A leader in kidney disease and transplant: Dr. Christie Thomas‪.‬ Vets First Podcast

Dr. Christie Thomas, a nephrologist at the University of Iowa and the Iowa City VA Healthcare System, joins us on this episode to discuss his favorite organ, the kidney, and why Veterans need transplants. He is a pioneer in the kidney transplant program at the Iowa City VA Healthcare System as well as a being influential in the Hepatitis C positive kidney transplant program. Today Dr. Thomas discusses with us the role of the kidney in the body, some of its surprising roles in human health, as well as how and why kidneys fail.
Dr. Thomas was born and grew up in India, having come to the United States at the age of 2 and returning to India at the age of 4. He did his undergraduate studies in India and postgraduate studies in England. He returned to the United States in his early thirties and was drawn to Iowa City, which had the largest public hospital in terms of the number of beds in the country at the time, as well as the Iowa City VA Healthcare System, which was known for the strength of its research.