Michelle Denburg, MD, MSCE

Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Epidemiology

Dr. Denburg’s research focuses on bone and mineral metabolism in childhood kidney diseases, including chronic kidney disease (CKD), glomerular disease, and urinary stone disease. In particular, she has pursued translational work in vitamin D-mediated innate immunity in nephrotic patients and ancillary studies of vitamin D metabolism and vitamin D-binding protein in pediatric patients with CKD. She is completing an ancillary study to the Nephrotic Syndrome Study Network (NEPTUNE), to relate baseline measures of vitamin D-related mineral metabolism to tubulointerstitial injury, and a pilot trial of vitamin D supplementation in patients with glomerular disease. She is a co-investigator in phase two of the NephCure Kidney Network, a PCORI-funded patient-powered research network focused on glomerular disease.  Her collaborative studies have focused on vitamin D metabolism and bone structure in children with CKD, nephrotic syndrome, and inflammatory bowel disease.

Through her additional focus on fracture and CKD epidemiology, she has sought to address the fundamental limitations in our understanding of skeletal and vascular morbidity in patients with CKD, glomerular disease, and urinary stone disease, and to develop resources to efficiently conduct observational research and pragmatic trials to optimize bone and vascular health in these high-risk populations. Dr. Denburg’s study of incident fracture risk in the Chronic Kidney Disease in Children (CKiD) cohort was the first to evaluate the burden of fractures in a large pediatric CKD cohort. She is a co-principal investigator in a project of the CKD Biomarkers Consortium that seeks to identify novel biomarkers for CKD progression in children. She has conducted several population-based studies of fracture risk in chronic diseases and CKD epidemiology using The Health Improvement Network (THIN) Database. She also has led the development of and serves as co-principal investigator of a Pediatric Glomerular Disease Learning Health System (LHS) within the PEDSnet clinical data research network. This LHS aims to serve as a sustainable resource for outcomes and comparative effectiveness research, practice pattern variation, quality improvement, and, ultimately, pragmatic clinical trials in children with glomerular disease.