We have the largest hospital-based research program at UHN and one of the most comprehensive nephrology programs in Canada.
Our division consists of many diverse subspecialties including home and hemodialysis, kidney/kidney-pancreas transplantation, glomerular disease, hereditary kidney disease, geriatric and palliative renal medicine, kidney, and onco-nephrology.
Our Laboratories
Across the division there are clinics covering a number of specialized areas including hypertension, diabetic kidney disease, glomerulonephritis, hereditary kidney disease and many more. In addition, our faculty participates in a full range of academic activities including basic science, translational and clinical research, and teaching. Our division is considered to be one of the leading institutions for training Nephrologists for both academic careers and clinical practice in North America. With this breadth of expertise, we are proud to be able to provide outstanding clinical care, conduct ground breaking research, and offer numerous training opportunities in nephrology.
Laboratories & Clinics
Education in Nephrology & Geriatric Nephrology
Dr. Merchant believes that teaching is a covenant between people. Since learning about social constructivism, he has adopted many of its tenets into his teaching world view. He believes that every learner has a Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), and it is his responsibility to help them learn knowledge and skills that they would not be able to acquire independently. This is known as a cognitive apprenticeship. At the same time, he has tried to reconcile with the idea that knowledge can be fluid, and needs to be co-constructed with learners. The best learning occurs when everyone brings their cultural, social, and institutional experiences to the table, and looks at problems from all angles, scaffolding knowledge and ideas to get closer to understanding.
Education in Nephrology & Geriatric Nephrology
Every learner has a Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), and it is our responsibility to help them learn knowledge and skills that they would not be able to acquire independently. This is known as a cognitive apprenticeship. At the same time, he has tried to reconcile with the idea that knowledge can be fluid, and needs to be co-constructed with learners. The best learning occurs when we all bring our cultural, social and institutional experiences to the table, and look at problems from all angles, scaffolding knowledge and ideas to get closer to understanding.
Geriatric Nephrology Program
Research projects in her lab focus on the following: Functional outcomes in elderly patients initiated onto dialysis; Falls in elderly dialysis patients; Rehabilitation effectiveness in elderly dialysis patients; Management of the patient returning to dialysis after graft loss; Hospitalization outcomes in dialysis patients.
Glomerulonephritis
My teaching philosophy reflects awareness of the audience, humility for what is known and unknown, as well as passion for patient-oriented outcomes. The language used for learning points should always be tailored to the audience, ranging from those with no medical background to those with specialized medical training and care to comprehend the latest research in the field. My medical training has taken me overseas to Ireland, as well as multiple Canadian provinces. These migrations have allowed me the ability to quickly adapt and communicate, and when mixed with insight on how this was accomplished, allows extraction of core educational principals that I wish to apply to glomerulonephritis teaching. Ultimately the passion for my clinical based teaching arises from the implications on clinical and research knowledge for the topics I am teaching, and where glomerular diseases have become my clinical field of interest.
HLA (Human Leukoantigen) Laboratory
Dr. Kathryn Tinckam was appointed Physician-in-Chief and Program Medical Director at the Department of Medicine, UHN, in 2021. Her clinical, administrative and research activities focus on improving access to transplantation for patients who are difficult to match with donors, and increasing equitable access to transplantation at the regional and national level. In all her work, she is focused on a committed and rigorous approach to transparent quality assurance and improvement with an emphasis on thoughtful process design and implementation to drive system change.