Welcome to the

San Antonio

community

With the help of our communities in cities across the country and beyond, we provide a forum for patients who want to join in the fight to find treatments and cure for PKD.

Connect with us to find out how you can make a difference in the lives of thousands in the U.S. and millions worldwide.

University of Texas Health San Antonio

8435 Wurzback Road, Ste 302
San Antonio, TX 78229
210-450-9800

Clinic Director: Ashley Garcia-Everett, MD

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, also known as UT Health San Antonio, is a leading academic health center with a mission to make lives better through excellence in advanced academics, life-saving research and comprehensive clinical care. Our UT Health San Antonio Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) clinic is located on the 4th floor of the large UT Medical Arts and Research Center (MARC) multispecialty facility in the San Antonio Medical Center. We offer onsite laboratory, imaging, dietician/nutrition and pharmacy services. Every patient at UT Health San Antonio benefits from our multi-disciplinary approach with on-site access to more than 25 subspecialists. Our board-certified nephrologists have expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of polycystic kidney disease and its complications. They are knowledgeable in both ADPKD (autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease) and ARPKD (autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease). Our comprehensive approach to PKD includes a thorough hour-long initial assessment which typically includes laboratory, imaging studies and genetic testing. We will assess your current level of kidney function, discuss prognosis, and over the first few visits formulate a plan for intervention including but not limited to: drug therapy, lifestyle modifications, dietary considerations and plans for monitoring. While PKD has no known cure, our goal is to delay progression of kidney disease with evidence-based assessment, treatment and management with the most upto-date therapeutic options available. With advanced kidney disease, we are fervent advocates for pre-emptive kidney transplant and have a strong relationship our affiliated University Transplant Center. We have a special interest in pediatric-to-adult transitions in PKD care. Let us partner with you on your journey with PKD.

Meet Dr. Shweta Bansai

Dr. Shweta Bansal is the current recipient of the UTHSCSA Presidential Clinical Excellence Award winner.  Dr. Shweta Bansal, a national authority in peritoneal dialysis, has been on our faculty for 12 years and has served with distinction as a clinician, educator and scholar. Dr. Bansal epitomizes the ideals of clinical medicine, offering her patients compassionate, evidence-based and personalized care while also organizing multidisciplinary efforts needed to deliver outstanding, value-based care.

 San Antonio Chapter— In the news!

San Antonio Walk for PKD
on Great Day SA

Mark Ruffin and Diane Biery talk about the San Antonio Walk for PKD.
Watch here.

San Antonio Volunteers on the Radio

Mark and Patti Ruffin raise PKD awareness, share their story and promote the San Antonio Walk on Cox Radio with Chrissie Murnin.

Radio interview

 

 

Thank you to everyone who attended and supported the 2023 Walk for PKD. Information on the 2024 Walk for PKD season coming soon!

PKD Foundation Centers of Excellence badge in PKD Foundation purpleThe PKD Foundation is excited to the announce the newest cohort of Centers of Excellence, Partner Clinics, and Pediatric Clinics. If you are looking for the right healthcare providers to help you manage living with PKD, visit our Centers of Excellence page to learn more about the program and to find a Center of Excellence, Partner Clinic, or Pediatric Clinic.

There’s a new way ADPKD Registry participants can step up to provide hope today, and for future generations. The nation’s first dedicated ADPKD Registry is now also one of the first patient registries of any kind to integrate patient-provided health records. Share your health records through your provider’s online portal with a few simple steps on the ADPKD Registry. 

Now, as always, the PKD Foundation is committed to our mission of giving hope, advocating for patients, and building a community for all impacted by PKD. We'll continue supporting our community by providing important resources and timely updates on social media. If you have questions or need help navigating this unprecedented health crisis, we are here for you. Email or call (844) PKD-HOPE.

Mark Ruffin

PKD Connect Ambassador

I volunteer as the San Antonio Community because of my wife Patti’s medical history of PKD (hers and her family). By engaging critical partners here in San Antonio, I can help others faced with the challenges of this disease, and improve chances of finding a cure. Without others engagement, nothing happens!

Patti O’Grady Ruffin

Fundraising Ambassador

My paternal grandmother, father, two uncles, and two sisters lost their battle too young to PKD. After two years on dialysis due to PKD, a generous coworker came forwarded to donate her kidney to me in December, 2005. I have been blessed with this new lease on life and retirement (2009); and I knew I needed to step up as the volunteer Ambassador for the San Antonio Walk for PKD for 14 years. Now I have shifted my volunteer efforts as the Volunteer Fundraising Ambassador for San Antonio Community in an effort to ensure a better life for all living with PKD.  A Cure is Our Finish Line. When people ask me why I volunteer, I have three words: best paycheck ever.

Diane Biery, MD, MBA

Walk for PKD Ambassador

After completing my undergraduate degree at Texas A&M University, I graduated from Southwestern Medical School and completed Residency training in both Internal Medicine and Anesthesiology at the University of California San Francisco. After transitioning from private practice in 2012, I served as the Chief Quality Officer at a six-hospital system in South Texas before joining the Methodist Healthcare team as Chief Medical Officer at Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital in 2016.  While serving in that role I was blessed to be able to support a world class kidney and liver Transplant program.

My family suffers from PKD and both my husband and daughter are affected. As someone whose loved ones are at risk, I am indebted to all those who work to strive for a cure while supporting those during their journey with kidney disease.  My husband is a 20-year survivor of a successful living donor kidney transplant performed at MSTH and my daughter is taking Tolvaptan to prolong her kidney function. Both of these life-saving treatments were made possible by dedicated professionals supported by the volunteer community.

Now that I am retired I am joining the PKD community as a Co-Ambassador for the San Antonio annual PKD walk.  It is my privilege to pay it forward and help make a difference in others’ lives.

Page last updated November 2022