Renal Pathology Fellowship
Overview
Medical Renal Pathology is a highly specialized field requiring rigorous training and adequate exposure to a broad spectrum of diagnoses. At Stanford we offer a dedicated Renal Pathology Fellowship that will provide in-depth training in medical renal pathology with the goal of becoming a specialist in the field.
The Stanford Renal Pathology Service is enriched with high volume of native and transplant biopsies, several received in consultation from extended geographic region within the Bay Area.
The renal pathology fellow will have opportunities for learning in a multidisciplinary setting from leaders in the field of Nephrology (adult & pediatric), Transplant surgery, Histocompatibility and Immunodiagnosis.
Graduated responsibility opportunities include a Junior Attending rotation, presenting at various weekly, monthly and biannual biopsy conferences, teaching responsibilities, and service as a point person and consultant on renal pathology-related issues.
Elective time can be used to pursue additional subspecialty training in other areas or to work on research projects.
Departmental resources and support are available for clinicopathologic and translational research projects.
The Department of Pathology accepts one renal pathology fellow per year.
Stanford establishes PGY levels for new fellows based on the successful completion of all prerequisite training required for entry into your fellowship program. Stanford does not recognize additional training beyond the prerequisite training requirements when establishing the PGY level for entry into the program.
Rotations
During their year-long fellowship, Renal Pathology Fellows will spend their time on the following rotations:
- Renal Biopsy service fellowship rotation (consults, in house cases, second reviews, weekly clinical biopsy review coverage, overall service point person)
- “Junior Attending” rotation (fellow reviews cases with rotating residents at “sign-out” and works up cases as if going to finalize independently, with hand-off to renal pathology faculty for report finalization and discussion)
- Electron Microscopy Lab
- Stanford Histocompatibility, Immunogenetics, and Disease Profiling Laboratory
- Research
- Electives
- Vacation and educational/conference leave (4 weeks total)
Renal Pathology Fellowship Program Directors
Neeraja Kambham, MD
Professor of Pathology
Director, Anatomic Pathology Service & Director of Wellness
Director, Renal Pathology Service
Director, Renal Pathology Fellowship Program
Dr. Kambham is a Professor of Pathology at Stanford University and is a co-director of Renal Pathology & Electron microscopy laboratory. She completed Anatomic Pathology residency and Renal Pathology fellowship at Columbia University followed by Surgical Pathology fellowship at Stanford. Her clinical work and research focus encompasses medical & transplant renal and hepatic pathology. She is the program director for renal pathology fellowship at Stanford University.
Vivek Charu, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Pathology (Renal Pathology)
Associate Director, Renal Pathology Fellowship Program
I am a physician and a biostatistician. My clinical expertise is in the diagnosis of non-neoplastic kidney and liver disease (including transplantation). My research interests center on the design of observational studies and clinical trials, the analysis of observational data, and causal inference.
Renal Pathology Faculty
John Higgins, MD
Professor of Pathology
Director, Anatomic and Clinical Residency Training Program
Director, Liver Pathology Service
Director, Gastrointestinal Pathology Service
Dr. Higgins is a Professor of Pathology. He earned his MD from Stanford University and completed his training in anatomic pathology at Stanford where he also did fellowship training in immunodiagnosis. He has a particular interest in renal neoplasia.
Current Renal Pathology Fellows 2026-27
Brittany Ruschkowski, MD
Medical School: Anglophone stream, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON; Residency: The Ottawa Hospital / University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON
Incoming Renal Pathology Fellows
Alumni Renal Pathology Fellows
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