Abhijit S Naik, MBBS, MPH
Clinical Associate Professor of Internal Medicine
[email protected]

Available to mentor

Abhijit S Naik, MBBS, MPH
Clinical Associate Professor
  • About
  • Qualifications
  • Center Memberships
  • Research Overview
  • Recent Publications
  • About

    Abhijit (Jeet) spent his formative years in the vibrant city of Mumbai, India, where he completed his medical degree at Grant Medical College. Driven by his interest in human health and quantitative analysis, he pursued further graduate training at the University of Alabama in Birmingham to become an epidemiologist and data scientist. He is a board-certified specialist in Nephrology by the American Board of Internal Medicine, with additional subspecialty training in Kidney Transplantation.

    He completed his Nephrology and Kidney Transplantation training at the University of Chicago, under the mentorship of Michelle Josephson, the current ASN president, and Richard J. Quigg in glomerular diseases.

    Beginning his career as a clinical faculty member at the University of Michigan, he was inspired by Roger C. Wiggins' foundational work on podocyte depletion and its role in FSGS. This inspiration led him to investigate the role of podocyte depletion in limiting long-term allograft survival in rejecting and non-rejecting kidney allografts. His work earned him a Career Development Award (K23) from the National Institutes of Health to train as a Physician Scientist in Systems Biology under Dr. Matthias Kretzler. Dr. Kretzler, who leads the NEPTUNE and Kidney Precision Medicine projects, is a distinguished systems biologist and prolific researcher.

    Qualifications
    • Fellow
      University of Chicago Medical Center, Internal Medicine, 2014
    • Internal Medicine
      Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, 2010
    • MPH, Epidemiology
      University of Alabama Birmingham, 1720 2nd Ave S, 2007
    • MD Degree
      Grant Medical College, Sir J.J Hospital JJ Marg, Byculla, 2005
    Center Memberships
    • Center Member
      Caswell Diabetes Institute
    Research Overview

    Currently, his research focuses on understanding the role of kidney growth per se in driving kidney and glomerular disease progression in diseases such as obesity and diabetes, which are characterized by kidney growth early in the disease process. Insights from these studies are pivotal in understanding the role of kidney allograft growth, a common occurrence after kidney transplantation, and its impact on reducing long-term allograft survival.

    His ultimate goal is to apply a systems biology approach to kidney transplantation, incorporating morphometric data from biopsies, functional data from electronic medical records, and genotype-level data from kidney donors and recipients. The hypotheses from such approaches are tested in prospective biosample and biofluid acquisition built around Michigan’s surveillance and indication biopsy program. The Biosample and Biofluid collection is aligned with Kidney Precision Medicine to facilitate synergy with such large networks. He currently leads the Michigan Kidney Transplant (Biorepository) and the ImPREC study, a multi-organ transplant biorepository funded through intramural grants from UM’s philanthropic Alfred Taubman Center.

    Recent Publications See All Publications
    • Journal Article
      SGLT2 inhibitors mitigate kidney tubular metabolic and mTORC1 perturbations in youth-onset type 2 diabetes.
      Schaub JA, AlAkwaa FM, McCown PJ, Naik AS, Nair V, Eddy S, Menon R, Otto EA, Demeke D, Hartman J, Fermin D, O'Connor CL, Subramanian L, Bitzer M, Harned R, Ladd P, Pyle L, Pennathur S, Inoki K, Hodgin JB, Brosius FC, Nelson RG, Kretzler M, Bjornstad P. J Clin Invest, 2023 Mar 1; 133 (5): DOI:10.1172/JCI164486
      PMID: 36637914
    • Journal Article
      Glomerular endothelial cell-podocyte stresses and crosstalk in structurally normal kidney transplants.
      Menon R, Otto EA, Berthier CC, Nair V, Farkash EA, Hodgin JB, Yang Y, Luo J, Woodside KJ, Zamani H, Norman SP, Wiggins RC, Kretzler M, Naik AS. Kidney Int, 2022 Apr; 101 (4): 779 - 792. DOI:10.1016/j.kint.2021.11.031
      PMID: 34952098
    • Journal Article
      Critical timing of ACEi initiation prevents compensatory glomerular hypertrophy in the remaining single kidney.
      Naik AS, Wang SQ, Chowdhury M, Aqeel J, O'Connor CL, Wiggins JE, Bitzer M, Wiggins RC. Sci Rep, 2021 Oct 1; 11 (1): 19605 DOI:10.1038/s41598-021-99124-z
      PMID: 34599260
    • Journal Article
      Urine marker analysis identifies evidence for persistent glomerular podocyte injury across allograft lifespan.
      Naik AS, Aqeel J, Wang SQ, Chowdhury M, He K, Wiggins RC. Clin Transplant, 2021 Nov; 35 (11): e14457 DOI:10.1111/ctr.14457
      PMID: 34387906
    • Journal Article
      Podocyte stress and detachment measured in urine are related to mean arterial pressure in healthy humans.
      Naik AS, Le D, Aqeel J, Wang SQ, Chowdhury M, Walters LM, Cibrik DM, Samaniego M, Wiggins RC. Kidney Int, 2020 Sep; 98 (3): 699 - 707. DOI:10.1016/j.kint.2020.03.038
      PMID: 32739208
    • Journal Article
      FSGS as an Adaptive Response to Growth-Induced Podocyte Stress.
      Nishizono R, Kikuchi M, Wang SQ, Chowdhury M, Nair V, Hartman J, Fukuda A, Wickman L, Hodgin JB, Bitzer M, Naik A, Wiggins J, Kretzler M, Wiggins RC. J Am Soc Nephrol, 2017 Oct; 28 (10): 2931 - 2945. DOI:10.1681/ASN.2017020174
      PMID: 28720684
    • Journal Article
      Quantitative podocyte parameters predict human native kidney and allograft half-lives.
      Naik AS, Afshinnia F, Cibrik D, Hodgin JB, Wu F, Zhang M, Kikuchi M, Wickman L, Samaniego M, Bitzer M, Wiggins JE, Ojo A, Li Y, Wiggins RC. JCI Insight, 2016 1 (7): DOI:10.1172/jci.insight.86943
      PMID: 27280173
    • Presentation
      Single cell RNA sequencing of normal kidney allograft surveillance biopsies show evidence of dynamic glomerular endothelial cell activation. (Plenary Session)
      Naik AS, Menon R, Otto E, Farkash E, Berthier C, Norman SP, Wiggins R, Kretzler M.