Nephrology Research

Children’s is proud to be one of the first pediatric hospitals nationally to offer Cardio-Renal Pediatric Dialysis Emergency Machine (CARPEDIEM), a groundbreaking dialysis device designed specifically for infants with kidney failure or injury. We are part of the Improving Carpediem Outcomes in Neonates and Infants through Collaboration (ICONIC) network to facilitate quality improvement and research by collecting data on the novel CARPEDIEM device. We help develop best practices, and foster communication among physicians, nurses, pharmacists and dieticians to enhance care for critically ill infants needing continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT).

Our nephrology team actively participates in national and international research collaboratives, including the following:

• The Chronic Kidney Disease in Children (CKiD) Study is a multicenter, observational, prospective cohort study of children, adolescents and young adults with a history of mild to moderately impaired kidney function.
• Fit4Kid is an NIH-funded, placebo-controlled clinical trial to determine whether ferric citrate will lower FGF23, correct anemia and iron levels in the blood, and maintain normal levels of phosphate in children with CKD.
• The Study of Epidemiology of Pediatric Hypertension (SUPERHERO) is a multisite, retrospective registry of youth evaluated by subspecialists for hypertension disorders.

• Pediatric Selective Cytopheretic Device (SCD-PED, QUELIMMUNE) for Critically Ill Children with Acute Kidney Injury: A Humanitarian Device Exemption (HDE) Surveillance Registry
• Clinical trial for empagliflozin for children with chronic kidney disease: EMPA-KIDNEYKids
• Inaxaplin in Adult and Pediatric Participants With APOL1- Mediated Proteinuric Kidney Disease (AMPLITUDE)

Larry Greenbaum, MD, leads our center in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial to assess the safety and efficacy of stem cell gene therapy for cystinosis. Our team is involved in clinical trials evaluating treatment of atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome, APOL-1 mediated proteinuric kidney disease, Alport Syndrome and others. We also participate in national, multi-center registries of ARPKD, ADPKD, C3GN and atypical HUS.

We care for many children with glomerular diseases including nephrotic syndrome and lupus nephritis. From the moment of diagnosis, we focus on delivering the highest quality care through a multidisciplinary approach to make sure families receive the appropriate education and support, state-of-the-art evaluation, and evidence-based treatments. 

The International Society of Glomerular Disease designated our glomerular disease program as a Center of Excellence in recognition of our expertise in caring for children with glomerular diseases, fulfilling a four-part mission of excellence in patient care, education, research and advocacy. We are the first center in the world to achieve this designation.

We are a part of the National Institutes of Health-sponsored study networks Nephrotic Syndrome Study Network (NEPTUNE) and the Cure Glomerulonephropathy (CureGN) Consortium, offering patients the opportunity to participate in cutting-edge medical research. We have enrolled patients in more than 10 active drug trials for the treatment of glomerular diseases, including FSGS, nephrotic syndrome, immune-complex-mediated membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis, C3GN and lupus nephritis. Our team is part of several other research collaborations, including Kids: Nocturnal Investigation into Glomerular Disease, Hypertension and Transcriptomics, and Pneumococcal Immunogenicity in Nephrotic Syndrome.

Our Kidney Transplant Clinic is one of the largest pediatric kidney transplant programs in the Southeast, providing full pre- and post-transplant services for children who need a kidney transplant. Since our program’s inception in 1980, we have performed more than 860 lifesaving pediatric kidney transplants. Our team is actively involved in research to help improve the health of transplant patients. Children’s was a founding member of the Improving Renal Outcomes Collaborative (IROC) and is part of the Pediatric Learning Health Network.

Roshan George, MD, is leading the pediatric part of the largest survey in the U.S., with more than 10,000 patient responses regarding transplant recipients' perception of unmet immunosuppressant needs.

Our center has participated in several large-scale international collaborations, yielding publications in high-impact journals including The New England Journal of Medicine and Nature Medicine. By leveraging combined data from Children’s and a leading European center, we also published two of the largest pediatric studies to date involving the use of Belatacept in kidney transplant in children.

Incidence of Leading Causes of Pediatric CKD Using Electronic Health Record-Driven Computable Phenotype. Beus JM, Liu K, Westbrook A, Harding JL, Orenstein EW, Shin HS, Kandaswamy S, Wekon-Kemeni C, Pavkov ME, Xu F, Smith EA, Rouster-Stevens KA, Prahalad S, Greenbaum LA, Wang CS. Kidney360. 2025 Mar 4.

