• Nominated for Golden Apple Teaching Award, Drexel University College of Medicine Class of 2020 (2018)
• Inducted fellow, American Society of Nephrology (2018)
• Inducted to inaugural American Journal of Kidney Diseases Peer Reviewer “Hall
  of Fame” (2017)
• Student-nominated interviewee, “The Undifferentiated Medical Student,” a top-rated national iTunes podcast; interview featured on American Society of Nephrology website (2017)
• Research mentee awarded Drexel University Summer Research Fellowship for “Second Chance at Transplant: Outcomes Among Adults Who Were Previously Denied Access to the Kidney Transplant Waiting List” (2016)
• Selected by Drexel University to attend the AAMC Early Career Women Leadership Development Seminar, Stevenson, Washington (2017)
• Invited speaker and physician mentor, Penn Women’s Biomedical Society (2014)
• Master's degree thesis featured in “Renal and Urology News” July 2013 Issue (2013)
• Recipient of Bradley Award, University of Pennsylvania, for Outstanding Health Evaluation Research (2013)
• First author abstract awarded “abstract of distinction,” American Transplant Congress – Boston, Massachusetts (2012)
• “Outstanding Renal Fellow Award,” University of Pennsylvania Renal Division (2012)

• American Society of Nephrology
• American Society of Transplantation
• Women in Nephrology

In her research, Dr. Harhay focuses on the impacts of typically unmeasured risk factors, such as physical function, cognitive impairment and body composition on the health outcomes of people with kidney disease. Her research has also examined how health policy influences access to care for people with kidney disease. In addition, Dr. Harhay is actively engaged in translational research to develop novel biomedical tools to improve outcomes in kidney disease and transplantation. Dr. Harhay is currently the principal investigator of two grants from the National Institutes of Health ([NIH] K23DK105207, "Patterns and Implications of Functional Decline Among Kidney Transplant Candidates" and R01DK124388, “Identifying Healthy and High-Risk Weight Loss Phenotypes to Optimize Obesity Management in End-Stage Kidney Disease”) and a Commonwealth Universal Research Enhancement (CURE) grant entitled "Implications of Unstable Cerebral Oxygenation on the Safety and Tolerability of Hemodialysis." She was also awarded a Coulter-Drexel Translational Research Partnership program grant with Dr. Yury Gogotsi (principal investigator) to develop a dialysis application for MXenes, a nanomaterial discovered at Drexel University. She is also the Drexel University site principal investigator of two NIH-funded, multi-center kidney transplant studies.

Prior to coming to Drexel University, Dr. Harhay served as an instructor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, during which time she was awarded a NIDDK Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (F32) for a grant entitled "Rehospitalization After Renal Transplant: Patterns, Predictors & Implications"

Study: Fitness Matters More Than Weight Loss for Kidney Disease Risk
WebMD (October 2, 2023)

For People With Obesity, Weight Loss Isn’t the Only Way to Prevent Kidney Disease
Everyday Health (September 28, 2023)

High-Risk Weight Loss Increases Death Risk in Obese Patients With CKD
Cardiology Advisor (September 19, 2023)

Keeping fit, avoiding weight gain key to preventing kidney disease, study says
UPI (September 28, 2023)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Announces Recent CURE Grant Recipients
(August 14, 2023)

“BMI loss, serum albumin loss correlate with mortality risk in patients with CKD, obesity”
Healio Nephrology News and Issues (May 11, 2023)

Q+A: New Study Reveals Insights into Healthy and Unhealthy Weight Loss Patterns for Adults with Obesity and Kidney Disease
Drexel News Blog (May 23, 2023)

“Obesity Prevents Patients from Receiving a Kidney Transplant”
Drexel News Blog (May 1, 2023)

For the Poor and Disenfranchised, Higher Hurdles to Transplants
Undark (December 16, 2020)

For Black and Brown Kidney Patients, There Are Higher Hurdles to Care
Scientific American (December 16, 2020)

Where you live may raise your odds of developing this chronic health problem
Ladders (September 30, 2020)

