Marcus Urquiaga was one of 14 Emory employees selected as winners of the 2017 Emory University Award of Distinction. As the renal medicine and rheumatology division administrator within the Department of Medicine, Urquiaga has made significant contributions by developing innovative financial tools that have been utilized across the entire School of Medicine.

Jeff Sands, MD, Juha P. Kokko professor of medicine and physiology, and director of the Division of Renal Medicine in the Department of Medicine, has been named president of the American Physiological Society (APS). During his one-year presidency, Sands will chair all sessions of the APS council, lead business meetings and executive conferences, and approve all letters to Congress or other public policy entities on behalf of the organization.

On Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2017, 28 patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) arrived at Emory Dialysis Center at Candler to receive dialysis treatment. They had traveled to Atlanta from St. Thomas, one of the U.S. Virgin Islands devastated by Hurricane Maria. When the St. Thomas patients arrived at the center, they were each assessed and triaged by nurse practitioner Linda Turberville-Trujillo and by Janice Lea, MD, chief medical director of Emory Dialysis and a professor of medicine in the Emory University School of Medicine.

In early 2018, Emory Healthcare nephrologists began two pilot programs for new initiatives that aim to improve the lives of dialysis patients and dialysis patient care across Georgia. The first pilot is a telemedicine program that provides acute renal consults for hospitals in rural Georgia, including Taylor Regional Hospital (Hawkinsville) and Memorial Hospital and Manor (Bainbridge). These acute telenephrology consults are designed to care for patients with kidney disease in rural hospitals that do not have on-site nephrologists or in-house dialysis services. Emory Nephrology also partnered with Emory Cardiology to provide echocardiograms to patients undergoing dialysis. This partnership helps outpatient Emory dialysis clinics screen for cardiovascular disease in this high risk population and makes treatment more convenient for patients.

The Emory Clinic has opened a new dialysis center offering in-center hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis to patients who require dialytic therapies. Emory Dialysis at North Decatur is located at 2165 North Decatur Road in Decatur, GA.

Last October, the School of Medicine recognized faculty accomplishments and excellence in patient care, research, and education.