Dr. Alessia Fornoni is Driving Nephrology to the Forefront as New Division Chief
People with kidney disease, renovascular hypertension, rare glomerular disorders and other complex nephrology conditions just got a new champion in Alessia Fornoni, M.D., Ph.D., appointed Chief of the Department of Medicine’s Division of Nephrology and Hypertension at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
“My vision for the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension is to re-establish it as one of the top nephrology programs in the country and facilitate the advancement of the division to the forefront of clinical and experimental innovation,” Dr. Fornoni said. She plans to get there by creating an interdisciplinary, multi-departmental Renal Disease Center at the University. Overall goals include increased collaboration among clinicians, basic science departments and related research institutes, including the Miami Transplant Institute, to drive more translational advances that improve patient care and outcomes.
Dr. Fornoni and her team will focus on clinical care of complex, tertiary patient cases and prevention of chronic kidney disease. At the same time, she plans to explore new ways to address rare diseases, such as adult polycystic kidney diseases, and continue basic science research into kidney podocyte cells and proteinuria, lipid biology and insulin signaling.
Her latest appointment continues an impressive career trajectory at the University of Miami. Dr. Fornoni did her internal medicine residency and nephrology fellowship training at the Miller School of Medicine. She joined the faculty in 2005 and, three years later, established a Diabetic Nephropathy Clinic at the University. In 2013, she was awarded tenure and named director and chair of the Peggy and Harold Katz Drug Discovery Center, and also has a joint appointment at the Diabetes Research Institute. Dr. Fornoni is also professor of medicine, and molecular and cellular pharmacology, co-director of Novel Methods for the Miami Clinical and Translational Science Institute, and associate director of the M.D./Ph.D. Program.
Tags: Fornoni, kidney disease, nephrology, renal disease, transplant