congress faculty
Prof. Dr. Peter Stenvinkel
Chairman Life/2021
Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm / Sweden
Peter Stenvinkel serves as a Full Professor and senior lecturer at the Department of the Renal Medicine Karolinska University Hospital, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. He has published about 530 original publications and reviews and more than 30 book chapters on various aspects of inflammation, wasting, vascular calcification and metabolism in chronic kidney disease. He is interested in bio-inspired medicine and epigenetics. His Hirsch index is 82 according to PubMed. He has given more than 400 invited lectures at various international meetings and congresses in about 30 different countries. He received a prize for the best Swedish thesis in diabetology in 1994 and was a Baxter Extramural Grant awardee in 1996. He was a Karolina prize awardee in 2005 and a Vicenza prize awardee in 2009. He received the Addis Gold medal by the ISRNM for nutritional research in 2010 and was National Kidney Foundation international awardee in 2012. He received the ERA-EDTA prize for outstanding educational contribution in 2017.
Prof. Dr. Christoph Wanner
Chairman Life/2021
University Hospital, Würzburg / Germany
Christoph Wanner is Professor of Medicine and chief of the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension at the University Hospital of Würzburg, Germany. Prof. Wanner’s areas of interest are metabolic disorders and cardiovascular outcomes in patients with diabetic kidney and other rare diseases. He has served as the principal investigator of the 4D study and as a steering committee member of the EMPA-REG OUTCOME study and is the central European coordinator of the SHARP and EMPA-KIDNEY study. He has published more than 700 scientific articles. He served as editor-in-chief for the Journal of Renal Nutrition and as associate editor of the Clinical Journal of the ASN. He also served as chair of the European Renal Registry of the ERA-EDTA (2009-2015). In 2007 he received the International Distinguished Medal of the National Kidney Foundation. Prof. Wanner is an honorary member of the Polish Society of Nephrology and received a Doctor Honoris Causa from Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic, in 2012. He is currently the president of the ERA-EDTA.
Dr. Otto Arkossy
Fresenius Medical Care / Germany
Dr. Otto Arkossy
Fresenius Medical Care / Germany
Prof. Dr. Gloria E. Ashuntantang
University of Bamenda, Yaounde General Hospital, University of Yaounde I / Cameroon
Prof. Dr. Gloria E. Ashuntantang
University of Bamenda, Yaounde General Hospital, University of Yaounde I / Cameroon
Doctor Gloria Ashuntantang is a consultant nephrologist at the Yaounde General Hospital and Professor of Medicine at the University of Yaounde I in Cameroon. She is holder of the MB, BS degree (University of Ibadan in Nigeria), holds a certificate of specialisation in internal medicine (University of Yaounde I), and Diplôme de Médecin Spécialiste en néphrologie and an MD (University of Geneva, Switzerland). Her main area of research is end stage kidney disease care in sub-Saharan Africa. She currently works on ethical challenges of providing care for patients with ESKD in sub-Saharan Africa. She has co-authored over 70 peer-review papers and a book chapter. She is the current president of the African Association of Nephrology, deputy chair of the ISN Africa regional board and was member of the ISN executive committee (2017-2019). She is a distinguished fellow of the European Renal Association and Knight of the Cameroon Order of Valour. She currently serves as the vice president of the Cameroon Medical Council and dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Bamenda in Cameroon.
Dr. Carla Avesani
Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm / Sweden
Dr. Carla Avesani
Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm / Sweden
Carla Maria Avesani is a Dietitian, Ph.D., Associate Professor at Rio de Janeiro State University, Brazil, and currently works as a Research Coordinator at Baxter Novum, Nephrology Division - CLINTEC and is affiliated with the Department of Clinical Nutrition, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden. She has a background in clinical research with a focus on the nutritional aspects of patients with chronic kidney disease and is the author of publications considered reference papers in this field.
Dr. Miriam Banas
Universitätsklinikum Regensburg / Germany
Dr. Miriam Banas
Universitätsklinikum Regensburg / Germany
Miriam Banas is a senior nephrologist and lecturer in the Department of Nephrology at the University Hospital in Regensburg, Germany. From 2004-2006 she worked as a postdoc in the Department of Nephropathology at the University of Washington, Seattle, USA, together with Professor Charles Alpers. Doctor Banas’ areas of expertise are the biology of renal cells and tissue with a focus on the innate immune system and master regulators such as long non-coding RNAs, the development and progression of diabetic nephropathy and non-invasive novel diagnostic test systems to improve allograft outcome after kidney transplantation. As the head of several student and renal fellow mentoring programs within the German Society of Nephrology, support for students and young nephrologists is very important to her. Her most recent task is as speaker of the nephrology group within a national program in Germany to investigate long-term consequences of COVID-19 disease.
Prof. Dr. Peter Bárány
Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm / Sweden
Prof. Dr. Peter Bárány
Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm / Sweden
Peter Bárány has a position as Senior Physician in Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden serving in both the pediatric and adult nephrology units. He has an academic affiliation as Associate Professor in Nephrology at the Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology (CLINTEC), Karolinska Institutet. He is a member of national and international nephrology societies and serves as subject editor and reviewer for several nephrology journals.His Current research interests include clinical and epidemiological studies of CKD patients at all stages, both in children and adults. Dr Bárány has published more than 180 original articles and about 25 reviews and book chapters and tutors Ph.D students in nephrology.
Mrs. Tania Barnes
Sheffield Teaching Hospital / United Kingdom
Mrs. Tania Barnes
Sheffield Teaching Hospital / United Kingdom
I have worked as a Nurse within the renal field for 29 years and have clinical experience in all aspects of renal care. I have had a clinical renal education role for the last 20 years working at the Sheffield Teaching hospital in the UK. Since 2011, I have worked in a speciality role as a Shared Haemodialysis Care Educator and Course leader. I was part of the core team on the ShareHD scaling up programme board, designing and facilitating learning events for the quality improvement collaborative, with 19 UK trusts. My present role involves delivering a 4 day national course for staff working within the haemodialysis setting. The purpose of the course is to introduce, support and provide the tools to change the way in which dialysis care is currently provided. It delivers a range of teaching methods to facilitate a behavioural change encouraging a partnership with patients leading to improved participation and engagement in dialysis tasks and team working.
Prof. Dr. Peter J. Blankestijn
University Medical Center, Utrecht / Netherlands
Prof. Dr. Peter J. Blankestijn
University Medical Center, Utrecht / Netherlands
Professor Peter J. Blankestijn completed his medical school and training in Internal Medicine at the Erasmus University and Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Presently, he works as a nephrologist at the Department of Nephrology and Hypertension of the University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands. He was and is principal investigator of several multicenter studies, including SMASH, MASTERPLAN, CONTRAST, SYMPATHY and CONVINCE. He was active within the ERA-EDTA as a member of the council (2010-2013 and re-elected in 2017). He was chair of the Working Group on Dialysis Therapy (EuDial) from 2012 to 2017. Since 2017/2018, he is active on a national and international level in creating awareness for the interaction between climate change / environmental pollution and health / disease and initiated the green initiative within the ERA-EDTA. His main research activities include studies in humans. Subjects are: 1] hypertension, with special interest for hypertension in chronic kidney disease patients, for the sympathetic nervous system and renal denervation, 2] treatment and prevention of complications of chronic kidney disease patients, 3] hemodialysis techniques, and 4] treatment and prevention of complications of hemodialysis treatment. He is co-author of over 300 papers in peer-reviewed scientific medical journals. He is member (including chair) of multiple institutional, national and international committees and boards.
Dr. Juliana Blum
HUMACYTE, Inc. / United States
Dr. Juliana Blum
HUMACYTE, Inc. / United States
Dr. Blum is a molecular biologist and co-founder of Humacyte. She received her doctorate in Molecular Biology from Loyola University Chicago with a focus in cardiovascular gene therapy in 2003, and completed her BS at Carthage College in Wisconsin in 1998.She has spent over 15 years combining her technical expertise with bioengineered tissue development to bring Humacyte’s novel biotechnology platform and potential therapeutic products to market. Dr. Blum’s current work at Humacyte focuses on Global Reimbursement Strategy, Commercial Marketing Strategy and pairing the strategic direction of our organization with our overall business operations. Dr. Blum is responsible for developing and maintaining strong strategic partnerships through the establishment of key collaborations critical to the success of the organization. During Dr. Blum’s tenure with Humacyte, she has led internal and external commercial initiatives, provided oversight to all aspects of technology transfer from Humacyte to our manufacturing partners; and led all aspects of our Global Regulatory Affairs function to include overseeing tissue based regulatory compliance and industry trends in the donation, recovery, processing, and use of human tissue and cells in product manufacturing, as well as the development of global regulatory initiatives and submissions in support of clinical activities in the US, Europe, and Israel.
Dr. Natalie Borman
Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth / United Kingdom
Dr. Natalie Borman
Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth / United Kingdom
Doctor Natalie Borman is qualified from the University of Wales, College of Medicine and is a Nephrology Consultant and Clinical Director at Wessex Kidney Centre (WKC), Portsmouth, United Kingdom. Dr. Borman is the clinical lead for home hemodialysis at WKC and is in charge of a large home program. She has been the chair of the European Medical Board for NxStage, is program lead for the UK Dialysis Conference and co-author of the Renal Association Guidelines Group for Hemodialysis. Dr. Borman has presented internationally on home hemodialysis, being invited to conferences across Europe and the USA. Dr. Borman completed a research MD from the University of Southampton, UK.
Prof. Dr. Annette Bruchfeld
Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm / Sweden
Prof. Dr. Annette Bruchfeld
Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm / Sweden
Annette Bruchfeld is Professor of Nephrology at Linköping University as well as Guest Professor at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. Dr Bruchfeld’s areas of interest are inflammatory kidney diseases and vasculitis and the negative effects of hepatitis C in CKD and kidney transplantation. She has participated in and led numerous clinical trials in these diseases. The consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in this population have been severe. Dr. Bruchfeld has studied COVID-19 outcome in dialysis patients and the elderly and has also written recommendations on care and vaccine preparedness in patients with immune-mediated kidney disease. She has published close to 110 research papers and several book chapters. Professor Bruchfeld was previously a member of the ERA-EDTA council and is the chair elect for the Immunonephrology Working Group of the ERA EDTA as well as the Scientific Chair for the Paris 2022 congress.
Prof. Dr. Bernard Canaud
Fresenius Medical Care / France
Prof. Dr. Bernard Canaud
Fresenius Medical Care / France
Professor Bernard Canaud is currently an Emeritus Professor of Nephrology at the Montpellier University School of Medicine, France. He headed the Nephrology, Dialysis and Intensive Care Department for 25 years at Lapeyronie University Hospital, Montpellier, France. Main topics of interest are renal replacement therapy, uremic toxicity, vascular access, dialysis efficacy, nutrition, anemia, epidemiology of chronic kidney disease and practice patterns. He contributed to the elaboration and production of the European Best Practice Guidelines particularly on dialysis fluid purity, vascular access, dialysis adequacy, and anemia management. Prof. Canaud is currently the senior chief scientist in the Global Medical Office of Fresenius Medical Care. He acted as chief medical officer for the EMEA-LA region at Fresenius Medical Care from 2012 to 2018. <br>He has published 400 peer-reviewed manuscripts, contributed to more than 80 textbook chapters and attended more than 1000 scientific medical meetings. Prof. Canaud has received several awards and distinctions from international nephrology societies including the prestigious Belding Scribner award from the ISHD in 2010. He also received the “Légion d’Honneur” as recognition for his lifetime of medical achievement from the French president in 2009. In March 2019, the ADC and Missouri University, USA, awarded him for his lifetime achievement in nephrology and commitment to renal replacement therapy.
