NSMC Team

Program Director

Matthew A. Sparks, MD (@nephro_sparks), Program Director, Faculty since 2015, Durham, NC, USA

  • Experience- Proficiency in using Twitter, Wordpress, Blogger, Squarespace, Cursory use of HTML. 

  • Creator/Co-creator: NephMadness, Renal Fellow Network (current faculty lead)

  • Member of- NephJC Board Member, AJKD blog (Social Media Advisory Board), NephMadness Executive Team, AHA Kidney in Cardiovascular Disease Membership and Communication/Leadership/SCILL (Vice Chair) Committees. ABIM Nephrology Board. Interest in the intersection of social media and academia.

  • Course Director- Scientific Communication, Duke University Clinical Research Training Program (CRTP)

Twitter Accounts- @DukeKidney @KidneyInCVD @RenalFellowNtwk @NephMadness @NephSecrets @KIDNEYcon

Associate Program Director

Mythri Shankar, MBBS, MD, DNB (Nephrology) (@nephromythri), Associate Program Director, 2021 Grad, Bengaluru, India.

  • 2021 CJASN Visual Abstract of the Year

  • 2020 GlomCon virtual fellow and now faculty member

Executive Board

2021 Pod Directors

Gates Colbert, MD (@DoctorGates), 2017 Class, Faculty since 2018, Dallas, TX, USA

  • Experience- NephJC Newsletter editor

  • Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, NephJC hosting, Renal Fellow Network Contributor, Personal webpage creation (www.gatescolbertmd.com)

Elena Cervantes, MD (@elena_cervants), 2021 Class, Faculty since 2022, Baltimore, MD

Anju Yadav MD, (@docanjuyadav), class 2020, Faculty 2021, Philadelphia, PA. 

  • Experience- Twitter 

  • Advisory Board member- NKF PA/NJ region

Beje Thomas, MD (@bthomas215) 2018 Class, Faculty since 2019, Washington DC, USA

  • Experience- Twitter, Writing

  • Member of Kidney Medicine Social Media Team

Executive Board

Cathy Quinlan, MD (@KidneyCathy) Class 2017, Faculty since 2018, Australia

  • Experience- Genetics, pediatric nephrology. Animation

Samira Farouk, MD, MS (@ssfarouk), 2018 Class, Faculty since 2019, New York, NY, USA

  • Experience- Wordpress, Twitter, Blogger, HTML, VideoScribe

  • Co-creator of NephSIM, SIM Series, co- faculty lead of Renal Fellow Network, founder of NephSIM Nephrons

  • Social Media Editor, Clinical Transplantation

  • Social Media Director, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Swapnil Hiremath, MD (@hswapnil), Faculty since 2015, Ottawa, Canada

  • Experience- Proficiency in using Twitter, Squarespace

  • Creator/Co-creator: NephJC.com

  • Member of AJKD Blog, NephMadness

Tom Oates, MD (@toates_19), Faculty since 2015, London, UK

  • Experience- Twitter, Medium, R, RStudio

  • Member of NephJC, investigator: Using Social Media to guide patient information in IgA nephropathy 

Silvi Shah, MD, MS (@silvishah)- Past Associate Program Director, NSMC 2016 Class, Faculty since 2017, Cincinnati, OH, USA

  • Experience- Transplant Nephrology, Twitter, Renal Fellow Network Blog, NephJC, Blogger

  • Member -  NephJC, AST Women’s Health Community of Practice, Women in Nephrology- Communications Committee, ASN Women’s Health and Research Community Leader.

Hector Madariaga, MD (@hecmagsmd), 2015 Inaugural Class, Faculty since 2016, Cambridge, MA, USA

  • Experience- Twitter, Medium, Renal Fellow Network contributor, blogging, digital archiving. 

  • Member of NephJC, ISN Social Media Task Force, Renal Fellow Network. 

Edgar Lerma, MD (@edgarvlermamd), Faculty since 2015, Chicago, IL, USA

  • Experience- Author and editor of (almost) every nephrology textbook

  • Creator/Co-creator: NephPearls

  • Member of NephJC.com.

