Clinical Fellowship Programs
Nephrology Clinical Fellowships are aimed at upskilling nephrologists by developing expertise in a specialized discipline within nephrology, and applications are made directly to the program (not via the Canadian Resident Matching Service).
Clinical fellowships are a minimum of six months to a maximum of two years. Fellows must have nephrology certification to be eligible.
The General Nephrology Clinical Fellowship is a two-year experience, of which 1 year is spent at UHN, divided amongst consult service (Toronto General), inpatient ward, renal transplant, and dialysis. Approximately two months are spent running the Toronto Western consult service, where the fellow acts as junior consultant. Additional experiences are available based on the interests and aptitude of the learner.
Subspecialty Fellowship Streams
Subspecialty or advanced fellowships are for trainees who have graduated from a nephrology program and wish to gain advanced learning within a specific area of nephrology.
Currently, the following subspecialty/advanced programs in nephrology are offered through the University Health Network.
CARE Fellowship in Diabetes Complications Prevention
The fellowship is designed to train emerging leaders is the area of the prevention of diabetes complications. This fellowship is designed to train future leaders in diabetes research, and in caring for patients with diabetes across cardiac, renal and endocrine areas of expertise. Ultimately, the goal of the UHN-CARE Diabetes Fellowship is to advance knowledge leading to improved clinical outcomes for patients with diabetes. We anticipate that the UHN-CARE Diabetes Complications Fellowship will attract outstanding and qualified candidates, most of whom will be new academic physicians who have completed fellowship training and certification, in either the fields of nephrology, endocrinology or cardiology.
Type of Fellowship: Clinical and Research
Supervisor: Dr. David Cherney
Duration: 1 year
Please send email to Dr. David Cherney
EXPLORE Home Dialysis
The EXPLORE program at University Health Network provides advanced training in the management of patients in home dialysis, with an emphasis on peritoneal dialysis and nocturnal home hemodialysis.
Type of Fellowship: Clinical and Research
Supervisor: Dr. Christopher Chan or Dr. Joanne Bargman
Duration: Flexible
Please send email to the Education Coordinator
Geriatric Nephrology & Palliative Renal Medicine
Trainees will gain experience in applying the findings from a comprehensive geriatric assessment to the patient with renal disease with the goal of maximizing wellbeing in the context of renal therapies and chronic disease. Although the training experiences will extend across all stages of renal disease there will be a strong emphasis on palliative dialysis, symptom management, rehabilitation with dialysis and on providing comprehensive conservative renal care. Trainees will be exposed to critical appraisal and given the opportunity for clinical research training if applicable.
Type of Fellowship: Clinical and Research
Supervisor: Dr. Vanita Jassal
Duration: 6-12 months
Please send email to Dr. Jassal’s Assistant
Glomerular Disease
The Glomerulonephritis (GN) Fellowship offers access to a breadth of specialized quaternary care clinics for treatment of GN at multiple hospital sites, and clinical care is fully integrated with research under the auspices of the Toronto GN Registry. This training program will educate future leaders in the care and study of patients with GN. Clinical activities will occur at UHN and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.
Fluency in English is required, and candidates will have completed clinical training in nephrology.
Type of Fellowship: Clinical
Supervisor: Dr. Heather Reich
Duration: 1 year
Please send email to Dr. Reich’s Assistant
Hereditary Kidney Disease
This program aims to provide a stimulating and nurturing environment for the trainee to acquire expertise in clinical care of patients with polycystic kidney disease and tuberous sclerosis complex, including the management of renal and extra-renal complications, the use of clinical, image-based and molecular diagnostic tests, as well as conventional and experimental drug treatments; expertise in clinical care of patients with other rare familial renal disorders; and clinical, genomic, and translational research opportunities in polycystic kidney disease and familial GN.
Type of Fellowship: Clinical
Supervisor: Dr. York Pei
Duration: 1-3 years
Please send email to Dr. York Pei
Home Dialysis
The purpose of this fellowship is to acquire expertise in home dialysis modalities, comprising peritoneal dialysis and home hemodialysis. Fellows will attend clinics for both, manage drop-ins, and attend pre-dialysis clinics to learn more about education around choice of dialysis modality. Preference will be given to Canadian applicants.
Type of Fellowship: Clinical and Research
Supervisor: Dr. Joanne Bargman
Duration: 6-12 months
Please send email to Dr. Bargman’s Assistant
Kidney & Kidney-Pancreas Transplantation
This fellowship will allow trainees to develop competency in managing all aspects of kidney and kidney-pancreas transplantation. It includes rotations on both the renal transplant and pancreas transplant inpatient services. The remaining blocks may include rotations on the Transplant Infectious Diseases service; HLA lab; outpatient clinics; renal transplant pathology; pediatric transplant nephrology; and research. There is an assigned longitudinal post-transplant clinic, as well as pre-transplant donor and recipient assessment clinics.
Type of Fellowship: Clinical
Supervisor: Dr. Jeffrey Schiff
Duration: 1 year
Please send email to Dr. Schiff’s Assistant
Onconephrology
The Divisions of Nephrology and Hematology/Oncology at the University Health Network have collaborated to form an Onco-Nephrology clinical program. This clinical fellowship program aims to extend the clinical training of recently graduated nephrology trainees to enhance clinical care of Oncology patients with specific renal disorders; facilitate and standardize the ongoing clinical management of certain renal disorders in Oncology patients; and provide a clinical unmet need for cancer survivors who require ongoing management of chronic kidney disease and hypertension. Areas of specific focus will include one or more of apheresis, bone marrow transplantation, myeloma, amyloidosis and clinical epidemiology and translational Research.
Type of Fellowship: Clinical
Supervisor: Dr. Christopher Chan
Duration: 1 year
Please send email to Dr. Chan’s Assistant