Prof. Dr. Vincenzo Cantaluppi
A.O.U. Maggiore della Carità di Novara, Nefrologia e Trapianto Renale / Italy
Prof. Dr. Vincenzo Cantaluppi
A.O.U. Maggiore della Carità di Novara, Nefrologia e Trapianto Renale / Italy
Vincenzo Cantaluppi is Associate Professor of Nephrology at the University of Eastern Piedmont “A. Avogadro”, “Maggiore della Carità” University Hospital in Novara, Italy. He is the director of the Nephrology and Kidney Transplantation Unit at the University of Eastern Piedmont. He received a medical degree in Medicine and Surgery at the University of Pavia, Italy, in 1998. In 2004 he became a specialist in nephrology at the faculty of Medicine and Surgery of the University of Turin, Italy. He is an active clinical investigator in the fields of acute kidney injury, renal replacement therapy in the Intensive Care Unit and Kidney Transplantation. His main lines of basic research are focused on acute kidney injury biomarkers and on the development of new potential therapeutic strategies for acute kidney injury based on the transplantation of stem cells and derived extracellular vesicles.
Dr. Anna Caroli
Biomedical Engineering Department, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Neg / Italy
Dr. Anna Caroli
Biomedical Engineering Department, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Neg / Italy
Doctor Anna Caroli graduated in mathematics cum laude in 2003 from Milan University, Italy, and got her Ph.D. in 2010 from Maastricht University, the Netherlands, at the faculty of Health, Medicine, and Life Sciences. From 2004 to 2015 she worked as a researcher at the Laboratory of Alzheimer’s Neuroimaging & Epidemiology of the ‘IRCCS San Giovanni di Dio’, Brescia, Italy. In 2011, she got a permanent position as senior researcher at the Medical Imaging Unit, Bioengineering Department, ‘Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS’, Bergamo, Italy. Since 2012 she is leading the Medical Imaging Unit, dealing with medical image processing and analysis, multiparametric MRI in kidney disease, and image-based computational modeling to support optimal vascular access surgical planning. Dr. Caroli has been involved in a number of clinical trials in renal disease as responsible person for image analysis. Moreover, she has been involved in a number of international initiatives (ARCH-FP7-ICT-2007-2-224390; Trancyst-FP7-PEOPLE-MCA-ITN-317246; ERA-EDTA EuroCYST Initiative). She currently leads the clinical working group (WG3) of the European COST action PARENCHIMA (CA16103), which is paving the way for clinical use of renal MRI in patients with chronic kidney disease. Since March 2019 she is a member of the ESR European Imaging Biomarkers Alliance (EIBALL) Research Committee. She is the author of more than 70 articles and conference papers.
Dr. Charles Chazot
NephroCare / France
Dr. Charles Chazot
NephroCare / France
Doctor Charles Chazot studied medicine at the Medical School in Lyon University, France, and did his medical voluntary service in Akbou, Algeria. In 1989, he joined in 1989 the Tassin Dialysis Unit in France run by Dr. Guy Laurent and Dr. Bernard Charra and worked in private practice in nephrology until 2014 with main activities in hemodialysis and clinical nephrology. He was a research fellow at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in the Nephrology Division of Prof. Kopple, an expert in the field of nutritional problems among chronic kidney disease and dialysis patients.<br>From 2007 to 2013 he was a Medical Director and General Manager of the Tassin Dialysis Unit that belongs to Fresenius Medical Care since 1998. He has a Master’s degree in Management of Healthcare Units.<br>Dr. Chazot is currently NephroCare country medical director for France. His special interests are in the fields of nutrition, extra-cellular volume and blood pressure controls in dialysis patients. <br>Dr. Chazot has published 140 peer-reviewed papers, 3 book chapters and is a regular reviewer for nephrology journals.<br>He has been an investigator in the FINE study, Renilon study and GSK HIF study.
Dr. Allan J. Collins
Fresenius Medical Care, USA / United States
Dr. Allan J. Collins
Fresenius Medical Care, USA / United States
Professor Allan Collins is an Emeritus Professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota, USA, past director of the United States Renal Data System from 1999-2014 and past president of the US National Kidney Foundation 2006-2008. He received the American Society of Nephrology Belding H. Scribner award in 2014 for his clinical career in advancing care for kidney disease patients. He has led the NxStage Medical Advisory Board since 2014 and served as the chief medical officer since 2017. He is currently the senior chief scientist in the Global Medical Office of Fresenius Medical Care.
Prof. Mario Cozzolino
University of Milan / Italy
Prof. Mario Cozzolino
University of Milan / Italy
Mario Cozzolino is Full Professor of Nephrology and director of the Laboratory of Experimental Nephrology at the Department of Health Sciences, University of Milan, Italy. He is the chief of the Division of Nephrology and Dialysis at ASST Santi Paolo and Carlo Hospitals, Milan, Italy. Prof. Cozzolino's areas of interest are metabolic disorders and cardiovascular outcomes in patients with end-stage renal disease. He has served as the principal investigator of several clinical studies in chronic kidney disease and dialysis patients. He has published more than 400 scientific articles. He serves as associate editor of Nephrology Dialysis and Transplantation, Clinical Kidney Journal, Journal of Nephrology, Blood Purification, PlosOne and Scientific Reports.<br>Based on Expertscape's objective, quantitative multi-factorial analysis of scientific publications covering the past 10 years, he was the first of the world's top experts in the field of hyperparathyroidism research and treatment (2015-2018). He also served as chair of the CKD-MBD (Chronic Kidney Disease – Mineral Bone Disorder) Working Group of the ERA-EDTA (2013-2018). He is currently a Council Member of the ERA-EDTA. He was recognized as a Distinguished Fellow of the European Renal Association and as a Fellow of the American Society of Nephrology.
Dr. Michael Curtis
eGenesis Bio / United States
Dr. Michael Curtis
eGenesis Bio / United States
Doctor Michael Curtis is the president of Research & Development at eGenesis and is responsible for managing the eGenesis xenotransplantation programs. <br>He has more than 30 years of experience in scientific research and leadership in biopharmaceutical drug development through roles at Cadent Therapeutics, Catabasis Therapeutics, Infinity Pharmaceuticals, TKT, Syntonix Pharmaceuticals, Genzyme and Bristol-Myers Squibb. He has played an instrumental role in advancing numerous products into first-in-human studies and through regulatory approval across multiple therapeutic areas including oncology, immunology, metabolic disease, movement disorders and psychiatric disease. Prior to joining eGenesis, Dr. Curtis led the formation of Cadent Therapeutics; advancing a portfolio of first-in-class products for the treatment of neurological and psychiatric diseases, culminating in the acquisition by Novartis in 2020. Dr. Curtis holds an ASc in Biotechnology from Cobleskill College and a BSc in Biochemistry from the College of Environmental Science and Forestry, USA. He earned a Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology from the State University of New York Upstate Medical University, USA.
Prof. Dr. Simon Davies
University Hospitals of North Midlands, Royal Stoke University Hospital, Keele University / United Kingdom
Prof. Dr. Simon Davies
University Hospitals of North Midlands, Royal Stoke University Hospital, Keele University / United Kingdom
Professor Simon Davies is a consultant nephrologist at the University Hospital of North Midlands and Professor of Nephrology and Dialysis Medicine at Keele University, United Kingdom. Until recently Prof. Davies was chair of the UK Renal Registry Dialysis Study Group and is now co-chair of the International Society of Nephrology Dialysis Committee, having served as president of the International Society of Peritoneal Dialysis from 2010−2012. His principal research interests are in peritoneal dialysis (PD) and the evaluation of fluid status in advanced kidney failure. He is responsible for the Stoke PD Study, and a lead investigator of the European Automated Peritoneal Dialysis Outcome Study (EAPOS), the BISTRO Trial, evaluating bioimpedance guided fluid management and residual kidney function preservation in hemodialysis, the GLOBAL Fluid Study and the international PD Outcomes and Practice Patterns Study (PDOPPS). The impact of this research was rated outstanding by the UK Research Excellence Framework 2014 and he was awarded the Distinguished International Medal by the American National Kidney Foundation in 2013.
Prof. Dr. Dick de Zeeuw
University Groningen, Groningen / Netherlands
Prof. Dr. Dick de Zeeuw
University Groningen, Groningen / Netherlands
Professor Dick de Zeeuw earned his MD from the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, in 1975. After his Ph.D. he worked in nephrology and clinical pharmacology. He is the past head of Clinical Pharmacology and director of the Groningen University Institute for Drug Exploration. He served on 12 editorial boards of several international journals and is member of the Advisory Committee Clinical Trials of the ISN. His research interests include optimizing current and finding new therapies to reduce progressive loss of cardiovascular / renal function, both in diabetic and non-diabetic renal disease. He initiated large cohort studies and large clinical trials, focusing on tailoring therapy to the individual patient (precision medicine). He authored more than 600 international scientific publications and more than 60 book chapters and received several prizes: the Lennart Hansson Memorial Lecture award, the NKF International Distinguished Medal, the Saal van Zwanenberg oeuvre prize, the JSDC Outstanding Foreign Investigator award and received Knighthood in the Royal Order of the Dutch Lion.
Dr. Lucia del Vecchio
Hospital of the Province of Lecco / Italy
Dr. Lucia del Vecchio
Hospital of the Province of Lecco / Italy
At present Lucia del Vecchio is working as medical assistant in the Department of Nephrology and Dialysis, Lecco, Italy, where she is in charge of the ambulatory care of patients affected by primary and secondary glomerulonephritis, and of hypertensive or nephropathic women during pregnancy. She has collaborated in several clinical trials and received the training for Good Clinical Practice. She is reviewer for many scientific journals. She is member of the editorial board of the Journal of Nephrology and of Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation. Dr. del Vecchio has many scientific interests, including RAS inhibition and its role in slowing the progression of chronic nephropathies, anemia and ESA therapy, cardiovascular risk in chronic kidney disease (CKD), nutrition in CKD patients, the genetics and treatment of primary and secondary glomerulonephritis as well as oxidative stress in CKD. In addition to several short communications as abstract forms to national and international meetings, she has contributed to nearly 150 publications on scientific journals.
Prof. Dr. Kai-Uwe Eckardt
Charité University Medicine, Berlin / Germany
Prof. Dr. Kai-Uwe Eckardt
Charité University Medicine, Berlin / Germany
Kai-Uwe Eckardt is currently appointed Full Professor and chair at the Department of Nephrology and Medical Intensive Care at the Charité in Berlin, Germany. He attained an MD from the University of Münster in 1985 and obtained residency and fellowship training in pathology, physiology, internal medicine and nephrology at the Universities of Münster, Hannover, Zürich, Oxford and the Charité in Berlin. He was chairman of a collaborative research center on kidney injury at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany, and is currently vice-chair of the collaborative research center "Renoprotection" at the Charité in Berlin, Germany. He is also principal investigator of the German Chronic Kidney Disease (GCKD) study, a national CKD cohort study in Germany. He has served on the editorial boards of KI, JASN, NDT, J Mol Med and the BMJ. Prof. Eckardt is a past council member of the European Renal Association and the International Society of Nephrology. He was also a founding executive committee member and co-chair of Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO). Prof. Eckardt’s major scientific interests are the molecular mechanisms and the physiological / pathophysiological relevance of oxygen sensing and the development of acute and chronic renal injury.
Dr. Marie Evans
Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm / Sweden
Dr. Marie Evans
Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm / Sweden
Marie Evans is a consultant nephrologist at the Karolinska University Hospital, Sweden, working in a transition clinic with the responsibility of the home- and self-hemodialysis program. She also works as a senior researcher at the Karolinska Institute in clinical nephrology and epidemiology. Her focus is on chronic kidney disease (CKD) prognosis and pharmacoepidemiology. She is an elected member of the Swedish Renal Registry (SRR) steering committee and responsible for the SRR-CKD part of CKD-non dialysis patients. She is currently a member of the ERA-EDTA Registry committee.
