Highlights• Six leaders in the kidney health community are being honored by the American Society of Nephrology (ASN), the world’s largest organization of kidney disease specialists.• The award winners will be honored at ASN Kidney Week, the world’s premier nephrology meeting. More than 13,000 kidney health professionals from around the world will gather in Atlanta on November 5–10.
More than 20 million Americans have kidney disease.
Newswise — Atlanta, GA (November 1, 2013)—Six leaders in the fight against kidney disease will be honored by the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) during the society’s annual meeting, ASN Kidney Week 2013 on November 5¬–10 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, GA. Each recipient has advanced the fight against kidney disease, the 8th leading cause of death in the U.S.
ASN President’s Medal to be Awarded to Patient Advocate Lori Hartwell Lifelong kidney patient and Renal Support Network (RSN) President Lori Hartwell will receive the ASN President’s Medal for her influential work in patient support and advocacy in a special presentation during the plenary session on Thursday, November 7.
Hartwell has provided an inspiring model for living with chronic kidney disease since being diagnosed with hemolytic uremic syndrome at age 2. She has survived 13 years of dialysis and more than 40 surgeries. Hartwell founded the patient-led RSN in 1993 to instill “health, happiness, and hope” into the lives of fellow patients. As RSN president, Hartwell travels widely nationally and internationally, educating and inspiring people with kidney disease and health care professionals with her stories, insight, and humor.
The ASN President’s Medal is awarded to individuals who have helped lead the fight against kidney disease.
Mark E. Rosenberg to Receive Robert G. Narins Award Mark E. Rosenberg, MD, FASN, the vice dean for education at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis, will receive the Robert G. Narins Award. In addition to being a professor of medicine, his many responsibilities for medical education include admissions, the 4 years of medical school, graduate medical education, and continuing medical education.
Dr. Rosenberg has been involved in medical education at many levels. He servedas the fellowship director of the nephrology training program at the University ofMinnesota, as founding and principal investigator of a National Institutes of Healthtraining grant in nephrology, and as the senior fellowship coordinator of all fellowshipprograms in the department of medicine. He is the outgoing education directorfor Kidney Week and was recently elected to serve on the ASN Council.
The Robert G. Narins Award honors individuals who have made substantial and meritorious contributions in education and teaching.
John P. Peters Award to Honor David J. SalantDavid J. Salant, MD, professor of medicine at Boston University Medical Center, chief of nephrology, and director of the nephrology training program, will be awarded the John P. Peters Award during the plenary session on Saturday, November 9 for his work on mechanisms of immune deposition and the role of complement in glomerular diseases as well as the structural biology of the podocyte.
Supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Salant has conducted extensive research on immune disorders of the kidneys. He was one of the earliest proponents of the notion that podocyte injury forms the basis of most, if not all, proteinuric kidney diseases. He was among the first to identify the podocyte as the primary target of injury in antibody-mediated glomerular disease.
The John P. Peters Award recognizes individuals who have made substantial research contributions to the discipline of nephrology and have sustained achievements in one or more domains of academic medicine including clinical care, education and leadership.
ASN to Bestow Belding H. Scribner Award on Andrew S. LeveyThe Belding H. Scribner Award will be tendered to Andrew S. Levey, MD, during the plenary session on Saturday, November 9. Dr. Levey is the Dr. Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman Professor of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine and chief of the division of nephrology at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. An authority on clinical practice guidelines in chronic kidney disease (CKD), Dr. Levey is being honored for his career-long contributions to the practice of nephrology.
Dr. Levey has made significant contributions in patient care, research, training, and health care policy related to CKD. His research spans a wide range, including serving as principal nephrologist co-investigator for the Modification of Diet and Renal Disease Study, sponsored by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease (NIDDK). He and his colleagues used this large database to develop an equation to estimate glomerular filtration rate (GFR) from serum creatinine. He also led the NIDDK effort to pool databases from studies to develop equations based on creatinine, cystatin C, and other filtration markers.
The Belding H. Scriber Award is presented annually to one or more individuals who have made outstanding contributions that have a direct impact on the care of patients with renal disorders or have substantially changed the clinical practice of nephrology.
Stefan Somlo to Receive Homer W. Smith AwardAcclaimed polycystic kidney disease researcher Stefan Somlo, MD, will receive the Homer W. Smith Award and address the plenary session on Friday, November 8, at Kidney Week. He lecture is titled “Polycystic Kidney and Liver Diseases: From Gene Discovery to Mechanism.”
Dr. Somlo is C.N.H. Long Professor of Medicine (Nephrology) and professor of geneticsat the Yale University School of Medicine. His seminal contributions to the fields of polycystic kidney disease (PKD) and liver disease began with disease gene discoveries in the pre-genome era. His later studies yielded insights into the genetic mechanisms of PKD, the functions of polycystins, and the innovative application of genetically complex animal models to in vivo and preclinical discoveries in PKD. Dr. Somlo’s laboratory identified the second gene for dominant polycystic kidney disease and two genes forfamilial forms of polycystic liver disease without kidney cysts.
The Homer Smith Award is presented annually to an individual who has made outstanding contributions which fundamentally affect the science of nephrology, broadly defined, but not limited to, the pathobiology, cellular and molecular mechanisms and genetic influences on the functions and diseases of the kidney.
Jeremy S. Duffield to Receive Young Investigator AwardASN will present its Young Investigator Award to Jeremy S. Duffield, MD, PhD, for his groundbreaking research on fibrogenesis. He will describe his recent findings in an address, “New Insights into Mechanisms and Consequences of Fibrogenesis: An Avenue to Novel Therapeutics for Kidney Disease,” at the plenary session on Sunday, November 10.
Dr. Duffield is associate professor of medicine at the University of Washington MedicalSchool in Seattle, where he also directs the inflammation research laboratory at the Kidney Research Institute. An established National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) investigator, he heads a laboratory focused on the role of the innate immune response cells called monocytes in injury and repair and on the role of the mesenchymal cells known as pericytes and fibroblasts in microvascular remodelingand fibrosis. This research has led to several candidate therapeutics now being testedin clinical trials.
The Young Investigator Award is presented annually to an individual with an outstanding record of achievement and creativity in basic or patient-oriented research related to the functions and diseases of the kidney.
ASN Kidney Week 2013, the largest nephrology meeting of its kind, will provide a forum for more than 13,000 professionals to discuss the latest findings in renal research and engage in educational sessions related to advances in the care of patients with kidney and related disorders. Kidney Week 2013 will take place November 5–10, 2013 in Atlanta, GA.
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Founded in 1966, and with more than 14,000 members, the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) leads the fight against kidney disease by educating health professionals, sharing new knowledge, advancing research, and advocating the highest quality care for patients.
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