Susanne B. Nicholas, MD, MPH, PhD

Dr. Nicholas is a tenured Professor of Medicine and Clinical Hypertension Specialist in the Division of Nephrology and chairs the Nephrology Racial and Health Equity Committee. She has joint appointments in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, and the Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Policy. Dr. Nicholas’ translational research aims to understand and identify key factors that promote diabetic kidney disease (DKD) pathogenesis; validate novel therapeutic targets and predictive biomarkers of DKD; and perform population studies in chronic kidney disease (CKD) health disparities using a large CKD registry. Her research over the past 20+ years has led to the identification of a novel biomarker of DKD. She is NIH-funded, has >100 publications and >120 scientific abstracts. She was a Robert Wood Johnson Fellow and received the Minority Access, Inc. National Role Model Faculty Researcher Award, the National Kidney Foundation's Medical Advisory Board Distinguished Service Award for 15+ years of dedicated service and was elected to the Executive Council of Women in Nephrology.

Link to my PubMed publications >

Selected publications in the past five years:

1. R.C. Williams, R.C. Elston, P. Kumar, W.C. Knowler, H.E. Abboud, S. Adler, D.W. Bowden, J. Divers, B.I. Freedman, R.P. Igo Jr., E. Ipp, S.K. Iyengar, P.L. Kimmel, M.J. Klag, O. Kohn, C.D. Langefeld, D.J. Leehey, R.G. Nelson, S.B. Nicholas, M.V. Pahl, R.S. Parekh, J.I. Rotter, J.R. Schelling, J.R. Sedor, V.O. Shah, M.W. Smith, K.D. Taylor, F. Thameem, D. Thornley-Brown, C.A. Winkler, X. Guo, P. Zager, R.L. Hanson, the FIND Research Group. Selecting SNPs informative for African, American Indian and European Ancestry: application to the Family Investigation of Nephropathy and Diabetes (FIND). BMC Genomics. 2016 May 4;17(1):325
2. M.A. Bruce, D. Martins; K. D Duru, B.M. Beech; M. Sims, N. Harawa, R. Vargas, D. Kermah, S.B. Nicholas, A. Brown; K.C. Norris. Church Attendance, Allostatic Load and Mortality in Middle Aged Adults. PLOS ONE, 2017 May 16;12(5)
3. K.C. Norris, E.M. Barnett, Y.X. Meng, D. Martins, S.B. Nicholas, G.H. Gibbons, J.E. Lee. Rationale and design of a placebo controlled randomized trial to assess short term, high-dose oral cholecalciferol on select laboratory and genomic responses in African Americans with hypovitaminosis D. Contep Clin Trials 2018 17;72: 20-25
4. K.C. Norris, O. Olabisi, M.E. Barnett, Y-X. Meng, D. Martins, C. Obialo, J.E. Lee, S.B. Nicholas. The Role of Vitamin D and Oxidative Stress in Chronic Kidney Disease. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15, 2701, 1-7
5. S.K. Sinha*, S.B. Nicholas*, J.H. Sung, A. Correa, T.B. Rajavashisth, K.C. Norris, J.E. Lee. hsCRP is associated with incident diabetic nephropathy: Findings from the Jackson Heart Study. Diabetes Care, 2019, Nov; 42(11): 2083-2089. PMID 31511234, PMCID 6804609 (*corresponding authors)
6. K.C. Norris, O.K. Duru, R.Z. Alicic, K.B. Daratha, S.B. Nicholas, S.M. McPherson, D.S. Bell, J.I. Shen, C.R. Jones, T. Moin, A.D. Waterman, J.J. Neumiller, R.B. Vargas, A.A.T. Bui, C.M. Mangione, K.R. Tuttle, on behalf of the CURE-CKD investigators. Rationale and Design of a Large Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and At-Risk for CKD Electronic Health Records-Based Registry: CURE-CKD. BMC Nephrol. 2019 Nov 20;20(1):416
7. K.R. Tuttle, R.Z. Alicic, O.K. Duru, C.R. Jones, K.B. Daratha, S.B. Nicholas, S.M. McPherson, J.J. Neumiller, D.S. Bell, C.M. Mangione, K.C. Norris. Identification of Chronic Kidney Disease and Its Major Risk Factors in Two Healthcare Systems: The CURE-CKD Registry. Journal of the American Medical Association Network Open. 2019 Dec 2;2(12):e1918169
8. L-X. Zou, L. Sun*, S.B. Nicholas*, Y. Lu, S.K. Sinha, H-X. Wang. Comparison of bias and accuracy of cystatin C and creatinine in CKD-EPI equation for GFR estimation. Eur J Intern Med. 2020 Jun 7; S0953-6205(20)30164-3 (*corresponding authors)
9. S.K. Sinha*, M. Shaheen, T.B. Rajavashisth, D. Pan, K.C. Norris, S.B. Nicholas*. How clinically relevant is C-reactive protein for Blacks with the Metabolic Syndrome? Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders 2020 Sept 3. Online ahead of print.  (*corresponding authors)
10. R. Gupta, S. Skootsky, K. Kahn, L. Chen, F. Abtin, S. Kee, S.B. Nicholas, S. Vangala, J. Wilson. A System-wide Population Health Value Approach to Reduce Hospitalization Among Chronic Kidney Disease Patients: An Observational Study. Journal General Internal Medicine Nov 1:1-9, 2020 (online ahead of print)

• 2012, AAMC, Mid-Career Women Faculty Professional Development Seminar (nominated)

• 2013 International Society for Hypertension in Blacks 2013 Scientific Co-Chair Appreciation Award

•   2015 Mats Wahlstrom Visiting Professor, Division of Renal Diseases and Hypertension, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

• 2017 Network of Minority Health Research Investigators (NIDDK/NIH) NMRI Medallion

• 2017 National Kidney Foundation’s Medical Advisory Board Distinguished Service Award

• uclahealth.org/nephrology
• uclahealth.org/endocrinology
• uclahealth.org/kidney-health
• uclahealth.org/cure-ckd