Prof. Dr. Pieter Evenepoel
University Hospital (UZ), Catholic University of Leuven (KU), Leuven / Belgium
Prof. Dr. Pieter Evenepoel
University Hospital (UZ), Catholic University of Leuven (KU), Leuven / Belgium
Pieter Evenepoel is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Medicine and Adjunct Head of Nephrology and Head of Dialysis at the University Hospital (UZ), Catholic University of Leuven (KU), Leuven, Belgium. Prof. Evenepoel’s main research interests include the gut-kidney axis, development and implementation of extracorporeal renal replacement therapies, pharmacokinetics of protein-bound uremic retention solutes and chronic kidney disease-mineral and bone disorders (CKD-MBD). He is currently a member and fellow of the European Renal Association – European Dialysis and Transplant Association (ERA-EDTA). Within the ERA-EDTA, he was an ordinary council member and board member of the CKD-MBD Working Group from 2014–2017 and is currently a member of the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). Prof. Evenepoel is also a member of the American Society of Nephrology (ASN), the Belgian Society of Nephrology (BVN), the Dutch speaking Belgian Society of Nephrology (NBVN), and the Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) CKD-MBD Working Group. Theme editor for CKD at Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation and on the Editorial Board of Kidney International, he is currently an ad-hoc reviewer for several journals, including Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, The Lancet, and the European Heart Journal. Prof. Evenepoel has contributed to over 250 publications in peer-reviewed journals and has authored chapters in books such as Comprehensive Clinical Nephrology, ed. Feehally J. et al. 2018 Elsevier.
Mr. Joao Fazendeiro Matos
NephroCare Portugal / Portugal
Mr. Joao Fazendeiro Matos
NephroCare Portugal / Portugal
João Fazendeiro Matos has more than 30 years’ experience in haemodialysis nursing, encompassing activities ranging from dialysis nurse to Country Nursing Director for Portugal. For more than 20 years, he also worked in Emergency and Cardiology, whilst simultaneously working in renal care. Currently, aside from the role of Country Nursing Director, he is also the Head of the Local Crisis Team (Portugal), as well as Nursing Coordinator for the EMEA region with international collaborative tasks and experience. Author and co-author of several internationally published papers, João has also presented several research studies at international conferences, in particular ERA-EDTA and EDTNA.
Dr. Maxence Ficheux
University Hospital, Caen / France
Dr. Maxence Ficheux
University Hospital, Caen / France
Doctor Maxence Ficheux is a staff nephrologist at the Nephrology Department of the University Hospital of Caen, France and is recognized in France for his Peritoneal Dialysis Program. After his nephrology training in Caen, France, he worked in the Nephrology Department of the University of Caen. His field of interest is the self-care dialysis modality: peritoneal dialysis and home hemodialysis. Since 2002, he is active to set up a home hemodialysis program in his region. Currently he is in charge of the home hemodialysis program at the Hospital of Caen. Dr. Ficheux also has an active role in research and has carried out a pilot study to assess the feasibility of assisted cannulation at home in France.
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Floege
Klinik für Nieren- und Hochdruckkrankheiten, rheumatologische und immunologische / Germany
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Floege
Klinik für Nieren- und Hochdruckkrankheiten, rheumatologische und immunologische / Germany
Professor Jürgen Floege received his clinical training at the Hannover Medical School, Germany. His particular interest in renal diseases developed during various research periods in physiology, pharmacology, nephrology and pathology at the Hannover Medical School, Germany, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York and the University of Washington, Seattle, USA. He was appointed as head of the Division of Nephrology and Immunology at the University of Aachen, Germany in 1999. Prof. Floege is a former executive council member of the International Society of Nephrology (ISN), the European Renal Association (ERA-EDTA), and KDIGO, a society developing world-wide nephrology guidelines. He is a distinguished fellow of the ERA-EDTA and recipient of the 2018 ERA-EDTA award for Outstanding Clinical Contributions to Nephrology, immediate past-president of the German Society of Nephrology as well as honorary member of the Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Serbian and Slovakian Societies of Nephrology. Since April 2019, he is president of the German Society of Internal Medicine, Europe’s largest professional medical society. Together with Professors Richard Johnson, Marcello Tonelli and John Feehally he edits the best-selling textbook “Comprehensive Clinical Nephrology”. Finally, Prof. Floege is associate editor of Kidney International since January 2018 and currently is a member of the editorial board of Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, Nature Reviews Nephrology, Journal of Nephrology and others. Until 2017 he served as associate editor of Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation. Research interests encompass both basic research, i.e. studies underlying the progression of renal disease, in particular renal fibrosis, as well as clinical research in immune-mediated renal disease, in particular IgA-nephropathy, as well as bone and mineral disorders (CKD-MBD) and cardiovascular disease in uremic patients. His scientific work encompasses about 550 original papers, reviews and editorials, and 40 book chapters.
Dr. James Fotheringham
The University of Sheffield / United Kingdom
Dr. James Fotheringham
The University of Sheffield / United Kingdom
Doctor James Fotheringham is a consultant nephrologist and applied health researcher based in Sheffield, UK. His current National Institute for Health Research (UK) Fellowship explores the harm caused by the long interdialytic interval in three times a week hemodialysis and potential solutions. He supports a number of other multi-center observational and randomized studies including the UK Peritoneal Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Patterns Study, the evaluation of Scaling Up of Shared Hemodialysis Care (SHAREHD) and the forthcoming UK randomized trial of nocturnal in-center hemodialysis. His interests include causal inference, health data linkage, health economics and complex intervention evaluation.
Prof. Dr. Denis Fouque
University Claude Bernard, Centre Hospitalier Lyon Sud / France
Prof. Dr. Denis Fouque
University Claude Bernard, Centre Hospitalier Lyon Sud / France
Denis Fouque is Professor of Nephrology at the University Claude Bernard Lyon and chief of the Division of Nephrology at the Centre Hospitalier Lyon Sud in Lyon, France. He is the past research vice president (Health Affairs) at the Université Claude Bernard Lyon, the largest medical school in France (2012-2016). Prof. Fouque is member of INSERM 1060 research unit at the University Claude Bernard Lyon. Prof. Fouque was president of the International Society for Renal Nutrition and Metabolism (2004–2006), editor-in-chief of the Journal of Renal Nutrition (2003-2011) and chairman of the ERA-EDTA Nutrition Guideline (2007). He is an ERA-EDTA council member from 2012 to 2021 and is the editor-in-chief of the Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation journal. His research fields are nutrition and metabolism in chronic kidney disease and dialysis. Prof. Fouque has published 350 papers, including reviews, meta-analyses and 20 book chapters, 2 chapters thereof in The Kidney, Brenner and Rector, 2012 and 2015.
Mr. Richard Fredin
FMCAG / Sweden
Mr. Richard Fredin
FMCAG / Sweden
Mrs. Sabina Frumen Pivk
Fresenius Medical Care Slovenia / Slovenia
Mrs. Sabina Frumen Pivk
Fresenius Medical Care Slovenia / Slovenia
Sabina Frumen Pivk has been a dialysis nurse for more than 20 years, joining Fresenius Medical Care in 2000. Sabina is Country Nursing Manager in Slovenia since 2004 and since 2019 she is also Regional Nursing Care Coordinator, where she is able to share her experience in nursing practice and continuous improvement of patient care quality with newly-appointed Country Nursing Managers.
Mrs. Beáta Ferencné Gerhák
Fresenius Medical Care / Hungary
Mrs. Beáta Ferencné Gerhák
Fresenius Medical Care / Hungary
Beáta Ferencné Gerhák is a Registered Nurse from Hungary and has been dialysis centre Head Nurse since 2013. Her previous experience and responsibilities include patient education, focusing on diet; and training and development of new nurses in all aspects of renal nursing including sharing her knowledge of acute dialysis therapies. Beáta believes in the importance of professional development, and she enjoys learning about new treatment methods.
Prof. Dr. Ali Gharavi
Columbia University / United States
Prof. Dr. Ali Gharavi
Columbia University / United States
Ali Gharavi, MD, is the Jay Meltzer Professor of Nephrology and Hypertension and serves as Chief of the Division of Nephrology and Director of the Center for Precision and Genomics in the Department of Medicine. After receiving his medical degree from George Washington University, Prof. Gharavi completed residency in internal medicine and fellowships in hypertension and nephrology at the Mount Sinai Medical Center. He then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in human genetics at Yale University and joined Columbia University in 2003. Prof. Gharavi’s research is focused on the molecular genetics of kidney diseases and his work has led to the discovery of genes and loci for IgA nephropathy and congenital defects of the kidney and urinary tract. His recent research has demonstrated the utility of sequencing in the diagnosis and management of patients with nephropathy and he is extending this work to other adult constitutional disorders. His ultimate goal is to bring personalized genomic medicine from the laboratory into patient care.
Mrs. Siobhan Gladding
/ United Kingdom
Mrs. Siobhan Gladding
/ United Kingdom
Siobhan Gladding, RN, BSc (Hons) Nursing. Siobhan has worked as a Renal Nurse for over 30 years and has clinical experience in all aspects of Renal Care within the NHS and commercial sector. Siobhan has specialised in Home Haemodialysis for over 10 years and has a deep focus on the awareness, education, and development of Home Therapies on an International level. Siobhan is a strong advocate for patient independence and empowerment within the Nephrology Community and has delivered presentations internationally on Home Haemodialysis. Siobhan has published in the Journal of Renal Nursing- ‘Making home haemodialysis a feasible treatment option for renal patients’ sharing knowledge and experience.
Prof. Dr. Eric J. Goffin
Universitiy Hospital, Saint-Luc / Belgium
Prof. Dr. Eric J. Goffin
Universitiy Hospital, Saint-Luc / Belgium
Professor Eric Goffin is Full Professor of Medicine at UCLouvain, Brussels, Belgium, and head of the Self-Care Dialysis Unit at Cliniques Universitaires St-Luc, Brussels, Belgium, which includes the patients’ pre-dialysis education program, the Self-Care Satellite Dialysis Unit (Carpe Diem), and both the peritoneal dialysis and home hemodialysis programs. He completed his training in nephrology and kidney transplantation at UCLouvain, Brussels, Belgium, and he was an exchange fellow for one year at the School of Clinical Medicine at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, University of Cambridge, UK. In the nephrology team, he is also currently co-responsible for the renal graft candidates’ evaluation and the renal Post-Transplant Outpatient Clinic. In the past decade, Prof. Goffin actively participated in the organization of many conferences, lectures and congresses in which he had responsibilities as both key speaker and chairman, including the Selfcare Dialysis Symposium in Brussels, Belgium. He also regularly serves as a reviewer for major nephrology and dialysis scientific journals. His main topics of research interest are in line with his clinical activities and include pre-dialysis information programs, patient reported outcomes, water and solute transport across the peritoneal membrane, clinical outcomes in Clinical TP, home hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis patients, as well as the modalities of transition between the different renal replacement therapies. Throughout his career Prof. Goffin authored over 175 scientific articles; he has been an active member of scientific committees, e.g. the ISPD and the French-speaking Nephrology Society, where he served as president of the dialysis committee.
