Meet Dr. Lindsay Kruska
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Education: West Virginia University West Virginia University School of Medicine Training: Internal Medicine Resident, University of North Carolina Hospitals, 2008-2011 |
Where are you from?
I was born in Lansing, Michigan and moved to West Virginia when I was 10. I stayed in West Virginia until moving to Chapel Hill.
Tell me a little about your personal life-do you have a family?
I was married on May 28th of this year to my husband Matt who is a chemical engineer in the Triangle.
What are some of your interests? How do you spend your free time?
I spend my free time reading, running, traveling, and my favorite – eating. This area has so many great restaurants.
Why did you choose nephrology?
I chose nephrology for many reasons. I enjoy the detailed thought process that goes into caring for our patients and being able to serve as a primary care provider for many patients. I think the profession was also very attractive to me because I’ve never met a nephrologist who didn’t love what they do.
What do you like best about Chapel Hill?
What is there not to like about Chapel Hill?
Meet Dr Ryan Sanford
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Education: North Carolina State University University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Training: Internal Medicine Resident, University of North Carolina Hospitals, 2008-2011 |
Where are you from?
I was born in Asheville, NC. I wouldn’t call myself a mountain man, but I am fond of the Appalachians – the beauty, climate, and outdoor activities.
Tell me a little about your personal life-do you have a family?
I have a wonderful wife, a bustling toddler, and a second child due any day! We don’t know if it will be a boy or girl – surprises are way more fun.
What are some of your interests? How do you spend your free time?
My free time is spent playing with my kiddo and family. When he is sleeping I enjoy running and reading.
Why did you choose nephrology?
Partly, because the kidney was so complex and I enjoyed the struggle of understanding concepts such as countercurrent exchange tubular transport. Then I discovered that the culture of nephrology is a great fit for me. I respected the nephrologists’ approach of integrating renal physiology into the care of patients.
What do you like best about Chapel Hill?
UNC Hospitals is a wonderful place to learn medicine, especially nephrology. Our faculty truly enjoy the day to day practice of medicine. This was evident from my first days as an intern here and I knew that this was the kind of atmosphere I wanted to train in.
Meet Jill Lebov, Renal Epidemiology Trainee
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Georgetown University Study Abroad Program: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain, 2002-2003. Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. MSPH (Masters of Science in Public Health)/ PhD Epidemiology Student, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill |
Where are you from?
New Haven, Connecticut
Tell me a little about your personal life-do you have a family?
My parents still live in the house my father built and the house I grew up in in Connecticut. My 26- year old brother works in Branford, CT and my little brother just got a job out in Boulder, Colorado. I’m grateful to have found a wonderful group of friends and a loving boyfriend in the Durham area, who have become my North Carolina family.
What are some of your interests? How do you spend your free time?
Free time is hard to come by when you’re a grad student, but I have plenty of hobbies. There isn’t enough time to do everything I’m interested in, so I usually focus on one new activity each year. Last year it was training for half marathons. This year it’s hula hooping – I have found hula hooping to be good exercise and great fun, so I do it outside or in my living room when I have time. I am also training for another half marathon this fall.
I like to sing, and myself and a couple other Epi folks formed a band called the Global Burden of Awesome. We performed at the last two Epidemiology Department Winterfests.
How did you choose this research path?
In some ways this path chose me. I had the amazing opportunity to coordinate a research activity with a group of students in rural Nicaragua in the summer of 2010. I worked with research staff at the University of Nicaragua in León, who also happen to be collaborating with Dr. Susan Hogan on her chronic kidney disease study in León. Luckily, I was referred to Susan in the Fall of 2010 and we have been working together on the chronic kidney disease prevalence study ever since. I will utilize the data from that study to write my Masters paper, and hope to move forward with my PhD work in this same research area.
What do you like best about Chapel Hill?
The countless activities and events outdoors that are open to the public and often discounted for students.
Meet Dr. Marc Richards
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Education: Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Training: Internal Medicine Resident, University of North Carolina Hospitals, 2008-2011 |
Where are you from?
I was born in Hollywood, Florida and grew up in Pembroke Pines, Florida, both suburbs of Fort Lauderdale. I spent four years in Evanston, Illinois at Northwestern before returning home to Miami for medical school. I have been living in Chapel Hill for three years since I started residency here.
