Nephrologist Dr. Heather Lechnowsky joins the Methodist team

Heather Lechnowsky, MD, worked at a nursing home during college and was inspired to pursue a career in which she could help people.

As a nephrologist at Methodist Physicians Clinic – Nephrology, Dr. Lechnowsky believes the most important part of her job is educating patients and their families.

“Full communication is so important,” she said. “It inspires confidence in the patient that they can be successful. And it helps family members understand exactly what’s going on.”

Dr. Lechnowsky works to empower patients to ask questions confidently and be engaged in their health care.

“Sometimes patients have good ideas that you haven’t thought about,” she said. “There’s always an opportunity when you have an interaction with a patient for both parties to be educated.”

She enjoys interacting with patients and providers across a variety of specialties.

“Nephrology plays into every organ system,” she said. “That’s why we work with a lot of other specialists. Cardiac patients often see nephrologists. People with liver disease often see nephrologists. We take care of refractory hypertension. People with pulmonary diseases see nephrologists. Endocrinology. And autoimmune diseases. We cross into just about every subspecialty in medicine.”

When she’s not seeing patients in the clinic or at the hospital, Dr. Lechnowsky enjoys cooking, walking her dogs, going on vacation and spending time with family.