For Dr. Sayna Norouzi, clinical research isn't a side project. It's part of how she practices medicine.

Dr. Sayna Norouzi is a clinical nephrologist and associate professor of medicine at Loma Linda University Medical Center, where she founded and directs the glomerular diseases clinics. She also directs the polycystic kidney disease clinic and serves as co-director of the online GlomCon Glomerular Diseases Fellowship Program, helping train around 100 national and international fellows each year. But ask her what she loves most about her work, and she'll tell you about her patients.

A career built around patients

Dr. Norouzi joined Loma Linda in 2020 after completing her nephrology fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine. Clinical research has been part of her career since her days as an internal medicine resident, but stepping into the role of principal investigator opened up a different kind of relationship with the work.

"It's been kind of nonstop," she said. "Sometimes it's 24/7 thinking about your patients, being involved with the medical team, going over blood work, urine tests, talking to patients sometimes a couple of times a day to keep them updated."

She doesn't see that pace as a burden. For the patients she serves, it's what good care looks like.

Why trials matter in rare kidney disease

The patients in Dr. Norouzi's clinic are often young. Many are facing rare glomerular disorders that put them at risk for complications like dialysis or transplant down the road. For this group, clinical trials are not a fallback. They're a real treatment option.

"I think it's a fundamental part of providing comprehensive care to patients with rare kidney disease, because clinical trials are part of their treatment options," she said. "Having access to these clinical trials at a subspecialty center, it's something essential."

That access is what lets her walk into a room and offer something more than the standard playbook.

A two-way relationship

Dr. Norouzi is direct about what makes a clinical trial work, and it goes beyond the protocol. It's the partnership.

"You provide them with more options, with innovative medications, and they work with you really well," she said. "They follow up. They're really involved in their care."

That trust shows up most clearly when results go well. She lights up describing the moment a patient sees their numbers improve on a trial.

"I always call my coordinators and say, you have to look at this number, look at what we did as a team," she said. "The happiness in their eyes, the fact that they trusted the process and now they're responding, it's such a fantastic moment."

When things don't go as hoped

Not every trial ends in good news. Some patients receive a placebo while others may not respond to the study drug. And those conversations, Dr. Norouzi said, are the ones that take real care.

"That's the true art as a trialist," she said. "I grab my chair, sit down, we go over lab results from the past few months, we go over options."

She gives her patients time. She walks them through the pros and cons of what's next. She shares her opinion when they ask for it. And she makes sure they know the door stays open.

What surprises her, again and again, is what happens after a setback. Patients who came off one trial sometimes come back to enroll in another.

"It shows they're really trusting me with the process," she said. "They feel like this is the best thing that can happen to them."

Patient education as advocacy

Outside the clinic, Dr. Norouzi has built a following on social media, where she translates complicated kidney disease information into something patients can actually use.

Her goal isn't to make decisions for patients. It's to give them enough information to ask better questions.

"They can bring in names and say, what do you think about this newly FDA-approved medication? What about this specific clinical trial that just released positive data?" she said. "The more detailed you ask questions, the better advocacy you have for yourself."

The joy that keeps her going

When Dr. Norouzi talks about her work, she keeps returning to one word: joy.

"I love what I do here," she said. "The responses of my patients, that's what keeps me passionate about this field."

For patients living with rare kidney disease, that passion shows up in how she practices. Not as a researcher running a trial, but as a partner walking with them through every step.

Interested in learning about rare kidney studies? Visit patientwing.com where you can learn more about clinical studies for IgA Nephropathy or primary membranous nephropathy.