“I feel very strongly about the need for women in leadership positions,” says Washington University transplant nephrologist Anuja Java, MD, who was just elected to the Council of Women in Nephrology (WIN) for 2022-2024, along with Mira Keddis, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona.
The WIN organization, founded in 1983, promotes professional development, mentorship, and education for women and men in nephrology.
Dr. Java, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Nephrology, and Director of Kidney Transplant at the John Cochran VA Medical Center, looks forward to joining the WIN leadership team as a Councilor.
“WIN has provided an excellent venue for supporting the professional development of women and men trainees and faculty in our field,” she says. “I want to build on the progress facilitated by WIN by promoting collaborative cultures that fuel innovation, as well as helping foster an inclusive community for women.”
Java wants to take the word ‘work’ out of networking, so women do not feel pressured about the need to do something. Instead, she wants to help create an environment where women get to know each other and share experiences, which can be a real game changer.
“I strongly believe that our collective and persistent efforts can help close the gap towards gender equality on pay, promotions, grants funding and other opportunities.”
Java attended medical school in India and came to the United States for internal medicine training at Orlando Regional Medical Center. She completed a nephrology fellowship at the University of Oklahoma and a transplant nephrology fellowship here at WashU. During her transplant fellowship, she realized she needed to gain a fundamental understanding of immunology to learn how to modulate the downstream effects occurring after renal injury. Therefore, upon completion of her clinical training, she joined the laboratory of Dr. John Atkinson, who is a world-renowned expert in complement, at WashU as a postdoctoral fellow (4 years). “This was an atypical career decision, but my desire to train in basic science and immunology was compelling.” Java joined the faculty at WashU in 2016 and is currently an influential physician-scientist with research interest in complement-mediated kidney diseases.
Java joins Leslie Gewin, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine in WashU Nephrology and a Councilor One in the WIN organization. Dr. Gewin is co-author of the article “Leadership Opportunities for Women in Nephrology,” published in Kidney News Online, Oct 2021.
Reflecting on the saying – a woman alone has power, but collectively we have impact – Java says, “I foresee being able to work as a part of the WIN council to strengthen and broaden its membership and impact. I want to serve as a mentor and cheerleader for women in my specialty.”
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Read more about Dr. Anuja Java in our WashU Nephrology News:
- Dr. Anuja Java Awarded Longer Life Foundation Grant to Study the Role of Complement Genetic Mutations in the Development of Preeclampsia
- Dr. Anuja Java Co-chairs Working Group in an International Committee for Revising aHUS Nomenclature
- Dr. Anuja Java Heads New Kidney Transplant Clinic at St. Louis VA
- Anuja Java Presents at International Complement Society Conference