Alba Azola, MD

Dr. Olga Charnaya is an assistant professor of Pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She specializes in pediatric kidney transplantation but provides care for children with kidney disease of all types including hypertension, chronic kidney disease, dialysis, hematuria, and proteinuria.Dr. Charnaya completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Maryland in College Park, and a Master’s degree in Microbiology and Immunology at Georgetown University. Subsequently, she matriculated at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev to complete her medical degree. Her residency training was completed at University of Maryland Medical Center where she also served as chief resident. Her subspecialty training in Pediatric Nephrology was completed at Children’s National Medical Center, after which she joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins in 2017. In addition to providing clinical care, Dr. Charnaya is pursuing a Ph.D. in clinical investigation at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, and is actively engaged in clinical research to improve outcomes for pediatric kidney transplant recipients. Specifically, Dr. Charnaya’s research is studying ways to incorporate high-resolution tissue typing into deceased donor kidney allocation using computational modeling to improve immunological matching while preserving pediatric priority and equity (racial and geographic) in access to transplantation.

Dr. Ilana Zinn is a craniofacial orthodontist in the Johns Hopkins Medicine Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Her areas of clinical expertise include nasoalveolar molding, interceptive orthodontics and comprehensive orthodontics for children with craniofacial anomalies. Dr. Zinn received an undergraduate degree in biology from Stern College at Yeshiva University. She earned her doctorate of medicine in dentistry from Rutgers School of Dental Medicine and a Master of Science and certificate in orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry. She completed a fellowship in cleft-craniofacial and special care orthodontics at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, and became a member of the Johns Hopkins faculty in 2019. Prior to joining Johns Hopkins, Dr. Zinn was a clinical instructor in the Division of Pediatric Dentistry at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. Dr. Zinn has served in various volunteer and teaching capacities and has received numerous awards. She is a member of the American Association of Orthodontists and the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association.

Dr. Meredith Atkinson is an associate professor of pediatrics in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She provides care for children with kidney problems of any type, including patients on dialysis; patients with proteinuria, hematuria and chronic kidney disease; and kidney transplant. Dr. Atkinson's clinical research interests focus on chronic kidney disease and end-stage kidney disease in children. Her specific interests include mechanisms and treatment of anemia in chronic kidney disease and racial disparities in patient outcomes. She is the recipient of numerous research grants and awards, including a K23 Patient Oriented Research award from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases/NIH, and young investigator grants from the National Kidney Foundation, the National Kidney Foundation of Maryland, the Thrasher Research Fund and Amgen Inc. She is currently the PI of the Renal Anhydramnios Fetal Therapy (RAFT) trial. She received her undergraduate degree in biology from Mount Holyoke College. She earned her M.D. from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. She completed a residency in pediatrics at Johns Hopkins, followed by a fellowship in pediatric nephrology at Hopkins, completed in June 2007. During her fellowship training, Dr. Atkinson received a master’s degree in epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Atkinson joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 2007. Dr. Atkinson was elected to the Society for Pediatric Research in 2014. She is a member of several professional organizations including the American Society of Nephrology, and is the president of the American Society of Pediatric Nephrology for 2024-2026.