Labs and Faculty Pages

Faculty Research Interests

Melissa Anslow, MD

  • ​Molecular mechanisms underlying vesicoureteral reflux
  • Congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract


Dana Fuhrman, DO, MS

  • Methods to predict and prevent kidney disease in young adults with congenital heart disease
  • Acute kidney injury and the use of acute renal replacement therapy


Cassandra Formeck, MD

  • Understanding the effects of acute kidney injury on the immune system
  • Risk factors for and long-term impact of acute kidney injury
  • Divisional lead for Pediatric Nephrology Research Consortium


Jacqueline Ho, MD

  • MicroRNA-mediated regulation of nephron number and pattern in kidney development and disease
  • Genetic/structural causes of kidney disease in childhood


Juhi Kumar, MD, MPH

  • Validating injury to the renal transplant using urinary signatures in children (VIRTUUS Children's Study)
  • Site lead for advancing transplantation outcomes in children
  • Divisional lead for Improving Renal Outcomes Collaborative and North American Pediatric Renal TRials and Collaborative Studies

Katherine Kuzinski, MD, MS

  • Chronic and end stage kidney disease management
  • Acute and chronic kidney replacement therapy modalities​​
  • Simulation-based education for acute renal replacement therapy  


Michael Moritz, MD

  • Epidemiology, evaluation and treatment of dysnatremias in children and adults
  • The utility of 0.9% sodium chloride in maintenence fluids in hospitalized children as prophylaxis against developing hospital acquired hyponatremia and use of 3% sodium chloride boluses for the treatment of hyponatremic encephalopathy


Aidan Porter, MD

  • The role of endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-mediated protein homeostasis in the pathogenesis of acute kidney injury (AKI)
  • Studies how loss of a molecular chaperone, glucose regulated protein 170 (GRP-170), in the mouse kidney nephron causes ER stress and dysregulation of the unfolded protein response (UPR) leading to AKI and pharmaceuticals may ameliorate these deleterious affects

Airik Lab

The Airik laboratory focuses on identifying the genetic and molecular mechanisms of chronic kidney disease.

Ho Lab

The Ho Lab focuses on understanding how microRNAs (miRNAs) regulate kidney development and disease.

Sims-Lucas Lab

The Sims-Lucas Lab focus is on mechanisms that drive acute kidney injury and therapeutics to mitigate that injury. Further to this the lab is also interested in developmental insults and the formation and maturation of the kidney.

Forster Lab

Under the direction of principal investigator Catherine Forster, MD, MS, FAAP, this translational research lab is focused on studying urinary tract infections (UTIs) in people with complex genitourinary tracts.