Bio


Dr. Ahearn is a board-certified nephrologist. He is also a clinical assistant professor in the Stanford University School of Medicine Division of Nephrology.

He specializes in providing innovative care to kidney disease and transplant patients. He develops a comprehensive, compassionate care plan personalized to each patient in his care.

In addition to his clinical practice, Dr. Ahearn has conducted research on barriers to transplantation for patients with extended dialysis exposure, disparities in living kidney donation, and disparities in access to kidney transplant. He also has researched kidney transplant outcomes as they relate to the timing of dialysis initiation plus new pharmaceuticals for the kidney transplant population.

Dr. Ahearn has made presentations on these and other topics to the American Transplant Congress and Society of General Internal Medicine Meeting. He has published peer-reviewed articles on his research topics in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, JAMA Network Open, American Journal of Kidney Diseases, American Journal of Surgery, and elsewhere. He has published abstracts in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

Dr. Ahearn has earned honors for his research and scholarship. He has received research funding from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
Among his honors, Dr. Ahearn was on the kidney transplant team that earned the Stanford Health Care Integrated Strategic Plan Star Award. The team was recognized for delivering excellence in patient care as well as for identifying opportunities to improve care.

He is a member of the American Society of Nephrology and American Society of Transplantation.

He has volunteered his time and expertise as a board member of the Village of Hope, a transitional housing program for homeless men, women, and children in Orange County, California. Dr. Ahearn has served as a volunteer and proctor at the free clinic providing medical services to the uninsured.

Clinical Focus


  • Nephrology

Academic Appointments


Professional Education


  • Board Certification: American Board of Internal Medicine, Nephrology (2018)
  • Fellowship: UCSF Dept of Nephrology (2018) CA
  • Board Certification: American Board of Internal Medicine, Internal Medicine (2015)
  • Residency: UCLA Medical Center Internal Medicine (2015) CA
  • Internship: UCLA Medical Center Internal Medicine (2013) CA
  • Medical Education: University of California at Irvine School of Medicine Registrar (2012) CA

All Publications


  • Sex Disparity in Deceased-Donor Kidney Transplant Access by Cause of Kidney Disease. Clinical journal of the American Society of Nephrology : CJASN Ahearn, P. n., Johansen, K. L., Tan, J. C., McCulloch, C. E., Grimes, B. A., Ku, E. n. 2021

    Abstract

    Women with kidney failure have lower access to kidney transplantation compared with men, but the magnitude of this disparity may not be uniform across all kidney diseases. We hypothesized that the attributed cause of kidney failure may modify the magnitude of the disparities in transplant access by sex.We performed a retrospective cohort study of adults who developed kidney failure between 2005 and 2017 according to the United States Renal Data System. We used adjusted Cox models to examine the association between sex and either access to waitlist registration or deceased-donor kidney transplantation, and tested for interaction between sex and the attributed cause of kidney failure using adjusted models.Among a total of 1,478,037 patients, 271,111 were registered on the waitlist and 89,574 underwent deceased-donor transplantation. The rate of waitlisting was 6.5 per 100 person-years in women and 8.3 per 100 person-years for men. In adjusted analysis, women had lower access to the waitlist (hazard ratio, 0.89; 95% confidence interval, 0.89 to 0.90) and to deceased-donor transplantation after waitlisting (hazard ratio, 0.96; 95% confidence interval, 0.94 to 0.98). However, there was an interaction between sex and attributed cause of kidney disease in adjusted models (P<0.001). Women with kidney failure due to type 2 diabetes had 27% lower access to the kidney transplant waitlist (hazard ratio, 0.73; 95% confidence interval, 0.72 to 0.74) and 11% lower access to deceased-donor transplantation after waitlisting compared with men (hazard ratio, 0.89; 95% confidence interval, 0.86 to 0.92). In contrast, sex disparities in access to either the waitlist or transplantation were not observed in kidney failure secondary to cystic disease.The disparity in transplant access by sex is not consistent across all causes of kidney failure. Lower deceased-donor transplantation rates in women compared with men are especially notable among patients with kidney failure attributed to diabetes.

    View details for DOI 10.2215/CJN.09140620

    View details for PubMedID 33500250

  • Delayed Kinetics of IgG, but not IgA, Anti-spike Antibodies in Transplant Recipients following SARS-CoV-2 Infection. J Am Soc Nephrol. Cravedi, P. 2021

    View details for DOI 10.1681/ASN.2021040573

  • Trends in Cardiovascular Mortality Among a Cohort of Children and Young Adults Starting Dialysis in 1995 to 2015. JAMA network open Ku, E., McCulloch, C. E., Ahearn, P., Grimes, B. A., Mitsnefes, M. M. 2020; 3 (9): e2016197

    Abstract

    Importance: Survival of patients receiving dialysis has improved during the last 2 decades. However, few studies have examined temporal trends in the attributed causes of death (especially cardiovascular-related) in young populations.Objective: To determine temporal trends and risk of cause-specific mortality (ie, cardiovascular and infectious) for children and young adults receiving dialysis.Design, Setting, and Participants: This retrospective cohort study examined the records of children and young adults (aged <30 years) starting dialysis between 1995 and 2015 according to the United States Renal Data System database. Analyses were performed between June 2019 and June 2020. Fine-Gray models were used to examine trends in risk of different cardiovascular-related deaths. Models were adjusted for age, sex, race, neighborhood income, cause of end-stage kidney disease, insurance type, and comorbidities. Analyses were performed separately for children (ie, age <18 years) and young adults (between ages 18 and 30 years). Follow-up was censored at death or administratively, and transplantation was treated as a competing event.Exposures: Calendar year.Main Outcomes and Measures: Cardiovascular cause-specific mortality.Results: A total of 80 189 individuals (median [interquartile range] age, 24 [19-28] years; 36 259 [45.2%] female, 29 508 [36.8%] Black, and 15 516 [19.3%] Hispanic white) started dialysis and 16 179 experienced death during a median (interquartile range) of 14.3 (14.0-14.7) years of follow-up. Overall, 40.2% of deaths were from cardiovascular-related causes (6505 of 16 179 patients). In adjusted analysis, risk of cardiovascular-related death was stable initially but became statistically significantly lower after 2006 (vs 1995) in those starting dialysis as either children (subhazard ratio [SHR], 0.74; 95% CI, 0.55-1.00) or adults (SHR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.83-0.98). Risk of sudden cardiac death improved steadily for all age groups, but to a greater degree in children (SHR, 0.31; 95% CI, 0.20-0.47) vs young adults (SHR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.56-0.73) comparing 2015 vs 1995. Risk of stroke became statistically significantly lower around 2010 (vs 1995) for children (SHR, 0.40; 95% CI, 0.18-0.88) and young adults (SHR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.59-0.99).Conclusions and Relevance: In this study, the risk of cardiovascular-related death declined for children and young adults starting dialysis during the last 2 decades, but trends differed depending on age at dialysis initiation and the specific cause of death. Additional studies are needed to improve risk of cardiovascular disease in young populations.

    View details for DOI 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.16197

    View details for PubMedID 32902652