Life/2021 webinars

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.

close this window

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.

close this window

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.
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.

close this window

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.

close this window

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.

close this window

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.

close this window

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.

close this window

Dr Giovanni Luigi Tripepi is born in Reggio Calabria, Italy. In 2005, he achieved the university degree in Biostatistics at the Messina University, Italy. On August 2009 and September 2012, he achieved the Master of Science in Epidemiology and the PhD in Clinical Epidemiology, respectively, at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam, Netherlands. He is a Biostatistician/ Epidemiologist with experience in teaching and research in the field of clinical epidemiology and medical statistics. 

He is Director of Research at the CNR-IFC Research Unit of Clinical Epidemiology and Physiopathology of Renal Diseases and Hypertension of Reggio Calabria, Italy. Dr. Tripepi is co-author of 400 articles published in international peer-reviewed journals. His H-index is 71.

Dr Tripepi is component of the Editorial Board of Nephrology, Dialysis and Transplantation and Blood (Statistical Consultant). He also belongs to the Top Italian Scientist of VIA Academy.

close this window

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.
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.
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.
Dr. Chazot has published 140 peer-reviewed papers, 3 book chapters and is a regular reviewer for nephrology journals.
He has been an investigator in the FINE study, Renilon study and GSK HIF study.

close this window

Dr Jule Pinter is an Internal Medicine and Nephrology senior medical resident and pursues a German Research Foundation supported clinician-scientist track at the University of Wuerzburg.

She has been a medical registrar and clinical lecturer at the University Hospital Wuerzburg, Germany. Prior to this, she started her research in prestigious electives at known research institutes such as McMaster University and the University of Sydney. She graduated from Witten/Herdecke Private University, and worked across different health care systems from Meiringen in Switzerland to Ohio, Cleveland.

Jule’s clinical and research interest lies at the intersection of cardiovascular and kidney disease; she is currently involved in the conduct of both large-scale clinical trials and analyses of observational studies using routinely collected registry data. She has published 10 peer-reviewed articles and conference proceedings, including work featured in The Clinical Journal of American Society of Nephrology, American Journal of Kidney Diseases and Nephrology, Dialysis and Transplantation. In addition, she has a particular interest in qualitative research and health care systems research.

Her dissertation on the perspectives of elderly kidney transplant recipients was recognized with magna cum laude. The clinician-scientist grant awarded by the German Research Foundation allows her to combine structured residency with clinical research.

She is a mentee of the NephroFuture class at the German Society of Nephrology, and is a member of the European Renal Association.

She hopes to improve the lives of people living with kidney disease by working as a nephrologist, and clinical trialist, undertaking high-impact research that develops and disseminates scalable health solutions across the world.

close this window

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.

close this window

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.
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.

close this window

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.

close this window

I am married to my wife Karin and we have a daughter who is 23 years old and who recently graduated with a degree in economics. Two years ago, I retired after working 35 years in the paint industry focusing on ship paints.

As a child, I developed a kidney disease that led to my need for dialysis in adulthood. Since 1985, I have had a kidney transplant after 9 years in dialysis.

I am the President of Swedish Kidney Association and board assignments in two research funds. I also have assignments for the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg with questions concerning person-centered care and research ethics.

In 2011, I was appointed an Honorary Doctor of Medicine (MD h.c.) at the University of Gothenburg.

I believe that every person has more opportunities to be involved in their care and treatment than is used today. The care provider must listen to the patient's story and see the patient as an equal partner.

close this window

Founding co-chair of KDIGO (Kidney Diseases: improving Global Outcomes), Co-chair of the KDIGO Clinical Practice Guidelines for Acute Kidney Injury, Em Editor in Chief of Nephrology, Dialysis, Transplantation,Doctor Hon Causa Kaunas Medical Academy,Roscoe R Robinson Award of the Int Soc of Nephrology for Education in Nephrology and Medicine

close this window

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.

close this window

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.

close this window

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.

close this window

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.

close this window

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.