Discussion of socioeconomic status and chronic kidney disease on KXXV-TV and KSTU-TV
KXXV-TV (Waco, Texas) & KSTU-TV (Salt Lake City, Utah) (September 28, 2020)

Quality of life assessments may inform kidney transplant waitlist practices
Healio Nephrology, August 13, 2020

Preparing For The Next COVID-19 Crisis: A Strategy To Save Safety-Net Hospitals
Health Affairs, June 22, 2020

'First do no harm': Implications of mandating weight loss pre-transplant
Healio Nephrology, April 2020

Prioritizing Transplants When Other Surgeries Are on Hold
Medscape, April 6, 2020

View Dr. Harhay's publications in PubMed

"Association Between Weight Loss Before Deceased Donor Kidney Transplantation and Posttransplantation Outcomes"
Meera Nair Harhay, Karthik Ranganna, Suzanne M. Boyle, Antonia M. Brown, Thalia Bajakian, Lissa B. Levin Mizrahi, Gary Xiao, Stephen Guy, Gregory Malat, Dorry L. Segev, David Reich, Mara McAdams-DeMarco
American Journal of Kidney Diseases, online May 21, 2019

"Association of the kidney allocation system with dialysis exposure before deceased donor kidney transplantation by preemptive wait‐listing status"
Harhay MN, Harhay MO, Ranganna K, Boyle SM, Levin Mizrahi L, Guy S, Malat GE, Xiao G, Reich DJ, Patzer RE
Clinical Transplantation, 32:e13386, 2018

"Report from the American Society of Transplantation on frailty in solid organ transplantation"
Kobashigawa J, Dadhania D, Bhorade S, Adey D, Berger J, Bhat G, Budev M, Duarte-Rojo A, Dunn M, Hall S, Harhay MN, Johansen KL, Joseph S, Kennedy CC, Kransdorf E, Lentine KL, Lynch RJ, McAdams-DeMarco M, Nagai S, Olymbios M, Patel J, Pinney S, Schaenman J, Segev DL, Shah P, Singer LG, Singer JP, Sonnenday C, Tandon P, Tapper E, Tullius SG, Wilson M, Zamora M, Lai JC
Am J Transplant. doi: 10.1111/ajt.15198. [Epub ahead of print], Dec 1, 2018

"Deceased-donor acute kidney injury is not associated with kidney allograft failure"
Hall IE, Akalin E, Bromberg JS, Doshi MD, Green T, Harhay MN, Jia Y, Mansour SG, Mohan S, Muthukumar T, Reese PP, Schroppel B, Singh P, Thiessen-Philbrook HR, Weng FL, Parikh CR
Kidney Int.. pii: S0085-2538(18)30715-4. doi: 10.1016/j.kint.2018.08.047. [Epub ahead of print] Nov 14, 2018

"The Affordable Care Act and Trends in Insurance Coverage and Disease Awareness Among Non-elderly Individuals with Kidney Disease"
Harhay MN and McKenna RM
J Gen Intern Med. doi: 10.1007/s11606-018-4713-2. [Epub ahead of print], Oct 26, 2018

"Epidemiology of prediabetes and diabetes in Namibia, Africa: a multilevel analysis of the 2013
Namibia Demographic and Health Survey"
Adekanmbi VT, Uthman OA, Erquo S, Echouffo-Tcheugui JB, Harhay MN, Harhay MO
J Diabetes. doi: 10.1111/1753-0407.12829 [Epub ahead of print], Jul 29, 2018

"Association Between Medicaid Expansion Under the Affordable Care Act and Preemptive Listings for Kidney Transplantation"
Harhay MN, McKenna RM, Boyle SM, Ranganna K, Levin Mizrahi L, Guy S, Malat GE, Xiao G,
Reich DJ, Harhay MO
Clin J Am Soc Nephrol. pii: CJN.00100118. doi: 10.2215/CJN.00100118. [Epub ahead of print] Jun 21, 2018