Prof. Dr. James G. Heaf
Zealand University Hospital, Roskilde / Denmark
Prof. Dr. James G. Heaf
Zealand University Hospital, Roskilde / Denmark
James Heaf was trained at Cambridge University, UK, but has since 1976 worked exclusively in Denmark. He qualified as a specialist in nephrology in 1992 and is at present an Associate Professor at Zealand University Hospital, Roskilde, Denmark. He was responsible for the Limited Care Department at Herlev Hospital, Copenhagen from 1998-2015, with special responsibility for peritoneal dialysis and home hemodialysis. He was the director of the Danish Nephrology Registry from 2008-2020, and has also been a member of the ERA-EDTA Registry committee. His MD thesis on the subject of aluminium osteodystrophy was published in 1992. He has published more than 200 papers on a number of nephrological subjects including mineral bone disease, peritoneal dialysis, renal epidemiology and uremia progression.
Prof. Dr. Olof Heimburger
Medicinsk Enhet Njurmedicin, Karolinska Universitetssjukhuset / Sweden
Prof. Dr. Olof Heimburger
Medicinsk Enhet Njurmedicin, Karolinska Universitetssjukhuset / Sweden
Olof Heimburger is a senior consultant in nephrology at the Patient Area Endocrinology and Nephrology, Karolinska University Hospital and Associate Professor at the Division of Renal Medicine, CLINTEC, Karolinska Institute, Sweden. He graduated from the Medical School at the Karolinska Institute in 1982, got his license as physician in 1985, and became a specialist in Renal Medicine in 1990. In 1994 he defended his Ph.D. thesis entitled “Peritoneal transport in patients treated with continuous peritoneal dialysis.” He became senior consultant in renal medicine / nephrology in 1999, and director of the Peritoneal Dialysis Program in 2003. He is a member of the European Renal Best Practice Advisory Board (ERBP, the guideline committee of the European Renal Association – European Dialysis and Transplant Association, ERA-EDTA) since 2008 and he was a council member of the International Society for Peritoneal Dialysis (ISPD) 2001-2014 (Secretary 2006-2014). His main scientific interests have been in chronic renal failure, in particular nutrition, metabolism, inflammation and cardiovascular disease, and most aspects of peritoneal dialysis, in particular peritoneal transport. He has published more than 350 scientific papers and book chapters and has been an invited speaker to more than 70 international and national meetings including ISPD, EuroPD, ERA-EDTA and ASN.
Prof. Dr. Tobias Huber
University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Hamburg / Germany
Prof. Dr. Tobias Huber
University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Hamburg / Germany
Tobias B. Huber is chair of the Center of Internal Medicine and Director of the III. Department of Medicine (Nephrology, Rheumatology, Endocrinology and Transplantation) at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Germany. He is an international leader in nephrology and the scientific work of his team has been recognized for discovering signaling pathways relevant for kidney development, filtration, maintenance and disease. He received numerous national and international recognitions including the Donald W. Seldin Young Investigator award of the American Society of Nephrology and is elected member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians.
Dr. Rasha Hussein
University Hospital, Soba / Sudan
Dr. Rasha Hussein
University Hospital, Soba / Sudan
She graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Sciences and Technology (UST), Khartoum, Sudan. She obtained the International Society of Peritoneal Dialysis (ISPD) Fellowship in Unversidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) in Botucatu and Pro Renal Foundation in Curitiba, and the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) fellowship in Pontificia Universidade Católica de Paraná (PUCPR), Brazil. In January 2015, she joined the Renal Research Institute (RRI), New York, USA as a Scientist in Residence (SIR) fellow, collaborating with the Pediatric Investigation and Close Collaborative Consortium for Ongoing Life Outcomes for the MONitoring Dialysis Outcomes (PICCOLO MONDO) Initiative, conducting many research projects, analyzing data, and writing manuscripts. Her main interests include data collection, renal registry in developing countries particularly in Sub-Saharan African Countries (SSACs) and collaborative research work. Moreover, she strives to connect local, regional and international pediatric nephrology society communities and to help others to achieve accessible healthcare facilities, especially in SSACs. She is responsible for the staff training and research proposals in the Ministry of Health (MOH) while also supporting the development and implementation of health programs, monitoring and evaluating hemodialysis patients in Khartoum state, Sudan. She recently started a collaboration with Bridge of Life (BOL), a non-profit organization to establish standards for hemodialysis in Sudan.
Prof. Dr. Kitty Jager
University Medical Center, Amsterdam / Netherlands
Prof. Dr. Kitty Jager
University Medical Center, Amsterdam / Netherlands
Kitty Jager is a Professor of Medical Informatics & Kidney Epidemiology and principal investigator in the Amsterdam University Medical Center, the Netherlands. As a clinical epidemiologist and MD she has been the director of the ERA-EDTA Registry for almost 20 years. She serves as an editor for NDT, Nephrology, Journal of Renal Nutrition and Kidney International Reports and as a member of many advisory boards and steering committees, for example, that of European Renal Best Practice (ERBP) and the ERA-EDTA Nephrology and Public Policy Committee. She has published over 300 papers and several book chapters in the area of nephrology, took part in several EU consortia and has organized more than 40 international CME courses on epidemiology and critical appraisal for nephrologists.
Prof. Dr. Markus Ketteler
Robert-Bosch-Hospital, Stuttgart / Germany
Prof. Dr. Markus Ketteler
Robert-Bosch-Hospital, Stuttgart / Germany
Markus Ketteler is a Professor of Medicine and currently serves as the director of the Department of General Internal Medicine and Nephrology at the Robert-Bosch-Hospital in Stuttgart, Germany. His research focus is aimed at the understanding of the patho-mechanisms involved in extraosseous calcifications and of phosphate and vitamin D metabolism with regard to cardiovascular disease in chronic kidney disease (CKD). He has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed publications including The Lancet, Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN), Journal of Clinical Investigation, and Kidney International. Doctor Ketteler has acted as local, National, or European Principal Investigator in several clinical multi-center trials in the CKD-MBD field (e.g., SVCARB, CALMAG, IMPACT-SHPT, PA-CL-05A and -05B, NOPHOS). He served on the editorial boards of JASN and Kidney International in the past, and is currently theme editor of Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation, acted as a KDIGO Work Group member on the CKD-MBD Guideline from 2006 to 2009, and co-leads the German Calciphylaxis Registry. Prof. Ketteler was a council member and chairman of the administrative office of the European Renal Association–European Dialysis and Transplant Association (ERA-EDTA) (2012–2018). He acted as co-chair of the KDIGO Controversies Conference on CKD-MBD which took place in Madrid, Spain in October 2013, and was appointed as co-chair for the KDIGO CKD-MBD guideline update 2015-2017 (publication in Kidney Int. in July 2017). In 2016, he was further elected into the board of directors of the Kidney Health Initiative (KHI), representing the ERA-EDTA for 3 years. For the period of 2020 - 2022, Prof. Ketteler is going to join the KDIGO Executive Committee.
Dr. Detlef Klein
University Hospital, Würzburg / Germany
Dr. Detlef Klein
University Hospital, Würzburg / Germany
Doctor Detlef Klein attended the Medical School in Munich and Würzburg, Germany, where he received his Ph.D. in the field of ultrasound in 2005. He has a board certificate as radiologist and attending radiologist since 2007. He is responsible for ultrasound examinations in the Department of Radiology, University Hospital Würzburg, Germany (DEGUM Level 2 since 2009). His specialties are image-guided interventions (ultrasound / CT), vascular interventions and tumor ablations.
Prof. Dr. Jeroen P. Kooman
University Medical Center, Maastricht / Netherlands
Prof. Dr. Jeroen P. Kooman
University Medical Center, Maastricht / Netherlands
Jeroen Kooman is a Professor at the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Nephrology, where he is also positioned as a consultant nephrologist since 1998. <br>Jeroen Kooman received his medical training at the University of Maastricht in 1990 (MSc and MD cum laude) and received his Ph.D. title in 1992. He was trained in internal medicine and nephrology in the Maxima Medical Centre (formerly St. Joseph Hospital) and the University Hospital Maastricht, the Netherlands. His main research interests comprise, among others, the pathophysiology of systemic complications related to chronic renal failure and end-stage renal disease, the pathophysiology, and consequences of alterations in fluid status and body composition in patients with renal failure, the effect of dialysis therapies on the cardiovascular and nutritional state, as well as the quality of life of patients with renal failure, physical (in)activity in patients with renal failure and the implementation of technical devices to improve physical activity levels, the value of the implementations of technological innovations in the treatment of patients with renal failure and (premature) biological aging in patients with renal disease.
Dr. Peter Kotanko
Renal Research Institute (RRI), New York / United States
Dr. Peter Kotanko
Renal Research Institute (RRI), New York / United States
Peter Kotanko, MD, is research director at the Renal Research Institute (RRI), New York, USA. Before joining RRI, from 1997 to 2007 he served as vice-chair of the Department of Internal Medicine at an academic teaching hospital in Graz, Austria. Before moving to Graz in 1989, he worked from 1982-1989 at the Department of Physiology and the University Clinic of Internal Medicine, Innsbruck, Austria. From 1995-1996 he trained in nephrology at the Hammersmith Hospital, London, UK. He is an Adjunct Professor of Medicine and Nephrology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, USA, and holds a teaching appointment at the Medical University Innsbruck. He has authored and co-authored over 300 papers and book chapters. He is an awardee of the 2019 KidneyX prize for Innovations in Dialysis.
Dr. Daniel Kraus
Nephrologie, I. Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik, Universitätsmedizin Mainz / Germany
Dr. Daniel Kraus
Nephrologie, I. Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik, Universitätsmedizin Mainz / Germany
Daniel Kraus, MD, Ph.D., studied Medicine at the Universities of Marburg and Lübeck in Germany, with stints to Ireland, England, the United States, and Canada. Following his graduation, he worked at the Nephrology Department at Frankfurt University, Germany, before moving to the US once again for a postdoctoral fellowship at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Doctor Kraus worked in Professor Wanner’s Department of Nephrology at the Würzburg University Hospital, Germany, for almost a decade and is now a consultant in nephrology at the Mainz University Hospital in the Frankfurt Rhine-Main metropolitan area in Germany. Dr. Kraus is extremely experienced with ultrasound-guided biopsies of native as well as transplanted kidneys.
Prof. Dr. Hiddo J Lambers Heerspink
University Medical Center, Groningen / Netherlands
Prof. Dr. Hiddo J Lambers Heerspink
University Medical Center, Groningen / Netherlands
Hiddo Lambers Heerspink, Ph.D., PharmD, is a Professor of Clinical Trials, Personalized Medicine and a Clinical Pharmacologist / trialist at the Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacology at the University Medical Center Groningen, the Netherlands. He studied pharmacy at the University of Groningen and subsequently received his Ph.D. from the University Medical Center Groningen. He worked as a postdoctoral fellow at The George Institute for Global Health, Sydney, Australia, where he investigated the effects of blood pressure lowering regimens on renal and cardiovascular outcomes in patients with chronic kidney disease. Prof. Lambers Heerspink has received a VENI and VIDI Award from the Netherlands Organization of Scientific Research, the Young Investigator Research Award from the European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes, and various personal grants from the Dutch Government and European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes to explore determinants of individual treatment response in patients with type 2 diabetes and renal complications. He is an editorial board member of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. Professor Lambers Heerspinks’research interests focus on optimizing current treatment strategies and finding new therapeutic approaches to halt the progression of renal and cardiovascular diseases in patients with diabetes with a specific focus on personalized medicine. He leads and participates in clinical trials focused on renal and cardiovascular complications of type 2 diabetes. His main expertise includes clinical trial design and personalized medicine as well as methodological aspects and statistical analyses of clinical trials. He has authored and co-authored over 250 peer-reviewed publications.