Association of COVID-19 Versus COVID-19 Vaccination With Kidney Function and Disease Activity in Primary Glomerular Disease: A Report of the Cure Glomerulonephropathy Study. Wang CS, Glenn DA, Helmuth M, Smith AR, Bomback AS, Canetta PA, Coppock GM, Khalid M, Tuttle KR, Bou-Matar R, Greenbaum LA, Robinson BM, Holzman LB, Smoyer WE, Rheault MN, Gipson D, Mariani LH; Cure Glomerulonephropathy (CureGN) Study Consortium. Am J Kidney Dis. 2024 Jan.

Serologic Responses to COVID-19 Vaccination in Pediatric Kidney Transplant Recipients. Goggin KP, Sun E, Yun E, Kamel M, Perez MA, Hsiao HM, DiMaggio LS, Liverman R, Anderson EJ, Shane AL, Garro R, George RP, Rostad CA. Transplant Direct. 2025 Feb 7.

The Influence of Artificial Intelligence Scribes on Clinician Experience and Efficiency Among Pediatric Subspecialists: A Rapid Randomized Quality Improvement Trial. H Stella Shin, Nikolay P Braykov, Afrin Jahan, Jeremy Meller, Evan Orenstein. Appl Clin Inform. 2025 Jul 1

One-Year Outcomes After Belatacept Conversion in Adolescent Kidney Transplant Recipients. Duneton C, George R, Liverman R, Sellier-Leclerc AL, Beauval B, Baudouin V, Cheyssac E, Warshaw B, Hogan J, Garro R. Kidney Int Rep. 2025 March 17.

Donor-derived Cell-free DNA as a Noninvasive Biomarker of Kidney Allograft Rejection in Pediatric Kidney Transplantation. Hogan J, George R, Hayes C, Aubert O, Baudouin V, Cheyssac E, Duneton C, Fan C, Kamel M, Rabant M, Yin H, Loupy A, Garro R. Transplantation. 2025 Sep 1.

Cell-free DNA for the detection of kidney allograft rejection. Aubert O, Ursule-Dufait C, Brousse R, Gueguen J, Racapé M, Raynaud M, Van Loon E, Pagliazzi A, Huang E, Jordan SC, Chavin KD, Gupta G, Kumar D, Alhamad T, Anand S, Sanchez-Garcia J, Abdalla BA, Hogan J, Garro R, Dadhania DM, Jain P, Mandelbrot DA, Naesens M, Dandamudi R, Dharnidharka VR, Anglicheau D, Lefaucheur C, Loupy A. Nat Med. 2024 Aug.

Microvascular Inflammation of Kidney Allografts and Clinical Outcomes. Sablik M, Sannier A, Raynaud M, Goutaudier V, Divard G, Astor BC, Weng P, Smith J, Garro R, Warady BA, Zahr RS, Twombley K, Dharnidharka VR, Dandamudi RS, Fila M, Huang E, Sellier-Leclerc AL, Tönshoff B, Rabant M, Verine J, Del Bello A, Berney T, Boyer O, Catar RA, Danger R, Giral M, Yoo D, Girardin FR, Alsadi A, Gourraud PA, Morelon E, Le Quintrec M, Try M, Villard J, Zhong W, Bestard O, Budde K, Chauveau B, Couzi L, Brouard S, Hogan J, Legendre C, Anglicheau D, Aubert O, Kamar N, Lefaucheur C, Loupy A. N Engl J Med. 2025 Feb 20.

An automated histological classification system for precision diagnostics of kidney allografts. Yoo D, Goutaudier V, Divard G, Gueguen J, Astor BC, Aubert O, Raynaud M, Demir Z, Hogan J, Weng P, Smith J, Garro R, Warady BA, Zahr RS, Sablik M, Twombley K, Couzi L, Berney T, Boyer O, Duong-Van-Huyen JP, Giral M, Alsadi A, Gourraud PA, Morelon E, Le Quintrec M, Brouard S, Legendre C, Anglicheau D, Villard J, Zhong W, Kamar N, Bestard O, Djamali A, Budde K, Haas M, Lefaucheur C, Rabant M, Loupy A. Nat Med. 2023 May 29.

