Dr. Maria Díaz-González de Ferris received her medical doctorate degree from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, a master’s degree in public health as well as a PhD in the field of epidemiology from the University of Texas School of Public Health. She completed her Pediatrics training at Driscoll Children’s Hospital in Corpus Christi, TX, and her Nephrology fellowship at the University of California San Diego.
Dr. de Ferris is the co-chair of the junior mentoring program at the International Pediatric Nephrology Association, as well as the associate editor of the International Society of Nephrology–Kidney Health Education for Global Impact. She also founded and is the co-director of the International Pediatric Nephrology Fellows Conference.
Dr. de Ferris founded and is the director of University of North Carolina Healthcare Transition Program (www.med.unc.edu/transition), which teaches healthcare transition preparation to adult-focused care, self-management skills and disease knowledge among adolescents and young adults with chronic health conditions. She also founded and is the co-director of the International and Interdisciplinary Healthcare Transition Research Consortium (Tweeter handle @HCTRCNow). Dr. de Ferris has hundreds of publications (ORCID #0000-0003-1694-886X) with interdisciplinary collaborators from across the world and has received multiple honors and awards. She strives to create interventions that address gaps in health self-management and promote better adolescent and young adult outcomes.
