2022 Award Recipients
Barbara T. Murphy Award
Julie R. Ingelfinger, MD
Dr. Ingelfinger is professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and senior consultant in pediatric nephrology at Mass General for Children at the Massachusetts General Hospital.
Her most prominent role is perhaps as deputy editor of The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), a position she has held since 2001. She teaches courses at NEJM—the world’s highest-impact journal—and mentors authors year round on a one-to-one basis.
Dr. Ingelfinger has been studying the intrarenal renin angiotensin aldosterone system for many years. Her other current projects focus on the role of maternal nutrition and maternal diabetes in renal development and perinatal programming. She is also investigating the role of maternal nutrition in renal development and the subsequent development of hypertension and mechanisms of proximal tubule injury.
She authored a text on pediatric hypertension and was an editor of the textbooks Current Pediatric Therapy and Pediatric Hypertension.
Among her many honors, Dr. Ingelfinger received the Dr. Donald N. Medearis Teaching Award from Massachusetts General Hospital, the Henry L. Barnett Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Founders’ Award from the American Society of Pediatric Nephrology, and the Honors Award from the National Kidney Foundation.
Dr. Ingelfinger received her MD from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, followed by an internship in pediatrics at the Bronx Municipal Hospital Center. She completed residencies and fellowships in pediatrics and pediatric nephrology at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, followed by further pediatrics training at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona.
Dr. Ingelfinger has spent her career at Harvard University, where she was appointed assistant professor in 1982, associate professor in 1988, and professor of pediatrics in 1999. She was chief of pediatric nephrology at Massachusetts General Hospital for 8 years.
Robert G. Narins Award
Mark A. Perazella, MD, MS, FASN
Dr. Perazella is professor of medicine at Yale University School of Medicine and a nephrologist at the West Haven VA Medical Center in West Haven, Connecticut.
His academic career has centered on his role as a clinician and educator. He completed a 12-year term as director of the Yale Nephrology Fellowship Training Program. He is currently director of the Acute Dialysis Program at Yale New Haven Hospital and medical director of the Yale Physician Associate Program and Yale Online Physician Assistant Program.
Dr. Perazella co-chaired the National Kidney Foundation Spring Clinical Meetings in 2019 and chaired its 2020 virtual Spring Clinical Meetings. He is former education co-director for the ASN Board Review Course. He served a 6-year term as a member of the American Board of Internal Medicine Nephrology Subspecialty Board and Exam Writing Committee. He also served on the ASN Continuing Professional Development and Post-Graduate Education Committees and chaired the ASN Onco-Nephrology Forum Group. He served on the ASN Training Program Directors Executive Committee and NKF Education Committee. He is a committee member for ASN Kidney Week for 2022 and will be a co-chair for ASN Kidney Week in 2023.
Dr. Perazella is active in editorial work. He is deputy editor of Kidney360, co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Onco-Nephrology, and section editor for acute kidney injury for Clinical Nephrology. He also serves on the editorial boards of CJASN, The American Journal of Medicine, and American Journal of Kidney Diseases. He was an assistant editor for Seminars in Dialysis and associate editor of CJASN.
He has published more than 320 articles, written numerous book chapters, and co-edited five textbooks, including Nephrology in 30 Days, Primer on Kidney Diseases, Current Diagnosis & Treatment: Nephrology & Hypertension, Onco-Nephrology, and Tubulointerstitial Nephritis. His clinical areas of interest are drug-induced kidney disease, onco-nephrology, HIV-related kidney disease, and complications of hemodialysis.
Dr. Perazella obtained his medical degree at New York Medical College. He did his residency at the Yale Primary Care Residency Program and fellowship at Yale University/Yale New Haven Hospital.
Belding H. Scribner Award
Phyllis August, MD, MPH
Established in 1995, the Belding H. Scribner Award is presented to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the care of patients with renal disorders or have substantially influenced the clinical practice of nephrology. Dr. August is the first woman to garner this honor in recognition of her pioneering clinical and research contributions in kidney physiology during healthy pregnancy and in preeclampsia.
