fundamental mechanisms of the excess morbidity and mortality seen in chronic kidney disease (CKD) in order to develop new diagnostics and therapies for CKD patients. His team has studied novel protein and metabolite alterations that occur in uremia and contribute to adverse outcomes. We have revealed the harmful effects of protein carbamylation on dialysis patients and how novel therapeutics including amino acid therapy can attenuate this process. This research has translated into first-in-human clinical studies and ultimately a randomized clinical trial. These studies have received generous support through entities such as the National Kidney Foundation Young Investigator Award and through an NIH K23 Career Development Award.

Ravi Thadhani, MD, MPH, founder and Principal Investigator of the Thadhani Lab, is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and former Chief of Nephrology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Executive Director of the Clinical Trials Office at Partners Health Care. He is now Vice Dean of Research and Education at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and continues to maintain a research appointment at the MGH. He has been at the MGH since 1991 and in the Division of Nephrology since 1994. His major activities include clinical and translational research, teaching and mentoring, and administrative responsibilities. His research efforts are divided into two main areas: Pregnancy and Dialysis. Pregnancy related studies have centered on human studies supporting basic science collaborations in the area of angiogenic factors and preeclampsia. His team has developed a diagnostic test for preeclampsia that is currently in the clinic in Europe. He has now turned his attention to therapy for preeclampsia, and is actively planning randomized trials based on our extensive collaborative work. In the area of Dialysis, he has performed studies examining the effect of vitamin D in the survival of chronic hemodialysis patients. In a sustained series of studies, our links between vitamin D and dialysis survival have now been confirmed by over a dozen independent investigators world-wide. Clinical practices (academic and non-academic) have implemented practice patterns aligned with this work, and national and international practice guidelines have highlighted his series of studies. Dr. Thadhani has also mentored numerous fellows and junior faculty members, all of whom have had a strong track record of publications and grant support, and many of whom are on faculty at leading institutions around the country.

Our group is but one part of a broad tradition of nephrology research at MGH that grew over decades under the direction of Emeritus Chiefs and luminaries such as Drs. M. Amin Arnaout and Dennis Ausiello. We remain indebted to outstanding past and present leadership. Click here for the MGH Division of Nephrology website.

Investigators

Andrew Allegretti, MD, MSc is an Assistant Professor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Director of ICU Nephrology at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Allegretti completed Internal Medicine Residency at MGH followed by Nephrology fellowship in the MGH/BWH joint program. His research focuses on vascular activation in hepatorenal syndrome and kidney injury in cirrhosis. He also leads work on multiple phase III clinical trials of bexagliflozin, a candidate SGLT2 inhibitor. He has received grant support from the American College of Gastroenterology and is currently supported by an American Heart Association Career Development Award

Ignacio Portales, MD is a Clinical and Research Fellow at the BWH/MGH Joint Nephrology Program. He completed his Internal Medicine Residency at Rochester General Hospital, NY in 2019. His research interests include mineral disease and osteoporosis in patients with CKD. He collaborates with the Endocrinology unit to better understand PTH dysfunction at the cellular level in patients with CKD and aims to find therapies that decrease the risk of fractures and vascular calcification in patients with CKD.

Harish Seethapathy, MBBS is a Clinical and Research Fellow at the BWH/MGH Joint Nephrology Program. He completed his Internal Medicine Residency at Rochester General Hospital, NY in 2017. His research interests include onconephrology and mineral bone disease. He aims to study the renal toxicities of chemotherapeutic agents in cancer patients and identify the optimal management pathway in patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism.

Meghan Sise, MD, MS is an Assistant in Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital who studies the effect of Hepatitis C virus infection in patient with kidney disease. She conducts clinical trials using direct-acting antiviral therapy in patients with chronic kidney disease, patients on dialysis, and transplant recipients. Through translational investigation, she hopes to learn the mechanisms by which chronic infections cause adverse outcomes in patients with kidney disease.

Mengyao Tang, MD, MPH is a Clinical and Research Fellow in the BWH/MGH Joint Nephrology Program. She completed her Internal Medicine Residency at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She has a particular interest in the interplay of chronic kidney disease (CKD), cardiovascular disease (CVD), and diabetes. She is supported by an American Heart Association Postdoctoral Grant to study glycemic variability as a novel risk factor for CVD in CKD patients. She was an Editorial Intern at American Journal of Kidney Disease from 2022-2023.

Jessica Sheehan Tangren, MD, MPH is an Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School and an Assistant in Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital in the Division of Nephrology. She completed her residency in Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and her nephrology training in the combined Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s Hospital Nephrology Fellowship. Dr. Tangren’s research is in women’s health with a particular focus on the long-term consequences of kidney injury in young women and mechanisms of renal circulatory adaptation in pregnancy. She recently completed her Master’s in Public Health in Clinical Effectiveness from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Tangren was the 2017-2018 recipient of the Clinical Scientist in Nephrology Fellowship from the American Kidney Fund.

Kendra Wulczyn, MD is a Clinical and Research Fellow in the MGH/BWH Joint Nephrology Program. She completed her Internal Medicine Residency at the University of San Francisco, California in 2019. Her research interests include the clinical trajectory and underlying cause of symptoms associated with kidney failure. She aims to study the course of these symptoms in patients with chronic kidney disease and to use metabolomics technology to gain a better understanding of their underlying mechanism.

Staff

Scott Krinsky, BA is the Clinical Research Program Manager, whose responsibilities include IRB and regulatory submissions; participation in the design, improvement, and streamline of protocols; and serving as study sponsor contact for related questions, feasibility assessments and providing project status. He also processes incoming and outgoing biological samples for various lab studies. He graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 2012 with a degree in psychology. His health care experience gained from working in the Health Information Management department within MGH provides a valuable background to our lab.

Beza Mengesha, MD is a research fellow in the Kidney Research Center. She graduated from Mekelle University College of Health Sciences in Ethiopia and has since gained invaluable experience as a medical assistant and general practitioner. She plans to do her residency program in Internal Medicine. Her primary responsibility is working with research subjects for the HOPE trial.

Tianqi Ouyang, MPH is a biostatistician epidemiologist in The Kidney Research Center. He graduated from Tulane University with a master’s degree in Epidemiology. He has experience in healthcare and clinical research.

Shananssa Percy, BS is a Clinical Research Coordinator in The Kidney Research Center. She graduated from Boston College in 2016 with a degree in Biology. She is a member of the MGH Bicentennial Scholars Program. From this program, Shananssa has gained healthcare experience interning in a variety of departments such as teleneurology, anesthesia, and perioperative care.

Jevon Robinson, BA is a Clinical Research Coordinator in the Kidney Research Center. He graduated from Carleton College in 2022 with a degree in Biology and minors in Biochemistry and Art History. Prior to joining the KRC, Jevon conducted research in the areas of biochemistry and population health sciences at Carleton College and Weil Cornell Medicine respectively. Currently Jevon is involved with projects targeting Chronic Kidney Disease, Hypertension and Hepatorenal syndrome.

Shelsea St. Hillien, BA is a Clinical Research Coordinator in The Kidney Research Center. She graduated from Carleton College in 2020 with a degree in Chemistry and a minor in Neuroscience. Prior to date, Shelsea conducted research that mainly focused on neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s Disease and Alzheimer’s disease at various institutions such as Boston University, UCLA, and Carleton College.