Specialized Care for Vasculitis & Glomerular Disease

The New York Nephrology Vasculitis & Glomerular Center provides comprehensive care for patients with vasculitis, glomerular diseases, and related inflammatory kidney conditions.

Our mission is to support timely diagnosis, coordinated treatment, and ongoing management for patients with complex kidney-related conditions that require specialized expertise.

Comprehensive Evaluation & Coordinated Treatment

The Vasculitis & Glomerular Center is focused on providing outstanding care for patients with vasculitis, glomerular diseases, and related inflammatory conditions.

Because some of these conditions can progress quickly, the center emphasizes timely evaluation and individualized treatment planning. Patients are cared for by a multidisciplinary team that supports diagnosis, management, coordination, and follow-up care.

In addition to patient care, the center is involved in patient-oriented research aimed at improving the diagnosis and management of these diseases.

Timely Evaluation. Specialized Expertise. Coordinated Care.

Vasculitis

Vasculitis refers to a group of conditions that cause inflammation of blood vessels.

Conditions include:

  • ANCA-associated vasculitis
  • Granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA), formerly known as Wegener’s granulomatosis
  • Microscopic polyangiitis (MPA)
  • Eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA)
  • Anti-glomerular basement membrane disease (Goodpasture disease)
  • IgA vasculitis (Henoch-Schönlein purpura)
  • Cryoglobulinemic vasculitis

Glomerular Disease

Glomerular diseases refer to a group of conditions that affect the kidney’s filtering units.

Conditions include:

  • Minimal change disease
  • Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS)
  • Membranous nephropathy
  • Lupus nephritis
  • IgA nephropathy
  • Membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis
  • Fibrillary glomerulonephritis
  • Immunotactoid glomerulonephritis
  • Paraprotein-mediated glomerular disease

Frank B. Cortazar, MD

Frank B. Cortazar, MD is the Director of the New York Nephrology Vasculitis & Glomerular Center.

Dr. Cortazar attended medical school at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, where he was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha and graduated first in his class. He completed his internship, internal medicine residency, and nephrology fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

Following his training, Dr. Cortazar served on the faculty of Harvard Medical School, was an attending physician in the Renal Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital, and was Co-Director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Vasculitis Center. He received the Massachusetts General Hospital Excellence in Clinical Nephrology Award for outstanding clinical teaching.

Dr. Cortazar moved to the Albany area in 2019 to establish the New York Nephrology Vasculitis & Glomerular Center. His primary interest is improving care for patients with vasculitis and glomerular diseases. As a clinical researcher, he conducts patient-oriented observational studies and has served as a principal investigator for multiple international randomized trials evaluating novel therapies for ANCA vasculitis and glomerular diseases.

His research has been published in leading journals, including Kidney International, Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation, and Arthritis & Rheumatology. He has also lectured nationally and internationally on the management of ANCA vasculitis, lupus nephritis, and other glomerular diseases.

Jorge Cerdá, MD, MS, FACP, FASN

Professor Jorge Cerdá earned his medical degree from the University of the Republic School of Medicine in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1976 and completed his Nephrology Certificate in 1982. He later earned a Master of Science in Physiology as a Fulbright Scholar in the United States and completed a Nephrology Fellowship at Albany Medical College.

Professor Cerdá rose through the academic ranks to become Clinical Professor of Medicine and currently serves as Chief of Medicine at St. Peter’s Health Partners in Albany, New York.

He has published extensively in leading peer-reviewed journals, including The Lancet, Nature Reviews, Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, Nephrology Dialysis and Transplantation, and Kidney International. He has also participated as a speaker at numerous national and international meetings.

Professor Cerdá serves on the editorial boards of multiple journals, including The Lancet, Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, Kidney International, Journal of Critical Care Medicine, and Critical Care Medicine. He is also an Associate Editor of Kidney International Reports and Blood Purification.

He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, a Fellow of the American Society of Nephrology, and a member of the International Society of Nephrology and the National Kidney Foundation. His research interests include critical care nephrology, acute kidney injury, continuous renal replacement therapies, kidney recovery, worldwide AKI epidemiology, and immunologically mediated kidney disease.

Advancing Care Through Research & Education

The center is committed to improving care for patients with vasculitis, glomerular diseases, and related inflammatory kidney conditions through clinical expertise, patient-oriented research, and education.

The center is also developing a local support group for patients with vasculitis and glomerular disease in the Albany area.

Patients interested in participating may contact:

Tatiana Cordero
Tatiana.cordero@cdrenal.com

Helpful patient resources include:

Request an Appointment With a Specialist

To schedule an appointment with one of the center’s specialists and discuss your care, please contact the center.