Prof. Dr. Adeera Levin
University British Columbia, Vancouver / Canada
Prof. Dr. Adeera Levin
University British Columbia, Vancouver / Canada
Doctor Adeera Levin is a Professor of Medicine, head of the division of nephrology at the University of British Columbia, and consultant nephrologist at Providence Health Care / St. Paul’s Hospital, in Vancouver, Canada. She is the executive director of the BC Renal Agency, which oversees the care, planning, and budgets for kidney services in the province of British Columbia. She is active in international activities across the spectrum of kidney education, research and administrative activities, and was past president of the International Society of Nephrology (ISN), from 2015 - 2017, and a founding member of the Declaration of Istanbul Custodian Group (DICG). She advocates for patient rights to equitable access to care, and in the prevention of exploitation of vulnerable populations. Her teaching and research awards include: Canadian Society of Nephrology Outstanding Contributions to Canadian Nephrology (2013), Kidney Foundation Research Medal of Excellence (2014), and is a fellow of Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (2014), and the Aubrey J Tingle Research award for contributions to the province of British Columbia (2015). In 2015, she was awarded the highest civilian honor in Canada, The Order of Canada, for her contributions to the life of Canadians. Her major research interests include chronic vascular disease (CVD) in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients, variability in the progression of CKD and optimal models of care. She has over 300 peer-reviewed publications and numerous book chapters. She is the principal investigator on a patient-oriented network grant CAN SOLVE CKD.
Prof. Dr. Monika Lichodziejewska- Niemierko
Medical University, Gdańsk / Poland
Prof. Dr. Monika Lichodziejewska- Niemierko
Medical University, Gdańsk / Poland
Professor Monika Lichodziejewska-Niemierko is head of the Peritoneal Dialysis Unit, Department of Nephrology Transplantology and Internal Medicine, Medical University of Gdańsk, Poland. She is a specialist in internal medicine, nephrology and hypertensionology, as well as an invited speaker to renowned societies such as ERA-EDTA, provides lectures to under and postgraduates, organizes peritoneal dialysis (PD) courses for nephrology staff. She currently serves as a vice-chair of the EuroPD and is a member of the International Society for Peritoneal Dialysis Council. As a head of the Department of Palliative Medicine, she addresses the issue of symptomatic treatment and quality of life of patients with advanced diseases and authors over 200 scientific publications.
Prof. Dr. Kai Lopau
University Hospital, Würzburg / Germany
Prof. Dr. Kai Lopau
University Hospital, Würzburg / Germany
Professor Doctor med. Kai Lopau graduated from the University of Würzburg Medical School, Germany, in 1995. He started his internship in Internal Medicine in 1995 until board approval in Internal Medicine / Nephrology in 2003. Since then he has been working as a consultant of medicine / senior nephrologist at the University Hospital Würzburg, Germany. In 2012 he completed his thesis “Influencing factors on graft survival after kidney transplantation”. In 2016 he was appointed head of the kidney transplant program and speaker of the Würzburg Transplantation Centre. He is especially interested in cardiovascular outcomes after kidney transplantation and the long-term outcome of peritoneal dialysis.
Mrs. Fiona Loud
Kidney Care UK / United Kingdom
Mrs. Fiona Loud
Kidney Care UK / United Kingdom
Fiona is Policy Director of Kidney Care UK, the leading kidney patient support charity providing advice, support and financial assistance to thousands of patients every year.<br>She works with policymakers and others in campaigning for improvements in kidney care, such as increasing access to transplantation and patient choice, and is currently leading the COVID-19-related work for the charity. Previously Director of the Kidney Alliance, she co-authored the review of kidney care, Kidney Health: Delivering Excellence. She works with many groups to improve care standards for kidney patients, such as dialysis choice or patient transport. Kidney Care UK campaigned for 4 years to get the voice and needs of people with kidney disease heard in the Brexit plans. She set up and chaired the UK Renal Registry patient council and has been a member of many NICE kidney guideline groups. She is lay chair of Watford hospital organ donation committee and vice chair of her local kidney patient association at the Lister hospital. Fiona spent 5 years on dialysis after her kidneys failed, before a transplant from her husband in 2006. She is a Fellow of the British Renal Society and was one of the Health Service Journal’s Top 50 patient leaders.
Dr. Franklin W. Maddux
Fresenius Medical Care, North Amercia / United States
Dr. Franklin W. Maddux
Fresenius Medical Care, North Amercia / United States
Associate Professor Franklin W. Maddux is global chief medical officer for Fresenius Medical Care, overseeing worldwide medical strategy and care delivery for the world’s most expansive kidney care organization. His distinguished career includes more than three decades of leadership as a physician, expert nephrologist, technology entrepreneur and healthcare executive. Assoc. Prof. Maddux joined Fresenius Medical Care in 2009 after the company acquired Health IT Services Group, a leading electronic health record (EHR) software company founded by Assoc. Prof. Maddux. He developed one of the first laboratory electronic data interchange programs for the US dialysis industry and later created one of the first web-based EHR solutions, now marketed under Acumen Physician Solutions. He previously served as an executive vice president for clinical and scientific affairs and chief medical officer for Fresenius Medical Care North America; is the former chief medical officer and senior vice president for Specialty Care Services Group; and served as president of Virginia’s Danville Urologic Clinic in the United States, where he was a practicing nephrologist for nearly two decades. An alumnus and former Trustee of Vanderbilt University, Tennessee, USA,Assoc. Prof. Maddux earned his Doctor of Medicine from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he holds a faculty appointment as clinical Associate Professor for the School of Medicine, is a fellow of the American College of Physicians, and a member of the Boards of Directors for Vifor Fresenius Medical Care Renal Pharma and Goldfinch Bio. He was appointed to the Fresenius Medical Care global management board in 2019 and his pioneering healthcare information technology innovations are part of the permanent collection of the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution.
Prof. Dr. Francesca Mallamaci
Bianchi-Melacrino-Morelli Hospital, Reggio Calabria / Italy
Prof. Dr. Francesca Mallamaci
Bianchi-Melacrino-Morelli Hospital, Reggio Calabria / Italy
Professor Francesca Mallamaci is chief of the Department of Nephrology, Dialysis and Renal Transplantation, in Reggio Calabria, Italy and head of the Hypertension Unit (European Society of Hypertension Excellence Center). She is chair of the ERA-EDTA Working Group EURECAm and research supervisor at the Institute of Clinical Physiology of the National Research Council (CNR) in the area of epidemiology and physiopathology of renal diseases and hypertension in Reggio Calabria, Italy. Her research interests include CKD progression, kidney failure, hypertension, dialysis and cardiovascular risk in uremic patients. She has published 335 peer-reviewed articles and altogether about 600 scientific manuscripts. Twelve abstracts written by Prof. Mallamaci were awarded to national and international conferences such as European Renal Association (ERA-EDTA) and the Congress of the American Society of Nephrology. Prof. Mallamaci is mentioned among the “Top Italian Scientists della Via-academy” and her H- INDEX is 69.
Prof. Dr. Jolanta S. Malyszko
Medical University, Warsaw / Poland
Prof. Dr. Jolanta S. Malyszko
Medical University, Warsaw / Poland
Jolanta Malyszko is a Full Professor (2002) and chair of the Department of Nephrology, Dialysis and Internal, Warsaw Medical University, Poland. Her clinical training was performed in France, Germany, the USA, UK and Israel. During her “Japanese Ministry of Education” scholarship at Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Japan, she defended her Ph.D. thesis on the role of FK 506 in transplantation in 1995. Prof. Malyszko is a member of the KDGIO executive council. Her major research interests are on iron metabolism and anemia and cardiovascular complications in kidney diseases. She is a fellow in internal medicine, nephrology, transplantation, hypertension, diabetology and a European specialist in clinical hypertension.
Prof. Dr. Ziad A. Massy
Chief, Division of Nephrology, Ambroise Paré Hospital, Paris-Ile-de-France-Ouest / France
Prof. Dr. Ziad A. Massy
Chief, Division of Nephrology, Ambroise Paré Hospital, Paris-Ile-de-France-Ouest / France
Ziad A. Massy, MD, Ph.D., is Professor of Nephrology and head of the Division of Nephrology at the Paris West University (UVSQ)- Ambroise Paré University Hospital, Paris, and Co-Director of Research Unit INSERM U-1018 Team 5 at the UVSQ, Versailles / Villejuif, France. Prof. Massy is a member of the ERA-EDTA council and chair for the ERA-EDTA Registry and Clinical Governance Affairs. He is a core-member of the EURECAM Working Group Advisory Board –ERA-EDTA, a core-member of the CKD-MBD WG Working Group Advisory Board, and a current member and former co-chairman of the European Uremic Toxins (EUTox) group. He was a core member of the executive KDIGO board. He obtained the “Fondation du Rein” award in 2010 and the Hungarian Society of Nephrology award in November 2015. His research areas of interest include uremic toxins, cardiovascular disease, vascular calcification, hyperlipidemia, oxidative stress, and chronic renal failure. He has published several original articles, reviews and chapters of books in his domain of interest (H-Index: 63 via Web of Science or H-Index: 75 via Publish or Perish v6), with reported publications of 478 according to Medline.
Mr. Mário Mateus
NephroCare Portugal / Portugal
Mr. Mário Mateus
NephroCare Portugal / Portugal
Mário Mateus began his career as a renal nurse in 2007. He completed a Post-Graduation in Nephrological Nursing and Dialytic Techniques in 2014, and in 2018 obtained a Master Degree in Human Resource Management. With nearly fifteen years of experience in dialysis and as a Head Nurse, he has dedicated himself to the study of the workplace environment and its impact on healthcare professionals.
Dr. Katarzyna Mazur-Hofsaess
/ Germany
Dr. Katarzyna Mazur-Hofsaess
/ Germany
Katarzyna Mazur-Hofsaess, CEO of Fresenius Medical Care, Europe, Middle East and Africa since 2018. She is a physician and holds a Ph.D. from Gdansk Medical University in Poland, as well as an MBA from the Warsaw School of Economics and the University of Minnesota. In her 25 years of professional career Katarzyna has gained extensive international experience in executive general management positions. Previously she was leading the diagnostic division of Abbott in Europe and served as president EMEA at orthopedics leader Zimmer Biomet.
Mr. Nusret Mehmedovic
Fresenius Medical Care / Bosnia - Herzegovina
Mr. Nusret Mehmedovic
Fresenius Medical Care / Bosnia - Herzegovina
Nusret Mehmedovic is a renal nursing professional, with 40 years experience in this specialty. Nusret gained his extended dialysis qualification in the USA, bringing and sharing new values in renal nursing to Bosnia Herzegovina. Nusret's experience includes Application Specialist, System and Nursing Expert Auditor, Country Nursing Manager and Regional Nursing Care Manager. Nusret enjoys sharing his knowledge with and learning from the nursing community.
Ms. Rayyan Merhi
Fresenius Medical Care Lebanon, Nephrocare Lebanon / Lebanon
Ms. Rayyan Merhi
Fresenius Medical Care Lebanon, Nephrocare Lebanon / Lebanon
Rayyan Merhi, RN, MBA, PHD student, has more than 16 years of experience in the nursing field and 14 years in renal nursing where she has worked as a Registered Nurse, Team Leader, Application Specialist, Nursing Manager and Quality Manager. She is passionate about evolving the profession of nursing and the quality of education and care given.
