In This Issue...
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September President's Message
Dr. DuBose discusses the ASN's involvement in and the importance of World Kidney Day.
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Renal Week 2006 Registration and Housing Available Online
Registration and housing for Renal Week 2006 are available through the ASN website.
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ASN Announces Recipient of ASN-ASPN Norman Siegel Pediatric Research Grant
ASN is pleased to announce that the first recipient of the ASN-ASPN Norman Siegel Pediatric Research Grant is Fangming Lin, MD, PhD, FASN.
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ASN Remembers Louis Tobian, MD
Dr. Louis Tobian, M.D. passed away on September 2, 2006 after a short illness. Dr. Tobian was a respected faculty member in the Department of Medicine at the University of Minnesota from 1954 until 2004, and was a recipient of the Department's Emeritus Professor Award in 2003.
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Call for Informational Posters for Renal Week
New this year, the ASN is offering PIs of NIH-funded multi-center clinical trials the opportunity to display a poster in the exhibit hall during Renal Week 2006.
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ASN Participates in Disaster Response
Over the past 8 months, the ASN has participated with many other organizations in the nephrology community in the Kidney Community Emergency Response Coalition (KCERC).
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Continuing Medical Education (CME) Evaluation and Credit Online
The ASN is pleased to offer you an online method of entering your evaluation responses and claiming CME credit for ASN educational programs.
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NephSAP Examinations Online
As part of ASN's new Online CME Center, beginning with the November 2006 issue, the examination questions can be answered online or submitted by mail using the scannable form printed with each issue.
- ISN Nexus Symposium, The Bone and the Kidney
The ISN's inaugural Nexus Symposium will convene the world's most eminent nephrologists, endocrinologists, bone specialists, and cardiologists to discuss and debate The Bone and the Kidney, in Copenhagen, Denmark, October 12-15, 2006.
Dear Members of the ASN:
Welcome to the September issue of Renal Express!
I am pleased to announce that the ASN will participate in a multi-society cooperative effort to organize events around the second annual World Kidney Day scheduled for Thursday, March 8, 2007 . The ASN will coordinate activities with the National Kidney Foundation (NKF), the Renal Physicians Association (RPA), the American Society of Pediatric Nephrology (ASPN), the American Heart Association-Kidney Council, t he International Society of Nephrology (ISN) and the International Federation of Kidney Foundations (IFKF), to advance a concise and consistent message.
The goal of World Kidney Day is to provide a platform for raising awareness about kidney disease among health officials, general physicians, allied health professionals, and populations at risk across the globe; and to advocate for early detection and prevention of kidney disease in all countries. All participants recognize that we need a simple, understandable message for patients and that we need to enlist the cooperative partnership of primary care physicians. The number of Americans with CKD is now estimated to be 19.2 million representing 11% of the adult U.S. population. Recent evidence clearly indicates that the burden of CKD is growing. Disturbingly, although the annual incidence of ESRD may be leveling off, a significant increase in the incidence of ESRD continues to be manifest in African Americans. Without a doubt, the burden of this disease is borne disproportionately by certain ethnic groups and economically disadvantaged patients. In these groups, worse outcomes and higher costs of treatment are well documented. CKD also affects older Americans disproportionately. Nephrologists are aware that preventive strategies have been applied much less effectively than desirable. Nevertheless, several studies have shown significant reduction in progression to ESRD in parallel with a concomitant reduction in albuminuria, when proven strategies are applied in clinical trials.
Therefore, the opportunity before us is to advocate that proven strategies to slow progression can be applied more widely, particularly in the disadvantaged patient population. The growing costs of caring for the complications of CKD, such as cardiovascular disease, and the staggering costs of renal replacement therapy, will require a more coordinated approach to detection and management. Economic analyses predict a substantive cost savings to the health care system with wider penetration of such strategies into chronic health management paradigms.
To that end, the ASN has reached out to renal community partners, specifically the NKF, to coordinate a grassroots campaign that will target key congressional members and committees and the Executive branch. We will focus on the themes of advocacy for kidney disease research and raising the overall awareness of kidney disease and associated cardiovascular disease, which we all agree is under-appreciated. We also acknowledge that it is imperative that we work together to bring collective kidney society efforts and strengths to World Kidney Day activities to maximize our effectiveness before Congress and the Executive branch. I personally cannot think of a more effective approach than having physicians and patients representing ASN and NKF walking the halls of Congress together as constituents, with a coordinated message.
The ASN is proud to be an active participant in World Kidney Day and to help enhance appreciation of the public health threat of kidney disease. A simple recurring message will be that CKD is common, harmful and treatable. Hopefully this effort will ultimately involve the entire nephrology community. Please consider how you might develop programs around this event in your own community, especially among patient populations at risk and for primary care physicians. Consider also contacting your Congressional Representative or U.S. Senator.
