Faculty Profile

Elaine Worcester
Section of Nephrology
Professor of Medicine
eworcest@bsd.uchicago.edu
Referring Physician Access Line: 1-877-DOM-2730
Director, Chronic Hemodialysis Program; Medical Director, Lake Park Dialysis

Academic Interests

Dr. Elaine Worcester has been studying the processes that contribute to kidney stone formation in humans since 2000 when she arrived at the University of Chicago. She has been responsible for the successful application of the NIH program project grant in idiopathic hypercalciuria which involves five faculty investigators in the Section of Nephrology as well as investigators in the Section of Urology at the University of Chicago. Her work has been dedicated to finding ways to better prevent kidney stone formation. Her seminal contributions to the field have touched on gender differences in stone formation, the mechanisms responsible for idiopathic hypercalciuria, a common cause of calcium stone formation and the differences across gender with regard to urinary acidification, as well as the anatomical correlates of stone formation in the renal papilla. She has exhaustively studied the renal absorption and excretion of minerals involved in stone formation in patients who have developed different forms of stones, and has described the clinical characteristics of patients with differing types of kidney stones, including those with systemic disease. Most recently her interests have delved into the aging process and the kidney as it relates to renal acidification and mineral excretion. She is the Principal Investigator of the NIH Program Project grant which funds multi-disciplinary studies of stone formers at the University of Chicago and at Indiana University.
 

Clinical Interests

Care of patients with kidney stones and also patients with chronic kidney disease
 

Publications

For a complete list of publications click here:

Training

  • BA, 1974, Augustana College, Biology
  • MD, 1979, University of Illinois Abraham Lincoln School of Medicine
  • Residency, 1982, Loyola University Medical Center, Internal Medicine
  • Fellowship, 1986, The University of Chicago, Nephrology