Nephrology & Hypertension

Location:

Zone B, Level 1, Room B1-200

Paediatric Medical Day Unit (PMDU)

Children's Hospital

800 Commissioners Road East

London ON

Directions and Parking:

Driving directions to Children's Hospital

Park in Visitor Parking Garage P8, Parkade 1 located on the west side of the hospital. This lot is accessible at the Wellington and Baseline Road entrance.

Contact:

Natalie Lilley, Medical Secretary to Dr. A. Sharma

natalie.lilley@lhsc.on.ca

Phone: 519-685-8354
Fax: 519-685-8156

Serena Barrow, Medical Secretary to Drs. J. Grimmer, G. Filler, and A. Kirpalani

serena.barrow@lhsc.on.ca

Phone: 519-685-8379
Fax: 519-685-8156

Contact for Referrals:

Paediatric Nephrologist on-call
Fax: 519-685-8156

Inpatient and outpatient care for children with acute and chronic kidney disease, congenital renal abnormalities and hypertension.
Consultative services for children hospitalized with other disorders, such as life-threatening disease, and for unborn children with kidney anomalies.
Full diagnostic work-up, including ambulatory 24-hr blood pressure monitoring.

We are committed to:

Deliver optimal care to children and adolescents in Southwestern Ontario and parts of Northern and Central Ontario.
Maintain a multi-disciplinary childhood end-stage renal disease program including renal replacement therapies.
Foster the development of an integrated basic and clinical research program focusing on the understanding of biology and mechanisms of childhood kidney disease and hypertension.

Our Team

Main number	519-685-8500
Dr. Guido Filler, Professor	Ext. 58379
Dr. Joanne Grimmer, Associate Professor	Ext. 58379
Dr. Ajay Sharma, Associate Professor	Ext. 58354
Dr. Amrit Kirpalani, Assistant Professor	Ext. 58379
Sarah Lafond, Paediatric Nurse Case Manager	Ext. 52550
Natalie Lilley, Medical Secretary to Dr. A. Sharma	Ext. 58354
Serena Barrow, Medical Secretary to Drs. J. Grimmer, G. Filler, and A. Kirpalani	Ext. 58379
Dannielle Newman, Booking Clerk - PMDU	Ext. 56397
Marika van den Elzen, Registered Dietitian	Ext. 52102
Kasha Herba, Social Worker	Ext. 56168
Emily Chen, Pharmacist

What to Expect

Usually, you are referred to our program by a family doctor or a paediatrician in the community.

Before your appointment:

Check with family members to see if there is any kidney disease in the family.
Find out if anyone is on dialysis or has received a kidney transplant.
Know the patient's birth weight and the duration of the pregnancy (full term vs. premature)
Bring all medications that you or your child currently takes including over the counter vitamins or supplements.

Remember to bring:

OHIP card
Vaccination records
All medications in their original containers
Record of birth weight and details of pregnancy
A full bladder

Register at the clinic
Our registration desk is inside the PMDU entrance past the elevator corridor.

Arrive early
Please make sure you arrive at least 15 minutes ahead of the scheduled appointment. This helps to maintain your priority of being seen and to ensure that the clinic stays on time. If the clinics are delayed because of late arrival, then all patients are affected. This is particularly important for the early morning appointments.

After registration
After registering, your height and weight will be obtained. When being weighed, be prepared to take off your shoes and jackets etc. It might be necessary to weigh infants with only a clean diaper on.

One of our nurses will take your blood pressure on the arm or leg. You will be asked to provide your child’s medication and vaccination history to the nurse. It would be extremely helpful to us if you bring this information either clearly written or typed on a piece of paper, the more specific the information the better.

Bring a full bladder
You will have to give a urine sample at each visit. Please drink plenty of fluids before you arrive. If you need to urinate just before the appointment please ask the registration desk to notify our nurses, they will be able to provide you with a container to collect the urine.

If we have arranged for an ultrasound of the kidneys you may also need a full bladder. Please follow the instructions you have been given prior to the appointment.

Partnerships
In collaboration with the Paediatric Critical Care program, continuous renal replacement therapy is available. Collaborative partnerships with the adult nephrology service, the adult hemodialysis unit of LHSC and with the Southwestern Ontario Regional Self-Care Dialysis Clinic ensure full service dialysis care and teaching for children with end-stage renal disease and their families.

The program is also associated with the Transplant programs at the Hospital For Sick Children in Toronto and the adult Renal Transplant Program at the University Campus of London Health Sciences Centre.

Research

Areas of research include:

Epidemiology of childhood kidney disease
Measurement of kidney function
Strategies for slowing progression of chronic kidney disease
Dialysis adequacy, etiology and treatment of hypertension
Improving outcomes after paediatric renal transplantation
Paediatric pharmacology of drugs used in the field of paediatric nephrology and hypertension
A particular research focus is the ontogeny (developmental changes) of drug disposition of immunosuppressive drugs used in paediatric renal transplantation