Friday, 19 August 2011 11:35
Major kidney organizations join forces with ISN to appeal for help from HHS Secretary Sebelius
Leaders of major US kidney organizations concerned with reducing the burden of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in America, joined forces last week with their colleagues at the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) in its joint global initiative asking Health Ministers around the world, including HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius – to help secure the inclusion of kidney disease in the strategies coming from the World Health Organization/United Nations High Level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases being held in New York, 19-20 September 2011.
You can read the full press release here .
To read a copy of the joint letter sent to Secretary Sebelius click here .
There are two upcoming deadlines to bear in mind when applying for the ISN Global Outreach (GO) Programs. We encourage you to generate applications in your region by disseminating the information to your contacts.
All application forms for these programs can be downloaded online in the relevant program sections or can be obtained by contacting Sophie Dupuis (e-mail:
[email protected]) at the ISN headquarters.
The Educational Ambassador Program: extended deadline – May 31, 2011.
Centers in the developing world can request an expert to join them onsite for very specific training or initiate and develop community based research and screening programs. For more information, click here.
ISN GO Fellowship Program: June 15, 2011.
Relevant and contemporary nephrological training for physicians from emerging countries to improve the standards of nephrological practice in the Fellow’s home countries upon their return. For more information, click here.
Participants involved in ISN’s Global Outreach (GO) Programs were rewarded for their achievements at the recent World Congress of Nephrology in Vancouver, Canada. After the very successful GO poster sessions, the awards were handed out and winners had the opportunity to present current projects to GO workshop participants.
Some 30 applications were handed in for the Fellowship posters session, around 20 candidates sent abstracts for the Research and Prevention awards and three SRC pairs applied for the Schrier prize.
The winners were as follows:
Fellowship award:
- 1st prize: Imed Helal (Tunisia), trained at the University of Colorado, Denver, Colorado
- 2nd prize: Yang Li (Beijing, China) trained at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
- 3rd prize: Etienne Macedo (Sao Paulo, Brazil) trained at University of California
Research and Prevention award:
- Laura Solà (Uruguay)
- Sanjib Sharma (Nepal)
Schrier award for the ISN GO SRC Program:
- Belarus (Minsk) – UK (Oxford)
- China (Beijing) – USA (Brown University – Rhode Island)
For more information on the ISN GO Programs, click here.
The 2011 World Congress of Nephrology in Vancouver saw ISN councilors cast their vote for ISN leaders. Giuseppe Remuzzi became President Elect and successor to John Feehally who is looking forward to his new role as ISN President.
Feehally is excited about following ISN into the next chapter of its history when it becomes an independently-managed Society next year. He replaces Bernardo Rodríguez-Iturbe, ISN President from 2009 to 2011.
Other new appointments included David Harris as Publications Committee Chair, Gavin Becker and Toshio Miyata as Council Representatives. Roberto Pecoits-Filho will head the Young Nephrologists Committee and Peter Kerr will lead the Oceania South-East Asia Committee.
ISN is striving to provide a better web-based experience showcasing its efforts in advancing nephrology worldwide and providing a platform for members and non-members to access relevant information. A new and more user-friendly website has now been launched, visit: www.isn-online.org.
The new website showcases ISN’s mission and humanitarian efforts, giving ISN members easy access to:
• Kidney International and Nature Reviews Nephrology online content
• News and updates
• Global Outreach (GO) programs
• Event calendars
• Members directory, profiles and renewals
• Applications to ISN programs and grants
The winners of the WCN 2011 participant survey were announced at the ISN exhibition stand at the end of the congress.
The survey was conducted amongst the participants to get a better understanding of their awareness of ISN and the value placed on society member services.
In case you missed this information, here is a round-up of the lucky winners below. Many thanks to everyone for filling in this survey and congratulations to the three individuals who have won a pass to one of the three upcoming ISN educational events.
• ISN Forefronts – September 22-25, 2011, Aarhus, Denmark: Gisele Vajgel Fernandes, Hospital Das Clinicas Da UFPE, Recife, Brazil.