Dr. August’s research focuses on the study of blood pressure and kidney function in normal and hypertensive pregnancy, the renal hemodynamic effects of antihypertensive drugs, the pathogenesis of preeclampsia, the role of transforming growth factor beta in hypertension, diabetic kidney disease, and clinical trials for the reduction of morbidity and mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes. As director of the Lang Center for Research and Education, she oversees sponsored clinical research across a broad range of subspecialties, including maternal‐fetal medicine, cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, diabetes, and cancer.
Dr. August is recognized as the leading nephrology expert on the physiology of kidney function during pregnancy. She was the first to report hypocalciuria in women with preeclampsia approximately 35 years ago. Her group also demonstrated the role of abnormal vitamin D levels. These findings led to changes in calcium supplementation for pregnant women throughout the world. She characterized the longitudinal changes in the renin, angiotensin, and aldosterone pathway in hypertensive pregnant women and demonstrated that women with superimposed preeclampsia have suppressed renin and aldosterone.
Dr. August led and participated in several committees to create guidelines for the management of hypertension during pregnancy, and her research directly impacted the guidelines. She has edited several authoritative textbooks on these topics and was the original author of six UpToDate chapters on hypertension in pregnancy, which she continues to edit.
Dr. August has served on numerous ASN committees and was associate editor of JASN for 5 years.
She has been honored with the Lester Hoenig Award of the National Kidney Foundation, the Outstanding Physician Award of the Preeclampsia Foundation, and the New York-Presbyterian Miriam G. Wallach Award for Excellence in Humanistic Medical Care.
Dr. August graduated from Yale Medical School. She completed her internship at Yale New Haven Hospital and residency and fellowship in internal medicine, nephrology, and hypertension at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. She received a Master’s degree in public health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
John P. Peters Award
Sharon Anderson, MD, FASN
ASN will recognize the wide-ranging contributions of Sharon Anderson, MD, with the presentation of the John P. Peters Award on Friday, November 4. This award is given for outstanding contributions to improving the lives of patients and furthering the understanding of the kidney in health and diseases. Dr. Anderson has made these contributions as a clinician, educator, and researcher.
Dr. Anderson is professor of medicine in the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) and a staff physician in the Nephrology Section at the Portland VA Medical Center. She also chairs the OHSU Department of Medicine and the OHSU Practice Plan. She served as chief of medicine at the Portland VA for 6 years and as executive vice president and dean of the OHSU School of Medicine for 4 years.
Dr. Anderson’s research has focused on the progression of chronic kidney disease, with an emphasis on sex differences in kidney diseases, pathophysiology of the aging kidney, polycystic kidney disease, and diabetic nephropathy. She has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other granting agencies for many years and has more than 150 publications.
As an educator, she directed the Renal Fellowship Program at OHSU for many years and won numerous teaching awards.
Dr. Anderson also participates in myriad national activities. She was the first woman elected to the ASN Council, the first woman to serve as ASN president, and the first woman to chair the Nephrology Board of the American Board of Internal Medicine. She chaired the NIH General Medicine and the Pathobiology of Kidney Disease study sections and was a member of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Advisory Council and the NIH Council of Councils.
Among her many honors, she received the David M. Hume Memorial Award from the National Kidney Foundation and is a fellow of ASN and the American Heart Association. Dr. Anderson received her medical degree from Louisiana State University Medical Center. After internal medicine residency training at OHSU, she completed her clinical fellowship in nephrology at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and her research fellowship at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital of Harvard Medical School. After several years on the faculty there, she joined the faculty at OHSU and the Portland VA Medical Center in 1991.
Homer W. Smith Award
Jeff M. Sands, MD, FASN
Prominent investigator Jeff M. Sands, MD, will be presented the Homer W. Smith Award on Saturday, November 5. This award recognizes outstanding contributions to understanding how kidneys function in normal and diseased states.
Dr. Sands will speak on “Urea Transport to Nephrogenic Diabetes Insipidus: Using Physiology to Develop Novel Therapy.”
He is director of the Division of Renal Medicine and Juha P. Kokko Professor of Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine. He has also served Emory as executive vice-chair of medicine and associate dean for clinical and translational research.
Dr. Sands’ research group has made major contributions to our understanding of the molecular physiology of urea transporters, aquaporins, and the urine-concentrating mechanism. His team has worked to translate these basic research findings into novel therapies for nephrogenic diabetes insipidus.
