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 Dear
Colleagues,I am pleased to announce that ASN is launching a new publication. Intended to summarize issues relevant to the nephrology community in a concise and accessible format, this newsmagazine is scheduled to debut during Renal Week 2008, which will take place November 4-9 in Philadelphia, PA. The ASN newsmagazine will include articles that touch on a number of areas, such as new clinical developments, epidemiologic findings, federal and state policy updates, insights about practice management, industry trends, and opinions from leading nephrologists and other policymakers. In addition to providing ASN members with news about nephrology, this publication will expand the Society’s reach through circulation to allied health professionals and administrative staff who work in the field of nephrology. Initially, ASN will distribute the newsmagazine every other month. The goal is for the magazine to become a monthly publication. ASN is seeking applications, nominations, and recommendations for the position of Editor-in-Chief of the new publication. Working with a professional Managing Editor, the Editor-in-Chief is responsible for creating the vision, guaranteeing the quality of the content, and overseeing the design of the newsmagazine. For more information about the position or to recommend potential candidates, please review the job description. Or, you can contact Thomas M. Coffman, MD, FASN, who is chairing the ASN Editor-in-Chief Search Committee, at tcoffman@duke.edu or (919) 684-9788. Finally, I wish to use this opportunity to welcome the two newest members of the ASN staff, Allison Haupt and Laura McCann. You can read more about them in “ASN Reminders.” Thank you for your ongoing support of ASN. Sincerely,  Peter S. Aronson, MD, FASN President American Society of Nephrology |
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ASN, NKF, RPA
Submit Letter on AKI Coding The ASN,
National Kidney Foundation (NKF) and the
Renal Physicians Association (RPA) recently submitted a formal request
to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) for updates to
ICD-9-CM coding for acute renal failure. The recommended changes
are in recognition that the term acute kidney injury (AKI) is now
widely used in nephrology and critical care literature, replacing acute
renal failure (ARF). The organizations believe the recommended
changes will enhance data collection and set the stage for
classification of AKI. To read the letter and the recommended
changes please click
here. ASN Joins FOVA Executive Committee, Advocates for VA Research As part of an effort to increase its advocacy for medical research, ASN has joined the Executive Committee of the Friends of VA Medical Care and Health Research (FOVA). The coalition of more than 90 national academic, medical, and scientific societies; voluntary health and patient advocacy groups; and veteran-focused associations is dedicated to advocating for appropriate funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical and Prosthetic Research Program. The program’s portfolio is largely populated with research pertaining to kidney disease, hypertension, diabetes, and aging. FOVA consistently meets with congressional staff throughout the budget process to advocate for increased funding as well as provide additional resources and insight into the VA research program. In addition, the Executive Committee testifies before Congress, meets and maintains contact with VA Office of Research and Development officials, and hosts special events that highlight VA research successes. As an Executive Committee member, ASN will have direct access to those who dictate the VA research portfolio, allowing greater advocacy for kidney-related research. For fiscal year (FY) 2009, President George W. Bush proposed a $442 million budget for the VA research program, a $38 million—or 7.9% cut—from FY 2008. However, the president’s budget calls for an increase in funding to kidney disease-related research to more than $15 million. FOVA recommends a $555 million VA research budget in FY 2009. This increase will allow the program to keep pace with inflation, maintain new VA research initiatives, and raise the cap on awards provided to VA investigators. FOVA recommends an additional $45 million to renovate existing research facilities. For more information on the VA research program, please contact ASN Research Policy Coordinator Allison Haupt at ahaupt@asn-online.org or view FOVA’s website at www.friendsofva.org. |
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Bruce A. Molitoris,
ASN Councilor Dr. Molitoris, Professor of Medicine,
Director of the Nephrology
Division, and Director of the Indiana Center for Biological Microscopy
at Indiana University School of Medicine, is the most recent member of
the ASN Council. A previous Chair of the Program Committee for Renal
Week, Dr. Molitoris is involved in numerous committees for the National
Institutes of Health, participates in the National Kidney Foundation,
and is a member of the National Scientific Advisory Board. He recently
took a break from his busy schedule to answer a few questions for this
edition of Renal Express.What are your research interests? Can you give us a lay account of your research? My research interests center around two major topics. The first is acute kidney injury from both ischemia and different drugs that are known to be nephrotoxic. This has been the major area of my research studies during the past 20 years. There has been a special emphasis on epithelial cell polarity and the actin cytoskeleton within these studies. The second major area is the use of 2-photon microscopy in live animals to understand the pathophysiology and therapeutic responses in disease processes. This latter area is an extremely exciting, rapidly moving area. We have played an important role in moving this into the nephrology research community. What factors were most influential in deciding to be a nephrologist? Nephrology is a field of internal medicine that requires a continuing knowledge and overall appreciation of the entire patient and the interconnections of all the different organ systems within the patient. Therefore, from a clinical point of view, it is an exciting and dynamic area where a physician can make major contributions to the care and well-being of the patient