Prof. Dr. Sandip Mitra
University of Manchester, Manchester / United Kingdom
Prof. Dr. Sandip Mitra
University of Manchester, Manchester / United Kingdom
Doctor Mitra is a consultant nephrologist with a clinical and academic interest in dialysis medicine and blood purification techniques. He is chief investigator of clinical trials and over the past 10 years has held competitive academic R&D grant awards of £10.2m. The research setup includes an active postdoctoral (MD / Ph.D. / MRes) research mentorship program for clinicians, nurses and scientists. His other research responsibilities include nephrology lead for NIHR Greater Manchester Clinical Research, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre (MAHSC) and Integrated Clinical Academic training program, University of Manchester, UK. His research and innovation portfolio is diverse ranging from inventive technology to innovative application and design, close to the patient application. Projects have been characterized by rapid translation, feeding into changes in clinical practice, treatments and outcomes in relatively short timescales. Dr. Mitra is the founding clinical director of two academic spinouts. His clinical and research work is recognized through 12 national and international awards. He is chair of the UK Kidney Research Consortium, HD Clinical Study Group, deputy director for NIHR Devices for Dignity Health Technology Cooperative, vice-chair EUDIAL (EDTA) and member of the National Clinical Reference Group and NICE Representative, NHS England. He is passionate about connecting innovators to create solutions that benefit patients and healthcare providers. He believes dialysis needs a global platform to engage with all those who are passionately curious about solving its challenges today.
Mrs. Suzanne Mitrovich
Fresenius Medical Care / Germany
Mrs. Suzanne Mitrovich
Fresenius Medical Care / Germany
Suzanne Mitrovich is a Registered Nurse with over 40 years’ nursing experience, including more than 30 years’ experience across all renal nursing modalities. During her career, Suzanne has held various positions in the public, private and corporate sectors. Originally from Australia, Suzanne relocated to Hong Kong in 2015 to join Fresenius Medical Care Asia Pacific. In 2018, she moved to the Fresenius Medical Care EMEA Headquarter in Bad Homburg as Nursing Care Manager, where she shares her broad skill base and international experience with the renal nursing community.
Dr. Stefan Moenk
CAE Healthcare / Germany
Dr. Stefan Moenk
CAE Healthcare / Germany
Doctor Stefan Mönk is chief medical officer at CAE Healthcare. He has worked clinically as a senior consultant in anesthesia, as an emergency physician at the Mainz University, as a member of the German air rescue service, as chief emergency physician for mass casualty incidents and as an educator in each role. He has co-founded and managed the Mainz University simulation center and the for-profit AQAI simulation center and the Lufthansa Healthcare Training service. Previous positions held at CAE include leader of the international healthcare academy team. His society work spans the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (PACT simulation program coordinator), the Society for Simulation in Healthcare (founding committee member, several program and committee positions), the German Anesthesia Society (simulation program coordinator) and the American Society of Anesthesiology SimSTAT Development Liaison. He is also a past president of the Society in Europe for Simulation applied to Medicine (SESAM). His professional focus is on improving healthcare globally through high tech and data driven solutions. He strongly believes that global healthcare challenges need to be addressed through efficient, goal-oriented training and education initiatives. He is a well-traveled global ambassador for simulation in healthcare education.
Dr. Ulrich Moissl
Fresenius Medical Care, Germany / Germany
Dr. Ulrich Moissl
Fresenius Medical Care, Germany / Germany
Doctor Ulrich Moissl has a position as Director and is globally responsible for BCM and Fluid Management at Fresenius Medical Care Global R&D. He is one of the original inventors of the BCM Body Composition Monitor, a bioimpedance device to measure fluid overload in liters. He has a background in electrical & biomedical engineering and pursued a parallel career in field hockey which led him to compete at the Olympic Games 2000 in Sydney, followed by a Ph.D. in cardiovascular monitoring in hemodialysis in 2004. He is actively involved in epidemiologic research establishing evidence-based therapy targets for BCM-based fluid management in the Fresenius NephroCare Center network and has authored several publications on the use of bioimpedance spectroscopy in the field of dialysis.
Dr. Luca Neri
Fresenius Medical Care, Germany / Germany
Dr. Luca Neri
Fresenius Medical Care, Germany / Germany
Doctor Luca Neri earned his MD degree at the Faculty of Medicine of Milan, Italy, in 2002 and started his career as an epidemiologist and outcomes research consultant in 2005 when he joined Saint Louis University, Department of Public Health, Center for Outcomes Research (SLUCOR), USA. After four years as a faculty member at the Center for Outcomes Research, Dr. Neri moved back to Italy. He continued his research career as an outcome research scientist. He earned a Ph.D. degree in Occupational & Environmental Health at the University of Milan (UNIMI) in 2010 and secured research grants at UNUMI until 2015. For 11 years, Dr. Neri collaborated with academic and commercial partners in developing new research, devising methods for answering investigative questions and solving research design problems. He has published over 60 original papers in international, peer-reviewed scientific journals and acquired a broad range of analytical and methodological skills in the field of outcomes research and advanced data analysis. Since 2016, Dr. Neri has joined the Advanced Analytic team of Fresenius Medical Care (FME) EMEA with the goal to derive data and knowledge-driven prognostic reasoning tools, decision support systems, personalized dose-response simulators, and therapy management tools by exploiting state-of-the-art machine learning and statistical techniques. Their products assist medical doctors, healthcare policy makers as well as medical directors and managers undertaking complex decisions in their day-to-day work activity. Since May 2019, he leads the FME Advanced Analytic team in the EMEA Clinical & Data Intelligence Systems Department.
Prof. Dr. Ercan Ok
Ege University, Bornova / Turkey
Prof. Dr. Ercan Ok
Ege University, Bornova / Turkey
Ercan Ok is a Professor of Nephrology, the division chair at Ege University, in Izmir, Turkey. He majored in medicine at Ege University, attended the University of Arkansas as research fellow with ISN fellowship between 2000 and 2002. His main research areas are blood pressure and volume control, hemodiafiltration, vascular calcification and bone disease, and home hemodialysis. He conducted several clinical trials on hemodiafiltration, hemodialysis membrane permeability, dialysate purity, dialysate calcium, bioimpedance, and in-center nocturnal hemodialysis. Prof. Ok is the author of over 150 peer-reviewed publications.
Prof. Dr. Vincenzo Panichi
Versilia Hospital, Camaiore / Italy
Prof. Dr. Vincenzo Panichi
Versilia Hospital, Camaiore / Italy
Vincenzo Panichi is Professor of Nephrology and Chief of the Division of Nephrology and Dialysis at the Hospital of Versilia, Italy. Dr. Panichi’s areas of interest are the impact of the chronic inflammatory state in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease in the uremic population and anemia in renal disease. He has served as the principal investigator in several international and national multicenter studies on hemodialysis. He has published more than 100 scientific articles and served as associate editor and reviewer for several international journals.
Mr. Ricardo Peralta
Fresenius Medical Care / Portugal
Mr. Ricardo Peralta
Fresenius Medical Care / Portugal
Ricardo Peralta has been working for more than 35 years as a Registered Nurse in nephrology. In 2014, he began a collaborative project with the EDTNA on the development and publication of manuals related to vascular accesses. Ricardo is actively involved in research related to vascular access and cannulation techniques, from which two studies have recently been published. Ricardo also has a strong presence at EDTNA congresses, presenting numerous communications at this forum.
Prof. Dr. Pedro Ponce
NephroCare / Portugal
Prof. Dr. Pedro Ponce
NephroCare / Portugal
Doctor Ponce graduated from Lisbon University, Portugal, and he did his postgraduate training in internal medicine in the Brooklyn Jewish Hospital, State University of New York followed by Renal Fellowship in Massachusetts General Hospital at Harvard University and in the New England Medical Center at Tufts University, USA. He is board certified in nephrology and intensive care medicine. Dr. Ponce is currently medical director of the Nephrology Department and of the General ICU of the Cuf Hospital in Lisbon, Portugal. Additionally, he is the country medical director of NephroCare Portugal and medical director of its Vascular Access Centers.
Mrs. Corina Popescu
Fresenius Medical Care / Romania
Mrs. Corina Popescu
Fresenius Medical Care / Romania
Corina Popescu is Registered Nurse since 1981, and has 40 years of experience in renal care, including 36 years in Dialysis Care settings. Corina is also a qualified trainer for database systems and applications. She is a highly experienced speaker, having presented at 10 previous EDTNA congresses.
Prof. Sir Peter Ratcliffe
Francis Crick Institute, London, and University of Oxford / United Kingdom
Prof. Sir Peter Ratcliffe
Francis Crick Institute, London, and University of Oxford / United Kingdom
Peter J. Ratcliffe, M.D. is a physician scientist who trained as a nephrologist, before founding the hypoxia biology laboratory at Oxford. His laboratory elucidated mechanisms by which human and animal cells sense oxygen levels and transduce these signals to direct adaptive changes in gene expression. Dr Ratcliffe received his degrees from the University of Cambridge and medical training at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London and Oxford University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and a recipient of several international awards for his laboratory’s work on oxygen sensing, including the Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine, the Canada Gairdner International Award and the Lasker Award for Basic Biomedical Research. He was knighted for his services to medicine in 2014, and won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2019. He holds appointments as Director of Clinical Research at the Francis Crick Institute, London, Director of the Target Discovery Institute at the University of Oxford and is a Distinguished Scholar of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research.
Mrs. Ana Raquel Ribeiro
Fresenius Medical Care / Germany
Mrs. Ana Raquel Ribeiro
Fresenius Medical Care / Germany
Raquel Ribeiro is a Senior Nursing Care Manager at Fresenius Medical Care, since 2017 after relocating from Portugal. She has 15 years experience in nephrology nursing and is committed to support, improve and empower our Nursing community. Raquel holds a Masters Degree in Nursing and is a Specialist Nurse in Renal Care. She also holds a post-graduate degree in Health Care Management.
Prof. Dr. Anabela Rodrigues
University Hospital Center of Porto (CHUPorto), Porto / Portugal
Prof. Dr. Anabela Rodrigues
University Hospital Center of Porto (CHUPorto), Porto / Portugal
Anabela Rodrigues, MD, Ph.D., is a consultant nephrologist at the Department of Nephrology, Centro Hospitalar Universitario do Porto (CHUPorto), Portugal. She heads the Peritoneal Dialysis Unit since 1998. Currently, she is the president of the National Commission of Dialysis (CNAD), Directorate-General of Health, Ministry of Health. She is an Associate Professor with aggregation at ICBAS (Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar) and principal investigator of Nephrology, Dialysis and Transplantation Group of UMIB (Unidade Multidisciplinar de Investigação em Biomedicina, ICBAS/UP). She is a member of the Portuguese Society of Nephrology Scientific Committee and also serves as a Course Director in ICBAS / UP. She has a specialization in management and direction of health services from Porto Business School, University of Porto (UP), Portugal. Assoc. Prof. Rodrigues was a member of the committee for Peritoneal Dialysis European Best Practice Guidelines and council member of the International Society Peritoneal Dialysis. She is an invited lecturer at international congresses and for certified courses, with active responsibility in doctoral and postdoctoral projects at the University of Porto. Assoc. Prof. Rodrigues was vice president of the international congress of the International Society of Nephrology in 2014. She is president of the Group for Studies in Peritoneal Dialysis from the Portuguese Nephrology Society.
Prof. Dr. Juan Mariano Rodriguez Portillo
Reina Sofia University Hospital, Cordoba / Spain
Prof. Dr. Juan Mariano Rodriguez Portillo
Reina Sofia University Hospital, Cordoba / Spain
Juan M. Rodriguez Portillo is Professor of Medicine at the Hospital Universitario Reina Sofia, Cordoba, Spain. He graduated from Seville Medical School, performed training in Internal Medicine and Nephrology at the Oklahoma Health Science Center, USA. Then he moved to UCLA as an Assistant Professor and staff in Nephrology at the West LA Medical Center, USA. His major research interest is parathyroid hyperplasia in uremic patients, regulation of parathyroid cell receptors, the role of phosphate in secondary hyperparathyroidism abnormalities in calcium metabolism including regulation of FGF23 and Klotho and the genesis and management of vascular calcifications. Prof. Rodriguez Portillo is a member of scientific committees and reviewer for a large number of nephrology and endocrinology journals. He is chief editor of the Journal Nefrologia. He has published 283 manuscripts in the field.
