Rebecca Schmidt, DO, FACP, FASN

Vice Chair, Rural Health Outreach and Service to State
Professor & Assistant Dean, Outreach and Community Engagement

Organization:

West Virginia University School of Medicine

Department:

Medicine

Classification:

Admin

• DO, Des Moines University

1. RJ Schmidt and BS Pellegrino, Guest Editors.  Primary Care of the Patient with Chronic Kidney Disease.  Adv Chronic Kidney Dis 18:6, 2011.

2. RJ Schmidt. Informing our elders about dialysis: Is an age – attuned approach warranted? Clin J Am Soc Nephrol 7:185 – 191, 2012.

3. RJ Schmidt, B Pellegrino, K MacKay, T Parravani, R Mustafa, G Hobbs.  Prevalence and Predictive Value of Hypoalbuminemia in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease.  World J Nephrol Urol 1:8 – 15, 2012.

4. S Onder, RJ Schmidt, JL Holley. Obesity and Dialysis: Paradoxes and Challenges.  Seminars in Dial. Epub ahead of print January 12, 2012.

5. IC Macdougall, R Provenzano, A Sharma, BS Spinowitz, RJ Schmidt, PE Pergola, RI Zabaneh, S Tong – Starksen, MR Mayo, H Tang, KR Polu, AM Duliege, S Fishbane. Peginesatide for Anemia in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease Not Receiving Dialysis.  N Engl J Med 368;320 – 332, January 24, 2013.

6. JL Holley and RJ Schmidt.  Changes in Fertility and Hormone Replacement Therapy in Kidney Disease.  Adv Chronic Kidney Dis, 20:246 – 252, May, 2013.

7. RJ Schmidt, RS Goldman, and M Germain. Pursuing Permanent Hemodialysis Vascular Access in Patients with a Poor Prognosis: Juxtaposing Potential Benefit and Harm. Am J Kidney Dis 60:1023–1031, May, 2012.

8. A Gomes, RJ Schmidt and J Wish.  Reenvisioning Fistula First in a Patient – Centered Culture. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol CJN.03140313; published online ahead of print June, 2013.

9. RJ Schmidt and AW Moss.  Dying on dialysis:  The Case for a Dignified Withdrawal. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol, CJN.05730513; published online before print August, 2013.

10. RJ Schmidt, BB Weaner and D Long.  The Power of Advance Care Planning in Promoting Hospice and Out of Hospital Death in a Dialysis Unit, J Pall Med 17, July, 2014.

11. CY Hsu, MG Parker, MJ Ross, RJ Schmidt, RC Harris. Improving the Nephrology Match: the Path Forward. Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. ASN – 2015040420, Sep 4, 2015.

12. RJ Schmidt.  In Rural States Policy Changes To Improve Access To Home Dialysis Are Vital.  Health Affairs, on April 12, 2016, http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2016/04/12/in – rural – states – policy – changes – to – improve – access – to – home – dialysis – are – vital/.

13. RJ Schmidt, A closer look at the Diaysis PATIENTS Act.   Nephrology News and Issues, http://www.nephrologynews.com/closer – look – dialysis – patients – act.  Accessed December 8, 2016.

14. S Onder, S Akbar, RJ Schmidt. Reproductive Endocrinology in Chronic Kidney Disease Patients: New Approaches to Old Challenges.  Semin in Dial:  447 – 457, Nov, 2016.

15. RJ Schmidt.  Advance Care Planning for Patients Approaching End – Stage Kidney Disease.   Seminars in Nephrology 37:  173 – 180, March, 2017. 

16. RJ Schmidt. Incorporating Supportive Care into the Hemodialysis Unit.  Current Opinion in Dialysis and Transplantation – 26(6):530–536, November 2017

Honors:

American Association of Kidney Patients Medal of Excellence Award for 2018

WVU Health Sciences Women in Science and Health Advanced Career Excellence Award – 2016

Global Directory of Who’s Who “Top Doctors” – 2014 – 2016

2011 recipient of Coal/Energy Coalition "Best in Class" award – November 2011

Visiting Lecturer for West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine – 2007 – 2012

Recipient of Coal/Energy Coalition "Best in Class" award – August 2010

National Kidney Foundation of the Alleghenies Gift of Life Award – January 2008

Ethel and Gerry Heebink Award for Distinguished State Service (Extended) – March 2007

Local Legend Honoree Among WVU Women Who Made a Difference – November 2006

Dean’s Award for Excellence in Community Service, West Virginia University School of Medicine – April 2005

