Our Faculty Miller School of Medicine

Katz Family Division of Nephrology and Hypertension

The Katz Family Division of Nephrology and Hypertension provides world-class, comprehensive clinical care to patients with all forms of acute and chronic kidney diseases, and maintains one of the nation’s busiest center for kidney transplantation.

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We offer a novel and creative two-year program that delivers outstanding training in all aspects of clinical nephrology while also allowing the trainee to tailor their education to their own interests.

Research Professors

Sandra Merscher, Ph.D.
Research Professor, Katz Family Division of Nephrology and Hypertension
Publications
Biography: Dr. Merscher obtained her Ph.D. degree in Human Genetics from the University of Saarland, Saarbrucken, Germany. For her postdoctoral fellowship, she joined Dr. Raju Kucherlapati’s Laboratory in the Department of Molecular Genetics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY and at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA where she worked...
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Professors

Gabriel Nicolas Contreras, M.D., MPH
Professor of Clinical Medicine , Katz Family Division of Nephrology and Hypertension
Clinical Profile
Biography: Gabriel N. Contreras, M.D., MPH, earned his medical degree in 1984 from the Autonomous University of Guadalajara in Mexico. He trained in Internal medicine, nephrology and hypertension, critical care medicine, and earned a degree of Master in Public Health between 1988 and 2003. In 1996, he joined the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami. During his time...
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Alessia Fornoni, M.D., Ph.D., FASN
Professor, Katz Family Division of Nephrology and Hypertension
Clinical Profile | Publications
Biography: Dr. Fornoni is a tenured Professor of Medicine and Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. She serves as Director and Chair of the Peggy and Harold Katz Drug Discovery Center. She is also the Co-Director of the MSTP program and of the CTSI/KL2 program and Assistant Dean for Research Training and Development.

Through...
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Warren L. Kupin, M.D.
Professor of Clinical Medicine, Katz Family Division of Nephrology and Hypertension
Clinical Profile
Biography: Dr. Kupin received a BS in Chemistry from Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI, and attended medical school at the Medical College of Wisconsin graduating in 1980. He did his residency training in Internal Medicine at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, MI followed by a Nephrology Fellowship at the same institution. Dr. Kupin was on Faculty at Henry Ford Hospital as a Transplant...
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David Roth, M.D.
William W. Anderson Professor of Nephrology, Katz Family Division of Nephrology and Hypertension
Clinical Profile
Biography: Dr. Roth attended medical school at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center. Upon graduation in 1977, he came to Miami for internal medicine training at Jackson Memorial Hospital/University of Miami School of Medicine. His interests in the field of Nephrology were stimulated by the nephrology faculty at the medical center and he remained at UM/JMH for...
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Associate Professors

Jair Munoz Mendoza, M.D.
Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine, Katz Family Division of Nephrology and Hypertension
Clinical Profile
Biography: Dr. Munoz Mendoza received his medical degree from the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Lima, Peru. He completed internal medicine residency at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, and fellowship in nephrology at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. After finishing fellowship, he joined the faculty at the University of Miami, Katz Family...
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Mariella Ortigosa-Goggins, M.D.
Professor of Clinical Medicine, Katz Family Division of Nephrology and Hypertension

Biography: Dr. Goggins is a Transplant Nephrologist with over 25 years of experience; She is the Medical Director of the Kidney/Pancreas Transplant Program at the Miami Transplant Institute. Dr. Goggins specializes in Kidney and Kidney/Pancreas Transplantation; her area of expertise is advancing pancreas transplant in patients with Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Chronic...
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Zain Mithani, M.D.
Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine, Katz Family Division of Nephrology and Hypertension
Clinical Profile | Publications
Biography: Dr Zain Mithani is a graduate of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine class of 2012. After medical school, Dr Mithani continued his training at the University of Colorado Denver for Internal Medicine residency and then a fellowship in Nephrology at New York-Presbyterian / Weill Cornell Medical Center. Dr Mithani has been faculty at the University of Miami...
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Marco Aurelio Ladino Avellaneda, M.D.
Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine, Katz Family Division of Nephrology and Hypertension
Clinical Profile
Biography: Marco Aurelio Ladino Avellaneda is a distinguished medical professional with a passion for nephrology, transplant nephrology and hypertension care. With a solid academic background, Dr. Ladino Avellaneda completed his Medical Doctor and Surgeon degree at Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Señora Del Rosario in Bogota, Colombia in 2003. He then pursued further specialization...
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Marie Anne Sosa, M.D.
Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine, Katz Family Division of Nephrology and Hypertension
Clinical Profile | Publications
Biography: I was born in Caracas Venezuela, where I attended Medical School. After graduation I moved to Boston where I completed my Residency in Internal Medicine and Fellowship. I obtained my Nephrology degree At Tuft and worked at Brigham and Women hospital and at the University of Massachusetts for years. My areas of interest are teaching and Quality Improvement. I am fluent...
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Juan Duque Ballesteros, M.D.
Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine, Katz Family Division of Nephrology and Hypertension
Clinical Profile
Biography: Doctor Juan Duque is an Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine in the Katz family Division of Nephrology and Hypertension at the University of Miami. Dr. Duque received his medical degree from the University of la Sabana in Colombia in 2009. After medical school he joined the vascular access team at the University of Miami as a research associate, and then completed...
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Assistant Professors