The researchers identified urea transporters and defined how they are regulated in ways that have revolutionized our understanding of how urine is concentrated. Dr. Sands’ team showed that vasopressin, a key hormonal regulator of the urine-concentrating mechanism, not only affects water transport within minutes but also stimulates urea transport using perfused rat terminal inner medullary collecting ducts.
His group also investigated whether there are non-vasopressin-mediated pathways that increase urea and water transport as a potential strategy to treat congenital nephrogenic diabetes insipidus—work that led to the discovery of an investigational drug that increases urine-concentrating ability. These findings led to the formation of a startup company that has received seed funding to advance the work on this drug.
He has authored 175 peer-reviewed manuscripts and 105 invited reviews or book chapters and has co-edited a book. He has given 40 invited talks at national and international scientific meetings and more than 110 invited lectures at US or international universities.
Among many examples of his professional service, Dr. Sands chaired an ASN Annual Meeting Program Committee and the American Heart Association Kidney Council and was a member of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Board of Scientific Councilors and president of the American Physiological Society (APS). He also served as editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Physiology-Renal Physiology.
Dr. Sands has received several honors, including the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Boston University School of Medicine, the Carl W. Gottschalk Distinguished Lectureship from the APS Renal Section, the Distinguished Achievement Award from the American Heart Association, the Barry M. Brenner Endowed Lectureship from ASN, and an honorary degree from Aarhus University in Denmark.
Dr. Sands is a graduate of Boston University School of Medicine. He completed an internal medicine residency at the University of Chicago, followed by research fellowships at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. He then completed a clinical nephrology fellowship at Emory University, which he joined as an assistant professor in 1989. He was promoted to associate professor in 1993 and to professor in 1998.
Donald W. Seldin Young Investigator Award
Jennifer L. Pluznick, PhD
The ASN-AHA Donald W. Seldin Young Investigator Award will be presented to Jennifer L. Pluznick, PhD, who will speak on “Unexpected Roles for Renal Olfactory Receptors,” on Friday, November 4.
Dr. Pluznick is associate professor of physiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
She has made paradigm-shifting discoveries about renal physiology. As a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University 10 years ago, Dr. Pluznick reported the startling discoveries that olfactory receptors and companion olfactory signaling proteins are present in the kidney and modulate renal functions in important ways. Previously, it had been assumed that these receptors exclusively functioned in the nose. Dr. Pluznick’s discoveries ignited a flurry of research that revealed “sensory” receptors have widespread roles in regulating the physiological functions of many non-sensory organs and tissues.
Since her seminal discovery, Dr. Pluznick has continued to break new ground in identifying novel functional roles for smell receptors. Her collaborative studies in the lung provided a proof of concept that olfactory receptors can be targeted to treat airflow obstruction in asthma.
Dr. Pluznick’s receptor-signaling research field led to another discovery of broad fundamental significance: a mechanism to explain how gut microbiota influence host physiology. She discovered that certain smell receptors are activated by compounds that are exclusively produced by gut bacteria, and the activated receptors modulate host body functions.
Dr. Pluznick discovered that gut microbiota metabolites modulate the release of renin and thus influence blood pressure through activation of olfactory chemosensors in the kidney. Further studies confirming and expanding this finding introduced a new concept that changes in gut bacteria may drive salt sensitivity and hypertension. These studies suggest that altering gut bacteria might provide a means to lower blood pressure in hypertensive patients.
She has served on the ASN Kidney Week Program Committee.
Dr. Pluznick received her doctorate in renal physiology from the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, and then spent 5 years as a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University, where she studied both renal physiology and sensory systems with a specialty in olfaction. She joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 2010.
President's Medal
Glenda V. Roberts
Ms. Roberts is an individual living with longterm kidney disease who is director of external relations and patient engagement at the Center for Dialysis Innovation and the Kidney Research Institute at the University of Washington, Seattle. Before joining the university, Ms. Roberts spent 35 years as an information technology executive.
