Mark J. Sarnak, MD, MS, FASN

Contact Information

Telephone number: 617-636-1182

Fax number: 617-636-2369

Email: msarnak@tuftsmedicalcenter.org

Titles

Director of Research

William B. Schwartz Division of Nephrology

Tufts Medical Center

 

Associate Director, Research Training Program

William B. Schwartz Division of Nephrology

Tufts Medical Center

 

Professor of Medicine

Tufts University School of Medicine

Education

Undergraduate

Bachelor of Science (BSc), 1986

University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

 

Bachelor of Science (BS) summa cum laude, 1989

Columbia University, New York, NY

Medical

Doctorate in Medicine (MD), 1993

College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University

New York, NY

Graduate

Master of Science (MS) in Clinical Care Research, 2005

Sackler School of Biomedical Sciences

Tufts University, Boston, MA

Training

Internship and Residency in Internal Medicine, 1996

Massachusetts General Hospital

Nephrology Fellowship, 1998 

Tufts-New England Medical Center, Boston, MA                                        

Board Certification

ABIM, Diplomate in Internal Medicine, Recertification 2007

ABIM, Diplomate in Nephrology, 1998, Recertification 2008

Interests

Clinical

Dr. Sarnak’s clinical specialties are in cardiovascular disease in patients with kidney disease, management of chronic kidney disease, dialysis, kidney transplantation, and kidney stones

Research

Dr. Sarnak’s research focuses on traditional and non-traditional cardiovascular risk factors in CKD, aging and kidney disease, and cognitive function and CKD. Drs. Sarnak, Levey and Weiner have undertaken the Cardiovascular Disease Pooling Project, pooling multiple NHLBI databases to evaluate the effect of kidney function on cardiovascular disease. Drs. Sarnak and Menon are evaluating the impact of non-traditional risk factors for cardiovascular disease in CKD. Dr. Sarnak collaborates with Dr. Weiner in studies of cognitive function in dialysis patients.  Dr. Sarnak also collaborates with researchers around the US in multi-center observational studies of kidney function, aging and cardiovascular disease.  Dr. Sarnak is funded by the National Institutes of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases and the National Institutes of Aging to perform these research projects.

Other Professional Activities

Member of the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS) Renal Work Group

Member of the Multiethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) Renal Working Group

Editorial Board Annals of Internal Medicine

Selected Publications

Weiner DE, Scott TM, Giang LM, Agganis BT, Sorensen EP, Tighiouart H, Sarnak MJ.  Cardiovascular disease and cognitive function in maintenance hemodialysis patients. Am J Kidney Dis 2011; 58:773-81. Epub 2011 Jul 20.

Tangri N, Inker LA, Tighiouart H, Sorensen E, Menon V, Beck G, Shlipak M, Coresh J, Levey AS, Sarnak MJ. Filtration markers may have prognostic value independent of glomerular filtration rate. J Am Soc Nephrol; Epub 2011 Dec 15; doi:10.1681/ASN.2011070663.

Shastri S, Tangri N, Tighiouart H, Beck GJ, Vlagopoulos P, Ornt D, Eknoyan G, Kusek JW, Herzog C, Cheung AK, Sarnak MJ. Predictors of sudden cardiac death: a competing risk approach in the Hemodialysis Study. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol; Epub 2011 Nov 10; doi:10.2215/CJN.06320611.

Tangri N, Shastri S, Tighiouart H, Beck GJ, Cheung AK, Eknoyan G, Sarnak MJ. Β-blockers for prevention of sudden cardiac death in patients on hemodialysis: a propensity score analysis of the HEMO Study. Am J Kidney Dis 2011;58:939-45. Epub 2011 Aug 27.

Shastri S, Katz R, Shlipak MG, Kestenbaum B, Peralta CA, Kramer H, Jacobs DR Jr, de Boer IH, Cushman M, Siscovick D, Sarnak MJ. Cystatin C and albuminuria as risk factors for development of CKD stage 3: the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). Am J Kidney Dis 2011;57:832-40. Epub 2011 Feb 5.

Shastri S, Sarnak MJ. Chronic kidney disease: high eGFR and mortality: high true GFR or a marker of frailty? Nat Rev Nephrol 2011;7:680-2. Epub 2011 Oct 18.

Shastri S, Tighiouart H, Katz R, Rifkin DE, Fried LF, Shlipak MG, Newman AB, Sarnak MJ. Chronic kidney disease in octogenarians. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol 2011;6:1410-7. Epub 2011 Apr 11.