Sayna Norouzi, MD (@SaynaNorouzi), 2018 Class, Faculty since 2019, Houston, TX, USA

  • Experience- Twitter, teaching with Twitter

  • Twitter, Videos

  • Course Director- Blog and Tweetorial rotation

  • Co director GlomCon Fellowship

Nikhil Shah, MBBS, DNB (@dr_nikhilshah), 2015 Inaugural Class, Faculty since 2016

  • Experience- Twitter, Storify, Blogger, WordPress, Squarespace, AWS

  • Social Media Editor - Peritoneal Dialysis International @PDI_Journal

  • Creator/Co-creator - #AbstractPodcast, #AskRenal bot, The Week In Nephrology (TWIN), socialkidney.com,

  • Member of NephJC, NSMC, NephMadness

Tiffany Caza, MD (@Tiff_Caza), 2019 Class, Faculty since 2020, Little Rock, AR, USA

  • Experience- Twitter, Nephrology Pathology

  • Arkana Lab Social Media Team, NephJC Faculty

Vandana Dua Niyyar, MD (@vandyniyyar), 2019 Class, Faculty since 2020, Atlanta, GA, USA

  • Experience- Twitter, Interventional Nephrology

Amit Langote, MD (@LangoteAmit) Class 2017, Faculty since 2018, India

Michelle Lim, MD (@whatsthegfr) 2018 Class, Faculty since 2019, Dundee, UK

  • Experience - Wordpress, Twitter, Adobe Photoshop, visual abstracts and infographics

  • Visual abstract editor for CJASN

  • Adult Nephrology and General Internal Medicine trainee

  • Course Director- Visual Abstracts

Divya Bajpai, MD (@divyaa24) 2018 Class, Faculty since 2019, Mumbai, India

  • Experience- Twitter, Visual Abstracts, Live streaming, Online Quizzes

  • Visual abstract editor CJASN, American Journal of Nephrology / Nephron, 

  • Member of NephJC, [Co lead NephJC Asia], NSMC, Last Month in Nephrology blog. 

Natasha Dave, MD (@NatashaNDave), 2018 Class, Faculty since 2019, Houston, TX

  • Experience- Twitter, Wordpress

  • Renal Fellow Network Faculty advisor, Kidney Medicine Journal- Social Media team lead

  • Councilor- Women in Nephrology

Nayan Arora, MD  (@captainchloride), 2020 class, Faculty since 2021, Seattle, WA

Caitlyn Vlasschaert, MD MSc (@DrFlashHeart), 2020 Class, Faculty since 2021, Kingston, Canada

  • Experience: Twitter, NephJC, Tweetorials

  • Site lead and infographic designer for The Intern At Work (a resident-led podcast)

Anna Gaddy, MD (@AnnaGaddy), 2020 Class, Faculty since 2021, Indiana

  • Experience: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, NephJC hosting and Newsletter- NephJC Rookie of the Year 2020, Visual abstracts, Blogging

  • Renal Fellow Network Co-Editor

S. Sudha Mannemuddhu, MD (@drM_sudha), 2020 Class, Faculty since 2021

  • Experience- Twitter, Tweetorials, Blogging, PPT( visual abstracts)

  • Social Media Editor - ASPN (American Society of Pediatric Nephrology) @ASPNeph

  • Faculty - @TheSkeletonKG & @Neph_SIM Nephrons

  • Co-chair: ASPN ‘pediatric nephrology in a small group setting’ committee

Sophia Ambruso, DO (@Sophia_Kidney), 2020 class, faculty since late 2020, Denver, CO

  • Experience - Twitter, PPT (visual abstracts & infographics), podcasting

  • Creator/Co-creator: Kidney Essentials podcast, ABC Kidney

  • Associate Editor, Visual Abstracts & Social Media, KI Reports

  • Social Media Director, UCSOM Nephrology Division

  • Mentor, NSMC Graphical Communications rotation 

NSMC Faculty Mentors

Joel Topf, MD (@kidney_boy)- Program Director 2015-2021, Faculty since 2015, Detroit, MI, USA

  • Experience-Blogger, Twitter, Keynote, SquareSpace, WordPress, Storify

  • Creator/Co-creator: PBFluids.com, NephJC.com, NephMadness, Skeleton Key Group, Burton Rose Book Club.