Based on her personal experience with kidney disease, Ms. Roberts is a passionate activist for kidney research and patients living with kidney disease. She managed the progression of her disease with diet and exercise for more than 40 years before undergoing dialysis. Since receiving a kidney transplant in 2010, she has completed nine half-marathons.
Ms. Roberts serves on myriad patient and community advisory committees, brings the patient voice to a number of National Institutes of Health and industry research efforts, and was one of two patients who were part of the National Kidney Foundation-ASN Task Force on Reassessing the Inclusion of Race in Diagnosing Kidney Diseases.
David Rush
Mr. Rush is a platinum-selling recording artist. His battle with kidney disease began in high school, and he has been an in-center dialysis patient, home dialysis patient, and transplant recipient for 7 years until his body rejected the transplant. In 2009, he took his home hemodialysis machine on a 40-city world tour in which he was the opening act for multi-platinum rapper Pitbull.
Currently a home dialysis patient, he is a motivational speaker, patient/doctor consultant, and kidney care advocate at WinsOnly Lifestyle, LLC. Mr. Rush has served for the past 5 years on the executive committee of the Northwestern University George M. O’Brien Kidney Research Core Center (NU GoKidney). He consults for major companies, such as AstraZeneca and Outset Medical, while still making waves in the world of entertainment as a writer and producer.
Patrick O. Gee, Sr., PhD
Dr. Gee is the founder and chief executive hope dealer at iAdvocate, a nonprofit, faith-based health and wellness organization. He is also an ordained minister at Mountain Movers Ministry in Richmond, VA. He retired from his position as chief of security at the Virginia Department of Corrections in 2008.
Dr. Gee’s kidney failure from diabetic kidney disease was treated with peritoneal hemodialysis until he received a transplant in 2017, which took more than 2 years to function normally. He uses his personal experiences to teach, coach, mentor, and educate others on how best to manage their outcomes.
To this end, he serves as a patient representative for the Diabetic Kidney Disease Collaborative Task Force; as vice chair of the Patient and Family Partnership Council of the Kidney Health Initiative; on advisory boards of Home Dialyzors United, the Center for Dialysis Innovation, and Patient & Family Centered Care Partners; and on U.S. Food and Drug Administration and National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases committees on diversity, inclusion, and outreach.
Distinguished Educator Award
Matthew A. Sparks, MD, FASN
Dr. Sparks is associate professor of medicine at Duke University in Durham, NC, and director of its Nephrology Fellowship Program.
He is a founder of the Society for Early Education Scholars (SEEDS) program, which is a yearlong curriculum across all disciplines in the Duke Department of Medicine for fellows who plan careers as clinician-educators or education scholars. He is co-director of the scientific communications course offered by the Duke Clinical Research Training Program.
Dr. Sparks is a founding faculty member and program director of the Nephrology Social Media Collective Internship and member of the Board of Directors of the Nephrology Journal Club—NephJC—a nonprofit organization dedicated to enhancing free online medical education in nephrology. He is a faculty lead of the Renal Fellow Network and is a member of The Nephron Segment Podcast.
Dr. Sparks is co-creator of NephMadness, an educational initiative modeled after the U.S. college basketball tournament but using nephrology concepts. He is an advisory board member of NephSIM—a free, mobile-optimized nephrology teaching tool that includes case-based learning, infographics, and tutorials—and co-director of the virtual mentoring program, NephSIM Nephrons.
He has been a member of several national committees for both ASN and the American Heart Association. He also serves as education director for KIDNEYcon, an annual hands-on conference dedicated to advances in nephrology. He is a member of the American Board of Internal Medicine Nephrology Board and is on the editorial boards of several publications, including CJASN, American Journal of Kidney Diseases, Kidney Medicine, Kidney360, and ASN Kidney News.
Dr. Sparks received his MD and completed his residency in internal medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. He did his nephrology fellowship at Duke University Medical Center.
Steven C. Cheng, MD
Dr. Cheng is professor of medicine in the Division of Nephrology at Washington University in St. Louis, MO, where he has been the training program director since 2011.
He served on the ASN Training Program Directors Executive Committee and is currently on the ASN Workforce and Training Committee. He has also led special sessions during program director retreats and town halls on educational innovations, career paths, procedural requirements, and the nephrology match. As the current chair of the ASN Match Oversight Task Force, Dr. Cheng plays a key role in overseeing the recruitment of fellows to U.S. training programs.
