MargaretB(Collins-Hill)CollinsMD

Summary

• I was privileged to complete my Internal Medicine residency and Nephrology and Hypertension fellowship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
  After two years in private practice general nephrology, I felt drawn to help treat the illnesses that lead to kidney failure.
  
  In 2006, I founded Consults in Hypertension, a solo private practice dedicated to the care of the patient whose blood pressure disorder has defied usual measures, including resistant hypertension, secondary hypertension, hypotension syndromes, and blood pressure conditions complicating pregnancy.
  
  In August of 2021 I joined my colleagues at Cape Fear Heart Associates, now Novant Health Heart and Vascular Institute (Cardiology), to serve as their Hypertension Specialist.
  
  In 2023 I was asked to join Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the effort to study and raise awareness of APOL1-Mediated Kidney Disease (AMKD), a renal disease with widely varying presentations that affects those of recent African ancestry. AMKD is responsible for a significant portion of the excess hypertension, kidney disease, kidney failure, and transplant donation failures seen among African Americans. Much of what is called "hypertensive" kidney disease is NOT!
  
  It is a hopeful time for change in nephrology, as we finally start to understand the root causes of kidney disease and work to eliminate health disparities.