  • Member of AJKDblog

Namrata Parikh, MD (@NamrataYParikh), 2020 Class, Faculty since 2021, India

  • Experience- Twitter, NephJC host, visual abstracts/ infographics creator, Blogging on RFN

Swasti Chaturvedi, MD (@SwastiThinks), 2020 Class, Faculty since 2021,  Australia 

  • Experience: Twitter, NephJC, Tweetorials, Blog writing, Visual Abstracts

  • Member of IPNA social Media Team

  • Paediatric Nephrology, Indigenous Health

Priti Meena, MD (@priti899), 2020 Class, Faculty since 2021, New Delhi, India.

  • Experience- Twitter, Facebook, Visual Abstracts, Blog writing, infographics, NephJC asia host

  • GlomCon virtual fellowship fellow

  • Winner of NephJC Kidney CJASN VA award 2020

Corina Teodosiu, MD (@CTeodosiu), 2020 Class, Faculty since 2021, Bucharest, Romania

  • Experience - Twitter, Facebook, visual abstracts/infographics, Adobe Illustrator

  • Co-founder of Medtinker.net & co-host of the Kidney & the Brain podcast (Romanian)

Krishna Agarwal, MD (@agrawalkris) 2020 Class, Faculty since 2021, Lumbini, Nepal

  • Experience- Twitter, Visual Abstracts, Blog writing, NephJC asia host

  • Member of ISN World Congress of Nephrology Social Media team 

  • GlomCon virtual fellowship fellow

Tiffany Truong (@CRRTiff), Class of 2020, Faculty since 2021, California

  • Fellow Editor, ASN Kidney News

Timothy Yau, MD (@maximal_change), Faculty since 2017, St. Louis, MO, USA

  • Experience-Twitter, Digital/Audio Web Recording, Live streaming

  • Creator- Washington University Nephrology Web Episodes

  • Member of Renal Fellow Network, AJKDBlog Social Media Editor, NephMadness

Laura Slattery, MD (@Slatts_1) 2018 Class, Faculty since 2019, Offaly, Ireland

  • Experience-Twitter, hosting/moderating NephJC,  NephMadness Choosing Wisely Campaign contributor, Renal Fellow Network Contributor.

  • Adult Nephrology and General Internal Medicine trainee

Bea Concepcion, MD (@KidneyBea_n) Class 2017, Faculty since 2018, Nashville Tennessee

  • Experience- Visual abstracts, NephMadness

Dearbhla Kelly, MD (@dearbhlakelly4), 2016 Class, Faculty since 2017, Dublin, Ireland

  • Experience- ICU Nephrology, Stroke, Twitter, Renal Fellow Network contributor

  • Member of NSMC, NephJC

Anna Burgner, MD (@anna_burgner), Faculty since 2017, Nashville, TN, USA

  • Experience- NephMadness Executive Team

Pablo Garcia, MD (@PabloGarciaMD) Class of 2017, Faculty since 2018. New Jersey

  • Experience- Visual Abstracts, NephJC hosting, Squarespace, Infographics.

Justin Davis, MD- @jbda19, 2019 Class, Faculty since 2020,

Angel Verner Venegas, MD- (@Vernisartan), 2019 Class, Faculty since 2020

Arun Kumar, MD- 2019 Class, Faculty since 2020

Krithika Mohan, MD (@krithicism)- 2019 Class, Faculty since 2020, Hyderabad, India

  • Experience- Twitter, Live streaming

Ankit Sukhuja, MD- 2019 Class, Faculty since 2020,

Kartik Kalra, MD (@kkalra_22)- 2020 Class, Faculty since 2021

Mohamed Elrggal, MD (@M_Elraggal) 2018 Class, Faculty since 2019, Alexandria, Egypt

  • Experience- Twitter, Wordpress

  • NephJC Kidney Winner 2018- Rookie of the Year

Larissa Kruger Gomes, MD  (@nephron_andon) 2019 Class, Faculty since 2021, Boston, USA

  • Experience - Twitter, Wordpress, Canva for infographics

  • Fellow editor of Landmark Nephrology

Denisse Arellano, MD  (@deniise_am) 2020 class, Faculty since 2021, Morelia, Mexico

  • Experience - Twitter

  • Member of GlomCon Latinoamerica Working Group

Diana Mahbod, MD (@DiMiRenalMD) 2018 Class, Faculty since 2019, Dallas, TX

  • Co-Creator- LandMark Nephrology

Rajesh Raj, MD (@kidneymedic) 2020 Class, Faculty since 2021, Launceston, Australia