Dr. Cheng is also deeply involved in undergraduate medical education as a course director and chair of the Phase 1 Operations Committee of the Washington University School of Medicine gateway curriculum. In this role, he has helped to design a curriculum that integrates basic science and clinical practice while also equipping students to navigate health systems and address disparities in patient care. His renal module is popular among students for its clear presentation of material and opportunities to consider the effects of chronic kidney disease by meeting with patients, debating end stage kidney disease options, and discussing the intersection of race and kidney diseases.
Dr. Cheng has received numerous awards, including the Samuel R. Goldstein Leadership Award in Medical Student Education and the Sydney S. Pearl Award for Inspirational Teaching.
He received his medical degree and completed his internal medicine residency and internship at Northwestern University, followed by a nephrology fellowship at Washington University.
Distinguished Leader Award
Suzanne Watnick, MD, FASN
Dr. Watnick is the chief medical officer at Northwest Kidney Centers and a professor of medicine in the Division of Nephrology at the University of Washington. She also practices in the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System in Seattle, WA.
She has filled important leadership roles with ASN. She spearheaded the inaugural virtual Dialysis Core Curriculum and was instrumental in the development of the first Dialysis Practice Improvement Module. She has served on many ASN committees, including the Public Policy Board, a Home Dialysis Task Force, the Policy and Advocacy Committee, the Training Program Directors Executive Committee, and the Postgraduate Education Committee. She currently serves on the ASN Quality Committee and represents ASN at Kidney Care Partners.
Dr. Watnick regularly represents ASN and the kidney community in meetings with legislators and regulators to advocate for patient-centered care. She has worked tirelessly to bring together groups, such as ASN and the National Kidney Foundation, to work for better kidney care policy.
She served on the Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) Executive Committee and the American Board of Internal Medicine Nephrology Board and is on the Editorial Board of CJASN.
Dr. Watnick has also been a leader in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. After a Northwest Kidney Centers dialysis patient was the first reported U.S. death from COVID-19, Dr. Watnick implemented rigorous plans to safely treat dialysis patients. She shared what she learned with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and with the kidney community nationally.
Dr. Watnick received her medical degree from the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School in Worcester, followed by an internship and residency in internal medicine and a clinical fellowship in nephrology at the University of California, San Francisco. She then completed clinical and research fellowships in nephrology at Yale University. Before moving to Seattle, she spent 16 years at Oregon Health & Science University and the Portland VA Medical Center, where she served several roles, including as the training program director of the fellowship program.
Kirk N. Campbell, MD, FASN
Dr. Campbell is the Irene and Dr. Arthur M. Fishberg Professor of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, where he is also director of the Nephrology Fellowship Program and vice chair for diversity, equity, and inclusion in the Department of Medicine. He co-chairs the ASN Kidney Week 2022 Education Committee.
Dr. Campbell leads a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded research program focused on podocyte cell biology, experimental glomerular disease, and clinical trials in rare kidney diseases. The work centers on understanding the underlying mechanisms of glomerular disease progression and identifying targets for therapeutic intervention. He has been a principal investigator for clinical trials, testing novel agents for focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, IgA nephropathy, lupus nephritis, and membranous nephropathy.
He is a member of the Editorial Boards of Kidney360, Kidney International, American Journal of Kidney Diseases, Frontiers in Medicine, and American Journal of Physiology−Renal Physiology.
As director of the Nephrology Fellowship Program, he helped expand research training opportunities and established new subspecialty training tracks in critical care nephrology, geriatric nephrology, and home dialysis.
A former president of The New York Society of Nephrology, Dr. Campbell is a member of the Board of Directors of the NephCure Foundation, the Medical Advisory Board of the National Kidney Foundation Serving Greater New York, and the NIH Pathobiology of Kidney Disease study section. He has served ASN on the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee; Grants Review Committee; and Continuous Professional Development Committee. He is a member of the American Kidney Fund’s Health Equity Coalition Subgroup focused on advancing strategies for inclusive clinical trial enrollment.