Dr. Maximilian J. Roeder
City Hospital of Landshut, Landshut / Germany
Dr. Maximilian J. Roeder
City Hospital of Landshut, Landshut / Germany
Doctor med. Maximilian Roeder is the leading physician of the section of nephrology of the city hospital of Landshut, a teaching hospital of the University of Munich, Bavaria, Germany. He has more than 15 years of experience in internal medicine, nephrology and intensive care medicine. One of his focuses is improving interventional care for peritoneal dialysis access, including advanced laparoscopic techniques.
Prof. Dr. Lionel Rostaing
University Hospital, Toulouse / France
Prof. Dr. Lionel Rostaing
University Hospital, Toulouse / France
Professor Lionel Rostaing received his MD and graduated in nephrology from Toulouse University Medical School, France, in 1988. In 1989 he graduated in immunology at Aix-Marseille University Medical School, France. Since 2016 he is chairman of the Department of Nephrology, Dialysis, Apheresis and Kidney Transplantation of Grenoble University Hospital, France. Prof. Rostaing is a member of several professional and scientific organizations including the International Society of Nephrology, the European Society of Nephrology, Dialysis, and Transplantation, the European Society of Organ Transplantation, the European Society of Artificial Organs, the International Society for Apheresis, the American Society of Nephrology, and the American Society of Transplantation. Prof. Rostaings’ main fields of clinical and basic research include ABO incompatible kidney transplantation, HLA incompatible kidney transplantation, desensitization, viral infections in dialysis and organ transplant patients, particularly hepatitis C virus infection in dialysis and transplant patients, cytomegalovirus infection and disease after kidney and liver transplants, hepatitis E after organ transplantation, anemia after kidney transplantation and after liver transplantation, the pharmacodynamic effects of immunosuppressants; the use of new immunosuppressants such as belatacept and iscalimab, and immunoadsorption. He has authored or co-authored more than 540 original articles.
Prof. Dr. Elke Schäffner
Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin / Germany
Prof. Dr. Elke Schäffner
Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin / Germany
Elke Schäffner is deputy director of the Institute of Public Health, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany, where she holds a professorship in public health. She is an epidemiologist and nephrologist and teaches at the Berlin School of Public Health. She studied medicine at the University of Freiburg, Germany, and obtained her Master of Science in Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, USA. Her main fields of research are renal epidemiology and aging, including chronic diseases in older adults such as chronic kidney disease in an aging society. She is principal investigator of the "Berlin Initiative Study" (BIS), a population-based cohort study investigating the epidemiology of chronic kidney disease in persons aged 70+ over several years. Prof. Schäffner is also Co-Director of the "Center Virchow-Villermé for Public Health Paris Berlin", an institution that promotes bilateral education and research in global health in Germany and France.
Prof. Dr. Claus-Peter Schmitt
Centre of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Heidelberg / Germany
Prof. Dr. Claus-Peter Schmitt
Centre of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Heidelberg / Germany
Professor Claus Schmitt is consultant of pediatric nephrology, hepatology and rheumatology and chief executive consultant at the Centre of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Heidelberg, Germany. Following two years of a postdoc fellowship of the German Research Foundation and a 6-year pediatric residency, he was appointed Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in 2004 and Professor of Pediatrics in 2009. Prof. Schmitt conducted numerous experimental studies and clinical trials on dialysis, CKD-MBD and metabolic kidney disease. He is a member of 10 national and international medical associations, the IRB of the Medical Faculty Heidelberg, the European and ESPN Pediatric Dialysis and CKD MBD Working Groups, the German collaborative research group on reactive metabolites, and work package leader in the European PD Research Consortium Improve PD. He is co-lead of the International Pediatric Dialysis Network and heads the International Pediatric Peritoneal Biobank. He has published 151 scientific articles and his research received 24 scientific awards.
Dr. Catharina V. Schramm
Universitätsklinikum Würzburg Zentrum für Innere Medizin (ZIM), Abteilung Nephro / Germany
Dr. Catharina V. Schramm
Universitätsklinikum Würzburg Zentrum für Innere Medizin (ZIM), Abteilung Nephro / Germany
Doctor Catharina Schramm was born in 1993 in Würzburg and studied medicine at the Universities of Pecs, Hungary, and Rostock, Germany. After graduation from the University of Rostock Medical School in 2018, she started her postgraduate training in internal medicine and nephrology at the Department of Nephrology of the University Hospital of Würzburg (Head: Prof. Dr. C. Wanner). During this time, she worked in the Transplantation and Dialysis Unit of the Nephrology Department. In 2019 she received her doctorate in medicine from the University of Rostock dealing with autonomic neuropathy in dialysis patients and patients with normal renal function with a special focus on diabetes mellitus.
Prof. Dr. Sidy Mohamed Seck
Gaston Berger University, Saint-Louis / Senegal
Prof. Dr. Sidy Mohamed Seck
Gaston Berger University, Saint-Louis / Senegal
Doctor Sidy Mohamed Seck, MD, MPH, ISN Fellow, is an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine / Nephrology at the Faculty of Health Sciences / University Gaston Berger of Saint-Louis, Senegal. After his graduation in 2005 at the medical school of the University Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar, Senegal, he also spent one year as a visiting fellow at “Centre de Néphrologie et de Transplantation Rénale” in Marseille, France, before coming back to Senegal where he worked as a nephrologist at the University Hospital in Dakar. In 2010, thanks to the ISN Fellowship program, he was trained in clinical epidemiology at CNR-IBIM in Reggio Calabria, Italy, under the supervision of Prof. Carmine Zoccali and continued with a Master’s Degree in Public Health at the Free University of Brussels, Belgium. Since 2011, he is working as an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine / Nephrology at the Faculty of Health Sciences at University Gaston Berger of Saint-Louis, Senegal, and also as senior nephrology consultant at the regional University Hospital in Saint-Louis, Senegal. He is also an Associate Researcher at the “National Scientific Research Center” of France and at the “African Excellence Research Center in Health and Environment” at the University Cheikh Anta Diop of Dakar, where he is the Leader of the Non-Communicable Chronic Diseases research group. Assoc. Prof. Secks’ main research interests are chronic kidney disease, acute kidney injury management, cardio-metabolic diseases and their complications in African populations. His research activities contribute to better understand the burden of these diseases and their local determinants, but also to explore new potential therapeutic options like traditional alternative medicines that are widely used by millions of Africans.
Dr. Rukshana Shroff
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London / United Kingdom
Dr. Rukshana Shroff
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London / United Kingdom
Rukshana Shroff, MD, FRCPCH, Ph.D., is a consultant in pediatric nephrology at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London, UK, and Associate Professor at the University College London Institute of Child Health. Her research focuses on cardiovascular disease in childhood chronic kidney disease (CKD), including laboratory work, clinical research studies and clinical trials. She leads a European trial comparing long-term outcomes of conventional hemodialysis and hemodiafiltration in children. She currently holds a prestigious senior fellowship from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) to continue research into mineral dysregulation in CKD. She has published more than 200 original articles, reviews and book chapters in the fields of nephrology and dialysis. Doctor Shroff is on the executive committee of KDIGO and has contributed to the recent KDIGO CKD-MBD guideline update and two guideline committees for the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). She has served on the council for the European Society for Pediatric Nephrology. She serves on the editorial board of the clinical journal of the American Society of Nephrology, Pediatric Nephrology and Peritoneal Dialysis International. Dr. Shroff has shared her expertise with the scientific committee in several international meetings including the ERA-EDTA, IPNA, ESPN and EuroPD congresses, and has given over 75 invited talks.
Dr. Maria F. Slon Roblero
Complejo Hospitalario de Navarra, Department of Nephrology / Spain
Dr. Maria F. Slon Roblero
Complejo Hospitalario de Navarra, Department of Nephrology / Spain
Associate Professor Slon Roblero is specialized in home dialysis therapy and currently in charge of the Home Dialysis Program (both peritoneal and home hemodialysis) at the Complejo Hospitalario de Navarra, Spain. She qualified as a nephrologist from the Clínica Universidad de Navarra and is currently a clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the Universidad de Navarra as well as a co-investigator in the area of cardiovascular and kidney disease at the Navarre Institute for Health Research (IDISNA). Assoc. Prof. Roblero is the co-investigator in several clinical trials in mineral bone disease, peritoneal dialysis, home hemodialysis and kidney transplantation and is currently the principal investigator of a national multi-centric project related to peritoneal ultrafiltration in chronic heart failure. Assoc. Prof. Roblero is a board member of the Working Group of the Spanish Society of Nephrology for support and promotion of home hemodialysis in Spain. She is responsible for the National Registry for kidney patients (REER) and Renal Registry for ERA-EDTA in Navarra.
Prof. Dr. Goce Spasovski
University Hospital in Skopje, Skopje / North Macedonia
Prof. Dr. Goce Spasovski
University Hospital in Skopje, Skopje / North Macedonia
Goce Spasovski is from Macedonia, post-graduated in Nephrology at the University Hospital in Skopje, at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, Katowice, Poland, and "Laiko" University Hospital in Athens, Greece. He received his Ph.D. at the Universities of Skopje and Antwerp. Dr. Spasovski was principal investigator in 20 clinical trials related to the progression of CKD (currently two FP7 projects), anemia, CKD-MBD and bone biopsy-based studies, immunotolerance in kidney transplant recipients etc. He finished his term as an ERA-EDTA ordinary council member in 2009. He was then a chairman of the committee for CME activities at ERA-EDTA up to 2013/14, ERBP advisory board member, co-chairman of the ERBP hyponatremia group, member of the ERBP transplant guideline and DESCARTES group, current EDTA Council 2016/19. He is also the president of the Macedonian Society of Nephrology, Dialysis, Transplantation and Artificial Organs, president of the Balkan Association of Nephrology, Dialysis, Transplantation and Artificial Organs, ISBP board member since 2018, member of the ISN GO Central & East European Committee, EUTox group, the KDIGO Implementation Task Force and Leader for Central and Eastern Europe. His academic opus has more than 470 published articles and book chapters (158 Medline cited), 5020 citations and a Hirsh index of 33.
Dr. Stefano Stuard
Fresenius Medical Care / Italy
Dr. Stefano Stuard
Fresenius Medical Care / Italy
Doctor Stefano Stuard supports the Fresenius Medical Care NephroCare medical leadership in his role as chief clinical officer for the EMEA region in the Global Medical Office. Dr. Stuards’ distinguished career includes nearly a decade with Fresenius Medical Care in clinical governance roles for the company’s EMEA and Latin American regions. He has served as a consultant / director for Nephrology and Dialysis Departments in Italian public and private hospitals. Dr. Stuard received his Ph.D. in Nephrology from the University of Bologna in Italy, and his Doctor of Medicine and surgery with a postgraduate diploma in nephrology from the University of Chieti in Italy. He is the author of more than 150 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals and has an H-score of 26.
Prof. Dr. Charles R. Swanepoel
University of Cape Town. / South Africa
Prof. Dr. Charles R. Swanepoel
University of Cape Town. / South Africa
Charles Swanepoel is an Emeritus Associate Professor in the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Department of Medicine, Groote Schuur Hospital and the University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa. He continues with postgraduate teaching at UCT. He has contributed significantly to the development of guidelines for the management of patients with CKD and AKI in South Africa. He has published in various prestigious nephrology journals including, Kidney International, NDT, American Journal of Kidney Diseases, Nephrology and Nature Reviews Nephrology. He is a reviewer for Kidney International, Lancet, Nephrology, African J of Nephrol. and SAMJ. He served as a subject editor for Nephrology. Presently, he is a member of the editorial board of Kidney Diseases. He is past president of AFRAN (African Association of Nephrology) and the SA Renal Society. He is a council member of the International Society of Nephrology (ISN, 2019-2021). He is the chair of the ISN African Regional Board (2019 – 2021). He has been associated with Fresenius Medical Care since 2003 and subsequently became the Fresenius Medical Care country medical director for South Africa.