Validation of a prediction system for risk of kidney allograft failure in pediatric kidney transplant recipients: An international observational study. Hogan J, Divard G, Aubert O, Garro R, Boyer O, Donald Cooper LA, Farris AB, Fila M, Seifert M, Sellier-Leclerc AL, Smith J, Fichtner A, Tönshoff B, Twombley K, Warady B, Pearl M, Zahr RS, Lefaucheur C, Patzer R, Loupy A. Am J Transplant. 2023 Oct. 23.

Therapeutic needs in solid organ transplant recipients: The American Society of Transplantation patient survey. David J Taber, Elisa J Gordon, Larissa Myaskovsky, Michelle T Jesse, John Devin Peipert, Roshan George, Marie Chisholm-Burns, William E Fitzsimmons, John S Gill. Am J Transplant. 2025 Jul 29

Pediatric Learning Health Networks in Solid Organ Transplantation-Engaging all Stakeholders to Achieve Health for Children Who Require Transplantation. Roshan P George, Amy G Feldman, Melissa McQueen, Cassandra Krise-Confair, Lauren Smyth, Angela Lorts, David M Peng, George V Mazariegos, David K Hooper. Pediatr Transplant. 2024 Nov. 28.

Pregnancy After Solid Organ Transplantation: Review of the Evidence and Recommendations. Katz-Greenberg G, Afshar Y, Bonn J, Casale J, Constantinescu S, DeFilippis EM, George RP, Iltis A, Jesudason S, Kittleson M, Levine DJ, Moritz MJ, Sarkar M, Shah S, Uccellini K, Coscia LA, Rossi AP; American Society of Transplantation Women’s Health Community of Practice Reproductive Health, Contraception and Pregnancy after Transplantation and Living Donation Controversies Conference Participants. Transplantation. 2025 Sep 1.

Validity Evidence for Level of Supervision Scales with Pediatric Subspecialty-Specific Entrustable Professional Activities. Czaja AS, Schwartz A, James SH, Sauer C, Mehta JJ, Kesselheim J, Weiss P, Turner DA, Stafford DEJ, Robinson B, Rama J, Pitts S, Moffatt ME, Moerdler S, McGann KA, McFadden V, Mahan J, Lopez MA, Langhan ML, Kamin DS, Karnik R, Hsu D, High P, Herman B, George RP, Fussell JJ, Dammann CEL, Curran M, Chess PR, Boyer DL, Aye T, Mink RB. Acad Pediatr. 2025 Jul 21.

Pediatric Fellows and Their Ability to Meet Minimum Supervision Levels at Graduation. Weiss PG, Schwartz A, Boyer DL, Chess PR, Fussell JJ, McGann KA, Moffatt ME, Herman BE, Turner DA, Pitts SA, Langhan ML, High P, James SH, Karnik R, Aye T, Stafford DEJ, Rama J, Robinson BW, Hsu D, Sauer C, Mehta JJ, Atlas MP, Curran ML, Mahan JD, McFadden V, Kamin DS, Kesselheim J, Czaja AS, Dammann CEL, George RP, Lopez MA, Torres O, Mink RB. Pediatrics. 2025 Jul 1.

Many Pediatric Subspecialty Fellows Are Not Ready to Graduate From Fellowship in 2 Years. Pitts S, Schwartz A, Langhan ML, High P, James SH, Karnik R, Aye T, Boyer DL, Stafford DEJ, Rama JA, Robinson BW, Hsu D, Moffatt ME, Sauer C, Mehta JJ, Atlas MP, McGann KA, Chess PR, Curran ML, Weiss P, Mahan JD, McFadden V, Kamin DS, Kesselheim J, Czaja AS, Dammann CEL, Fussell J, George RP, Herman BE, Lopez MA, Torres O, Turner DA, Mink R. Pediatrics. 2025 Apr 1.

Developing and implementing Pediatric Nephrology Milestones 2.0 as an efficient tool for trainee evaluation and just-in-time feedback. Jackson CV, Hjorten R, Edgar L, Goilav B, George RP, Weidemann DK. BMC Med Educ. 2025 Mar 4.

Evaluating the Impact of Improvements in a System-Wide Peer Support Program for Pediatric Critical Care Providers. Michael Wolf, Roshan George, Kathleen Smith, Zahidee Rodriguez, Michelle Gleason, William Border. J Pediatr Intensive Care. 2024 Dec 26.