Notable Alums
Specialty: Pediatrics
Graduation Year: 1978
Clifford Kashtan
Clifford Kashtan, M.D. ’78, is director of the Division of Pediatric Nephrology at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
Dr. Kashtan, a pediatric nephrologist and professor at the university, is founder and executive director of the Alport Syndrome Treatment and Outcomes Registry, known as ASTOR. His research has involved laboratory and clinical investigations focused on the syndrome, an inherited form of progressive renal, cochlear and ocular disease.
Dr. Kashtan was born in Detroit. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Michigan, and was a pediatric resident at Boston City Hospital from 1978 to 1981. Following two years of general pediatric practice, he completed Pediatric Nephrology fellowships at Massachusetts General Hospital and University of Minnesota, joining the latter’s faculty in 1987.
He is a fellow of the American Society of Nephrology, a member of the American Pediatric Society, and has previously served on the American Society of Pediatric Nephrology Council. Dr. Kashtan has presented more than 60 invited lectures regionally, nationally and internationally, and has written more than 170 articles, invited reviews and book chapters.
Dr. Kashtan met his wife Judy Finkelstein, another member of the Class of 1978, at the School of Medicine.
“We have been married for 39 years and have raised three children,” he said. “As a student at WSU School of Medicine I learned to respect my patients and my coworkers, and that each medical encounter provides an educational opportunity. I believe I became a nephrologist because I wanted to emulate Dr. Pravit Cadnapaphornchai, who remains one of the smartest physicians I’ve ever met,” he said.
Dr. Kashtan, a pediatric nephrologist and professor at the university, is founder and executive director of the Alport Syndrome Treatment and Outcomes Registry, known as ASTOR. His research has involved laboratory and clinical investigations focused on the syndrome, an inherited form of progressive renal, cochlear and ocular disease.
Dr. Kashtan was born in Detroit. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Michigan, and was a pediatric resident at Boston City Hospital from 1978 to 1981. Following two years of general pediatric practice, he completed Pediatric Nephrology fellowships at Massachusetts General Hospital and University of Minnesota, joining the latter’s faculty in 1987.
He is a fellow of the American Society of Nephrology, a member of the American Pediatric Society, and has previously served on the American Society of Pediatric Nephrology Council. Dr. Kashtan has presented more than 60 invited lectures regionally, nationally and internationally, and has written more than 170 articles, invited reviews and book chapters.
Dr. Kashtan met his wife Judy Finkelstein, another member of the Class of 1978, at the School of Medicine.
“We have been married for 39 years and have raised three children,” he said. “As a student at WSU School of Medicine I learned to respect my patients and my coworkers, and that each medical encounter provides an educational opportunity. I believe I became a nephrologist because I wanted to emulate Dr. Pravit Cadnapaphornchai, who remains one of the smartest physicians I’ve ever met,” he said.