Dr Anirudh Rao

Dr Anirudh Rao has served as a consultant nephrologist first at Manchester Royal Infirmary and subsequently at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, where he has been on the clinical roster since 4 June 2018. In his current role within the Liverpool University Hospital NHS Trust he provides comprehensive specialist care across the full spectrum of kidney disease, operating in outpatient clinics, inpatient wards and on call rotas of a large tertiary renal centre. His day to day workload includes the unscheduled admission of patients with acute kidney injury, the management of chronic kidney disease complications, the diagnosis and treatment of glomerulonephritis, vasculitis and other multi-system autoimmune disorders, and the care of patients with transplant related problems or renal infections, often in the context of profound immunosuppression.

Beyond general nephrology, Dr Rao leads the transplant service. He runs dedicated renal transplant clinics that deliver long term follow up for kidney transplant recipients, overseeing immunosuppressive regimens, graft function monitoring and the prevention of cardiovascular and infectious complications. He also provides acute post transplant care, working closely with transplant surgeons and a multidisciplinary team to manage delayed graft function, early rejection episodes and complex inpatient issues. When transplant recipients are admitted for infection, rejection, surgical complications or systemic disease, Dr Rao coordinates their inpatient care, ensuring seamless integration of nephrology expertise with surgical and critical care input.

A core component of Dr Rao’s practice is the management of patients receiving renal replacement therapy. In the haemodialysis clinic he oversees in centre dialysis patients, addressing volume control, vascular access problems, mineral bone disorders, anaemia and heightened cardiovascular risk. He routinely adjusts dialysis prescriptions, intervenes in acute complications and collaborates with dietitians, pharmacists and social care teams to optimise each patient’s quality of life. His interest also extends to peritoneal dialysis and home based therapies, where he provides education, monitoring and troubleshooting to empower patients to manage their own treatment safely.

Dr Rao’s clinical curiosity is matched by a dedication to translational research that can be applied directly at the bedside. He is particularly interested in the intersection of nephrology with cardiovascular disease, immunology and genomics, seeking biomarkers and risk prediction tools that personalise care for patients with chronic kidney disease, dialysis dependence or a kidney transplant. This focus drives his involvement in multi omics studies, machine learning risk score development and large scale vaccine response investigations in the renal population.

Dr Rao’s research agenda is anchored in improving outcomes for patients with chronic kidney disease, dialysis dependence and kidney transplants. His PhD (University of Bristol, July 2019) investigated the generalisability and recruitment challenges of cohort studies in advanced CKD among the elderly, employing mixed methods, quantitative analysis, qualitative interviews and systematic review. He has obtained a £90 000 materials only grant from Roche for the SENIOR study, which evaluates SARS CoV 2 vaccine induced immunity in dialysis and transplant recipients, and a £95 555 TRAP award for the LIPID Glom project, a lipidomic exploration of glomerulonephritis. Further funding includes a £20 000 grant from the Dowager Countess Eleanor Peel Trust for the CBKD study on novel cardiovascular biomarkers, and a £76 862 award to develop machine learning risk scores for major adverse cardiovascular events in haemodialysis patients. Dr Rao also organises the biennial Cheshire and Mersey Academic Nephrology & Transplant Showcase, securing industry sponsorship to promote regional research collaboration.

Dr. Rao has held senior leadership roles in renal medicine across the Northwest. Since March 2023 he has been the Research Delivery Network Northwest Speciality Lead (Nephrology), managing the renal research‑nurse workforce, overseeing commercial and non‑commercial research, providing regional strategic direction, and contributing to Renal National Speciality Group meetings and the UK Kidney Research Consortium cardio‑renal study group. From July 2022 to February 2023 he led the Northwest Kidney Network Transplant strategy, coordinating patient representatives, the NW KQUIP lead, co‑chairs, managers and QI leads to improve care for end‑stage kidney disease patients and deliver regional QI training. As Speciality Audit and Improvement Lead at Royal Liverpool Hospital (July 2021‑present) he runs six‑monthly audit/QI forums, mentors trainees and multidisciplinary staff, and translates audit data into actionable improvements. He previously headed the Kidney Quality Improvement Partnership transplant‑first initiative in Liverpool (May 2018‑August 2021), using a collaborative model to raise pre‑emptive listing and transplantation rates. Earlier, as a Chief Registrar in the Royal College of Physicians programme at Manchester Royal Infirmary (August 2017‑May 2018), he attended senior management meetings and led projects on anticoagulation monitoring, electronic referral systems, and patient‑safety alerts. Across all positions Dr. Rao has consistently championed patient safety and quality improvement, making renal care safer, more effective, patient‑centred, timely, efficient and equitable.

Dr Rao delivers teaching across undergraduate, postgraduate and multidisciplinary platforms. He supervises research students, co supervising Dr Chukwuma Chukwu (PhD, University of Manchester, 2024) on epidemiological outcomes of renal transplantation, and Dr Elin Davies (PhD, University of Liverpool, 2023) on lipidomic and proteomic biomarkers in glomerulonephritis and dialysis related cardiovascular risk. He is the lead supervisor for Dr Emma Aspinall (MPhil, 2025), guiding a machine learning project to create cardiovascular and mortality risk scores for haemodialysis patients. His teaching portfolio also includes curriculum development, bedside teaching, audit supervision and the mentorship of junior doctors in nephrology and transplant medicine.