Sarnak MJ, Astor BC. Implications of proteinuria: CKD progression and cardiovascular outcomes. Adv Chronic Kidney Dis 2011;18:258-66. Epub 2011 Jul.

Sarnak MJ, Foley RN. Cardiovascular mortality in the general population versus dialysis: a glass half full or empty? Am J Kidney Dis 2011;58:4-6. 

Madero M, Sarnak MJ. Creatinine-based formulae for estimating glomerular filtration rate: is it time to change the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration equation? Curr Opin Nephrol Hypertens 2011;20:622-30.

Madero M, Sarnak MJ. Does hemodialysis hurt the brain? Sem Dial 2011;24:266-8. Epub 2011 Mar 25.

Robert N Foley, Patrick S Parfrey, Mark J. Sarnak.  Clinical Epidemiology of Cardiovascular Disease in Chronic Renal Disease. Am J Kidney Dis 1998;32 suppl 3:S112-S119.

Guruprasad Manjunath, Hocine Tighiouart, Hassan Ibrahim, Bonnie MacLeod, Deeb N. Salem, John L. Griffith, Josef Coresh, Andrew S. Levey, Mark J. Sarnak. Level of Kidney Function as a Risk Factor for Cardiovascular Outcomes in the Community. J Am Coll of Cardiology 2003;41:47-55.

Mark J. Sarnak, Andrew Levey, Anton Schoolwerth, Josef Coresh, Bruce Culleton, Lee Hamm, Peter McCullough, Bertram Kasiske, Ellie Kelepouris, Mike Klag, Patrick Parfrey, Marc Pfeffer, L. Raij, Spinosa DJ, Peter Wilson. Kidney disease as a risk factor for development of cardiovascular disease.  A Statement from the Councils on Kidney in Cardiovascular Disease, High Blood Pressure Research, Clinical Cardiology and Epidemiology and Prevention. Circ 2003;108:2154-69.  

Dan Weiner, Hocine Tighiouart, Manish G Amin, Paul C. Stark, Bonnie MacLeod, John L. Griffith, Deeb N Salem, Andrew S Levey, Mark J. Sarnak.  Chronic Kidney Disease as a Risk Factor for Cardiovascular Disease: A Pooled Analysis of Community Based Studies, J Am Soc Nephrol 2004;15(5):1307-15.

Mark J. Sarnak, Tom Greene, Xuelei Wang, Gerald Beck, John W. Kusek, Allan J. Collins, Andrew S. Levey.  The Effect of a Lower Blood Pressure Goal on the Progression of Kidney Disease: Long-Term Follow-Up of the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) Study. Ann Intern Med 2005;142:342-51.

Michael G. Shlipak, Mark J. Sarnak, Ronit Katz, Linda F. Fried, Stephen L. Seliger, Anne B. Newman, David S. Siscovick, Catherine Stehman-Breen.  Cystatin-C and risk of death and cardiovascular events among elderly persons. N Engl J Med 2005:352;2049-60.

Mark J. Sarnak, Ronit Katz, Catherine O. Stehman-Breen, Linda F. Fried, Nancy Swords Jenny, Bruce M Psaty, Anne B. Newman, David Siscovick, Michael G. Shlipak for the Cardiovascular Health Study. Cystatin-C as a Risk Factor for Heart Failure in Older Adults. Ann Intern Med 2005;142:497-505.

Vandana Menon, Xuelei Wang, Tom Greene, Balakrishnan, Magdalena Madero, Arema A Pereira, Gerald J Beck, John W Kusek, Allan J Collins, Andrew S Levey, Mark J. Sarnak. Adiponectin and Mortality in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease. J Am Soc Nephrol 2006;17(9):2599-606.

Vandana Menon, Michael G. Shlipak, Xuelei Wang, Josef Coresh, Tom Greene, Lesley Stevens, John W. Kusek, Gerald J. Beck, Allan J. Collins, Andrew S. Levey, Mark J. Sarnak. Cystatin C as a Risk Factor for Outcomes in Chronic Kidney Disease.  Ann Intern Med 2007;147:19-27.

Mark J. Sarnak, Ronit Katz, Linda F. Fried, David Siscovick, Brian Kestenbaum, Stephen Seliger, Dena Rifkin, Russell Tracy, Anne B. Newman, Michael G. Shlipak for the Cardiovascular Health Study. Cystatin C and Aging Success. Arch Intern Med 2008;168(2):147-53.

