Andrew
Brookens, MD

Dr. Brookens grew up in the Denver area where he developed a love for the Colorado outdoors. He later attended college at Duke University in Durham, NC, earning degrees in public policy and Spanish literature while studying pre-med coursework. After college, he became fluent in Spanish after serving in the Peace Corps in Bolivia where he taught school children and worked to empower rural businesses. He later studied medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine where he earned his M.D. degree. Following this, he completed residency training and nephrology fellowship at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he participated in research on mineral bone disorders and learned about home dialysis from one of the country’s founding dialysis institutions.

Dr. Brookens, his wife, and his son moved back home to the Denver area in 2016. After starting out with a large area practice, in early 2019, he left his former employer to found Altitude Kidney Health where he designed his practice to respond to the needs of patients with a broad variety of kidney disease including those with language and other barriers to accessing care. He studied and continues to deploy strategies for increasing access to care for his patients such as remote patient monitoring of vital signs, telehealth and language translation. He employs his own brand of compassionate evidence-based care for his patients each day and for those patients on dialysis, he works hard to keep them at home and involved in their own lives.

Dr. Brookens primarily cares for patients in East Denver-Aurora and the Southeast Denver metro area. He also hosts a regular in-person clinic in Summit County in the mountains. In late 2020, he partnered with other leading community physicians and researchers to deepen the coverage options for his patients at leading area healthcare facilities.

Dr. Brookens’ philosophy is to offer kidney and dialysis care to all residents in need, regardless of a person’s situation. He believes that achieving health should be simpler for his patients and he considers himself a ‘coach in the corner’, focused on empowering patients to reach their health goals.