"Cognitive Impairment in Non–Dialysis-Dependent CKD and the Transition to Dialysis: Findings from the Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort (CRIC) Study"
Harhay MN, Xie D, Zhang X, Hsu C, Vittinghoff E, Go AS, Socio SM, Blumenthal J, Seliger S, Chen J, Deo R, Dobre M, Akkina A, Reese PP, Lash JP, Yaffe K, Kurella Tamura M; CRIC Study Investigators
Am J Kidney Dis. pii: S0272-6386(18)30585-7. doi: 10.1053/j.ajkd.2018.02.361. [Epub ahead of print], May 2, 2018

"Kidney Transplantation in HIV Positive Patients: A Single-Center, 15 Years Experience"
Malat GE, Lee DH, Ranganna KM, Guy S, Jindal RM, Xiao G, Harhay MN, Boyle SM, Anil
Kumar MS, Doyle AM
American Journal of Kidney Diseases,pii: S0272-6386(18)30546-8. doi: 10.1053/j.ajkd.2018.02.352. [Epub ahead of print], Apr 25, 2018

"The association of discharge decisions after deceased donor kidney transplantation with the risk of early readmission: Results from the deceased donor study"
Harhay MN, Jia Y, Thiessen-Philbrook H, Besharatian B, Gumber R, Weng FL, Hall IE, Doshi M, Schroppel B, Parikh CR, Reese PP
Clinical Transplantation;32(4):e13215. doi: 10.1111/ctr.13215 (Epub 2018 Mar 3), Apr 2018

"Anthropometrically predicted visceral adipose tissue and blood-based biomarkers: A cross-sectional analysis"
Brown JC, Harhay MO, Harhay MN
European Journal of Nutrition, 57(1), 191-198, 2018

"Self-reported major mobility disability and mortality among cancer survivors"
Brown JC, Harhay MO, Harhay MN
Journal of Geriatric Oncology, Mar 14, 2018

"Association of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate with primary allograft survival in hiv-positive kidney transplant recipients"
Boyle SM, Malat G, Harhay MN, Lee DH, Pang L, Talluri S, Sharma A, Bias TE, Ranganna K, Doyle AM
Transplant Infectious Disease, 19(4), 2017

"Physical activity, diet quality, and mortality among sarcopenic older adults"
Brown JC, Harhay MO, Harhay MN
Aging Clinical and Experimental Research, 29(2), 257-263, 2017

"Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and mortality among cancer survivors"
Brown JC, Harhay MO, Harhay MN
Cancer Epidemiology, 48, 104-109, 2017

"Barriers to listing for hiv-infected patients being evaluated for kidney transplantation"
Lee DH, Boyle SM, Malat GE, Kern C, Milrod C, DeBellis S, Harhay MN, Ranganna K, Guy S, Talluri S, Bias T, Doyle A
Transplant Infectious Disease, 19(6), 2017

"Anthropometrically-predicted visceral adipose tissue and mortality among men and women in the third national health and nutrition examination survey (nhanes iii)"
Brown JC, Harhay MO, Harhay MN
American Journal of Human Biology, 29(1), 2017

"Appendicular lean mass and mortality among prefrail and frail older adults"
Brown JC, Harhay MO, Harhay MN
The Journal of Nutrition, Health & Aging, 21(3), 342-345, 2017

"Physical activity, diet quality, and mortality among community-dwelling prefrail and frail older adults"
Brown JC, Harhay MO, Harhay MN
Journal of Nutrition in Gerontology and Geriatrics, 35(4), 253-266, 2016

"New solutions to reduce discard of kidneys donated for transplantation"
Reese PP, Harhay MN, Abt PL, Levine MH, Halpern SD
Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, 27(4), 973-980, 2016

"Altitude and regional gradients in chronic kidney disease prevalence in costa rica: Data from the costa rican longevity and healthy aging study"
Harhay MN, Harhay MO, Coto-Yglesias F, Rosero Bixby L
Tropical Medicine and International Health, 21(1), 41-51, 2016

"Patient-reported versus objectively-measured physical function and mortality risk among cancer survivors"
Brown JC, Harhay MO, Harhay MN
Journal of Geriatric Oncology, 7(2), 108-115, 2016

