The American Academy of Pediatrics Section of Nephrology will honor Wayne State University School of Medicine Professor of Pediatrics Tej Mattoo, M.D., DCH, FRCP, FAAP, with its 2023 Henry L. Barnett Award at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting in Washington, D.C., scheduled for April 29.

Dr. Mattoo is a Pediatric Nephrology specialist with Wayne Pediatrics.

Tej Mattoo, M.D.

The AAP Section on Nephrology recognizes one individual yearly for lifetime achievement in the field.

Dr. Mattoo is also vice chair of the Department of Pediatrics. He holds a secondary appointment as a professor of Urology. He joined WSU in 1996 because of the opportunities that existed, and the reputation of then-Chair of Pediatrics Alan Gruskin, M.D., an internationally known pediatric nephrologist. He considers clinical and research mentoring of medical students and trainees in Pediatrics and Pediatric Nephrology his favorite part of working at WSU.

“I feel fortunate to be a teacher and want to make it easier for students and trainees to understand things that may have taken me a long time to comprehend,” he said.

Dr. Mattoo attended medical school in Kashmir, India, and trained in Pediatric Nephrology at Guy’s Hospital in London, and Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. He has been an international advocate for children throughout his career, and his advocacy spans the realms of clinical care, scholarship, teaching and service.

He was chosen for the AAP award by a panel of his peers from a field of nine qualified candidates.

“It feels great to be recognized by peers with this prestigious national award,” Dr. Mattoo said. “I became a pediatric nephrologist because of awe-inspiring influences of British physicians Sir Cyril Chantler and George Haycock. They were among the very few pediatric nephrologists in the country in 1980s, and I first met them during their outpatient clinics at the hospital where I was a trainee, and subsequently joined them for specialty training in their program at the Guy’s Hospital.”

Before moving to the United States, Dr. Mattoo worked in Saudi Arabia, where he founded and led the first and largest Pediatric Nephrology program at Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Riyadh. In Michigan, he has served as the division chief of Pediatric Nephrology, director of the Renal Transplant Program, medical director of Ambulatory Services at Children’s Hospital of Michigan and was the founding Pediatric Nephrology Fellowship Program director there.

Dr. Mattoo co-founded the Midwest Pediatric Nephrology Research Consortium, and now serves as a member of the Board of Directors and treasurer of the Pediatric Nephrology Research Consortium of North America.

He created the first CD-ROM of 350 Self-Assessment Pediatric Nephrology questions that evolved into PREP Nephrology, and served as founding editor and editor in chief of PREP Nephrology from 2007 to 2018. He is chief editor of the International Journal of Nephrology, editor in chief of the Saudi Journal of Kidney Diseases and Transplantation, and section editor of Pediatric Nephrology for UpToDate. He is on the editorial board of Pediatric Nephrology and has served on the editorial boards of several other indexed journals, including Pediatrics.

His research contributions have changed how physicians manage patients with nephrotic syndrome. These include avoiding a kidney biopsy before cyclophosphamide administration, using daily low-dose steroids during upper respiratory infections to lower relapse risk in children with nephrotic syndrome, using unilateral nephrectomy as an alternative to bilateral nephrectomy and recognizing the need to treat secondary hypothyroidism in children with congenital/infantile nephrotic syndrome. He also described a new syndrome on familial glomerulopathy with proximal tubular dysfunction. He was a principal investigator for the Randomized Intervention for Children with Vesicoureteral Reflux study and site principal investigator for the Chronic Kidney Disease in Children study, which have helped improve the care of children with vesicoureteral reflux, urinary tract infection and chronic kidney disease. He is a member of the AAP Urinary Tract Infection Clinical Practice Guidelines Revision Committee.

Dr. Mattoo has mentored numerous fellows and has served as a visiting professor at 26 institutions worldwide. He has received many awards for teaching, research and service. These include the commendation by the Ministry of Health, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for establishing the kingdom’s first kidney center, the NephCure Foundation Award for kidney disease research, the WSU Board of Governors President’s Award for excellence in service to the university, and Certificates of Appreciation by the AAP for distinguished service to PREP Nephrology and the journal Pediatrics.