Transplant Nephrology Fellowship Program

UCSF offers a standard one-year Transplant Nephrology Fellowship. We also offer an alternative pathway over two or three years designed for fellows who have a more in-depth academic interest in transplantation and wish to pursue additional research activities during the fellowship. Our two-year alternative pathway consists of one year of clinical training and one year of research which is supported with intramural funds. The UCSF fellowship is accredited by the American Society of Transplantation and graduates are eligible to be a UNOS-approved medical director of a kidney transplant program.

The Kidney Transplant Program at UCSF consistently ranks in the top five in the US for number of kidney transplants per year. Fellows will work with expert faculty within a collaborative and multidisciplinary environment to care for and gain experience in the management of high complexity patients. Fellows will gain experience in the inpatient and outpatient management of kidney and kidney/pancreas transplant recipients, as well as pre-transplant evaluation of transplant recipient and living donor candidates. We actively complete dual organ transplants (including pancreas-kidney, liver-kidney, heart-kidney, and lung-kidney transplants) and have particular expertise in personalized immunosuppression and management of HIV positive recipients.

Teaching Activities

Teaching activities during the fellowship include a weekly transplant nephrology lecture series which covers a curriculum of topics in transplant nephrology. In addition, there is a monthly transplant nephrology journal club, monthly transplant nephrology case conference, and weekly morbidity and mortality conference. Fellows also attend a daily transplant pathology conference with our in-house transplant pathology faculty. Fellows attend workshops at the Immunogenetics and Transplantation Laboratory and the American Society of Transplantation Fellows Symposium in Grapevine, TX.

Weekly conferences/meetings/lectures:

Research and scholarly activities

UCSF is a world leader in basic science, translational, and clinical research in kidney transplantation. Our center has been pivotal in development of newer immunosuppression medications and is actively investigating novel agents, including cell therapies in the alloimmune response. UCSF also has a Transplant Outcomes Research Center (https://match.ucsf.edu) which is focused on accelerating advances and improving outcomes in abdominal organ transplantation. Fellows will have the opportunity to take part in research or other scholarly work with faculty mentorship.

Fellowship highlights

• Large volume center with over 400 kidney transplants per year
• One of the largest living donor programs in the US with 130-150 adult living donor kidney transplants per year
• Work with expert faculty to care for and gain experience in the management of high complexity patients with kidney disease 
• Daily pathology conference with our in-house transplant pathology faculty (>700 biopsies per year)
• Weekly didactic lectures covering the breadth of the transplant nephrology curriculum
• Opportunities to complete research and other scholarly work with faculty mentorship
• Transplant nephrology textbook provided to fellows
• State of the art clinic space with panoramic views across San Francisco
• Fellowship accredited by American Society of Transplantation and graduates are eligible to be a UNOS-approved medical director of a kidney transplant program
• Fellowship alumni have become leaders in the field and medical directors of transplant programs across the US
• Competitive benefits and stipend package; the annual salary for our fellows in 2024-2025 academic year is $107,701
• 20 vacation days per year
• Relocation expenses (up to $1800)
• Reimbursement up to $1000 for purchase of desktop, laptop, tablet, or other IT equipment to facilitate clinical, scholarly, or other research work during fellowship
• California medical license fee is reimbursed
• Meal stipend at UCSF Health Cafeteria and other on-site restaurants ($550 per month)
• UCSF-subsidized housing options are available at multiple sites across San Francisco (https://campuslifeserviceshome.ucsf.edu/housing)

How to Apply

Two fellows are accepted each year. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis starting in March of the year before the anticipated July 1 start date (16 months before fellowship start date). Interviews are conducted on a rolling basis when applications are received.

Please see our application form for more details on the application process.

Transplant Fellow 

2024-2025:
Jaclyn Khil (general nephrology fellowship: UCSF)
Victor Prado (general nephrology fellowship: UCSF)

2023-2024:
Leonardo Pozo Garcia (general nephrology fellowship: Baylor College of Medicine)
Mojgan Jalalzadeh (general nephrology fellowship: New York Medical College)

2021-2022:
Sana Shaikh (general nephrology fellowship: Washington University School of Medicine)
Tiffany Truong (general nephrology fellowship: University of Southern California)

2020-2021:
H. Stephen Han (general nephrology fellowship: University of Oklahoma)
Adrian Whelan (general nephrology fellowship: UCSF)

2019-2022 Research Track:
Nikolaos Skartsis (general nephrology fellowship: University of California, San Francisco)

2019-2020:
Fadee Abualrub (general nephrology fellowship: University of South Florida)
Faizan Syed (general nephrology fellowship: University of Nebraska Medical Center)

2018-2019:
Yasir Alfi (general nephrology fellowship: George Washington University)
Nicholas Herrera (general nephrology fellowship: University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center)

2017-2018:
Rohan Paul (general nephrology fellowship: University of Pittsburgh Medical Center)
Santhi Voora (general nephrology fellowship: UCSF)

2016-2017:
Mohamed Alseiari (general nephrology fellowship: Rhode Island Hospital, Brown University)
Thuy Le (general nephrology fellowship: UCSF)

2015-2016:
Neda Hashemi (general nephrology fellowship: University of Southern California)
Jun Shoji (general nephrology fellowship: George Washington University)

2014-2015:
Manpreet Singh (general nephrology fellowship: Boston Medical Center)
Vasishta Tatapudi (general nephrology fellowship: New York University)

2013-14:
Thin Thin Maw (general nephrology fellowship: University of Pittsburgh)
Sonika Puri (general nephrology fellowship: New York University)

2012-13:
Deepika Kancherla (general nephrology fellowship: Cedars Sinai Medical Center)
Hoss Tabriziani (general nephrology fellowship: Georgetown)

2011-12:
Fadi Hussein (general nephrology fellowship: St. Louis University Hospital)
Humera Nisar (general nephrology fellowship: Henry Ford Hospital)

2010-11:
Ranjan Chanda (general nephrology fellowship: Baylor)
Sindhu Chandran (general nephrology fellowship: Stanford)

2009-10:
Maha Mohamed (general nephrology fellowship: University of Maryland School of Medicine)
Puneet Sood (general nephrology fellowship: University of Florida)

2008-09:
Muna Al Nimri (general nephrology fellowship: Oregon Health Sciences University)
David Wojciechowski (general nephrology fellowship: Georgetown)

2007-08:
Brian Lee (general nephrology fellowship: Case Western Reserve)

2006-07:
Joshua Wolf (general nephrology fellowship: UCSF)

2005-06:
Rafael Villicana (general nephrology fellowship: UCSF)

2004-05:
Harini Chekkera (general nephrology fellowship: UCSF)

Transplant Faculty

• Deborah Adey
• Amarpali Brar
• Shiang-Cheng Kung
• Justin Oveyssi
• Puneet Sood
• Flavio Vincenti
• Allison Webber
• Adrian Whelan (Transplant Fellowship Program Director)

Program Leadership