Adriana Dejman Valdez, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine, Katz Family Division of Nephrology and Hypertension
Clinical Profile
Biography: Adriana Dejman, MD is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine in the Katz Family Division of Nephrology and Hypertension at the University of Miami. She earned her medical degree from the Universidad Central de Venezuela – Escuela José María Vargas in 2010, followed by an Internal Medicine residency (2012–2015) and a Nephrology & Hypertension fellowship...
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Adela D. Mattiazzi, M.D.
Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine, Katz Family Division of Nephrology and Hypertension
Publications
Biography: Adela D. Mattiazzi MD, FASN is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. She is a Transplant Nephrologist at the Miami Transplant Institute where she is Director of Therapeutic Plasma Exchange for Solid Organ Transplant, Director of Highly Sensitized Kidney and Pancreas Transplant Program and the Associate Medical Director...
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Javier A. Pagan, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine, Katz Family Division of Nephrology and Hypertension

Biography: Dr. Javier Pagan was born and raised in Ponce, PR, and attended the Ponce School of Medicine and Health Sciences graduating with honors in 2012. Following medical school, he completed his internal medicine residency and Nephrology fellowship at the University of Miami / Jackson Memorial Hospital. He completed an advanced fellowship in transplant Nephrology at the Miami...
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Yelena Drexler, M.D.
Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine, Katz Family Division of Nephrology and Hypertension
Clinical Profile
Biography: Dr. Yelena Drexler is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Katz Family Division of Nephrology and Hypertension at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. She serves as Associate Program Director of the UM Nephrology Fellowship Training Program and is the Director of the UM ADPKD Clinic, which is recognized by the Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) Foundation...
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Advanced Practice Registered Nurses

Hassan A. Ali, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Publications
Biography: Hassan is an Associate Professor (tenure-track) of Neurological Surgery and Medicine at the University of Miami (UM), and Director of High Content Screening Core for Phenotypic Drug Discovery. He is a member of the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, the Katz Drug Discovery Center, and the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. Hassan's primary research interest is understanding...
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Advanced Practice Registered Nurses

Margarita Teixeiro

Pura Margarita Teixeiro is an experienced Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Practitioner (APRN) that has been working at the University of Miami since July 1992. She completed her BSN from the University of Miami School of Nursing in 1997 and her Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Miami in May 2003. She is a Certified Family Nurse Practitioner with the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners and a member of the National Kidney Foundation and the Florida Society of Nephrology. She has 20 years of experience caring for patients with End Stage Kidney Disease on dialysis and during the last four years has expanded her practice to managing patients with Chronic Kidney Disease Stages 1-5. She is culturally sensitive, bilingual, empathetic and mature. She is respected by her colleagues and loved by her patients.
Voluntary Faculty

Ivonne Hernandez Schulman, M.D.

Fellowship: University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital
Clinical Interests: Hypertension
Research Interests: Cardiovascular and renal molecular biology, stem cell culture techniques, and the design and implementation of stem cell preclinical studies and clinical trials for the treatment of cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, and frailty.

Vasuki Venkat, M.D.
Fellowship: University of California, San Diego
Clinical interests: Acute kidney injury
Research Interests: Renal microbiome in chronic kidney disease

Alan Rose, M.D.
Training: Albert Einstein New York
Clinical interests: Trade off hypothesis and intact single nephron theory and medical education.