Vikas R. Dharnidharka, MD, MPH

Washington University in St. Louis (WU)

I am a patient-oriented researcher with interests in chronic renal failure, pediatric kidney transplantation and post-transplant infections. I perform epidemiological analyses of very large national databases to elucidate risk factors for events and the outcomes after events, typically infectious events. These large databases include UNOS, USRDS, NAPRTCS. I also participate in multi-center clinical and mechanistic research trials in the areas of chronic renal insufficiency, dialysis and transplantation. My work gets funding from NIH institutes (NIDDK, NIAID) and industry. I am particularly known for my work related to a post-transplant malignancy called post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD), caused in most cases by Epstein-Barr virus infection. These issues of infection and malignancy post-transplant have received a lot of attention as we gave our patients more immunosuppression in the hopes of reducing acute rejection rates. My collaborators are numerous. For the prospective clinical trials, my collaborators include pediatric nephrology colleagues at various centers such as Harvard, Johns Hopkins, University of Pennsylvania, UCSF, University of Washington and UAB. For my epidemiological studies, I collaborate with an adult nephrologist in the Army, with biostatisticians and epidemiologists at Emmes Corporation and with a biostatistician at UNOS.