Kidney Week

Prabir Roy-Chaudhury MD, PhD, FASN, is the Drs. Ronald and Katherine Falk Eminent Professor and Co-Director of the University of North Carolina (UNC) Kidney Center. He is also a Staff Nephrologist at the Salisbury VA Medical Center. After graduating from the Armed Forces Medical College, Pune, India, he trained in Internal Medicine and Nephrology at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland and at the Beth Israel Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA. In addition to being an active transplant nephrologist, Dr. Roy-Chaudhury's main research interest is in uremic vascular biology (including both dialysis vascular access dysfunction and cardiovascular complications in kidney disease patients). He has been the recipient of extensive NIH, VA, and industry research grant funding has published over 250 manuscripts and book chapters (h index = 63), and has delivered over 450 lectures (including multiple named and plenary presentations) across the globe. He has also received many national and international awards, including the ASDIN Lifetime Achievement Award and the KS Chugh Memorial Oration. Dr. Roy-Chaudhury is currently the President of the American Society of Nephrology (ASN), which is the largest professional kidney organization in the world with over 21,000 members in 141 countries across the globe. A Past President of the American Nephrologists of Indian Origin (ANIO), he has been actively involved in the public policy and administrative aspects of dialysis vascular access care and hemodialysis through leadership roles in multiple societies, such as ASN, ASDIN, and VASA. Dr. Roy-Chaudhury was also the founding ASN co-chair of the Kidney Health Initiative, a public-private partnership between ASN and the US FDA and is a regular member of the FDA's Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee (CRDAC).

Scientia Professor Vlado Perkovic is the Provost at UNSW Sydney, and previously the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health at UNSW, a Professorial Fellow at the George Institute, Australia, and a Staff Specialist in Nephrology at the Royal North Shore Hospital. His research focus is clinical trials, and he is a globally recognized expert in kidney trials, trial methodology, and operations. He previously established the CRO George Clinical as a subsidiary of the George Institute (now sold), was Executive Director of that organization for several years, and continues to serve on the Board. He has led several major international clinical trials that have changed treatment paradigms, including trials that have underpinned the approval of 3 new drugs, all of which were first in class in kidney disease. He currently leads the steering committees of several ongoing trials and has recently established the first global patient registry and platform trial in CKD. He has been involved in developing Australian and global guidelines in kidney disease, cardiovascular risk assessment, and blood pressure management. Professor Perkovic was previously foundation Chair of the International Society of Nephrology Advancing Clinical Trials (ISN ACT) initiative, Chair of the Scientific Committee of the Australasian Kidney Trials network, President of the Australian Association of Medical Research Institutes, and a Board Director for the Australian Clinical Trial Alliance. He continues to serve on the Boards of several Medical Research Institutes, as well as George Clinical and St. Vincent's Health Australia. Professor Perkovic holds a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Melbourne and completed his undergraduate training at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. He is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences, and of ASN.

Rafael Kramann is Professor of Medicine, and Chair of the Department of Medicine 2 (Nephrology, Rheumatology, Clinical Immunology, Transplantation, Hypertension) at RWTH Aachen, Germany. He further directs the Laboratory of Translational Kidney and Cardiovascular Research at the Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam, NL. He received his MD in cardiology at RWTH Aachen University in 2007, postdoctoral training at Brigham and Women s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston MA and a PhD in internal medicine at Erasmus MC, Rotterdam. His basic and translational research focusses on understanding chronic kidney disease and fibrotic diseases (www.kramannlab.com). He integrates state of the art genetic fate tracing, gene editing, single cell, multi-omics and systems biology technologies together with clinical datasets to identify novel therapeutic targets and develop targeted therapeutics for patients with CKD.

Dr. Julio Saez-Rodriguez is Head of Research at the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), Cambridge, UK, Professor on leave of Medical Bioinformatics and Data Analysis at the Faculty of Medicine of Heidelberg University, a member of the Heidelberg ELLIS Unit, and a co-director of the DREAM challenges. He holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School and M.I.T., group leader at EMBL-EBI, and professor at RWTH Aachen. Dr. Saez-Rodriguez is interested in developing and applying computational methods to acquire from omics data a functional understanding of biological networks and their deregulation in disease, and to apply this knowledge to develop novel therapeutics. Current emphasis in his group is on use of single-cell technologies, multi-omics integration, and understanding multi-cellular communication. Application areas include cancer, autoimmune, and cardiovascular diseases. More information at www.saezlab.org.

Dr. Reshma Kewalramani is a Phi Beta Kappa, Summa Cum Laude graduate of Boston University who received her medical degree, with honors from the Boston University School of Medicine. She completed her internship and residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital and her fellowship in Nephrology at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital combined program. Following her clinical Nephrology fellowship, Reshma was involved basic science research in transplantation in the field of co-stimulatory blockade and was a physician in the medical departments of the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Kewalraman previously worked at Amgen, the world's largest biotechnology company, and has held roles of increasing responsibility within the organization. She most recently served as Vice-President and Global Head of the Nephrology and Metabolic Therapeutic Area. She has broad interest and experience in late-stage clinical development including cardiovascular outcome trials and has been involved in studies with adult and pediatric patients representing a variety of disease states including CKD, anemia, diabetes, heart failure, primary and secondary hyperparathyroidism. She has particular interest in the areas of anemia and CKD and has led or overseen the seminal cardiovascular outcomes trials in these areas including RED HF (Reduction of Events With Darbepoetin Alfa in Heart Failure Trial), TREAT (Trial of Darbepoetin Alfa in Type 2 Diabetes and Chronic Kidney Disease), and EVOLVE (Evaluation of Cinacalcet Therapy to Lower Cardiovascular Events). Dr. Kewalraman's honors and awards include the American College of Physicians Associates Council Award, the American Medical Women's Association Janet M. Glasgow Memorial Achievement Citation, and the Harvard Medical School Excellence in Teaching Award. She is a Fellow of ASN and received board certification in Internal Medicine in 2001 and Nephrology in 2003.

Dr. Michael Ungar is a Family Therapist and Professor of Social Work at Dalhousie University where he holds the Canada Research Chair in Child, Family, and Community Resilience. His research on resilience around the world and across cultures has made him the number one ranked Social Work scholar in the world, with numerous educational institutions, government agencies, not-for-profits, and businesses relying on his research and clinical work to guide their approaches to nurturing child, family, organizational, and community wellbeing under stress. He is the author of 18 books for mental health professionals, educators, caregivers, and employers, including his most recent works The Limits of Resilience: When to Persevere, When to Change, and When to Quit, a book for individuals and organizations under stress, Change Your World: The Science of Resilience and the True Path to Success, a book about our emerging understanding of resilience as more than individual grit, and Working with Children and Youth with Complex Needs: 20 Skills to Build Resilience, a book for mental health professionals and educators. As well as having received numerous awards for his work, including the Canadian Association of Social Workers National Distinguished Service Award and being named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Dr. Ungar also maintains a blog, Nurturing Resilience, which can be read on Psychology Today's website.