Vandana Menon, Xuelei Wang, Mark J. Sarnak, Lawrence H. Hunsicker, Magdalena Madero, Gerald J. Beck, Allan J. Collins, John W. Kusek, Andrew S. Levey, Tom Greene. Long-Term Outcomes in Non-Diabetic Chronic Kidney Disease. Kidney Int 2008;73(11):1310-5.

Daniel E. Weiner, Hocine Tighiouart, Essam F. Elsayed, John L Griffith, Deeb N. Salem, Andrew S. Levey, Mark J. Sarnak. Inflammation and Cardiovascular Events in Individuals with and without Chronic Kidney Disease. Kidney Int 2008;73(12):1406-12.

Dena E. Rifkin, Michael G. Shlipak, Ronit Katz, Linda F. Fried, David Siscovick, Michel Chonchol, Anne B. Newman, Mark J. Sarnak. Rapid Kidney Function Decline and Mortality Risk in Older Adults. Arch Intern Med 2008;168(20):2212-8.

Magdalena Madero, Carmen A Peralta, Christina L. Wassel, Samer S. Najjar, Kim Sutton-Tyrrell, Linda Fried, Robert Canada, Anne Newman, Michael G. Shlipak, Mark J. Sarnak for the Health ABC Study. Cystatin Associates with Arterial Stiffness in Older Adults. J Am Soc Nephrol 2009;20(5):1086-93.

Michael Shlipak, Ronit Katz, Bryan Kestenbaum, David Siscovick, Linda Fried, Anne Newman, Dena Rifkin, Mark J. Sarnak. Rapid Decline of Kidney Function Increases Cardiovascular Risk in the Elderly. J Am Soc Nephrol 2009;20(12):2625-30.

Cindy Huang, Hocine Tighiouart, Srinivasan Beddhu, Alfred Cheung, Johanna Dwyer, Garabed Eknoyan, Gerald Beck, Andrew Levey, Mark J. Sarnak. Body Composition and All-Cause Mortality in the Hemodialysis Study. Kidney Int 2010;77(7):624-9.

Brian T. Agganis, Daniel E. Weiner, M. Giang, Tammy Scott, Hocine Tighiouart, John L. Griffith, Mark J. Sarnak.  Depression and Cognitive Function in Maintenance Hemodialysis Patients. Am J Kidney Dis 2010 Oct:56(4):704-12. Epub 2010 Jul 29.

Vandana Menon, Darya Rudym, Priya Chandra, Dana Miskulin, Ronald Perrone, Mark Sarnak. Inflammation, Oxidative Stress, and Insulin Resistance in Polycystic Kidney Disease. Novel Risk Factors in ADPKD. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol 2011 Jan;6(1):7-13. Epub ahead of print.

Shani Shastri, Ronit Katz, Michael Shlipak, Bryan Kestenbaum, Carmen A. Peralta, Holly Kramer, David R. Jacobs, Ian de Boer, Mary Cushman, David Siscovick, Mark Sarnak. Cystatin C and Albuminuria as Risk Factors for Development of CKD Stage 3: The Multiethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). Am J Kidney Dis. Epub 2011 Feb 4.

Shani Shastri, Hocine Tighiouart, Ronit Katz, Dena E. Rifkin, Linda Fried, Michael Shlipak, Anne B. Newman, MPH, Mark J. Sarnak. Chronic Kidney Disease in Octogenarians. Clin J Am Soc Neph 2011. In press.

Daniel E. Weiner, Tammy M. Scott, M. Giang, Brian T. Agganis, Eric P. Sorensen, BS, Hocine Tighiouart, Mark J. Sarnak.  Cardiovascular Disease and Cognitive Function in Maintenance Hemodialysis Patients. Am J Kidney Dis 2011. In press.

Recent Awards and Honors

2011 "Top Doctors" U.S. News & World Report

2011 Boston Magazine Best Doctors

2010 Boston Magazine Best Doctors

2010 Notable Teaching Award from 3rd year TUSM students

2008  Best Teacher Award Tufts Medical Center Residents

2005, 2007 Oliver Smith Award for Patient Care

2005 Annals of Internal Medicine, top 10% of reviewers     

2001 Excellence in Teaching in Medicine Clerkship, Tufts University School of Medicine