Tell me a little about your personal life-do you have a family?
I have been happily married for the last 15 months to my lovely wife Samantha who I met during my last year of medical school. Two months ago we welcomed our first child, Milo, into the world. It has been so fascinating watching him grow and mature with every passing day. We also have a three year old Cavachon (half Bichon- half Cavalier King Charles) named Suki.
What are some of your interests? How do you spend your free time?
Currently most of my free time is spent learning how to be a competent dad. However, I also enjoy running, swimming, and biking. Recently I combined these hobbies to compete in my first sprint triathlon at the UNC Wellness Center. I have also run two half marathons, although it should be noted that co-fellow Lindsay Kruska beat me by several minutes last year in Raleigh.
I also enjoy useless trivia. I compete with my wife nightly watching episodes of Jeopardy! and have hosted pub-style trivia with co-fellow Jason Kidd at the James Joyce bar in Durham and at UNC’s last Nephrology gala in February.
Why did you choose nephrology?
To be honest, I entered residency pretty set on doing GI and hadn’t even considered nephrology. However, I spent my first month as an intern on Med –B with Jason Kidd as my co-intern, Liz Dehmer as my resident, and Ron Falk as my attending. Dr. Falk spent a month convincing me that the GI tract was “just one big nephron” while the kidney contained millions. After a great experience on Med B dealing with great faculty and taking care of complex but interesting patients, I found myself gravitating towards renal cases while I was on other services. I ended up spending my first month of my second year of residency rotating through UNC’s outpatient dialysis units and clinics as well as with Kevin Lee at Cary Nephrology. By the end of that month, I was hooked and the rest is history.
What do you like best about Chapel Hill?
I like that the town is big enough to have everything you need but isn’t overwhelming. I also like that there many great places to run and local restaurants to try.
Meet Dr. Elizabeth Brant
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Education: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The Boston Conservatory Tufts University Albert Einstein College of Medicine Training: Internal Medicine Resident, Tulane University Hospital and Clinic, 2008-2011 |
Where are you from?
I was born in South Carolina, moved around (all over southeast, Boston area, New York, New Orleans) and travelled a lot (long trips to Alaska, Montana, and Taiwan; short stays in plenty of other places, including Scotland, France, Belgium, England, Iceland, many of the lower 48).
Tell me a little about your personal life-do you have a family?
No family of my own. I’ve got three critters, and would have lots more if I had space, money, and time for them. Also have a wonderful niece and nephew, both adults.
What are some of your interests? How do you spend your free time?
I love music (that was my previous career). Avid reader. Love gardening, but too hot to do anything here yet, so I miss my New Orleans garden. Obviously I’m a lover of animals, too. Love to drive, but hate to fly. (Have driven cross-country multiple times; best trip was New York to SC, then to Montana for a month, then to Alaska for 2 months, then back right through the middle of the lower 48…eventually back to New York).
Why did you choose nephrology?
Short answer: I have CKD secondary to vasculitis.
Meet Dr. Jason Kidd
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Education: Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, 1999-2003 Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, 2004-2008 M.D. 2008 Training: Internal Medicine Resident Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina Hospitals, 6/2008-6/2011 |
Where are you from?
I grew up in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire.
What are some of your interests? How do you spend your free time?
I am a big sports fan. I follow Boston sports teams (Red Sox, Celtics, Patriots, Bruins) fanatically and (gasp) Duke basketball (where I did my undergrad). I like to play basketball and slow pitch softball. Also, when I have time, I like to go to trivia at the James Joyce Pub in Durham with Marc Richards and to Durham Bulls games.
Why did you choose nephrology?
My Uncle, David Yoburn, is a Nephrologist and when I was in medical school, I spent a lot of time picking his brain about medicine and I was really struck by how excited he was to tell me about all the interesting patients he saw and challenging diagnoses he got to make.
When I started as a resident at UNC, my first rotation was on the Nephrology service with 2 future nephrology fellows (Liz Dehmer was my resident and Marc Richards was my co-intern) and Dr. Falk was the attending. Even though I barely knew how to order a renal diet, we had a great time and I learned a lot. I was pretty sold on Nephrology by the end of that month.