Dr. Campbell received his medical degree from the University of Connecticut, did his residency at Yale University, and completed his nephrology fellowship at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Elke Schaeffner, MD, MS
Dr. Schaeffner is professor of nephrology and health care research, as well as an epidemiologist at the Institute of Public Health, Charité−Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany.
She is also deputy director of the Berlin School of Public Health, where she played a pivotal role in establishing a new Master of Science Program in Public Health and a Doctoral Program in Health Data Sciences.
Her primary fields of research are renal epidemiology and aging, with a particular focus on chronic kidney disease (CKD) in an aging society and biomarkers for assessing kidney function. She is principal investigator of the landmark Berlin Initiative Study, a population-based cohort study investigating the epidemiology of CKD in more than 2000 elderly patients over several years. With its serial glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and other measurements, the study has provided unparalleled high-quality primary data about the natural course of kidney function in elderly persons.
Dr. Schaeffner is a co-founder of the European Kidney Function Consortium, a group focused on optimizing the diagnosis of CKD using novel non-creatinine-based biomarkers and standardized measurements of GFR.
Dr. Schaeffner established a popular 2-day workshop in epidemiological methods for clinicians that has been an integral part of the annual meeting of the German Society of Nephrology for the past decade.
She serves as international editor on the Editorial Board of the American Journal of Kidney Diseases, on the Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) Workgroup updating the guidelines for evaluation and management of CKD, and on the European Renal Best Practice Guidelines group.
Dr. Schaeffner studied medicine at the University of Freiburg in Germany and obtained her Master of Science in epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, MA.
Distinguished Researcher Award
Alexander Staruschenko, PhD, FASN
Dr. Staruschenko is professor and director of the Hypertension and Kidney Research Center at the University of South Florida, Tampa.
The research in his laboratory focuses on understanding the mechanisms controlling ion channel activity and electrolyte homeostasis in blood pressure control and kidney diseases. His laboratory is supported by the National Institutes of Health and other prestigious funders, and his research has been recognized nationally. He has published more than 150 peer-reviewed manuscripts in leading nephrology and hypertension journals and presented his research at more than 100 local, national, and international seminars and meetings.
Dr. Staruschenko has mentored a number of students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty, several of whom have established their own independent laboratories.
He is a dedicated contributor to the activities of several national societies. He is a deputy editor of the American Journal of Physiology−Renal Physiology and a member of the editorial boards of several journals. He chairs the American Heart Association Council on the Kidney in Cardiovascular Disease.
His research has been recognized with the Carl W. Gottschalk Research Scholar Award from ASN, a Young Scholar Award from the American Society of Hypertension, an Established Investigator Award from the American Heart Association, and Young Investigator Awards from the American Physiological Society.
Dr. Staruschenko received his PhD from the Institute of Cytology at the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in renal physiology at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
Peter P. Reese, MD, PhD
Dr. Reese is professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, with secondary appointments in epidemiology and medical ethics. His clinical practice focuses on the care of kidney transplant recipients and living kidney donors.
Dr. Reese’s research focuses primarily on developing effective strategies to increase access to kidney transplantation, improving the process of selecting and caring for living kidney donors, determining outcomes of health policies on vulnerable populations with kidney diseases (including the elderly), testing strategies to improve important health behaviors such as medication adherence, and exploring transplant ethics.
His contributions include co-leading the first kidney and heart trials of transplanting organs from donors with hepatitis C virus infection into uninfected recipients, followed by treatment with antiviral agents. This practice became widely adopted by North American transplant centers and enabled thousands of patients to receive transplants using organs that had been discarded in the past. Dr. Reese has also contributed many studies about ways to expand kidney transplantation through the wider use of kidneys from older and comorbid donors.
His policy contributions include serving as chair of the Ethics Committee and member of several other committees at the United Network for Organ Sharing.
Dr. Reese received his MD from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, followed by an internal medicine internship, residency, chief residency, and renal fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA. He completed fellowships in nephrology and transplant nephrology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. He also obtained a Masters degree in epidemiology from the University of Pennsylvania and a doctorate in epidemiology from the University of Paris.
