As a transplant nephrologist, Alden Doyle, MD, treats patients undergoing kidney transplant. He also helps patients who receive other kinds of transplants and develop kidney disease. He also treats patients who received transplants as children and are transitioning to adulthood.
Meet a Kidney Transplant Doctor
We asked Doyle our 7 quick questions to get to know him better.
1. What has most inspired and shaped your approach to patient care?
I was inspired by my early mentors, especially at Tulane at UT Southwestern, where I did medical school and residency.
I am also inspired, almost daily, by my patients who face adversity with grace. This hit home for me in a major way during my early international experiences living and working in Guatemala, Ghana, and Botswana, where patients had so little access to resource, faced enormous health challenges, and yet remained kind, thankful, and brave despite these headwinds.
2. What's your favorite part of your job?
My two favorite parts of my job are direct patient care and being creative with approaches to patient care to push new treatments, new approaches, and more patient-centered complex medical care that allows for more people to get successfully transplanted.
My colleagues raz me for having groupies, but I love that I have had patients for 25 years who have followed me across 3 health systems and through multiple states because they believe in the patient-physician relationship and trust in their care.
3. What's your biggest fear when you're a patient?
I used to be a terrible patient like many health care providers. I try now to slow down and listen. My fear is that I can’t make a connection with my providers and get the chance to really understand their thinking about whatever is at hand with me.
4. What do you do for stress relief?
I mostly do 1 of 4 things: spend time with my family; run/exercise in beautiful Albemarle County; explore restaurants here, there, everywhere, and go to shows. I am a lifelong live music junkie, and I have seen hundreds and hundreds of shows, though less often now with work and life demands.
5. Dogs or cats?
Dogs, definitely. Respect cats, but not for me. We have a 12-year-old Vizsla named Truman who runs with me and is an extremely loyal, if quirky, companion. He is finally slowing down after a lifetime of zoomies.
6. Last movie you saw? Thumbs up or down?
Outside of animated movies and old Hitchcock movies with my daughter, last go-to movie I saw was Conclave. Great movie! So well acted. Wonderful use of colors and cinematography. I learned so much. Highly recommend.
7. Best advice you've ever heard?
In academic medicine, people come and go. Stick with your patients. They are why we are here and give you a true north to aim for. Having a busy practice where you are appreciated will carry you through periods of storm and uncertainty.
Personally, it was to exercise as close to daily as you can for both mental and physical health reasons. I am not perfect here, but try my best and admit my wife is better and more disciplined than I am.