Alejandro Meraz Munoz, MD- 2019 Class, Faculty since 2020

Anshul Bhalla, MD- 2019 Class, Faculty since 2020

NSMC Advisors

Paul Phelan, MD (@paulphel), Faculty since 2015, Edinburgh, UK

  • Experience- Proficiency in using Twitter, Blogger

  • Member of NephJC, AJKD blog, NephMadness. Editor at Renal Fellow Network. Investigator: Twitter sentiment scores & nephrology

Michelle Rheault, MD (@rheault_m), Faculty since 2017, Intern Omsbudperson, Minneapolis, MN, USA

  • Experience-Pediatric nephrology, Twitter

  • Member of NephJC, Co-chair ASPN Communications Committee

Natasha Dave, MD (@NatashaNDave), 2018 Class, Faculty since 2019, Houston, TX

  • Experience- Twitter, Wordpress

  • Renal Fellow Network Faculty advisor, Kidney Medicine Journal- Social Media team lead

  • Councilor- Women in Nephrology

Krystahl Andujar, MD (@Krystahllopathy)- 2019 Class, Faculty since 2020, Puerto Rico, USA

  • Experience- Twitter, Instagram

Ankur Shah, MD (@NephroShah) 2018 Class, Faculty since 2019, Rhode Island, USA

  • Experience- Peritoneal Dialysis Series on RFN

Annabel Biruete, PhD (@anniebelch), Class 2017, Faculty since 2018, Muncie, IN, USA

  • Experience- Renal nutrition, Twitter, NephJC moderator, Renal Fellow Network contributor. 

Nimra Sarfaraz, DO (@DrNimraS) 2018 Class, Faculty since 2019, Dallas, TX, USA

  • Experience- Twitter, Snapchat

Kamran Boka, MD (@Boka_MD), 2016 Class, Faculty since 2017, Houston, TX, USA

  • Experience- Twitter, Slack, Instagram, Storify, Blogger, Wordpress, Squarespace, Pixelmator/Photoshop, JustinMind, App Design & Development

  • Creator: BokasNotes.com, VagalThoughts.com (Retired), UPulmCC.com (In development with Jordan Weinstein), @McGovernPulmCC (Division of Pulm Crit Social Media Accounts: FB, Instagram, Twitter, Slack)

  • BokaMD.com in development.

  • Member of NephJC, NSMC, NephMadness, UPulmCC

Maryam Khosravi, MD (@_Dr_MK), Faculty since 2018, London UK

  • Experience-Twitter

  • Member of NephJC, NephMadness

  • Winner of 2018 NephJC Kidney- MVP

Sri Lekha Tummalapalli, MD (@LTummalapalli) 2018 Class, Faculty since 2019, New York, NY

  • Experience- ASN Quality Committee

Benjamin Stewart, MD @drbstewart), 2016 Class, Faculty since 2017

  • Experience- Twitter, NephJC, Renal Fellow Network contribution

  • Member of NSMC, NephJC 

  • Investigator: Impact of NephJC on literature Altmetric scores

Brian Stotter, MD (@StotterMD) 2018 Class, Faculty since 2019, Boston, MA

  • Experience- Wordpress, Twitter, Squarespace

  • Creator of Ins and Outs Academic Pediatric Nephrology Blog

  • Contributor to NephMadness (scouting report and choosing wisely campaign)

  • Member of ASPN Communications Committee

Joshua Schwimmer, MD (@joshuaschwimmer), Faculty since 2015, NYC, USA

  • Experience-Squarespace, Blogger, Tumblr, Doximity, Photography

  • Creator/Co-creator: KidneyNotes.com (first nephrology blog), Infosnack.com, Nephrogram.com

James Novak, MD, PhD (@JamesNovakNeph) 2018 Class, Faculty since 2019, Detroit, MI

Helen Currier, RN (@hxcurrier), 2016 Class, Faculty since 2017

Justin Berk, MD (@justinberk) 2018 Class, Faculty since 2019, Baltimore, MD

  • Experience- Correspondent for The Curbsiders

Vanessa Grubbs, MD (@thenephrologist) Class 2017, Faculty since 2018, San Francisco,CA

  • Experience- Published author. 

