Nephrology Fellows

Imran Chaudhri was born and raised on Long Island in New York. He studied biology and economics during his undergraduate years at Union College in Schenectady, New York. He then obtained an MBA in healthcare management at Union Graduate College followed by pursuing his medical degree at Albany Medical College. He then completed his internal medicine residency at Stony Brook University Hospital and was selected as Chief Resident in his final year.

He has co-authored multiple publications related to kidney function and COVID-19 and his interest in nephrology began during residency when he realized his love for physiology. He is now incredibly excited to join the BIDMC family as a nephrology fellow. He is passionate about medical education, glomerular diseases, and electrolyte disorders. He hopes to pursue a career in academic nephrology in the future.

Leigh-Anne Dale was born and raised in Massachusetts. She completed her undergraduate degree at Quinnipiac University and then went to Stony Brook University where she obtained a Master’s Degree in Physician Assistant studies. After working as a PA in renal and pancreas transplant she obtained her MD at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. During medical school Leigh-Anne was twice chosen to the kidney STARS program during the annual ASN conference and received a NIDDK T35 grant to study the treatment of borderline rejection which ultimately culminated in a first author manuscript. Subsequently, she completed her Internal Medicine residency at New York Presbyterian / Columbia University.

She is widely published in the field of renal transplantation with a focus on clinical outcomes of high-risk donor APOL1 genotypes and expanding the use of transplantable organs. Leigh-Anne is interested in transplant nephrology and wants to focus her studies on further understanding organ rejection and treatment options. Outside of work she spends her time with her husband and two very rambunctious daughters.

Kavita Mistry spent her childhood in London, England and in Mount Kisco, New York. She attended Yale College, where she double majored in English and Molecular Biology & Biophysics. She remained at Yale School of Medicine to complete her MD/PhD training. Her graduate school thesis on autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease was conducted under the mentorship of Dr. Michael Caplan in the Department of Cellular & Molecular Physiology. She was the recipient of a Ruth L. Kirschstein F30 National Research Service Award for her work.

Kavita moved to Boston to undertake her internal medicine residency training at Brigham and Women's Hospital in 2019. During her residency, she participated in several clinical research projects on various topics, including: outcomes in COVID patients with sickle cell trait under the mentorship of Dr. Maureen Achebe, initiation of renal replacement therapy in the intensive care unit under the mentorship of Dr. Mallika Mendu, and renal outcomes in melanoma patients treated with BRAF inhibitors under the mentorship of Dr. Megan Sise. She has joined the BIDMC family as a research track fellow with a particular interest in basic science and onco-nephrology.

Vignesh Padmanabhan was born and raised in Coimbatore, India. He graduated from Coimbatore Medical College and came to the US for residency training at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, Illinois where he served as a Chief Resident during his third year.

During his training, he developed an interest in nephrology, the use of point-of-care ultrasound in clinical care, and teaching. He was recognized for his efforts with the Harry Kurz, MD memorial award for excellence in teaching. He is now joining the BIDMC family and is hoping to grow as a clinician and an educator with special interests in critical care nephrology and medical education.

Jose Mena was born and raised in the middle of the world Quito, Ecuador. He completed his medical school in his home country at Universidad Internacional del Ecuador. After graduation, he served as an associate professor and was in charge of several pharmacology and physiology lectures. Years later, he moved to the United States and completed his Internal Medicine residency at Mass General Brigham - Salem Hospital.

He has numerous clinical interests and has published a few Internal Medicine related case reports on unique cases such as a stroke secondary to Polycythemia Vera, non-exertional heat stroke, and more. Dr. Mena also took part in multiple Grand Rounds during residency where he spoke about Cardiorenal Syndrome, AKI in COVID-19 patients and Palliative Care for CKD patients. He had the honor to be part of Kidney STARS during 2019 Kidney Week at Washington DC and in 2020-2021 he served as Chief Medical Resident at MGB-Salem Hospital after residency.