Prof. Dr. Maarten W. Taal
University of Nottingham, Nottingham / United Kingdom
Prof. Dr. Maarten W. Taal
University of Nottingham, Nottingham / United Kingdom
Maarten W. Taal graduated from the University of Cape Town Medical School, South Africa, in 1987. After completing his postgraduate training in internal medicine and nephrology at Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, he joined the Laboratory of Kidney and Electrolyte Physiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, USA, under the directorship of Barry M. Brenner, MD. His research focused on mechanisms underlying the progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and earned him a Doctor of Medicine degree. He subsequently moved to the United Kingdom where he was appointed consultant renal physician at Derby City General Hospital (now Royal Derby Hospital) in 2002 and Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham in 2011. He was appointed Professor of Medicine in the Division of Medical Sciences and Graduate Entry Medicine, University of Nottingham in April 2014, where he leads the Centre for Kidney Research and Innovation. His current research interests include CKD progression, diabetic nephropathy, cardiovascular disease in CKD, renal applications of MRI and hemodynamic responses to hemodialysis. He has a career-long interest in CKD and co-authored the Renal Association’s Clinical Practice Guidelines on CKD. Prof. Taal serves as an editor for “Brenner and Rector’s The Kidney”, section editor for “Current Opinion in Nephrology and Hypertension” and academic editor for “PLOS Medicine”. He is chair of the UK Kidney Research Consortium CKD Clinical Study Group and Immediate past president of the British Renal Society.
Mrs. Marjelka Trkulja
Fresenius Medical Care, Germany / Germany
Mrs. Marjelka Trkulja
Fresenius Medical Care, Germany / Germany
Marjelka Trkulja is the Director of Nursing Care at Fresenius Medical Care since 2017 where she leads over 12,000 nurses from 29 countries. Marjelka has 28 years renal nursing experience, including nine years as Country Nursing Manager in Croatia, developing and coordinating nurses in the clinics. Marjelka holds a Master Degree in Nursing Science.
Prof. Dr. Fyodor Urnov
University of California, Berkeley / United States
Prof. Dr. Fyodor Urnov
University of California, Berkeley / United States
Dr. Fyodor Urnov is a Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. His research focuses on advancing genome editing technology and pushing the boundaries of how it can be applied to solve real-world problems. Dr. Urnov is a pioneer in the field of genome editing, with a diverse background in academia, industry and the nonprofit sector. He joined the Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI) as Scientific Director of Technology and Translation in 2018. Before joining the IGI he served as the Associate Director of Altius Institutes for Biomedical Sciences. Prior, he was at Sangamo BioSciences from 2000 - 2016, where he co-developed and co-named human genome editing at native loci using engineered nucleases, and led the effort developing all major modalities of editing (correction, disruption, and integration). He also pioneered efforts to use engineered transcription factors for targeted epigenome engineering. As VP of Discovery and Translational Research, he shared leadership responsibilities for preclinical research for the first in vivo clinical trial of an engineered epigenome modulator; the first clinical trial for genome editing; and the first genome-edited crop. He has authored more than 70 scientific publications and is an inventor of more than 130 issued and pending U.S. patents related to genome editing and targeted gene regulation technology.
Dr. Len Usvyat
Fresenius Medical Care, North America / United States
Dr. Len Usvyat
Fresenius Medical Care, North America / United States
Doctor Len Usvyat chairs Fresenius Medical Care’s (FME) Advanced Analytics steering committees and works closely with the global MONitoring Dialysis Outcomes (MONDO) initiative, an international consortium of dialysis providers. His team provides analytical support and functions in the liaison capacity with Fresenius Medical Care’s integrated care assets such as its pharmacy, vascular care centers, urgent care facilities, and the Fresenius Medical Care’s health plan. Globally, he is responsible for connecting various advanced analytics partners inside and outside Fresenius Medical Care to the medical office clinical agenda and building out FME’s capabilities in applied advanced analytics endeavors. These efforts vary and include activities such as routine and custom reporting, predictive modeling, outcomes analysis, and research. Doctor Usyvat has published over 70 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals. He holds a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania, USA, and Ph.D. from the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands.
Prof. Dr. Wim Van Biesen
Ghent University Hospital, Ghent / Belgium
Prof. Dr. Wim Van Biesen
Ghent University Hospital, Ghent / Belgium
Professor Wim van Biesen is the chief clinician and chief of the Department of Internal Medicine (Renal Division) at the University Hospital Ghent, Belgium. He holds several memberships in different societies such as the editorial board of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (cJASN), Peritoneal Dialysis International and the journal Nephrology, Dialysis and Transplantation. He is a member of the board of EuroPD and ex-chair of European Renal Best Practice. He is also co-organizer of the Oxford-Ghent summer school on renal replacement and transplantation. He is the founding-chair of the Justifiable Digital Healthcare consortium at the University Ghent, Belgium. Prof. van Biesen conducts clinical, basic and translational research in the field of nephrology, evidence-based medicine and patient participation. He published more than 380 papers and has been involved in many international collaborations.
Prof. Dr. Raymond Vanholder
University Gent, Gent / Belgium
Prof. Dr. Raymond Vanholder
University Gent, Gent / Belgium
Dr. Vanholder published more than 900 papers, including reviews and book chapters, on adequacy of dialysis, uremic toxicity and various topics related to clinical nephrology. He serves as a member of the editorial review board of several journals and is subject editor of Nephrology Dialysis and Transplantation and Toxins. Up till autumn 2010, he has been chairman of the European Uremic Toxin Work Group (EUTox) and member of the Executive Board and treasurer of Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO). Up till summer 2011 he was chairman of the European Renal Best Practice (ERBP). Up till autumn 2014, he chaired the Renal Disaster Relief Task Force (RDRTF) of the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) and participated in several international relief operations. Dr. Vanholder was founding president of the Belgian Society of Nephrology (BVN-SBN), is past president of the European Society of Artificial Organs (ESAO) and immediate past president of ERA-EDTA. He is now retired (Prof Em at Ghent University) and chair of the European Kidney Health Alliance and european Chronic Diseases Alliance.
Prof. Dr. Marc Vervloet
VU University Medical Center, Department of Nephrology / Netherlands
Prof. Dr. Marc Vervloet
VU University Medical Center, Department of Nephrology / Netherlands
Marc Vervloet is a nephrologist, Professor of Nephrology and director of the nephrology research program, at the Amsterdam University Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He is research program leader at the Institute Amsterdam Cardiovascular Sciences (ACS), chair of the CKD-Mineral and Bone Disorders (CKD-MBD) working group of the ERA-EDTA, member of the scientific committee of the Dutch Kidney Foundation and member of the KDIGO committee on CKD-MBD. Prof. Vervloet gained his medical degree in 1989, graduated as an internist in 1997 and as a nephrologist in 1999. His thesis encompassed research on the deranged metabolism of minerals and bone in chronic kidney disease. His clinical work is related to CKD and he heads the Hemodialysis Unit at his hospital. He teaches both medical students, residents, and nephrology fellows, and guides several Ph.D. students. His research mainly covers topics related to CKD-MBD, in particular on the role of cardiovascular disease, FGF23, Klotho, the clinical use of calcimimetic therapy, and phosphate control. In addition, the laboratory research he is conducting comprises several animal models of CKD, vitamin D deficiency, using mainly cardiovascular endpoint, both in terms of imaging and functional testing in vivo.
Mrs. Evelyne Vreman
Fresenius Medical Care / France
Mrs. Evelyne Vreman
Fresenius Medical Care / France
Evelyne Vreman, is a Registered Nurse with over 35 years Renal experience based in France, speaks 4 languages and has previously presented at the EDTNA. Evelyne has worked across all treatment modalities including in centre dialysis, Home Haemodialysis and has also set up a self care unit. Evelyne has a passion for training and educating patients, supporting them to achieve<br>their individual goals.
Prof. Dr. David Wheeler
University College London, London / United Kingdom
Prof. Dr. David Wheeler
University College London, London / United Kingdom
David Wheeler is Professor of Kidney Medicine at University College London, UK and Honorary Consultant Nephrologist at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. He is a clinician scientist interested in the complications of chronic kidney disease, specifically those that increase the burden of cardiovascular disease and/or accelerate progression of kidney failure. He has participated in the development and running of several large-scale clinical trials testing lipid lowering regimens, calcimimetics and sodium glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors in patients with chronic kidney disease. He has developed clinical practice guidelines for several organisations, most recently for Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO), of which he was co-chair from 2012-2019. He is currently chair of the International Society of Nephrology Advancing Clinical Trials (ISN-ACT) Committee. Previous roles include president of the UK Renal Association and chair of the UK Renal Registry. He is currently National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) National Specialty Lead for Nephrology. At a local level he is Co-Medical Director of the NIHR North Thames Clinical Research Network and Lead Clinician for the Centre for Clinical Kidney Disease, within the Department of Renal Medicine at University College London.
Prof. Dr. Andrzej Więcek
Medical University of Silesia, Katowice / Poland
Prof. Dr. Andrzej Więcek
Medical University of Silesia, Katowice / Poland
Professor Andrzej Więcek completed his medical education at the Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland, in 1980. His medical specializations include internal medicine, nephrology, hypertension-ology, clinical transplantology and angiology. He is the head of the Department of Nephrology, Transplantation and Internal Medicine at Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland, since 2000. He obtained the title Full Professor in Nephrology and Internal Medicine in February 1996. During recent years Prof. Więcek has served in eminent positions such as president of the Polish Society of Hypertension (2000 – 2002), president of the Polish Society of Nephrology (2007 – 2010), Council member of the Polish Society of Transplantation (2003 – 2005), Council member of the ERA-EDTA twice (1999 – 2002 and 2006 – 2009), and secretary-treasurer of the ERA-EDTA (2011 – 2014). From 2014 to 2017, Prof. Więcek was the president of ERA-EDTA. His main scientific interests are pathogenesis and clinical aspects of primary and secondary forms of arterial hypertension, hormonal abnormalities in uremia, kidney transplant and hypertensive patients, endocrine function of the kidney and adipose tissue, and clinical aspects of anemia management in CKD patients. Prof. Więcek is the author or co-author of more than 900 scientific papers and more than 100 book chapters, as well as co-editor of 30 books on the field of hypertension and kidney diseases.
Prof. Dr. Martin Wilkie
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals / United Kingdom
Prof. Dr. Martin Wilkie
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals / United Kingdom
Consultant nephrologist at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and honorary Professor of nephrology at the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom. He has run a home dialysis clinic for nearly 25 years, teaches regularly on peritoneal dialysis and contributes to several research projects (e.g., Yorkshire Dialysis Decision Aid). Prof. Wilkie led the development of the 2010 Renal Association Guideline for peritoneal access, is chief investigator of the UK Catheter Study (UK CRN 17940) and editor in chief of Peritoneal Dialysis International. He leads the Health Foundation supported Scaling Up Shared Hemodialysis Care program.
Mrs. Kristina zur Mühlen
/ Germany
Mrs. Kristina zur Mühlen
/ Germany
Kristina zur Mühlen is a professional TV journalist and moderator. She has a scientific background in physics and extensive television experience as a host. Kristina zur Mühlen will give you a daily outlook of the highlights of the scientific agenda, special guests and talks. This way you can rest assured to not miss anything and stay on top of your personal agenda overview.