Yifeng Zhang, DO, Joins Division of Pediatric Nephrology at UPMC Children’s

Yifeng Zhang, DO, joined the Division of Pediatric Nephrology at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh as an assistant professor of Pediatrics after completing her fellowship in June 2025, also at UPMC Children’s.

As an attending physician, Dr. Zhang will focus primarily on clinical patient care but also will continue research related to transplant outcomes that she began as a fellow. Dr. Zhang also has an interest in mentoring and teaching the next generation of medical students and trainees and broadly promoting the subspecialty of pediatric nephrology.

Training and Background

Dr. Zhang completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Arizona and earned her medical degree from Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California. She completed her pediatrics residency at Baystate Medical Center in Massachusetts before moving to Pittsburgh for fellowship training at UPMC Children’s and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

“I think my first rotation in medical school in pediatric nephrology was the driver for pursing this pediatric subspecialty,” says Dr. Zhang. The classroom work in nephrology was tough, but that first rotation really reshaped how I viewed nephrology and gave me a deeper appreciation for the complexity and relevance of the specialty in pediatric care.”

Fellowship Experience at UPMC Children’s

During fellowship, Dr. Zhang’s training covered a broad spectrum of pediatric nephrology areas, including extensive clinical work and training in dialysis, kidney transplantation, and the management of acute and chronic kidney diseases. The division’s large referral area provides fellows in training a consistent exposure to a wide variety of complex cases with high degrees of acuity. The division’s fellowship program also provides a balance between clinical work and the space for fellows to learn.

“There’s a lot of complexity in the patients we see, and we’re a high-volume center, but the structure of the program, the depth of the faculty and resources makes manageable,” says Dr. Zhang. “That gave me more time to think about each case and learn from the situations at hand.”

Just as important as the clinical volume and structured training of the fellowship program is the division’s culture of mentorship. Many of the current attendings in the division also completed their fellowship training at UPMC Children’s, which provides a high level of continuity that shapes how faculty are able to work with trainees.

“There’s a shared understanding of what it’s like to be a fellow here,” says Dr. Zhang. “The faculty were always open to feedback, and they really wanted to help us grow.”

Fellowship Research Projects in Transplantation and Long-Term Outcomes

Dr. Zhang’s fellowship research focused on immunosuppressive induction therapy in pediatric kidney transplant recipients, specifically the use of the monocolonal antibody alemtuzumab. Alemtuzumab has been in clinical use for decades. It was originally developed for immune-mediated diseases and later used off-label in adult transplant programs. UPMC Children’s is one of a few pediatric centers with extensive experience using it for transplant induction.

“This medication is used much less frequently across the country, but at UPMC we have a long history with it in adult patients and a large number of pediatric patients who’ve received it with consistently good outcomes,” says Dr. Zhang.

Her study reviewed longitudinal outcomes in pediatric kidney transplant recipients who received alemtuzumab as part of their pre-transplant conditioning regimen. The aim of the work is to assess long-term safety and efficacy, including rates of adverse events and graft survival. The project involves data collection and retrospective chart reviews, and preliminary results point toward clinical outcomes with a low incidence of serious side effects.

“There’s very little pediatric data out there on this agent, so we’re hoping our findings will be useful to others and maybe help make the case for broader access if more centers want to consider using it,” says Dr. Zhang.

Dr. Zhang has presented this research in abstracts at several national conferences, where it generated interest among other centers that also use alemtuzumab. She is now working with faculty mentors on manuscript development, with the goal of contributing new evidence in the pediatric literature base on the agent’s use.

The project has also gained attention due to ongoing access restrictions of alemtuzumab. Its manufacturer has discontinued production of alemtuzumab for new hospital sites, allowing only institutions with historical usage to continue receiving it. That manufacturing decision has made it difficult for new programs to explore the agent’s potential role in transplant care.

Dr. Zhang will continue her projects as a faculty member working with the division’s transplant team to further analyze clinical trends and support evidence-based decision-making around the use of alemtuzumab.

Medical Education and Mentorship

During fellowship, Dr. Zhang began giving the pediatric nephrology lecture to medical students during their pediatrics rotations, a role previously held by Michael Moritz, MD, former clinical director of the division. She will continue in this teaching role as a member of the faculty.

Dr. Zhang also has an interest in becoming more involved in educational efforts in the division in the future and has discussed potential opportunities to support curriculum development or take on future roles in fellowship training.

“Not many trainees go into pediatric nephrology, so I’ve been thinking a lot about how we can make our subspecialty more visible and approachable during medical school and residency,” says Dr. Zhang.