Centre for Kidney Research team members

Elisabeth Hodson

Consultant Physician in Pediatric Nephrology
Tel: + 612 9845 3430
Email: ElisaH@chw.edu.au

Dr Elisabeth Hodson completed her medical studies at the London Hospital Medical College in the University of London in 1970. After obtaining MRCP (UK) in 1973, she commenced her paediatric training in England. She moved to Australia in 1975 and trained in paediatric nephrology at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children [ now The Children's Hospital at Westmead]. In 1976/1977 she spent a year as Fellow in Renal Transplantation and Chief Resident in Haemodialysis at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. In 1979 she obtained FRACP and was appointed staff specialist in the Department of Nephrology at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children. In 1982 she married Tom Karplus and went with him to San Diego, California for three years. There she worked for two years as Fellow in Paediatric Haematology and Oncology and then spent a year doing research on platelet receptors at Scripps Clinic, La Jolla.

In 1986 she returned to Australia and a position in Nephrology at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children and at Prince of Wales Children's Hospital [now Sydney Children's Hospital]. In 1989 she moved to Westmead Hospital to establish a paediatric nephrology service. This was done in association with Jill Farquhar, who is now the Clinical Nurse Consultant and Head of the Renal Treatment Centre at The Children's Hospital at Westmead. In 1994 Elisabeth became Director of the Division of Paediatrics at Westmead Hospital.

In 1995 she moved to the New Children's Hospital [now The Children's Hospital at Westmead] and was appointed Head of the Department of Nephrology following Paul Roy's resignation. Her research interests have included studies in growth and bone disease in children with renal failure. Recently she has commenced systematic reviews on nephrotic syndrome for the Cochrane Collaboration and a study through the Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit to determine the incidence of nephrotic syndrome in Australian children. Most of her leisure time is spent bird watching in Australia and overseas. She lives with Tom, who is a staff specialist in Vascular Medicine at Concord Hospital, and a black cat.