Sholpan Sadykova

Learn how a young nephrologist is advancing interventional nephrology in Kazakhstan after completing the ISN Interventional Nephrology Scholarship Program

Dr. Sholpan Sadykova from Kazakhstan spent four weeks at the Southwest Thames Renal Unit of Epsom & St. Helier University Hospitals, an ISN Interventional Nephrology Training Center. She completed the Foundation Course of the ISN Interventional Nephrology Scholarship Program under the supervision of Dr. Bhrigu Sood, training in kidney biopsy and CVC insertion. Shortly after returning to Kazakhstan, she reported on the successes of her training:

The ISN gave me the opportunity to immerse myself into a highly professional atmosphere. As a result, I have a detailed understanding of interventional nephrology Undoubtedly, the benefit is that I can share all the knowledge and guidelines involved in improving safety that I have gained with my students, colleagues.

Most of all, I am happy that I had the opportunity to train on simulators under the supervision of UK mentors who kindly answered any questions and showed the technique step-by-step.

We built warm relationships with nephrologists of St. Helier and agreed on further cooperation.

This internship inspired me a lot. My goals include gathering a group of enthusiasts, who are passionate about interventional procedures and creating a society of interventional nephrologists. The next step is to find funding and purchase simulators. I believe that one day our nephrologists will perform the procedures themselves.

One year later, Dr. Sadykova gave this update on how her Scholarship had impacted her career and kidney care in Kazakhstan:

This internship gave an incredible boost to my career. I was invited to work at the National Research Center, where my work is more focused on transplant recipients. Now I am part of a wonderful team of transplantologists, under whose guidance I will feel much more confident when performing procedures. I hope in the future I will be allowed to perform the procedures completely on my own.

In addition, I work at the Department of Internal Medicine with a course of Nephrology, Hematology, Allergology and Immunology of Astana Medical University. I am very grateful to the head of the Department for the opportunity to teach interventional nephrology to nephrology trainees. Due to my relatively limited experience, this was a little difficult, but thanks to the ISN internship in England, it became possible. I created a telegram channel dedicated to interventional nephrology, which I plan to open to the general public in the future. I fill it with useful information. But in the future I would like it to become useful for my students.

Moreover, I was very inspired by the level of development of medicine in England and now I am doing an online master’s program in nephrology at one of the universities in England.

I encountered some difficulties in creating a Society of Interventional Nephrologists, but I was kindly offered to develop this area within the framework of the Society of Nephrologists of Kazakhstan. If I have suggestions, I can voice them in our Society.

The purchase of simulators remains an unresolved issue, but I think we will definitely find a solution.