Distinguished Mentor Award
Karen M. Warburton, MD, FASN
Dr. Karen Warburton is associate professor of medicine and a nephrologist specializing in kidney and pancreas transplantation at the University of Virginia (UVA) Health System in Charlottesville. In addition to her clinical role, Dr. Warburton is the director of the Clinician Wellness Program, director of Graduate Medical Education Advancement, and vice chief of faculty development in the Division of Nephrology.
Before joining UVA in 2016, she spent 17 years at the University of Pennsylvania, where she served as associate program director for the Internal Medicine Residency and Nephrology Fellowship Training Programs for several years. In those roles, she developed expertise in coaching and remediation of struggling learners. She developed and chaired successful remediation programs at both institutions.
In her role as a director of the Clinician Wellness Program, Dr. Warburton works with faculty and trainees to promote personal and professional well-being, to find meaning in their work as a means of reducing burnout and promoting and maintaining engagement, and to foster effective interpersonal communication by increasing self-awareness and promoting emotional intelligence skills. She provides clinical assessment and counseling for stress, substance use, anxiety, and depression among physicians.
She served for 5 years as the organizing chair for ASN’s Kidney Students and Residents (STARS) Program, which is designed to foster interest in nephrology careers through a mentored experience at ASN Kidney Week. She also directed a full-day workshop at a nephrology training directors retreat on coaching and remediation for struggling trainees.
Dr. Warburton received her medical degree from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, followed by an internship, residency, chief residency, fellowship in nephrology, and fellowship in kidney and pancreas transplantation at the University of Pennsylvania.
Michelle M. Estrella, MD
Dr. Estrella is professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF); renal section chief at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Health Care System; and executive director of the Kidney Health Research Collaborative.
Her research program aims to improve the understanding of kidney diseases and to develop strategies that alleviate the burden of kidney diseases. This work focuses on the identification and clinical translation of kidney health biomarkers that could lead to earlier detection and management of kidney diseases, as well as the development of strategies to optimize health care delivery and clinical outcomes in kidney diseases.
In addition to patient care and clinical research, Dr. Estrella’s career centers on mentorship and sponsorship of young investigators, particularly those from groups that are underrepresented in medicine. She has mentored several undergraduate and medical students, more than 20 fellows, and seven early-stage faculty members.
Dr. Estrella is also dedicated to addressing inequities in academia. When she was at Johns Hopkins, she served on task forces that fostered gender equity and diversity in the School of Medicine community. At both Hopkins and UCSF, she has worked to recruit trainees from diverse racial, ethnic, and economic backgrounds through her leadership roles in the Residency, Fellowship, and Training Program Selection Committees.
Dr. Estrella obtained her medical degree at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. She completed her clinical training in internal medicine and nephrology at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD. She also obtained a Masters degree in health science at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Distinguished Clinical Service Award
Jocelyn S. Garland, MD
Dr. Garland is associate professor of medicine and nephrology as well as associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, where she has worked since she began her career in academic medicine in 2003. She is also medical director for glomerulonephritis/pregnancy in the Renal Disease Clinic and medical director of plasmapheresis at Kingston Health Sciences Centre.
Dr. Garland’s nephrology practice specializes in rare kidney diseases. She has held many administrative roles and contributed to scholarly work with 60 invited lectures and 77 peer-reviewed articles and abstracts, many involving her supervision of medical learners. She is recognized as a national clinical expert in the field of thrombotic microangiopathy, and she often consults with colleagues to help others manage this rare disease.
As medical director of the Glomerulonephritis Clinic, she aims to improve access and quality of care for patients who have kidney impairment secondary to glomerulonephritis-related diseases. Dr. Garland also actively participates in collaborative research initiatives, including clinical practice guidelines and clinical trials.
Her excellent patient care has been recognized with many awards, including the Ontario Renal Network/Cancer Care Ontario Provincial Human Touch Award, the Royal College Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Specialist of the Year Award for her work in thrombotic microangiopathy, and the Kingston Health Sciences Medical Staff Association’s Outstanding Clinician of the Year. She has also received several teaching awards from both undergraduate and postgraduate medical learners.
She received her medical degree from Memorial University of Newfoundland and Masters degrees in epidemiology and biostatistics from both Queen’s University and the University of Western Ontario.