in both the acute hospital setting and the chronic outpatient setting. Nephrology is also an exciting area with regard to understanding the cell biology, pathophysiology, and therapy of different disease processes. From a research perspective, the tremendous amount of physiologic knowledge about the kidney and disease processes, allows the molecular and cell biology to move very rapidly in this area. Your most recent book, “Critical Care Nephrology” is on sale via Amazon.com. Unfortunately, no one has submitted a book review to Amazon. Can you give our readers a brief review? This book was written with the medical student, resident, early nephrology fellow, and nephrologist in private practice in mind. It is a concise, efficiently-written version of critical care nephrology for the practicing physician with an emphasis on the clinical nature and therapy of kidney-related diseases in the critical care unit. You completed your fellowship training in nephrology at the University of Colorado. What was your most memorable training experience? I was fortunate to train in nephrology at the University of Colorado. I believe the most important aspect of this training was the overall environment within the division as it related to faculty-faculty, faculty-fellow, and faculty-staff interactions to form a rich scientific and clinical environment. There was a high degree of cooperation between all faculty members with an emphasis on acute kidney injury. There were numerous outstanding mid-level and senior faculty who participated at an extremely high level in conferences and were always available to discuss potential research projects or interesting clinical cases. This dynamic, supportive, and interactive environment is something that I think is necessary for young faculty development, and I have tried to install that as Director of the Division of Nephrology at Indiana University. Can you tell us about your laboratory at Indiana University? I am indeed fortunate to have a group of talented individuals within my laboratory that are dedicated to the understanding of kidney disease processes. Everyone within the laboratory has an area of expertise, and the laboratory works more as a synergistic unit rather than a group of individual investigators conducting their own studies. I am also blessed to have been able to recruit and now work with a number of talented MDs, MD-PhDs, and PhDs who together form a critical mass of investigators with different backgrounds, which allows for development of unique approaches to answer specific questions. This has been most notable in our advancement of 2-photon microscopy and its utilization in 3-dimensional volume studies and live animal studies. How has the research process changed since you entered medicine? What do you see as the future way in which research will be conducted? There has been a dramatic change in the way research is undertaken, whether this investigation is clinical research or basic research. Formerly, it was felt that an investigator could stand alone and move the field forward. Now, with the rapid rate of movement and the overall complexity of different scientific areas, it really requires a critical mass of investigators working together to answer questions that involve multiple fields of research interests. I believe this trend will continue and will rapidly spread throughout universities, schools of medicine, and other institutions such that departmental walls are taken down; these changes will eventually lead to a much larger, more rapid interaction between academia and industry to bring about start-to-finish development of therapeutic modalities. You have said that "the kidney is one of two 'three-dimensional' organs in the body" (the other is the brain). Please explain this observation. Kidneys and brains are unique in that they are very heterogeneous organs with specific, interrelated functions in different portions of the organ. Therefore, an understanding of these two organs requires a bit of 3-dimensional visualization and integration. This, for many individuals, is difficult and has limited interest in nephrology, because we have been limited in the way we can teach about a 3-dimensional organ with 2-dimensional images. This is no longer the case and is an extremely exciting time where we can now use 3-dimensional and even 4-dimensional (time) techniques to explain structure-function relationships within the kidney. I believe this advancement will open a whole new area of interest to medical students and will increase the number of those individuals wanting to pursue a career in nephrology. Other than being an esteemed nephrologist, what would you most like to be remembered for? I would like to be remembered for being altruistic, honest, and trustworthy. How do you spend your free time? I most enjoy spending time with my family, especially my wife, Karen, and being out-of-doors, whether that is gardening, hiking, or fishing. What advice would you give a young nephrologist regarding their future career? I would suggest to them that they identify what excites them and they enjoy doing—that is what they should pursue as a career. Enjoyment in one’s occupation results in overall fulfillment and a healthy outlook on life. |
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JASN Donor
Age Linked to Aortic StiffeningTransplantation of kidneys from older donors is followed by increased stiffening of the recipient's aorta - which may help to explain the higher rates of cardiovascular disease and death in patients receiving kidneys from "expanded criteria" donors. TOC; Full Study |
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New ASN Staff Members
Allison Haupt joined ASN in March
as Research Policy Coordinator. She will work with the policy
team to advocate on behalf of increased funding for medical research,
especially as this investigation relates to kidney disease. She
will also work with the ASN Public Policy Board, Basic and
Clinical Science Committees, and relevant advisory groups to address
myriad issues facing the research mission in nephrology. Allison
comes from the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine, where she
focused primarily on research policy, including federal advocacy and
institutional policy related to the decline in the physician-scientist
workforce. |
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