Name: ABHIJIT S. CHAVAN

Affiliation: Max Superspeciality Hospital, Saket, New Delhi, India

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/drabhijitheals

Twitter: @AbhijitdocIND

Tell us about yourself.

I am a nephrologist currently pursuing a post-doctoral fellowship in kidney transplantation at Max Superspeciality Hospital, Saket, New Delhi India. Prior to this I completed my MD in internal medicine followed by a DM (Doctorate of Medicine) in Nephrology from a western part of India. So far, I have been involved as a primary care physician in managing haemodialysis patients and closely working with patients and donors for renal transplantation.

What are your research interests?

Since my training days in internal medicine, I have had a keen interest in hypertension and intend to research more about hypertension in special populations like haemodialysis patients and kidney donors. Also, arterial stiffness monitoring in CKD patients with arteriovenous fistula has been of recent interest to me.

What are you working on right now?

Currently my research is focused on assessing hemodynamic responses in voluntary live kidney donors in the immediate post nephrectomy period. Further to this, I will be analysing the outcomes of kidney donation and its impact on blood pressure at various timelines after kidney donation.

What do you hope to achieve in the field of hypertension over the next 5 years?

I wish to research more in the field of hypertension in special populations like haemodialysis patients, kidney donors and kidney transplant patients. With the outcomes of my research I hope that strict hypertension monitoring will be implemented in such special populations and that hypertension guidelines will also routinely begin to give special recommendations for managing hypertension in such cases.

What challenges have you faced in your career to date?.

Indian kidney transplantation programs involving living kidney donation. Despite the high numbers of kidney donations, long-term research and health monitoring are lacking. One of the challenges has been following up with kidney donors for blood pressure assessments at various intervals. But this has motivated me to pursue my research involving kidney donors and promote donor safety and advocacy.

Which of your publications are you proudest of and why?

My publication: Chavan AS et al 2023 ‘Measured Glomerular filtration rate in Live related kidney donors three months post kidney donation: A single-center Experience from Western India’ (DOI: 10.7759/cureus.45103) has brought me immense pride as it was one of the few studies in India, which assessed renal function after kidney donation. The study also gave me valuable insights on hypertension in kidney donors and I was awarded an ISH Emerging leader award at the ISH 2024 congress in Cartagena, Colombia for my abstract entitled ‘Blood pressure changes in the immediate post operative period of live related kidney donors in an Indian cohort’.

What is your favourite manuscript from a lab other than your own?

The manuscript: Garg AX et al ‘Hypertension and Kidney function after Living Kidney donation’ (DOI: 10.1001/jama.2024.8523) has provided me valuable insights regarding long term aspects of kidney donations and its implications.

What are your passions outside of work?

I am passionate about bikes and regularly go on biking tours. Also, I love travelling and trying all Indian cuisines in my free time.