Ali Poyan Mehr, MD (@poyanmehr), Faculty since 2017, Boston, MA, USA

  • Experience-Registry & trial design, editor-in-chief Nephrology section WikiDoc.org, web based telehealth conferencing, web design

  • Creator- GlomCon.org

Chi Chu, MD (@cdchu), 2015 Class, Faculty since 2016, San Francisco, CA, USA

  • Experience-Twitter

  • Member of NephMadness, NephJC

Kenar D. Jhaveri, MD (@kdjahveri), Faculty since 2015, Great Neck, NY, USA

  • Experience- Blogger, Twitter, Wordpress, Linkedin

  • Creator/Co-creator: NephronPower.com, Detective Nephron, AJKD blog, Nephrology Crosswords and Anagrams

  • Member of ASN Onconephrology Forum, Education Committee and Recertification Committee, Nephmadness

Scherly Leon, MD, MS (@sleonmd),, 2015 Class, Faculty since 2016, NYC, USA

  • Experience-Twitter, Facebook, Instagram

  • Member of NephJC, ASN Communication and Media Committee

Kate Robson, MD (@Nephrologista) 2018 Class, Faculty since 2019, Melbourne, Australia

Nathaniel Reisinger, MD (@nephrothaniel) Class 2017, Faculty since 2018, Philadelphia, PA

  • Experience- point of care ultrasound

Angel Ortiz, MD (@AngelCesarOrtiz) 2018 Class, Faculty since 2019, Mexico City, Mexico

Manasi Bapat, MD (@manasib33) 2018 Class, Faculty since 2019, San Francisco, CA

Jordan Weinstein, MD (@drjjw), Faculty since 2015, Toronto, Canada

  • Experience - Multiple PHP-based platforms (Joomla, Wordpress, Concrete 5 etc), Server management, application design and development. Developer of 15-20 active websites

  • Creator/Co-creator: UKidney.com 

Aakash Shingada, MD (@aakashshingada) 2018 Class, Faculty since 2019, Mumbai, India 

  • Experience - Twitter, Visual Abstracts, Coreldraw, Live streaming, Live Visual Abstract 

  • Visual abstract editor CJASN, American Journal of Nephrology / Nephron, Brazilian Journal of Nephrology. 

  • Member of NephJC, NSMC, Last Month in Nephrology blog. 

Hugo Diniz, MD- 2019 Class, Faculty since 2020

Abhilash Koratala, MD- 2019 Class, Faculty since 2020

Vineet Behera, MD- 2019 Class, Faculty since 2020

Mario Funez, MD- 2019 Class, Faculty since 2020

Vighnesh Walavalkar, MD- 2019 Class, Faculty since 2020

Alejandro Meraz Munoz, MD- 2019 Class, Faculty since 2020

Daniyal Jafree, MD- 2019 Class, Faculty since 2020

Itunu Owoyemi, MD-

Namrata Parikh, MD-

Eric Au, MD- 2019 Class, Faculty since 2020

Ailish Nimmo, MD- 2020 Class

Mya Htwe Nge, MD (@mhtwenge), 2018 Class, Faculty since 2019, Ygn, Myanmar 

Mayuri Trivedi, MD (@MayuriTrivedi80) 2018 Class, Faculty since 2019, Bombay, India

Jia Hwei Ng, MD- 2019 Class, Faculty since 2020

Vicki Sandys, MD- 2019 Class, Faculty since 2020

Harish Seethapathy, MD- 2019 Class, Faculty since 2020

Sanjeev Nair, MD (@Nair_Sanj) 2018 Class, Faculty since 2019, Channai, India

Sarah Gleeson, MD (@sarah_gleeson_) 2018 Class, Faculty since 2019, Auckland, New Zealand

Madhuri Ramakrishnan, MD- 2019 Class, Faculty since 2020

Aldo Rodrigo Jimenez Vega, MD- 2019 Class, Faculty since 2020

Sinead Stoneman, MD (@Stones_) 2018 Class, Faculty since 2019, Waterford, Ireland

  • Experience- Twitter, NephJC host, visual abstracts/graphics creator

  • Adult Nephrology and General Internal Medicine trainee

  • Winner of NephMadness 2018

Omar Taco, MD (@errantnephon), Class of 2017, Faculty since 2018, Barcelona, Spain

  • Experience- Visual Abstracts, Infographics

  • Member of NephJC, NSMC, Last Month in Nephrology blog