"Serum creatinine elevation after switch to dolutegravir in a human immunodeficiency virus-positive kidney transplant recipient"
Lee DH, Malat GE, Bias TE, Harhay MN, Ranganna K, Doyle AM
Transplant Infectious Disease, 18(4), 625-627, 2016

"Sarcopenia and mortality among a population-based sample of community-dwelling older adults"
Brown JC, Harhay MO, Harhay MN
J Cachexia Sarcopenia Muscle, 7(3), 290-298, 2016

"Visceral adipose tissue dysfunction and mortality among a population-based sample of males and females"
Brown JC, Harhay MO, Harhay MN
Diabetes and Metabolism, 42(5), 382-385, 2016

"The muscle quality index and mortality among males and females"
Brown JC, Harhay MO, Harhay MN
Annals of Epidemiology, 26(9), 648-653, 2016

"Identification of risk factors associated with clostridium difficile infection in liver transplantation recipients: A single-center analysis"
Rogala BG, Malat GE, Lee DH, Harhay MN, Doyle AM, Bias TE
Transplantation Proceedings, 48(8), 2763-2768, 2016

"Measures of Global Health Status on Dialysis Signal Early Rehospitalization Risk after Kidney Transplantation"
Meera N. Harhay, Alexander S. Hill, Wei Wang, Orit Even-Shoshan, Adam S. Mussell, Roy D. Bloom, Harold I. Feldman, Jason H. Karlawish, Jeffrey H. Silber, Peter
P. Reese
PLoS ONE, 11(6), June 3, 2016

"The prognostic importance of frailty in cancer survivors"
Brown JC, Harhay MO, Harhay MN
Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 63(12), 2538-2543, 2015

"Functional Status, Time to Transplantation, and Survival Benefit of Kidney Transplantation Among Wait-Listed Candidates"
Reese PP, Shults J, Bloom RD, Mussell A, Harhay MN, et al.
American Journal of Kidney Diseases: the official journal of the National Kidney Foundation, 66(5), 837-845, Jul 7, 2015

"Association of hypertension and hyperglycaemia with socioeconomic contexts in resource-poor settings: the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey"
Harshfield E, Chowdhury R, Harhay MN, Bergquist H, Harhay MO
International Journal of Epidemiology, 44(5), 1625-1636, Jul 6, 2015

"Physical Function as a Prognostic Marker Among Cancer Survivors"
Brown JC, Harhay MO, Harhay MN
Br J Cancer. 112(1), 194-198, 2015

"Kidney Transplant Outcomes Among Prior Live Organ Donors"
Potluri V, Harhay MN, Wilson FP, Bloom RD, Reese PP
JASN. 26(5), 1188-1194, 2015

"Walking Cadence and Mortality among Community-Dwelling Older Adults"
Brown JC, Harhay MO, Harhay MN
Journal of General Internal Medicine;29(9): 1263-9. doi: 10.1007/s11606-014-2926-6. PMCID: in process, Sep 2014

"Early Rehospitalization after Kidney Transplantation: Assessing Preventability and Prognosis"
Harhay MN, Lin E, Pai A, Harhay MO, Huverserian A, Mussell A, Abt P, Levine M, Bloom R, Shea JA, Troxel AB, Reese PP
Am J Transplant. doi: 10.1111/ajt.12513. PMCID: 24165498, Oct 28, 2013

"Prevalence and trends of the Metabolic Syndrome in the adult US population, 1999-2010"
Beltran-Sanchez H, Harhay MO, Harhay MN, McElligott S
J Am Coll Cardiol. doi:pii: S0735-1097(13)02374-7. PMCID: PMC3756561, Jun 26, 2013

"Education, household wealth and blood pressure in Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Ukraine: Findings from the Demographic Health Surveys, 2005-2009"
Harhay MO, Harhay JS, Nair M
Eur J Intern Med.;24(2):117-26. doi: 10.1016/j.ejim.2012.11.004 PMCID: PMC3638237, Mar 2013

