As always, most of my free time at ASN Renal Week in San Diego was consumed by ISN Committee meetings. The most rewarding for me were the discussions by the GO Core Committee around selecting recipients of the new ISN Pioneer Awards. The Pioneer Awards are a bit different from the usual awards that go to people who have done the best or most of something.
These awards are designed to honor previously unrecognized, or under-recognized, individuals who have made pioneering contributions to the development of nephrology in their respective countries or regions in the developing world, but who were not visible internationally. Identification of such individuals has required considerable beating of the bushes and input from our regional committees who know their local nephrology pioneers in a way that we as ISN leaders cannot.
Many have been nominated for the awards and one recipient will be selected for each region to be honored at the World Congress of Nephrology (WCN) in Hong Kong. Their stories, as might be anticipated, are quite moving portraits of a generation of dedicated people who often overcame considerable obstacles to make renal care or training available in places where none existed before. The inaugural Pioneer Award recipients will be honored and their stories capsulized on individual posters that will be displayed in a “GO Gallery” at WCN. I know everyone who takes the time to visit the display will find these people and their stories a particularly inspirational part of the overall WCN experience.