Rate My Professor Daryl Okamura

Daryl M. Okamura, MD, is a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine and Division Chief of Nephrology at Seattle Children’s Hospital, where he serves as an attending physician. He earned his medical degree from the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine in 1998, completed his pediatric residency at the University of Hawaii from 1998 to 2001, and undertook his pediatric nephrology fellowship at Seattle Children’s Hospital and the University of Washington from 2001 to 2004. Dr. Okamura’s clinical practice focuses on the diagnosis and management of renal diseases in infants, children, and adolescents, particularly renal vasculitis, glomerulonephritis, and chronic kidney disease.

Dr. Okamura directs an NIH-funded research laboratory in the Center for Developmental Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Washington, aimed at elucidating the pathogenic mechanisms of renal fibrosis to halt or reverse progressive kidney failure. His investigations center on the roles of macrophages in inflammatory and oxidative pathways and their cellular crosstalk with interstitial fibroblasts during chronic kidney injury, including studies on tissue responses to injury and kidney regeneration in African spiny mice. Key publications include "Cysteamine Modulates Oxidative Stress and Blocks Myofibroblast Activity in Chronic Kidney Disease" (Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, 2013), "Spiny Mice Activate Unique Transcriptional Programs After Kidney Injury" (iScience, 2021), "Redox Regulation of Fibrogenic Pathways in Kidney Injury" (Seminars in Nephrology, 2015), "Galectin-3 Preserves Renal Tubules and Modulates Extraglomerular Fibrosis in CKD" (American Journal of Pathology, 2011), and "Scarless Repair of Acute and Chronic Kidney Injury in African Spiny Mice" (bioRxiv, 2018). He was recognized as a Top Doctor in Pediatric Nephrology by Seattle magazine in 2024 and delivers educational presentations, including at University of Washington Nephrology Grand Rounds.