Since arriving at Yale School of Medicine in 2021, Madhav C. Menon, MBBS, MD, associate professor (nephrology), has published numerous research studies that have been widely discussed. Recently, he received a second RO1 grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, (NIDDK), with funding expected to start in 2023.
The study was featured in “Nature Reviews Nephrology” as a research highlight, and was the focus of a commentary in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases. The paper was named editor's pick in the JCI for December 2021.
“Madhav has been a wonderful addition to our section. In the short time he has been at Yale he has already demonstrated impressive intelligence, drive, creativity, and productivity. He is also exceedingly collaborative,” said Peter S. Aronson, MD, C. N. H. Long Professor of Medicine (nephrology), and Professor of Cellular and Molecular Physiology. “His important work has uncovered novel mechanisms that not only contribute to loss of function of transplanted kidneys but also to progression of chronic kidney disease in general.”
An Important Finding About How COVID-19 Affects Kidney Transplant Recipients
Menon led another study that provided insights into how the immune system of kidney transplant recipients responds to COVID-19. The paper was published in Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN) in November 2022. JASN publicized the paper through an accompanying press release.
The study found that COVID-19 impairs the adaptive immunity of kidney transplant recipients even when immunosuppressive medications are reduced. “Surprisingly, reported rates of acute rejection have been low despite this reduced immunosuppression in kidney transplant recipients infected with COVID,” said Menon. The study provided a potential explanation.
The blood of 64 kidney transplant patients with COVID-19 was analyzed, including acute and post-acute cases. In the blood of acute cases, certain genes were over-expressed, and others were under-expressed with higher COVID-19 severity. Analyses revealed increased expression of genes involved in innate immune pathways, but decreased expression of genes involved in the activation of adaptive immune pathways. There was "recovery" in adaptive immune activation pathways when post-acute cases were analyzed, suggesting a transient effect during acute COVID
The Recipient of Two Early Career Awards
In 2021, the International Society of Nephrology honored Menon with the Kidney International Early Career Researcher Award. The award recognizes outstanding research in basic and clinical science published in Kidney International (KI) in 2019 and 2020. Menon’s award was for the clinical investigation, “Genome-wide non-HLA donor-recipient genetic differences influence renal allograft survival via early allograft fibrosis,” published in Kidney International in May 2020.
He also received the American Society of Transplantation (AST) Award for Achievement in Basic Science, Early Career in 2020. In presenting the award, the AST said. “Dr. Menon is an innovative physician-scientist who is well on his way to becoming a key opinion leader in the field through his many publications and invited presentations. Work that he has led and contributed to deciphers basic mechanisms relevant to human transplantation.”
Menon’s Path to Yale
Menon received his MBBS from Calicut University in 2002 and his MD (residency in Internal medicine) from the prestigious Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) in internal medicine in 2006, where he was chief resident in internal medicine. He completed his residency at State University of New York, Upstate Medical University in 2010, and a clinical nephrology fellowship in 2012 at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
He stayed at Mount Sinai as a post-doctoral fellow under Barbara Murphy, MD, and John Cijiang He, MD, PhD, until 2014. During this period, he also completed a kidney transplant fellowship at the Recanati-Miller Transplantation institute at Mount Sinai, “an excellent transplant research environment guided by Peter Heeger, MD,” Menon said. It was during his mentored work that he began working on the Shroom3 gene and mutations associated with chronic kidney disease in the U.S. population, which their group identified as associated with kidney transplant damage – original research that was also published in the JCI. For this work he received a Ben J. Lipps Research Fellowship from the American Society of Nephrology. As a physician-scientist faculty at Mount Sinai, he worked on using translational datasets and bench research tools to understand molecular mechanisms underlying kidney disease and transplant failure. Menon was promoted to associate professor at Mount Sinai in 2020, before he was recruited to Yale School of Medicine. His faculty mentor at Yale is Robert Alpern, MD, Ensign Professor of Medicine (nephrology) and Professor of Cellular and Molecular Physiology.
Menon came to Yale for several reasons, including “an excellent collaborative environment with a track-record for ensuring the scientific nurturing of physician-scientists with outstanding senior faculty and colleagues.,” he said. The move to New Haven provided a change of pace from the bustle of New York City, he added. In his free time, Menon enjoys spending time with his wife and five-year-old son and hiking, biking, and kayaking. He lives in Cheshire, equidistant for his wife who works in Hartford and to New Haven.
The Section of Nephrology has extensive programs in patient care, research, and education. We are committed to excellence in each of these three activities with the goal for both our faculty and our trainees to be national and international leaders in the field of academic nephrology. To learn more about their work, visit Nephrology.