The UBC Division of Nephrology includes 61 current members and seven emeritus members based at two Vancouver sites: St. Paul’s Hospital and Vancouver General Hospital, as well as distributed sites across the province, in Fraser, Northern, Interior and Island Health Authorities. Together we provide provincial leadership in research, education, and clinical care within the field of renal medicine and transplantation.
The Division has a strong clinical base and provides integrated and decentralized nephrology care throughout Vancouver Coastal Health, including Richmond, North Vancouver and coastal areas, and even as far north as the Yukon Territory, including strong working collaborations with all the Regional Health Authorities in the province. The Division has an important role in the UBC undergraduate medical curriculum, has a mature nephrology postgraduate training program, and participates in the Experimental Medicine and Clinical Investigator programs of the Department of Medicine. The Postgraduate Nephrology program includes core Nephrology Trainees, Advanced Nephrology Trainees, Home Therapy Trainees, Transplant Fellows and International Society of Nephrology Fellows, as well as collaborative Research and Administrative fellows co-managed with the BC Renal Agency.
Research activities encompass both laboratory and clinical sciences, and combine genetic and molecular research, pharmacology and therapeutics, epidemiology and clinical trials, and population health and outcomes/economic investigations in renal disease and transplantation. Members of the Division assume leadership roles in the advancement of nephrology at provincial, national and international levels through their positions in the BC Provincial Renal Agency, BC Transplant, the Vancouver Coastal Health Regional Renal Program, the Kidney Foundation of Canada, the Canadian Society of Nephrology, International Society of Nephrology, the Canadian Society of Transplantation, The American Transplant Society, The Transplantation Society, (international) as well as other medical, scientific and advocacy organizations.
Clinical Services
The renal services provided by the Division of Nephrology operate within a broad provincial and regional context with established clinical guidelines, provincial contracts, information systems, central administration and co-ordination for education and other projects. This affords the Division an opportunity to be both a key contributor to and a beneficiary of provincial policies, projects and experience. British Columbia is widely recognized to be at the forefront of renal care delivery, with active programs for the early detection of renal disease in the population, multidisciplinary coordination of care, delivery of dialysis therapy in the community or at home, and novel approaches to renal transplant donation.
The BC Provincial Renal Agency (BCPRA) coordinates the development and integration of renal services, funding, establishment of standards and guidelines, and works in collaboration with each of the health authorities to ensure equal access to care for all patients living with kidney disease. The BC Transplant Society coordinates the funding and oversight of renal and other solid organ transplant services and the retrieval of cadaveric organs and tissues. A strategic partnership between the 2 organizations was developed in 2011, under the direction of the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA).
Within this framework, renal care delivery is based on established principles of integrated chronic disease management through a combination of institutional, community and home-based programs. Three tertiary care teaching hospitals, the Vancouver General Hospital (VGH), St. Paul’s Hospital (SPH Providence Healthcare) and BC Children’s Hospital (BCCH), collaborate to provide ambulatory chronic renal disease care, in-patient management, plasma exchange (SPH), hospital dialysis and renal transplantation, and home hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis for adult and pediatric patients with renal disease throughout the province The home hemodialysis program, headed by Dr Michael Copland, is now one of the largest of its kind in North America. Community hemodialysis is conducted as an integrated program with the incentre programs. Renal consultative services are delivered through in-patient services with outreach to other hospitals within and outside of the lower mainland, and a unique ‘telephone consultation’ is delivered by UBC Division of Nephrology members under the RACE (Rapid Access to Consultative Expertise) program to GP for outpatients.
Service to Community
Members of the Division of Nephrology play a key role in many University, academic community and volunteer organizations in Canada and around the world.
Members of the division are involved in advisory committees, educational outreach activities, development of tools and protocols to promote consistent, high quality care for patients throughout the province. They are leaders or members on Provincial committees, national committees (for details see individual bios).
Administration
In 2011, Dr Adeera Levin was appointed as Division Head, and has been working on an integrative model of Divisional structure and function. The Division strives to have a fully developed integrated presence at both downtown sites as well as in the community.
The Division has continued to build an administrative and financial infrastructure to support growth and development. All aspects of our Divisional education programs, including undergraduate, postgraduate and fellowship activities are supported by Maeve Lalor.
Future Directions
The Division is committed to building on its strengths to ensure the highest quality of academic and clinical activity for the University, the health system, and the community. The Division continues to develop and implement strategies to support of research and clinical interests.