David W. Ploth, MD Division Director, Professor "The Division of Nephrology is pleased to be selected as a "Top 50" Kidney Program in the US, again this year.  Our faculty have worked long and hard to build this reputation by providing excellent clinical care and building nationally prominent research programs."

The Nephrology Division was founded by Dr. Arthur V. Williams, Jr., who was among the first physicians in the South to enter the field of renal replacement therapy. Born in Charleston and educated at Clemson and MUSC, Dr. Williams first encountered experimental dialysis during his Internal Medicine residency in Milwaukee in 1949.

When chronic support of patients with end stage renal disease became technically possible in the late 1960’s, Dr. Williams, then on faculty at MUSC, established the first dialysis program in South Carolina and one of the first dialysis programs in the Southeast. The program has continued to grow and prosper in partnership with Dialysis Clinics, Inc. (DCI), a non-profit corporation based in Nashville. Dr. Williams retired from clinical practice in 1990 and today is Professor Emeritus of Medicine.

Dr. David Ploth was recruited from the University of Alabama at Birmingham to become the first Arthur V. Williams, Jr. Professor of Medicine in 1987.   The strong clinical base of the division grew and was subsequently bolstered by the addition of several active basic science and clinical research programs.  The research activities of the Division have been further augmented with the establishment of a second endowed chair for Dr. John R. Raymond who was recruited from Duke University and has been instrumental in providing leadership in research for not only the Division of Nephrology but also for the University as Provost.  Most recently, we have recruited Dr. Darwin Bell, a renowned physiology researcher to expand upon our strong basic science research program. Together, the clinical faculty of the Division oversee a diverse inpatient and outpatient activity at three hospitals and six freestanding affiliated DCI dialysis units as well as maintaining a high level of commitment to teaching and research activities.

In addition, Dr. C. Thomas Fitts established renal transplantation more than 20 years ago at MUSC. The transplant program has been extremely active and grown from one surgeon to five full time faculty surgeons with a training program in Transplant Surgery.  Likewise, the recruitment of Professor Francesca Egidi and other Transplant Nephrologists has strengthened the Transplant Program and increased the exposure of our fellows to transplant medicine. The present Transplant Program is under the direction of Dr. Prabhakar Baliga and performs approximately 140 renal transplants per year. Of note, the program has performed over 2500 since its inception. In addition, the transplant surgeons provide most of the surgical support for the dialysis patients in Charleston including access management. MUSC is the major transplant center in South Carolina and fifteenth in size nationally.

The Medical University of South Carolina Hospital is the major tertiary care referral center for the state of South Carolina. The Ralph H. Johnson Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center also draws on a wide catchment area including much of South Carolina as well as coastal Georgia.  Together, the hospitals provide trainees with exposure to the entire spectrum of medical renal disease, including both common and unusual entities.  In addition, the Medical University of South Carolina just 
completed addition of a new 170 bed hospital on our campus, Ashley River Tower.   

The Department of Medicine of the Medical University of South Carolina, in addition to the Nephrology Fellowship Training Program, maintains fully accredited training programs in Internal Medicine and all recognized subspecialties. There are approximately 248 full-time faculty and 154 house officers and Fellows in the Department of Medicine. The Nephrology Fellowship Training Program has positions for two to four trainees each year in the Clinical Track (2 years) and two trainees in the Research/Clinical Track (3 years). The different clinical and basic science research interests of the faculty members in the Division provide new trainees with an excellent and intellectually challenging environment that ultimately makes subspecialty training fun, productive and rewarding.