Erie County Medical Center

At our ECMC training site, you'll consult with patients who have common renal diseases, and you’ll gain experience providing care for patients with renal failure resulting from burns and trauma. 

ECMC houses the Regional Center of Excellence for Transplantation and Kidney Care, a setting enabling you to expand your knowledge of all kidney-related services, including in- and out-patient dialysis and transplant services, as well as vascular access maintenance and surgical care.

At the center, you’ll have the unique opportunity to train in a facility featuring:

• modern hemodialysis stations
• facilities for home dialysis training
• outpatient and community outreach offices
• clinical support spaces 
• vascular access center for inpatients and outpatients with operating rooms for vascular access procedures
• inpatient dialysis center with state-of-the-art stations

At ECMC’s renal/hypertension clinic — which provides more than 800 consults annually — we’ll train you to provide expert evaluation and treatment services. 

You'll gain exposure to kidney transplantation when you’ll see patients from the U.S. and Canada in ECMC’s kidney and pancreas transplant program.

You’ll have the chance to learn from transplant surgeons, transplant program coordinators, a transplant social work specialist and a transplant financial counselor. 

You may have opportunities to learn about:

• laparoscopic kidney removal for live donors
• cadaveric adult-to-adult dual-kidney transplant
• altruistic/non-directed living kidney donation

During your second year of training, you will spend 2-3 months on the transplant service.

You can expect to spend a half day in our continuity clinic at ECMC every other week.

At our ECMC site, you’ll learn about the acute hemodialysis procedures we provide in intensive-care settings. You may treat patients with:

• drug overdoses or intoxication
• new acute renal failure
• acutely ill patients with chronic renal failure

Additionally, we’ll familiarize you with caring for patients with end-stage renal disease who receive their maintenance dialysis treatment in the transplant unit. 

Training at this site will help you gain confidence treating patients who are not suited for care in freestanding dialysis units. You’ll learn about providing care for dialysis patients with multiple medical problems or marginal vascular access as well as recently-diagnosed patients and those who are residents of ECMC’s nursing home.

• chief medical officer of Erie County Medical Center
• attending physicians in inpatient renal medicine, renal consultation, inpatient Medicine A and D services
• director of home dialysis services
• associate program director of nephrology fellowship 
• medical director of the hemodialysis program
• transplant surgeons
• nurses

Faculty have research interests in areas including:

• medication and toxin-induced acute kidney injury
• diabetic nephropathy 
• population health management
• viral diseases in transplant patients
• nephrogenic systemic fibrosis
• treatment options for anemia
• pathobiology of the complement system

You’ll see patients with conditions including:

• chronic kidney disease
• hypertension
• kidney stone problems
• electrolyte disturbances, such as low potassium, high potassium, low sodium
• abnormalities of kidney anatomy, including evaluation regarding kidney cysts and masses