Meharry Medical College alumna Dr. Sharica Brookins (Class of 2012) joins Dr. James E.K. Hildreth to share her groundbreaking model redefining access for kidney patients in both rural and urban communities.
Kidney disease disproportionately impacts rural and underserved populations, but Dr. Sharica Brookins is changing the future of nephrology through telehealth.
As the first Black nephrologist in the Augusta and Waynesboro regions and the founder of Remote Renal Care, Brookins is pioneering a model that eliminates transportation barriers, reduces wait times, and brings timely, high-quality kidney care directly into patients’ homes. Her journey from Meharry Medical College to building Georgia’s first virtual kidney practice offers a powerful example of innovation in action.
Finding Purpose: From Gerontology to Kidney Health
Brookins’ journey began with her passion for fitness, nutrition, and gerontology.
“I am a first generation college student as well as a physician,” she explains, describing how early mentorship at Florida State University inspired her interest in working with aging populations. But it was a volunteer experience with Donate Life Florida that shifted her trajectory.
“I met another volunteer who was another young black female like myself,” Brookins explains. “She actually had failing kidneys. And so that kind of piqued my interest in nephrology.”
When she arrived at Meharry Medical College, that spark solidified into a mission.
“The mission of Meharry is to serve our community,” she recalls. Community service, clinical learning, and Meharry’s culture of purpose was instilled in her, and became the fuel that drove her onward. “Being able to serve my community is just as important as what I do in the clinic in the hospital.”
After residency and fellowship training at predominantly white institutions, Brookins found herself choosing between Atlanta — where several Black nephrologists already practiced — and Augusta, where none did.
“There was Augusta, Georgia where not only would I be the only female nephrologist in the group, but the first black nephrologist in the town,” she shares. “It was a no-brainer decision that this is a community that could likely benefit from my attributes and the diversity and just the sense of pride that Meharry instilled in me.”
Her commitment to underserved populations set the stage for her most innovative breakthrough.
The Birth of Remote Renal Care: A First-of-Its-Kind Telehealth Kidney Practice
The idea for Remote Renal Care emerged from a crisis. During an emergency maternity leave — after giving birth to her daughter 12 weeks early — Brookins discovered that many of her rural patients had gone without nephrology care simply because they lacked transportation and no other providers would travel to them.
“I prayed on it and I prayed on it, and telehealth came to mind,” Brookins says. “75% of Georgia is rural, and I am the first practice that’s 100% telehealth for kidney care.”
Before COVID, telehealth was still restricted. But she built the first fully virtual nephrology practice in Georgia anyway, well ahead of national trends.
Brookins explains that for many rural patients, visiting a specialist means traveling far distances, sometimes for more than an hour. Her first move was to dismantle that barrier entirely — using a smartphone, computer or tablet to deliver high quality kidney care from the comfort of your home.
Patients can get their blood work done at their primary care office or nearby rural hospital ahead of time. “Then at the time of your appointment, we just log in remotely.”
Patients monitor their blood pressure and weight at home. She reviews labs, imaging, nutrition behaviors, and treatment plans virtually.
And the impact is profound.
Reducing Travel, Reducing Anxiety — and Reducing Wait Times
One of the most powerful results of telehealth is eliminating long specialty waitlists:
“We have a very minimal no-show rate. We also have a low wait time,” Brookins shares. “Imagine having to wait six months for someone to tell you whether or not you were starting dialysis.”
Telehealth gives patients faster answers and dramatically reduces fear.
“Most patients have expressed to me that it lessens the anxiety of what their kidneys are actually doing, whether or not they need dialysis,” she says. “It allows them to get more immediate and effective care and to start treatment sooner than waiting six months.”
With the success of Remote Renal Care, Brookins expanded to partner with various Veterans Affairs offices across the state.
“Let’s say you don’t have a VA in your town, you can request what’s called Community Care,” she explains. “If your wait time is beyond 28 days, then you automatically qualify for Community Care because the VA knows the importance of getting these veterans scheduled as soon as possible.”
Through this partnership, veterans receive timely, specialized care closer to home.
Mobile Clinics: Taking Specialty Care Directly Into Communities
Before COVID, broadband limitations in rural communities threatened telehealth’s reach. But recent federal investments have allowed mobile clinics equipped with telehealth tools to surge.
Brookins partners with them to reach patients who previously had no access at all.
“More mobile clinics are present because they saw the impact of actually getting the care to the community,” she says. According to Brookins, this model is closing rural gaps one community at a time, and kidney patients are benefitting.
“Instead of them coming to the primary care offices, mobile clinics that are equipped with telecommunications and cameras offer telecardiology, they offer telenephrology,” she explains. “There are certain days when they will go to set communities and allow these subspecialty visits to take place within the mobile unit.”
Empowering Communities Through Lunch-and-Learn Sessions
Community education is a cornerstone of Brookins’ mission.
“I love doing community work,” she says. “When I first moved here in Augusta, one of the ways of introducing myself to the community and getting to know the community was I started with these lunch and learn sessions.”
These sessions help residents understand kidney health, ask better questions, and build trust with healthcare providers who look like them.
Brookins also knows nutrition plays a major role in hypertension, diabetes, and kidney disease, and integrates dietary coaching into every appointment.
“I light up when I talk about food as medicine,” she shares. Her practice sponsors Augusta Locally Grown and its Food as Medicine program, where participants report weight loss, lower blood pressure, and reduced medications.
“They report at the end coming off of certain blood pressure meds, weight loss, diabetes improvement, and what they’re learning, they’re coming to their sessions to get their body measurements and their weight, but they’re also having cooking classes.”
To scale her food-as-medicine initiatives nationally, Brookins says it requires more nutrition education for medical students as well as sustainable funding and grants.
“Definitely the funding has been a huge component that’s helped us get our program to where it is here in Augusta, Georgia.”
Purpose as Fuel: Avoiding Burnout
Despite juggling motherhood, medicine, and entrepreneurship, Brookins aims to stay grounded. “Every day I wake up and I thank God for the ability to serve my purpose and to serve what he’s put me here on this earth for,” she shares.
Admittedly, Brookins doesn’t claim to have the answer to work-life balance, “but my mission is what drives me,” she says.
“Seeing my community, whether it be we have a long way to go or seeing some of the small steps and improvement, is what drives me. I think that’s been my fuel.”
Sharing her wisdom for current and future Meharry graduates, Brookins message is simple: “Keep in mind your purpose. If you haven’t found your purpose yet, that doesn’t mean you can’t and you won’t. But just continue to search for your purpose,” she offers.
“Because when things get rough, when you question and you doubt, you can always look over at that purpose and say, this is why I’m doing it, whether it be for your family, whether it be for your kids, whether it be for your community or just for your love of Christ, just definitely find your purpose.”
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