To learn more about this important day, including 2006 events, please click on this link: http://www.worldkidneyday.org/index.html.
Sincerely yours,
Thomas D. DuBose, Jr., MD, FASN
2. Renal Week 2006 Registration and Housing Available Online
Registration and housing for Renal Week 2006 are available through the ASN website. Renal Week will take place from November 14-19, 2006 in San Diego, California. Access to the registration and housing websites and additional information, including program details, is available here on the ASN website.
3. ASN Announces Recipient of ASN-ASPN Norman Siegel Pediatric Research Grant
ASN is pleased to announce that the first recipient of the ASN-ASPN Norman Siegel Pediatric Research Grant is Fangming Lin, MD, PhD, FASN. This grant was jointly established by the American Society of Nephrology and the American Society of Pediatric Nephrology to honor our dear friend and colleague, Norm Siegel, who died suddenly on April 28, 2006. The ASN-ASPN Norman Siegel Pediatric Research Grant was created to support the research of a highly promising young investigator in pediatric nephrology.
Dr. Siegel was one of the world's leading pediatric nephrologists. He served as President of the American Society of Nephrology in 2002 and of the American Society of Pediatric Nephrology in 1989, as well as in a variety of leadership roles in the International Society of Pediatric Nephrology, the National Kidney Foundation, and the American Pediatric Society among others. He was a foremost pediatric nephrologist, leading investigator, and exemplary educator, mentor, and clinician. Although Dr. Siegel made many contributions to medicine, he was best known for fundamental contributions to a more comprehensive appreciation of acute kidney injury at the molecular and cellular level that resulted in direct benefit to patients. The bench and patient-centered research from his group, which included many postdoctoral fellows, resulted in the publication of over 200 papers, chapters, and texts.
Dr. Lin, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, will focus her research on pediatric nephrology and stem cell biology. At present, she is examining if pre-existing mature epithelial cells have the capacity to dedifferentiate, proliferate, and redifferentiate into tubular epithelial cells and aims to identify and isolate renal stem cells from adult mice. Dr. Lin has published six manuscripts in peer review journals, written several reviews, and been an invited speaker at numerous national meetings, including this year's upcoming Renal Week. She has served as a member of the Grant Review Committee for ASN and currently serves on the Editorial Board of JASN . Dr. Lin plans to study the role of intra-renal cells in renal repair and isolate live renal stem cells for their potential to treat renal failure in the future.
4. ASN Remembers Louis Tobian, MD
Dr. Louis Tobian, M.D. passed away on September 2, 2006 after a short illness. Dr. Tobian was a respected faculty member in the Department of Medicine at the University of Minnesota from 1954 until 2004, and was a recipient of the Department's Emeritus Professor Award in 2003.
Dr. Tobian devoted his lifelong research effort to increasing our understanding of hypertension. He was one of the first investigators to clearly define the role of renin and other vasoactive substances in the pathogenesis of hypertension. His work defined the relationship between sodium and renin production by the kidney. He was the author of a seminal article describing the role of vasodilator substances produced in the medulla of the kidney. These substances were later identified as prostaglandins, and this work launched a new direction in hypertension research.
The significance of Dr. Tobian's work is highlighted by his many honors and awards, among them the Ciba Award For Hypertension Research presented by the American Heart Association's Council for High Blood Pressure Research; the Karger Memorial Foundation Award for Endocrine Aspects of Hypertension; the Franz Volhard Award and Lectureship of the International Society of Hypertension; and the Humboldt Award for Hypertension Research. In 1990 the American Society of Nephrology selected Louis Tobian for its highest award for research and clinical care in nephrology, named the John P. Peters Award in Clinical Nephrology.
Dr. Tobian was active in the area of service to the field. His many contributions included membership in NIH study sections, membership on the Scientific Advisory Board of the National Kidney Foundation, serving as Chairman of the Council for High Blood Pressure Research, Chairman of the NIH Task Force on Hypertension, and Chairman of the Committee on Hypertension and Renal Vascular Disease of the NIH.
He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Frances, his daughter Anne and granddaughters Libby and Lucy, his sister Jean Eisenberg, and many nieces, nephews, and cousins.
5. Call for Informational Posters for Renal Week
New this year, the ASN is offering PIs of
NIH-funded multi-center clinical trials the opportunity to display a poster in the exhibit hall during Renal Week 2006. These posters are intended to assist with the recruitment and enrollment of patients to the study. If you are interested in displaying such a poster (space is extremely limited), please submit an abstract (300 words or less) describing your study to Karen Campbell, PhD, Executive Director at kcampbell@asn-online.org no later than Friday, September 22, 2006. These abstracts will be reviewed and decision for inclusion made no later than October 6th.
