Wissam Kourany, MD, assistant professor of medicine (Nephrology), has been selected as the next chief of Nephrology at the Durham VA effective Jan. 1, 2018.
Dr. Kourany will succeed Susan Gurley, MD, PhD, who will leave Duke to serve as chief of Nephrology at Oregon Health and Science University.
"Under Susan's leadership, our VA-based clinical, educational and research missions have all flourished," said Myles Wolf, MD, M.Med.Sc., chief of the Division of Nephrology. "I look forward to working with Wissam to execute his innovative vision for the future of nephrology at the VA."
Kourany received his B.S. degree with Distinction and medical degree with Distinction from the American University of Beirut and was awarded with an Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Society membership and the Harriri Foundation Distinguished Graduate Award. He completed a residency in Internal Medicine and a double fellowship in Endocrinology and Nephrology at Duke University. Kourany was the Duke Chief Medical Resident at the VA from 2003-04.
Kourany joined the Medicine faculty at Duke and the Durham VA Nephrology and Endocrinology sections in 2007, and served as the Medical Director of the Durham VA hospital dialysis clinic until 2010. He then led the team that opened the first free-standing VA dialysis clinics in the country in 2011, including the Durham VA’s dialysis clinic at Brier Creek and the Fayetteville VA’s Dialysis clinic in Fayetteville, NC. He received multiple recognitions and awards from the National VHA Kidney Program for his critical roles in these projects. Kourany serves as the Medical Director of the Durham VA’s Dialysis Clinic at Brier Creek and Chief of the VISN-6 Dialysis Council, is a member of the National VHA Renal Field Advisory Committee, and is a member of multiple National VHA committees that work on optimizing and modernizing kidney disease and dialysis care for our Veteran population.