close this window

Dr. Duivenvoorden graduted and obtained his Ph.D. at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam and Translational and Molecular Imaging Institute of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. He worked on artheroslerosis using nanobiologics in combination with immunomodulatory drugs. He was awarded with the VENI Grant to further explore the utility of HDL-based nanobiologics for innate immune cell targeting in cardiovascular disease. In 2019, he was awarded a Hypatia Tenure Track by the Radboud University Medical Center and in 2020 a Kolff senior post-doc grant by the Dutch Kidney Foundation. Currently, he is focusing on therapeutically modulation of innate immune responses in renal diseases. Dr. Duivenvoorden closely collaborates with the department of the Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Institute at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York where he holds a position as Adj. Ass. Professor. In addition to leading a research group he performs clinical work as internist-nephrologist and participates in teaching activities for the Curriculum of Medicine (Immunology, bachelor and master phase) at the Radboud university medical center.

close this window

Dr. Lili Chan is Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Department of Nephrology and Associate Director of Clinical Research for Nephrology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. After graduating with a degree in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, she went on and completed her medical degree, obtained her Residency in Internal Medicine and completed her Fellowship in Nephrology and MSc in Clinical Research.

As a board-certified nephrologist, Dr. Chan is experienced in caring for patients with a variety of renal conditions ranging from acute kidney injury to end stage renal disease while also having a strong interest in research to improve outcomes in patients with chronic kidney disease. In her research, she has utilized large databases of routinely collected information in electronic health records to identify variables associated with adverse outcomes in hemodialysis patients, using advanced computations methods including natural language processing and machine learning..

close this window

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.

close this window

Dr Zaloszyc qualified in Paediatrics at Strasbourg University Medical School. She subsequently trained in paediatric nephrology in the department: Pédiatrie 1 Grands enfants, Hautepierre, Hospital, Strasbourg, under the supervision of Pr Michel Fischbach. She subsequently undertook clinical and research on CKD and dialysis. She is associate professor in the Pediatric’s dpt. Her research interests include studies on peritoneal dialysis in children.

close this window

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.
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.

close this window

Dr. Davenport graduated in medicine at the University of Cambridge. He practiced as a consultant renal physician for many years at the UCL Department of Renal Medicine the Royal Free Hospital in London. Currently, he is President of the International Society for Hemodialysis and member of the ERA-EDTA Renal Nutrition board, and former vice-chair European Dialysis board. He is Professor of Dialysis & ICU Nephrology, and director of the Dialysis & Renal Physiology centre University College London, and his research interests are centered around nutrition the clinical management of patients with AKI (Acute Kidney Injury) and patients with combined liver and kidney failure. He strongly contributed to research by authoring more than 500 publications which is reflected by a H-index of 56. He is a co-supervisor of large studies including a randomized controlled trial to determine whether bioimpedance spectroscopy-guided fluid management maintains residual kidney function in incident haemodialysis patients, and trials comparing haemodialysis and haemodiafiltration.

close this window

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.

close this window

Professor Ronald T. Gansevoort, Chair PKD Expertise Center, Department of Nephrology, University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG), the Netherlands
Ron’s work in the field of CKD and ADPKD has been instrumental in the development of the novel KDIGO and WHO definition and classification of CKD, the development of novel endpoints for RCTs within Nephrology and the first registered treatment for ADPKD. He is committed to getting more attention for screening for early CKD and prevention of CKD progression on a general population level, and specifically for prevention of disease progression in ADPKD . Ron has published over 550 peer reviewed manuscripts and supervised 28 PhD theses. He has been awarded with several prizes and awards, including Fellow of the ASN, Distinguished Fellow of the ERA EDTA, the US Kidney Foundation Distinguished International Medal and the Dutch Society for Nephrology Award. He serves as editor for 5 nephrological journals, and he is a Board Member of the Dutch Society of Nephrology and the European Renal Association.

close this window

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.

close this window

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.

close this window

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.

close this window

Dr. Nadja Grobe received her MS and PhD in Biochemistry from the Martin Luther University Halle Wittenberg, Germany. Prior to joining the RRI in 2017, she gained more than 10 years of experience in guiding and implementing chemistry, biochemistry, and biomedical-focused research in non-profit, academia, and government. As the supervisor of Laboratory Research at the RRI she is applying strategies for improved therapies in nephrology and related fields.

close this window

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.

close this window

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.

close this window

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.

close this window