Catalina Morales Alvarez was born in Colombia. She completed her Medical Degree at Universidad de los Andes, Colombia, where she developed an interest for nephrology and clinical research. She then completed a year of postdoctoral training as research fellow at the Mayo Clinic. There she participated in the development of a morphometric analysis of biopsies from kidney transplant recipients. Subsequently, she completed her Internal Medicine residency at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Beth Israel.

During her training, she was awarded Resident of the Year 2020 by the National Hispanic Medical Association. She now joins the BIDMC family as a nephrology fellow. She wishes to pursue a career as a clinician-researcher. She has a special interest in transplant nephrology and diabetic kidney disease.

Voravech Nissaisorakarn was born and raised in Suratthani, Thailand. He received his education at Thammasat University, Pathumthani, Thailand and completed residency at Jacobi Medical Center, Bronx NY for PGY-1 and MetroWest Medical Center, Framingham, MA for PGY2-3.

He has published a number of academic papers and is interested in transplant, non-invasive biomarker for rejection, growing kidneys, gene editing, and dialysis.

David Vadala was born in India, and was raised in San Antonio, Texas. He studied cell and molecular biology at the University of Texas at Austin before deciding to go to India for medical school. After medical school, he had the opportunity to work as a renal resident at Fortis Hospital, New Delhi, where he fell in love with the world of nephrology. He then relocated to Michigan where he completed his internal medicine residency training at McLaren Health Care - Michigan State University. During residency, he was awarded the PGY-1 Intern of the Year (2019), the PGY-2 Resident of the Year (2020) and the PGY-3 Consummate Physician of the Year (2021) awards. He also served as the chief resident in his final year of residency.

David has a passion for teaching and education which led him to receive the Outstanding Resident Teacher Award from the 2021 medical school graduating class of Michigan State University. He is now thrilled to be joining the nephrology program here at BIDMC. He is especially interested in medical education, quality improvement, POCUS and interventional nephrology.

Esi Sula Karreci graduated from medical school in Albania at Faculty of Medicine, Tirana. She embarked in a journey to the US where she spent some time at the bench, doing immunology research, particularly targeting transplant rejection, studying regulatory T.cells as a mean of immune tolerance in transplant, urinary exosomes, and novel drugs targeting immunoproteasome. She then completed her Internal medicine residency at Saint Elizabeth Medical Center and has now joined Nephrology Fellowship at BIDMC.

In her free time she likes to spend time with her husband and son. She enjoys learning new languages, exploring Boston, the cultural diversity and everything the city has to offer.

Periklis Kyriazis is a first-year Clinical Fellow. He earned his MD from Charles University in Prague and completed his Internship and Residency at Baystate Medical Center/University of Massachusetts in 2020.

His clinical interests include Immunological Tolerance in Organ Transplantation, gene expression profiling in optimization of immunosuppression, chemotherapy-related complications in the kidney and collecting duct, and palliative care in ESRD with a focus in illness trajectories.

Krishna Agarwal is currently a 2nd year Nephrology Fellow, graduating into the Kidney Transplant Fellowship starting in the summer of 2021. He was born in Delhi, India and went to medical school at Vardhman Mahavir Medical College & Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi. After completing medical school, he joined Prof. Terry Strom as a Research Fellow in his Immunology lab at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in 2014. They conducted experiments to identify immunoregulatory cells that could help develop tolerance to a transplanted organ and prevent rejection, and also identified a unique population of immunoregulatory macrophages in the pancreas, downregulation of which was associated with onset of autoimmune diabetes mellitus. After completing his fellowship in 2016, he started his medical residency at the University of Massachusetts Medical School's Baystate campus in Springfield, MA.

Krisha is primarily interested in clinical research aimed at prolonging the life of a transplanted organ, thereby achieving the goal of “one organ for life.” Currently, he is working with a team of researchers at the Transplant Institute to identify optimal blood pressure targets for kidney transplant recipients which would minimize adverse cardiovascular outcomes and prolong the transplant’s life. Their work has been accepted for an oral presentation at the American Transplant Congress 2021.