6. ASN Participates in Disaster Response
Over the past 8 months, the ASN has participated with many other organizations in the nephrology community in the Kidney Community Emergency Response Coalition (KCERC). The purpose of the KCERC is to create a shared emergency response system for individuals and organizations and to help build local strategies into a national preparedness and response plan, to improve kidney patient care in future disaster settings. The KCERC issued a report 1 July 2006 that covers facility preparation, operation, and assistance; patient tracking and assistance; coordination of staff and volunteers; physician assistance; federal response; industry response; and communications. This report is available here.
The KCERC continues its work. Interested ASN members may contact Dr. Andrew Cohen, Chair of the working group on Physician Resources and Assistance KCERC working group for more information or to participate in committee work.
The KCERC identified an urgent need for nephrology professionals to volunteer to provide nephrology care in future disaster settings and has developed a response plan. Nephrologists, nephrology nurses, and dialysis technicians are encouraged to apply to the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS), a federal agency within the Department of Homeland Security. Interested individuals should submit applications as soon as possible; those selected will be hired as intermittent federal employees. In the event of a disaster, NDMS personnel will be offered the option to be activated. The duration of a deployment is typically two weeks. The primary mission will be to provide dialysis care in under-staffed dialysis units. During deployment, NDMS personnel receive a federal salary, travel and living expenses are provided under government travel orders, and medical liability coverage is provided pursuant to the Federal Tort Claims Act. Most importantly, having a cadre of approved personnel will greatly facilitate the rapid identification and deployment of nephrology care providers in the event of a national disaster. For all these reasons, ASN members are encourage to submit applications now to NDMS rather than waiting for a disaster to occur. More information about this NDMS program is available at the KCERC website. Interested individuals may also contact Dr. Jeffrey Kopp to obtain additional information.
7. Continuing Medical Education (CME) Evaluation and Credit Online
The ASN is pleased to offer you an online method of entering your evaluation responses and claiming CME credit for ASN educational programs. Among other helpful features you will find listed below, ASN's Online CME Center will enable you to track and manage all of your CME credits for both ASN and non-ASN activities directly online. Paper evaluation forms will no longer be necessary for obtaining your CME credits.
The New ASN CME Center Offers:
- Access to the award-winning CE Medicus CME library – containing over 9,000 hours of FREE CME activities in a variety of program formats
- A fully-indexed, searchable CME catalog – find activities quickly by keyword, topic, disease, disorder and more!
- Online tools to track and manage your online continuing medical education and professional development
- Automated grading - submit your CME posttest/evaluation online for instantaneous grading and online certificates. Certificates issued via the CME Center will appear in your ASN transcript within 12 to 16 weeks.
- A CME Center transcript that allows you to print duplicate certificates and transcript reports for activities completed in the CME Center.
- Licensure tracking tools to track your completion of CME Center activities vs the time remaining in your licensure period. Multiple states of licensure can be tracked via this tool.
The CE Medicus Library is provided to you through an educational grant from Merck & Co. Inc.
8. NephSAP Examinations Online
As part of ASN's new Online CME Center, beginning with the November 2006 issue, the examination questions can be answered online or submitted by mail using the scannable form printed with each issue. The online process will be available through a link on the ASN homepage (www.asn-online.org). The login procedure for members is unchanged.
A summary of the benefits of taking the examination online include:
- Waiver of the $15 mail-in charge;
- The examination score is provided in “real-time”;
- Participants can retake the examination at any time during the CME credit eligible period;
- A summary of the answers to the questions can be printed out upon successfully passing the examination; and
- A CME certificate is instantly available.
Please stay tuned for additional details!
9. ISN Nexus Symposium, The Bone and the Kidney
The ISN's inaugural Nexus Symposium will convene the world's most eminent nephrologists, endocrinologists, bone specialists, and cardiologists to discuss and debate The Bone and the Kidney, in Copenhagen, Denmark, October 12-15, 2006.
Late Registration closes September 22, 2006. By registering before September 22, you will save up to €100 and claim one of the limited places currently available. To find out more about the powerful insight and cutting edge findings that will be provided and presented at this meeting and to book your participation on-line today please visit: www.isn-online.org/nexus/bonekidney.
Join the ISN from October 12-15, 2006 in Copenhagen, Denmark, to both gain and promote new discovery into the interaction of the bone and the kidney at the basic, clinical and translational levels – a vital step towards easing the global burden of chronic kidney disease.
