American Kidney Fund Clinical Expertise

On-Staff Clinical Experts

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  Pranav Garimella, MBBS, MPH

  Chief Medical Officer

  Pranav Garimella, MBBS, MPH, joined the American Kidney Fund as Chief Medical Officer in January 2025. A nationally recognized leader in nephrology and an expert in rare kidney diseases, Dr. Garimella is AKF’s first CMO and in this role, provides high-level clinical authority and insight to better serve the 1 in 7 Americans living with kidney disease. Dr. Garimella is a board-certified nephrologist and the Director of Acute Dialysis Services and the Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) Center of Excellence at UC San Diego Health, where he provides care to patients with a wide range of acute and chronic kidney diseases.
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  Shahzia Lakhani

  Senior Director of Clinical Education

  Shahzia Lakhani joined AKF as the Senior Director of Clinical Education in October 2024. Shahzia has over 12 years of experience in managing kidney disease and transplantation. Prior to joining AKF, Shahzia served as the Lead Advanced Practice Provider for the MedStar Georgetown Transplant Institute, supporting providers and patients with clinical protocols and resources focusing on patient safety and innovation. Shahzia began her career in nursing at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Transplant and holds a Masters of Science in Nursing from Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, and practices as an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner. 

Medical Advisors

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  Frances E. Ashe-Goins, RN, MPH, FAAN

  Frances Ashe-Goins is an adjunct professor at the University of South Carolina College of Nursing and Arnold School of Public Health, and a health consultant with expertise in nursing, minority health and public health issues. She is on several boards and concentrates her volunteer activities with national and local organization that address lupus, kidney disease, women’s rights, HIV/AIDS, domestic violence and sexual assault, human trafficking, maternal mortality, minority women’s health, and healthy youth.
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  Akhtar Ashfaq, MD

  Dr. Ashfaq is an Internist and Nephrologist by training and is board certified in both internal medicine and nephrology. After finishing medical school, Dr. Ashfaq did his internal medicine internship and residency at Good Samaritan Hospital, University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was also a Chief Resident. He then joined North Shore University Hospital, Cornell University School of Medicine for fellowship in Nephrology.
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  Vinod Bansal, MD

  Dr Vinod K Bansal graduated from SMS Medical College, University of Rajasthan in India with both MBBS and MD and further did nephrology training at University of Colorado and UCLA Ceder Sinai. He is Professor of Medicine and Medical Director of Ambulatory dialysis unit and the Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine. He serves on the editorial board of the American journal of Nephrology and has served in leadership positions in the American Kidney Fund.

• Kenneth R. Bridges, M.D.

  Dr. Kenneth R. Bridges received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School and subsequently trained in internal medicine and hematology in Boston, at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospitals, respectively. Following medical subspecialty training, Dr. Bridges studied the biology of cellular iron metabolism for three years at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. He subsequently returned to Harvard as a member of the Hematology Division at Brigham and Women's Hospital, reaching the faculty rank of Associate Professor of Medicine.

• Oliver Tate Brooks, MD, FAAP, FCPP

  Oliver Tate Brooks, MD, FAAP, FCPP, received his undergraduate degree in biology from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia in 1977, graduating in three years.  While at Morehouse, he received the Frederick E. Mapp Prize in Biology for excellence in biology. Dr. Brooks received his medical degree in 1981 from Howard University College of Medicine, where he was a summer instructor in biochemistry. He completed a residency in Pediatrics at Children's Hospital-Oakland, where he practiced for four years before accepting a position at Watts Healthcare Corporation.
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  Congresswoman Donna M. Christensen, MD

  Congresswoman Donna M. Christensen won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1996, the first woman to represent the U.S. Virgin Islands, a multi-island territory in the eastern Caribbean. During her tenure, Christensen, the first female medical doctor to serve in Congress, focused on improving the living conditions and economic opportunities on the Islands, especially where they intersected with federal issues.
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  Orlando Gutierrez, MD

  Dr. Gutiérrez is currently a Professor of Medicine and head of the Section of Epidemiology and Outcomes Research in the Division of Nephrology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Using both epidemiologic and patient-oriented clinical research approaches, the primary focus of Dr. Gutiérrez’s group has been elucidating the mechanisms by which disorders of bone and mineral metabolism and nutrition impact outcomes in individuals with chronic kidney disease.
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  Yoshio Hall, MD

  Dr. Hall investigated differential outcomes among Asian and Pacific Islander Americans with ESRD. He completed the UCSF Advanced Training in Clinical Research Program and is currently an Assistant Professor in the Division of Nephrology and a Core Investigator at the Kidney Research Institute of the University of Washington.
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  Myra Kleinpeter, MD

