#NephMadness 2026: Meet the Gamemakers
NephMadness 2026 is only weeks away, so it’s time to start introducing some of the key players. We begin with a group of familiar faces to those of you who have played NephMadness in the past, our Executive Team. These are the people that have been spending their last several months constructing this year’s fiendish bracket: Matthew Sparks, Anna Burgner, Anna Vinnikova, Jeffrey Kott, Ana Catalina Alvarez-Elías, Dia Waguespack, Samira Farouk, and Krithika Mohan.
Matthew Sparks
@Nephro_Sparks – @nephrosparks.bsky.social
Matthew Sparks is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Duke University and serves as the Program Director for the Nephrology Fellowship. He is a founding faculty member and program director of the Nephrology Social Media Collective (NSMC) internship. Dr Sparks is on the board of directors of Nephrology Journal Club (NephJC), a non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing free online medical education in nephrology. He is co-creator of NephMadness (and designed the first logo!).
Anna Burgner
@anna_burgner – @annaburgner.bsky.social
Anna Burgner is a general nephrologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center where she is also the nephrology fellowship Program Director. She is on the Board of Directors of Nephrology Journal Club (NephJC), a non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing free online medical education in nephrology. Dr Burgner became involved in NephMadness as a writer and expert for the Diabetic Nephrology Region in 2017 and joined the Executive Team in 2018.
Anna Vinnikova
@KidneyWars – @kidneywars.bsky.social
Anna Vinnikova is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Nephrology at the Virginia Commonwealth University (Final Four 2011!!!). She joined the NephMadness Executive Team in 2021. Dr Vinnikova loves NephMadness Parties, NephMadness themed cookies and her kids NephMadness Minecraft videos.
Jeffrey Kott
@jrkott27 – @jrkott27.bsky.social
Jeffrey Kott is a Nephrologist and Intensivist on Long Island at Northwell’s Mather Hospital on Long Island. He completed his Internal Medicine and Critical Care Medicine training at Stony Brook Medicine, and his Nephrology training at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. He was a graduate of the 2021 Nephrology Social Media Collective. Dr Kott wrote the Organ Pool section of the Access to Transplant Region for Nephmadness 2023, and joined the NephMadness Executive Team in 2024.
Ana Catalina Alvarez-Elías
@catochita – @catochita.bsky.social
Ana Catalina is a pediatric nephrologist who specializes in transplantation. She trained in Mexico and Canada and holds a Ph.D. in medical sciences. Cata works as a research scientist at the Renal Research Institute, is Co-Chair of epidemiological research for ALANEPE, and is part of the emerging leaders program at the ISN. This is her second year on the NephMadness Executive Team.
Dia Waguespack
Dr. Dia Waguespack is an Associate Professor of Medicine at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston and Director of the Nephrology Fellowship Program. Her clinical interests include glomerular diseases, critical care nephrology, and peritoneal dialysis, and she is nationally recognized for her leadership in medical education. She serves on the GlomCon Executive Leadership Team and moderates the GlomCon Sunday Seminar Series. She previously authored a NephMadness commentary in 2019 accurately supporting the eventual champions—the US Guidelines team out of the Hypertension Region—and is pleased to continue serving on the NephMadness Executive Team.
Samira Farouk
Samira Farouk is a transplant nephrologist and a Professor of Medicine and Medical Education, Program Director of the Nephrology Fellowship Program, and Social Media Director of the Division of Nephrology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She is the co-founder of NephSIM co-faculty lead of Renal Fellow Network, and was previously a member of the NephMadness Executive Team from 2019-2024. Dr. Farouk is currently the President of the New York Society of Nephrology, on the Editorial Board of the American Journal of Kidney Diseases, Kidney Medicine, and Clinical Transplantation.
Krithika Mohan
Krithika Mohan is a consultant nephrologist and transplant physician at Cytecare hospitals, Bangalore. She is the director of the graphical communications rotation in the NephEdC fellowship and also the chair of the WIN-India social media team. She is a visual abstract editor for ISN education, KI reports, Kidney news and Kidney medicine. Her interests include transplantation, women and kidney health and social media education. This is her second year being in charge of the Visual Abstract Team, though she has been creating visual abstracts for NephMadness since 2019, and she was a member of NephMadness 2020’s highest scoring group, KNN.
#NephMadness |@NephMadness |@nephmadness.bsky.social | NephMadness 2026 |
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