Departmental nomination for Clinician of the Year – June 2004

Alumni Achievement Award, Hillsdale College – 2003

Medical Director for “2000 – 2006 Hemodialysis Center of Excellence” – an honor given to the top ten percent of Fresenius Medical Care dialysis units nationwide

Teaching Scholars Program, West Virginia University 2000 – 2001

Selected Participant for Eighth Annual Great Teachers Seminar, West Virginia University 2000

Nominated by School of Medicine student body for The John W. Traubert Award (Humanism in Medicine), May 1999

Professional Affiliations

Renal Physicians Association

Fellow, American College of Physicians

American Medical Association

American Osteopathic Association

Fellow, American Society of Nephrology

American College of Osteopathic Internists

International Society of Nephrology

National Kidney Foundation

West Virginia State Medical Society

West Virginia Society of Osteopathic Medicine

Dr. Rebecca Schmidt is a 1985 graduate of the University of Osteopathic Medicine and Health Sciences in Des Moines, Iowa, now known as Des Moines University. She completed her residency in Internal Medicine and fellowship in Nephrology at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, joining the faculty of West Virginia University School of Medicine in 1993.  She received tenure in 1998 at promotion to Associate Professor of Medicine, became the Chief for the Section of Nephrology in 2001 and a full Professor in 2006.

Moving from Detroit to Morgantown, West Virginia in 1993, Dr. Schmidt found her passion in rural outreach and has strived to decentralize care of kidney disease to meet the needs of the many West Virginians who live distant to medical care.  A vision cultivated early on when her first patient in clinic had driven more than two hours to see the nephrologist, this initiative began with one on-campus clinic and two outpatient dialysis units and since 2003, has grown into 12 outreach clinics and nine dialysis units in northcentral West Virginia where Dr. Schmidt and her colleagues see more than half of their patients. In May of 2016, the 50,000^th outreach patient visit mark was reached, an achievement which translates more than 6 million miles saved in driving for patients from more than 30 West Virginia counties.  Under Dr. Schmidt’s leadership, the Section has grown in number from 4 to 11 faculty and 0 to 9 advanced practitioners through whose collective effort and dedication increasing numbers of West Virginians have been reached for chronic kidney disease care.

Dr. Schmidt is the Past President of the Renal Physicians Association.  As president from 2014-2017, she was the first woman to lead this organization, which, as a collective voice of the practicing nephrologist, serves as the definitive advocate for nephrology practice in influencing economic and public policy, and a primary resource for tools and knowledge needed to deliver high quality, safe kidney patient care.   She has served on the Renal Physicians Association Board of Directors since 2006 and led this group’s Nephrology Coverage Advocacy Program for several years after its inception in 2002.

Dr. Schmidt leads the Mission on Outreach and Telemedicine for the Department of Medicine at West Virginia School of Medicine and serves on the Board of Directors for ESRD Network 5 and the Medical Advisory Board for the American Association of Kidney Patients. She was selected to participate in the CMS Technical Expert Panel (TEP) for End-Stage Renal Disease Physician Level Measure Development. She served as co-chair for the clinical practice committee of the national Fistula First Breakthrough Initiative, and was formerly  a member of the Coalition for Supportive Care of Kidney Patients, the Medical Advisory Board for the National Kidney Foundation of the Alleghenies, the Medical Review Board for the Mid-Atlantic Renal Coalition (ESRD Network 5), and the Board of Directors for the Forum of ESRD Networks as well as the Board of Directors for the National Kidney Foundation of the Alleghenies.

In 2005, Dr. Schmidt received the West Virginia University School of Medicine Dean’s Award for Excellence in Community Service. In 2006, she was honored as a Local Legend among West Virginia University Women Who Made a Difference. She received the Ethel and Gerry Heebink Award for Distinguished State Service (Extended) in 2007 and in 2008, the Gift of Life Award from the National Kidney Foundation of the Alleghenies. In September of 2016, she received the West Virginia University Health Sciences Women in Science and Health Advanced Career Excellence Award. Most recently, she received the American Association of Kidney Patients Medal of Excellence Award for 2018.

Medical Specialties

• Nephrology/Kidney Disease

Board Certifications

• Internal Medicine, American Board of Internal Medicine
• Nephrology, American Board of Internal Medicine

Special Training

• Residency, Internal Medicine
  Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, MI
• Fellowship, Nephrology
  Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, MI