renal week
President's Message
I am pleased to invite you to attend the 41st Annual Meeting of the American Society of Nephrology to take place during Renal Week in Philadelphia, November 4–9, 2008. The overall theme for the meeting this year is "Translating Basic and Clinical Science into Advances in Prevention and Treatment of Kidney Disease." Please note that the meeting will end at noon on a Sunday this year, facilitating the ability of participants to attend the full meeting.
This year's program will broadly cover all major areas of basic, translational, and clinical sciences relevant to nephrology. However, four featured topics will be especially highlighted at this year's meeting: Renal Immunology and Transplantation, Cardiovascular Disease and CKD, Stem Cells and Kidney Development, and Epithelial Transport and Cell Biology. Each featured topic will include a plenary State-of-the-Art lecture given by an internationally recognized scientist in the field: Thursday morning Dr. Diane Mathis will discuss "Mechanisms Underlying Autoimmune Disease"; Friday morning Dr. Eric Olson will speak on "Micro RNAs and Cardiovascular Disease"; Saturday morning Dr. Janet Rossant will deliver a lecture on "Stem Cells and the Medicine of the Future"; and Sunday morning Dr. Richard Lifton will describe the "Genetics of Hypertension and Electrolyte Disorders."
In addition to being highlighted by a plenary lecture, each featured topic will be the focus of a Meeting-Within-a-Meeting. Each Meeting-Within-a-Meeting will consist of clinical and basic science symposia as well as free communications (oral) sessions on exciting aspects of the featured topic. Each Meeting-Within-a-Meeting will take place in the same physical location throughout the meeting to encourage a sense of community and promote scientific interchange within each topic area.
Over and above the State-of-the-Art presentations and Meetings-Within-a-Meeting on featured topics, it should be emphasized that the Program Committee and the Postgraduate Education Committee have developed a truly outstanding array of Clinical Nephrology Conferences and Basic and Clinical Science Symposia that cover the full breadth of topics relevant to clinicians, researchers and educators in nephrology. Additional highlights of the meeting will be the Brenner lecture on "Macrophages: Critical Players in Renal Injury and Repair" by Dr. Robert Atkins, the Schrier Lecture on "The Urinary Concentrating Mechanism: Physiology Meets Molecular Biology" by Dr. Dennis Brown, the Coburn lecture on "The Emerging Role of Klotho" by Dr. Makoto Kuro-o, and the Blagg Lecture on "Clinical Performance Measures: How Will You Be Measured?" by Dr. Neil Powe. I am particularly grateful to Program Committee Chair Peter Igarashi and Postgraduate Education Committee Chair Mark Rosenberg for their brilliant leadership, and to the dedicated members of the Program and Postgraduate Education Committees for their hard work and creativity in formulating the spectacular program that you will enjoy at Renal Week 2008. The close collaboration between Drs. Igarashi and Rosenberg contributed greatly to the success of the programming process.
The Annual Meeting serves as a wonderful occasion to celebrate the legacy of leaders in nephrology research, clinical care and education by the presentation of awards in their names at the morning plenary sessions. On Thursday morning, the John P. Peters Award will be presented to Dr. Robert Alpern. On Friday morning, Dr. S. Ananth Karumanchi will receive the Young Investigator Award and will present a lecture about his novel studies on the pathogenesis of preeclampsia. This will be followed by presentation of the Robert G. Narins Award to Dr. Mitchell Halperin. On Saturday morning, Dr. Peter Harris will receive the Homer W. Smith Award and will present a lecture about his groundbreaking work on the genetics of polycystic kidney diseases. On Sunday morning, the Belding H. Scribner Award will be presented to Dr. Marshall Lindheimer.
Renal Week will return to the Pennsylvania Convention Center in the heart of historic downtown Philadelphia. This meeting site has proved popular with attendees in the past, who have appreciated the many food options afforded by the adjoining Reading Terminal Market, as well as many nearby restaurants.
In short, Renal Week 2008 will be terrific. I urge you to join old and new friends in attending the world's largest and most outstanding meeting devoted to the latest advances in nephrology research, clinical care and education.
Peter S. Aronson, MD, FASN
President
American Society of Nephrology