The same group of pathologists is also responsible for renal transplant biopsies. Renal tumors are analyzed by our Genitourinary Pathology section (see separate subspecialty listing).
The images below are of a biopsy from a patient with membranous glomerulonephritis, an autoimmune disease.
Kidney Biopsy Service Request
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Faculty
Laura Barisoni, MD, is an internationally renowned renal pathologist, investigator, and educator, and served as the President of the Renal Pathology Society in 2019. She joined the Duke faculty in 2018 as Professor of Pathology and Medicine. She is the Director of the Renal Pathology Service and Co-Director of the Division of Artificial Intelligence and Computational Pathology. Her research involves diagnostic and investigative applications of computational image analysis. Dr. Barisoni is part of the leadership for several international nephrology consortia studying glomerular diseases (NEPTUNE and CureGN) and chronic and acute kidney injury (Kidney Precision Medicine Project). Email
David N. Howell, MD, PhD, is a Professor of Pathology and Vice Chair in Pathology. He has been practicing transplant and renal pathology for more than 30 years and made significant contributions in the field of native and transplant renal pathology and ultrastructural pathology. He also specializes in the interpretation of biopsies from other solid organ transplants, including lung, heart, liver, pancreas, and small bowel. His interests include heritable diseases of the renal glomerulus and infectious diseases in transplant patients. Dr Howell is a member of the Board of Directors of the Renal Pathology Society, where he will serve as president in 2024. Email
Bangchen Wang, MD, PhD, joined Duke faculty as an assistant professor in Renal Pathology and Genitourinary Pathology in 2025. He completed his residency at Duke in 2024 and his renal pathology fellowship at Johns Hopkins Medicine in June 2025.During his residency, Dr Wang contributed to NIH-sponsored research that utilizes computational image analysis for the segmentation and characterization of kidney tissue. His contribution to these studies resulted in three peer-reviewed manuscripts. He also published two manuscripts as first author and was listed in studies conducted by investigators of the Cure Glomerulonephropathy (CureGN) and Nephrotic Syndrome Study Network (NEPTUNE) consortia. Email