• ISN Nexus Symposium – September 20-23, 2012, Copenhagen, Denmark: Sandra Castelo Meza, Director Clinica Renal Colombiana, Bogota, Colombia.
• WCN 2013 – May 31 – June 4, 2013, Hong Kong: Ahmed Malik, St Lukes Medical Center, Milwaukee, Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, USA.
If you haven’t registered yet, you can still book your place for the upcoming ISN Forefronts Symposium, taking place from September 22 to 25, 2011 in Aarhus, Denmark. This innovative event will focus on the mechanisms underlying proteinuria, its pathophysiological consequences and potential targets for intervention. For more information, click here.
Key topics include:
• Biology of the glomerulus
• The podocyte: experimental models
• Glomerular filtration barrier
• Signalling pathways in the glomerulus
• Glomerular proteinuria and fibrosis/controversy
• Dynamics of endocytosis
• Biology of the proximal tubule/proteinuria
• Future developments
Travel Grants are available for young nephrologists from emerging countries. ISN is pleased to offer a limited number of travel grants (which includes free registration to the symposium plus three nights of accommodation). Click here for more details on the eligibility criteria and application procedure.
At this year’s World Congress of Nephrology, several prizes were given to ISN members including the ISN Amgen award. Giuseppe Remuzzi was the proud recipient of the award this year.
The ISN Amgen International Prize for Therapeutic Advancement in Nephrology was established in 2003 to honor scientists who have increased the understanding and improved the treatment of kidney disease through basic or clinical scientific research leading to therapeutic advances.
As Director of the Division of Nephrology and Dialysis at the Ospedali Riuniti di Bergamo, Remuzzi is the head and founder of the Negri Bergamo Laboratories at the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmalogical Research, Italy.
He also chairs the ISN Global Outreach (GO) Research and Prevention (R&P) Program and his vision has led to a variety of research results from his laboratory contributing to the advancement of nephrology over the last two decades. “As soon as diabetes is diagnosed, kidneys should be protected before they are affected by the disease. Data from our BENEDICT study has shown that this is feasible,” he says.
For more information about the ISN GO R&P Program, click here.
For details on Amgen activities, visit: http://www.amgen.com/
The Latin American Society for Nephrology and Hypertension (SLANH) has signed an agreement with ISN to offer fellowship opportunities for nephrologists from emerging countries to train in Host Centers in their own region of the world, rather than in North America, Europe or Australasia.
ISN is very enthusiastic about this agreement as it emphasizes the overall goal of the ISN Fellowship Program to build capacity by offering appropriate clinical and research training that responds to local nephrology communities. It will offer more opportunities for fellows who wish to gain training in their own geographical region.
Twice a year the ISN Fellowship Program gives kidney specialists from developing countries the chance to gain hands-on training in advanced host institutions and acquire state-of-the-art knowledge in basic and clinical nephrology, dialysis, transplantation, and epidemiology. They receive specific training to ultimately improve the standards of kidney care in their home country. The next deadline for applications has now changed to December 15, 2010. Click here for more information.
The ISN Acute Kidney Injury working group conducted a one day work shop on October 31, 2010 at the Care hospital in Hyderabad, India under the leadership of South Asian Council Member Ravindra Metha and Georgi Abraham. Some 26 doctors including leading nephrologists from India, intensivists and cardiologists attended the event.
One major topic under discussion was the lack of standardization in laboratories across India which affects how AKI is diagnosed and how accurately levels of blood urea or serum creatinine are tested. This issue was discussed in detail and only an initiative by the state and the Central Government to bring in legislation for licensing to laboratories will solve the problem.
Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy and index of hydrogen deficiency are being used sparingly to manage AKI. Acute peritoneal dialysis is the treatment of choice as in any emerging economy. Madras medical college general hospital, a free government-run dialysis centre, highlighted published data spanning over nearly one and half decades showing that the pattern of AKI is changing. However, community-acquired AKI is the most common cause of hospital admission in patients belonging to the lower socio economic strata. NGAL estimation is sparingly done in a couple of tertiary centers. Long term follow up of patients with AKI is lacking in India.