"Eliminating Racial Disparities in Access to Living Donor Kidney Transplantation: How Can Centers Do Better?"
Reese P, Nair M, Bloom R
American Journal of Kidney Diseases - Vol. 59, Issue 6, Pages 751-753, doi: 10.1053/j.ajkd.2012.03.004, June 2012

"Association of Pre-Transplant Weight Loss with Mortality after Deceased Donor Kidney Transplantation"
Harhay MN, Ranganna K, Boyle SM, McAdams DeMarco M
Accepted for oral presentation, American Society of Nephrology Annual Meeting, October 2018

"Outcomes of Second Opinion Kidney Transplant Evaluations"
Harhay MN, Bajakian T, Ranganna K, Levin Mizrahi L, Malat G, Xiao G, Guy S, Reich D
Accepted for poster presentation, American Transplant Congress Annual Meeting, Seattle, Washington, 2018

"Accuracy of Physician Assessments of Kidney Transplant Candidate Function by Candidate Age, Sex, and Race"
Harhay MN, Ranganna K, Levin Mizrahi L, Malat G, Xiao G, Reich D, Guy S, Reese PP. Discriminative
Accepted for poster presentation, American Transplant Congress Annual Meeting, Seattle, Washington, 2018

"Associations of Poor Physical and Cognitive Performance and Kidney Transplant Waiting List Denial"
Harhay MN, Ranganna K, Michie F, Selinski C, Bajakian T, Levin Mizrahi L, Lee J, Malat G, Xiao G, Reich D, Guy S, Reese PP
Accepted for poster presentation, American Transplant Congress Annual Meeting, Seattle, Washington, 2018

"Long-Term Kidney Transplant Survival After Deceased-Donor Acute Kidney Injury"
Hall IE, Akalin E, Bromberg JS, Doshi MD, Harhay MN, Jia Y, Mansour SG, Mohan S, Muthumkumar T, Reese PP, Schroppel B, Singh P, Thiessen-Philbrook HR, Weng FL, Parikh CR
Oral presentation, American Transplant Congress 2018 Annual Meeting, Seattle, Washington, May 2018 

"Implications of Variation in Cognitive Performance on Dialysis: A Pilot Study of an Electronic Cognitive Battery"
Harhay MN, Robinson L, Arif H, Ranganna K, Schultheis M
Accepted for poster presentation, American Society of Nephrology Annual Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, 2017

"Pre-Dialysis Cognitive Impairment and Pre-Emptive Placement of Dialysis Access: Findings from the Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort Study"
Harhay MN, Zhang X, Xie D, Hsu C, Vittinghoff E, Go A, Sozio S, Blumenthal J, Seliger S, Chen J, Deo R, Dobre M, Akkina S, Reese PP, Lash J, Yaffe K, Kurella Tamura M
Accepted for poster presentation, American Society of Nephrology Annual Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, 2017

"Weekend discharge and Early Readmission after Kidney Transplant: A Multi-Center Analysis"
Harhay MN, Jia Y, Hall IE, Thiessen-Philbrook H, Besharatian B, Gumber R, Weng F, Schroppel B, Doshi M, Parikh CR, Reese PP
Accepted for poster presentation, American Transplant Congress Annual Meeting, Chicago Illinois, 2017

"Visit-to-visit Variability of Systolic BP and Renal Outcomes in the SPRINT Trial"
Goldman J, Aggarwal S, Boyle S, McClure L, Seshasai R, Harhay MN
Abstract and oral presentation, American Heart Association (AHA) Council on Hypertension, AHA Council on Kidney in Cardiovascular Disease, American Society of Hypertension: Joint Scientific Session, San Francisco, California, 2017 

"Prevalence of albuminuria among obese U.S. adults without other comorbid conditions"
Harhay MN, Stokes A, Li EJ, Brown J, Harhay MO
Poster presentation, American Society of Nephrology Annual Meeting, November 2016

