Jeffrey Turner, MD

Jeffrey Turner, MD, is a nephrologist and co-director of the Yale Medicine Nephrology Hypertension Clinic. He treats all forms of kidney disease, both acute and chronic, as well as electrolyte abnormalities. He is certified by the American Society of Hypertension as a hypertension specialist, and he specializes in complex hypertensive syndromes.

"I'm in the business of improving people's quality of life,” Dr. Turner says. “That means different things to different people. Sometimes, it means recommending that they go on a medication; other times, it means just the opposite—not taking a medication but doing everything they can other than that to treat their disease." Either way, he encourages patients to be open about how they feel about a given treatment that may require a level of commitment on their part. “The more forthcoming someone is about what they're willing to do and not willing to do, the easier it is for me to work with them,” he says.

Mentors met in the course of his medical training inspired Dr. Turner to care for people with kidney disease and hypertension. He says they helped him develop his own approaches to caring for his patients and earning their trust. “It really all comes down to the mentors I’ve had—little tools from different people,” he says.

An associate professor at Yale School of Medicine, Dr. Turner has several research interests, including renal denervation for the treatment of hypertension, novel medical therapies for diabetic and non-diabetic chronic kidney disease, and new methods for addressing diuretic resistance in cardiorenal syndrome. He oversees the Nephrology Clinical Trials Office and manages a portfolio of nephrology-focused clinical trials for patients at Yale.