Daniel Feig

Dr. Dan Feig is a professor of pediatrics and division director of Pediatric Nephrology at University of Alabama, Birmingham (UAB). He was on the pediatric renal faculty at Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine from 2001until 2011 when he moved to Birmingham to join the faculty at UAB and Children's of Alabama. In 2011 Dr. Feig joined the faculty of the Department of Pediatrics as a full professor and as Division director of Pediatric Nephrology. In addition to his administrative role as division director, he is medical director of the Pediatric Renal Transplant Program and Co-Director of the Renal Fellowship Program. In terms of hospital/departmental service he is a member of the Serious Safety Events (SSE) team, part of the Solutions for Patient Safety (SPS) program, which is developing bundled programs to reduce patient risk, and the Physician Information Technology Advisory Committee. Dr. Feig’s current clinical service commitment accounts for a little more than 50% of his time. He has 12 weeks of inpatient service per year, in part to protect the research efforts of his junior faculty. He has outpatient general renal, pediatric hypertension and renal transplant clinics each week and a monthly outreach clinic in Montgomery. Dr. Feig’s research interest focuses on the physiology of early onset essential hypertension as well as the prevention of hypertensive target organ damage. His studies have shown that uric acid is a mediator of early essential hypertension and uric acid reduction can both treat high blood pressure and prevent its development in certain adolescent populations. He also studies obesity related hypertension in adolescents and is evaluating novel screening and management strategies to mitigate risk of organ damage before weight loss can be successfully achieved. His other recent studies have evaluation the cost effectiveness of hypertension evaluation strategies, management of hypertensive emergencies in infants and the effect of cardiovascular fitness on change in blood pressure. His research has been funded by grants from the NIDDK, NHLBI and NICHD as well as several industry sources.