"Clinical Impact of the Verigene Blood Culture System on Rapid Diagnosis and Antibiotic Optimization in Bacteremic Solid Organ Transplant Recipients"
Law N, Malat G, Lee DH, Doyle A, Harhay MN, Ranganna K, Emery C, Krevolin K, Bias T
Accepted for oral presentation, American Transplant Congress Annual Meeting, June 2016 

"Impact of Psychosocial Factors in Advanced Chronic Kidney Disease on Wait-Listing for Transplantation"
Akkina S, Lash JP, Roy J, Chai B, Fischer M, Hamm L, Hart P, Hsu C, Huan Y, Huml A, Kallem R, Tamura M, Porter A, Ricardo A, Rosas S, Towsend R, Reese PP, Harhay MN
Poster presentation, American Society of Nephrology Annual Meeting, November 2015

"Metrics of Global Health Status Signal Early Hospital Readmission Risk After Kidney Transplantation"
Harhay MN, Hill AS, Wang W, Mussel A, Bloom R, Karlawish J, Feldman H, Reese PP
Accepted for oral presentation, American Transplant Congress Annual Meeting, May 2015 

"Pre-Transplant Hospitalizations Predict Early Hospital Readmission after Kidney Transplant"
Harhay MN, Hill AS, Wang W, Mussell A, Bloom RD, Feldman HI, Reese PP
Poster presentation, American Society of Nephrology Annual Meeting, November 2014

"Distinct Predictors of Single vs. Multiple Early Hospital Readmissions after Kidney Transplant"
Harhay MN, Hill AS, Wang W, Mussell A, Bloom RD, Feldman HI, Reese PP. 
Poster presentation, American Society of Nephrology Annual Meeting, November 2014

"Functional status, change in function and outcomes for patients awaiting a kidney transplant"
Reese PP, Harhay MN, Bloom R, Shults J, Mussell A, Johansen K, Abt P, Levine M, Karlawish J, Feldman H.
Oral presentation, World Transplant Congress Annual Meeting, 2014

"Kidney Transplant Outcomes Among Prior Live Organ Donors"
Potluri V, Harhay MN, Wilson F, Bloom, R, Reese PP
Poster presentation, American Society of Nephrology Annual Meeting, November 2013

"Early Reshospitalization after Kidney Transplantation: Predictors and Prognosis"
Nair M, Lin E, Pai A, Harhay MO, Huverserian A, Mussell A, Abt P, Levine M, Bloom R, Shea JA, Troxel  AB, Reese PP
Oral presentation, American Transplant Congress 2013

"Assessment of Preventable and Non-Preventable Early Rehospitalization following Kidney Transplantation"
Nair M, Lin E, Pai A, Harhay MO, Huverserian A, Mussell A, Abt P, Levine M, Bloom R, Shea JA, Troxel AB, Reese PP
Oral presentation, American Transplant Congress 2013

"Waiting List Functional Status is a Potent Predictor of Mortality among Adult Kidney Transplant Recipients, Regardless of Age"
Reese P, Bloom R, Shults J, Thomasson A, Mussell A, Rosas S, Johansen K, Abt P, Levine M, Nair M, Caplan A, Feldman H, Karlawish J
American Transplant Congress 2012 Abstracts, American Journal of Transplantation, 12: 27–542. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-6143.2012.04112.x, 2012

"Categories and Predictors of early rehospitalization after Kidney Transplantation"
Nair M, Ruskin L, Chiang C, Abt P, Huverserian A, Mussell A, Schaeffer G, Doll S, Reese P, Levine M
American Transplant Congress 2012 Abstracts, American Journal of Transplantation, 12: 27–542. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-6143.2012.04112.x, 2012

"Routine Use of an Intensive Insulin Protocol (IIP) in Lung Recipients Increases the Recognition of New Onset Diabetes Mellitus, but Does Not Affect Rates of Infection"
Blocher N, Doyle A, Nair M et al.
American Journal of Transplantation Vol 8. May 2008

"Decreased Incidence of Clinically Significant Allograft Rejection following Simultaneous Heart-Kidney versus Isolated Heart Transplantation"
Nair M, Sperling K, Brunelli S et al.
Poster presentation, International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation Annual Meeting, May 2007