Vanessa Grubbs is a

nephrologist Nephrology is a specialty for both adult internal medicine and pediatric medicine that concerns the study of the kidneys, specifically normal kidney function (renal physiology) and kidney disease (renal pathophysiology), the preservation of kid ...

and a writer based in

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

. She is an associate professor at the

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedic ...

. She works at

Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital The Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (ZSFG) is a public hospital in San Francisco, California, under the purview of the city's San Francisco Department of Public Health, Department of Public Heal ...

Early life and education

Grubbs was born in

Spring Lake, North Carolina Spring Lake is a town in Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. The 2010 census recorded the population at 11,964 people, with an estimated population in 2019 of 12,005. History The current name of the town first appeared around 1 ...

. She earned a bachelor's degree at

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

. She remained at

Duke University School of Medicine The Duke University School of Medicine, commonly known as Duke Med, is the medical school of Duke University. It was established in 1925 by James B. Duke. The School of Medicine, along with the Duke University School of Nursing, Duke Universi ...

for medical school.

Research and career

Grubbs joined the Alameda County Medical Center for her internal medicine residency. She completed a nephrology fellowship at

UCSF School of Medicine The UCSF School of Medicine is a multisite medical school of the University of California, San Francisco, with a historical campus located at the base of Mount Sutro on the Parnassus Heights campus in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1864 b ...

. In 2012 she was awarded a

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...

K23 Career Development Award. She is a

Harold Amos Harold Amos (September 7, 1918 – February 26, 2003) was an American microbiologist. He taught at Harvard Medical School for nearly fifty years and was the first African American department chair of the school. Early life Amos was born in Penns ...

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is an American philanthropic organization. It is the largest one focused solely on health. Based in Princeton, New Jersey, the foundation focuses on access to health care, public health, health equity, ...

Medical Faculty fellow. She studied the dietary supplements of Americans that are potentially harmful in chronic kidney disease. Her research focuses on the impact of

periodontal disease Periodontal disease, also known as gum disease, is a set of inflammatory conditions affecting the tissues surrounding the teeth. In its early stage, called gingivitis, the gums become swollen and red and may bleed. It is considered the main c ...

on kidney function. She is a member of the

American Society of Nephrology Founded in 1966, the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) is the world's largest professional society devoted to the study of kidney disease. Composed of over 20,000 physicians and scientists, ASN promotes expert patient care, advances medical r ...

and serves on the public policy board. She studied the outcomes of in-hospital palliative care consultations of patients with renal disease. Grubbs is a non-fiction writer and leads a workshop series for senior medical students in the Program in Medical Education for the Urban Underserved. She appeared on the cover of the

magazine ''Renal Life'' in 2018.

''Hundreds of Interlaced Fingers''

Grubbs published her first book with Amistad in 2017. The book describes how Grubbs met her husband, Robert Phillips, who had end-stage kidney disease. Whilst searching for a kidney, Grubbs learned about the disparities in kidney allocation, where African American patients received only 1 in 5 of donated kidneys despite being 1 in 3 of transplant candidates. The book documents other biases she has experienced as a woman of colour. She donated her own kidney before getting an engagement ring. It is also a collection of medical histories that covers the 400 years in the build-up of medical dialysis. The book was well received by

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

and

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grubbs, Vanessa 21st-century African-American physicians American nephrologists Physicians from North Carolina Duke University School of Medicine alumni Duke University alumni People from Spring Lake, North Carolina 21st-century American physicians American medical writers American women non-fiction writers Women medical writers 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers Writers from North Carolina Living people 21st-century American women physicians Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century African-American women writers 21st-century African-American writers African-American women physicians