  Dr. Kleinpeter, MD is a practicing Nephrologist in New Orleans, LA. Dr. Kleinpeter graduated from Tulane University School of Medicine in 1989 and has been in practice for 30 years. She completed a residency at Tulane University School of Medicine New Orleans LA 1993.
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  Alan Leichtman, MD

  Dr. Alan Leichtman is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Nephrology of the University of Michigan, and has served as the Primary Physician for the University of Michigan's Kidney and Pancreas Transplantation Programs since 1989 and as the Medical Director of the University of Michigan’s Kidney and Pancreas Transplantation Programs from 1989 through 2005.
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  Silas Prescod Norman, MD

  Chair

  Dr. Silas Norman was born and educated in Detroit. He attended the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, graduating with a degree in psychology. Prior to attending medical school, Dr. Norman worked for two years for Lutheran Social Services of Michigan as a foster care worker. He then attended Wayne State University School of Medicine, graduating with honors, and was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. After completing an internal medicine residency at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Dr. Norman returned to the University of Michigan to pursue nephrology and transplant nephrology fellowships.
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  Robert J. Rubin, MD

  Dr. Robert J. Rubin is currently Distinguished Professor of Medicine in the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension at the Georgetown University School of Medicine and an independent healthcare consultant. Prior to becoming an independent consultant, Dr. Rubin was president of The Lewin Group, an international health care consultancy, for 17 years. Dr. Rubin was the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under President Reagan.
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  Gail S. Wick, MHSA, BSN, RN, CNNe

  Trustee Emeritus

  Gail Wick began her career in nephrology nursing in 1970 as a member of the nursing staff that helped open the first renal ICU and transplant unit in Georgia located at Grady Memorial Hospital. Until recently, she worked as a consultant for ESRD-related care, quality, education, and policy issues contracting with dozens of freestanding and hospital based, for profit and not for profit dialysis clinics throughout the United States, as well as with manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies in the areas of new product utilization and education.
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  Julie Wright-Nunes, MD, MPH

  Julie Wright-Nunes, MD, MPH, has a strong interest in the area of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and its prevention, currently focusing on the development of methods and tools to help facilitate and optimize patient-provider disease related communication. As a CSN Fellow, Dr. Wright-Nunes’s research, “Facilitating Physician Delivered CKD Patient Education,” evaluated kidney disease specific knowledge in patients with CKD, using a validated survey. Patient knowledge gaps identified in the survey were used to develop a literacy sensitive educational intervention, used by nephrologists while delivering patient CKD education and care.

• Jamie A. Green, M.D.

  Dr. Jamie Green received her undergraduate degree from Duquesne University and her medical degree from Temple University School of Medicine. She completed her internal medicine residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and her nephrology fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh where she also obtained her Master of Science in Medical Education. As a fellow, she received the American Kidney Fund's Clinical Scientist in Nephrology award to study health literacy in hemodialysis patients.  

  Dr. Green came to Geisinger in 2012 and is currently an Associate Professor of Medicine and Clinical Research, Co-Director of the Kidney Health Research Institute, and Medical Director of Quality and Innovation for Medicine Specialties. Her work focuses on optimizing care for patients with kidney disease through patient engagement, self-management support, and navigation assistance. She has received funding from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute and the National Institutes of Health to study interventions to improve patient preparation for kidney failure treatments.

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  Carolyn Feibig, MS, RD, LD

  Carolyn is originally from Saint Louis, MO and has been a dietitian in the Washington, D.C. area since 2011. Currently, she is the Kidney Transplant Dietitian at The George Washington University Hospital. Prior to her current role, she worked for a dialysis company as a dietitian. She found her passion for renal nutrition when her nephew was born with only one kidney. In her career she seeks out opportunities to educate the general public about the importance of early detection of kidney disease and the importance of a healthy diet for kidney health.
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  Aisling Whelan MS, RDN, CDN

  Aisling Whelan MS, RDN, CDN is a registered dietitian who uses a whole-person, whole-food based approach to help clients reclaim their health and improve their quality of life. Aisling has extensive experience working with the chronic kidney disease population. Her first introduction to renal nutrition began when she worked as a dietitian in a hemodialysis facility. In this role, Aisling was surprised to learn that most of her patients had never met with a dietitian prior to starting dialysis. It was this discovery that inspired Aisling to start her own private practice specializing in nutrition therapy for pre-dialysis CKD patients.