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allow her hospital privileges for several months . Around 2006 , the UofL Physicians Outpatient Center broke ground and her division partnered with UofL Hospital , bringing all her patients along .
Today , the Interventional Nephrology Center not only takes care of dialysis vascular access , but Dr . Dwyer and her partner Dr . Zygimantas Alsauskas do kidney and bladder ultrasounds and transplant and native kidney biopsies , and they ’ ve also started an anemia management program .
“ We give patients iron infusions and hormone injections to help them build their blood cells . It ’ s become more than just vascular access , it ’ s a full-service center for all patients with kidney disease .”
Their program here is unique – there are no other U . S . academic training programs with the exact features and care they provide . “ There are other academic centers , but they don ’ t have their own facility with their own staff . They have to share their time and space with surgery in the operating room , or with cardiology in the cath lab , or radiology . They don ’ t have their own dedicated space . What we have here is very special .”
For two weeks each month , Dr . Dwyer does interventional procedures . Another week is dedicated to the hospital , rounding and seeing patients with new and old kidney injuries , dialysis patients , or transplant patients at University Hospital . The fourth week is spent in the clinic seeing new consults . In some weeks , she sees upwards of 30 patients per day and she and Dr . Alsauskas do around 180 procedures each month . She has always had a love for procedures , dating back to medical school when she was considering surgery . Interventional nephrology gives her the best of both worlds .
“ I just love doing procedures and working with my hands and helping people feel better . It ’ s very satisfying because you can fix something and have immediate satisfaction in a patient that has a chronic illness ,” she said . “ When you ’ re in the hospital , you can get burnt out , seeing the things that happen in the ICU , but the young medical students and residents come in with this contagious energy and they want to learn , so it makes me want to teach them . They keep me on my toes with all their great questions .”
She typically is teaching two to three medical students , sometimes a resident and a nurse practitioner . She was promoted to the position of Professor in just 10 years and at the time , she was told by the Dean that she was the first woman to be promoted that fast in the history of the university . The students and the teaching part of her job really energize her .
“ Seeing them go from the beginning of the week where they
26 LOUISVILLE MEDICINE