In the run-up to the World Congress of Nephrology (WCN) 2013, ISN is delighted to exclusively share with you the winners of the ISN awards. The happy recipients will be awarded their prizes during the congress at the Hong Kong Convention Center.
In the meantime, we wanted to let you know more about the winners who have each made their own outstanding contribution to nephrology. And the winners are…
Jean Hamburger Award: David Salant
David Salant is one of the earliest proponents of the notion that podocyte injury forms the basis of most, if not all, proteinuric kidney diseases. In particular, he was among the first to identify the podocyte as the primary target of injury in antibody-mediated glomerular disease. In a landmark paper in 2009 that was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, he and his colleagues described their discovery that a high proportion of patients with idiopathic membranous nephropathy have circulating autoantibodies to the M-type phospholipase A2 receptor on human podocytes.
Alfred Newton Richards Award: Susan Quaggin
Susan Quaggins research program focuses on genetic pathways required to establish and maintain the integrity of microvascular beds including the glomerular filtration barrier a highly selective filter that separates the blood from the urinary space. To understand the pathways and interactions between perivascular cells and the endothelium, her research team has developed a number of genetic models that permit cell and time-specific manipulation of gene expression.
Roscoe Robinson Award: Norbert Lameire and Haiyan Wang
Norbert Lameire is Emeritus Professor of Medicine from October 2005 at the Medical Faculty of the Ghent University. Because of his activities in the ISN Sister Renal Center Program and his leadership of the Renal Disaster Relief Task Force, he became Doctor Honoris Causa at the Kaunas Medical Academy in Lithuania and was awarded a ISN Honorary Membership. He was a member of the ISN Executive Committee from 2002-2005. Since 2006 he has been responsible for the worldwide ISN Global Outreach CME Programs, ending his term in June 2013.
Haiyan Wang is Professor of Medicine at Peking University First Hospital. She is the current President of Peking University Institute of Nephrology and the Vice Director, Academic Committee, Peking University Health Science Center and Member, Academic Degree Committee, Peking University Health Science Center. She is very active in the academic areas of national and international nephrology and internal medicine. She was the Vice President of the Chinese Medical Association and the President of the Chinese Society of Internal Medicine, as well as the President of the Chinese Society of Nephrology. She has also served as ISN Councilor Member, ISN Executive Councilor and is now Chair of the ISN GO East Asia Committee.
The Lillian Jean Kaplan International Prize: Vincent Gattone and Dorien Peters
Vincent Gattone (Professor of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Indiana University School of Medicine) has worked in kidney pathology and renal cystic disease for over 30 years. His research has focused primarily on the pathophysiological processes that occur in polycystic kidney disease (PKD). He has characterized rodent models of PKD, nephronophthisis and Meckel Syndrome and has used these tools to investigate the mechanisms and treatment of chronic renal diseases.
Dorien Peters is a molecular and cellular biologist at Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands. She is head of the Developmental Genetics Group at the department of Human Genetics and her research aims to get insight into the genetic, pathophysiologic and functional mechanisms of inherited disorders, most notably Polycystic Kidney Disease. The overall aim is the design of new therapeutic approaches.
ISN Bywaters Award: Bruce A. Molitoris
Bruce A. Molitoris graduated from Washington University School of Medicine and completed residency in internal medicine and fellowship in Nephrology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. His research interests include acute kidney injury from ischemia, sepsis and nephrotoxins, and the utilization of two-photon microscopy to study in vivo cellular and subcellular processes within the kidney. Actin cytoskeletal and surface membrane polarity, nephrotoxin uptake and trafficking, and therapeutic responses and mechanisms to different agents are all studied. He is using 2-photon microscopy to quantify the roles of glomerular.
ISN Young Investigator Awards in developed and developing countries
Top Basic Science: Chen Yang and Jessica Ryan
Chen Yang is a PhD candidate of Medical Sciences at Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He graduated from Hebei University, China with a Bachelor degree in Science in 2004 then obtained his Master of Sciences at Guangdong Medical College, in 2008.
Jessica Ryan is a Nephrologist currently undertaking a PhD in antibody-dependent and antibody-independent renal injury, with the Department of Nephrology, Monash Medical Centre and Monash University (Victoria, Australia). Jessica currently has a clinical appointment as a General Medical consultant at Monash Health. Jessicas major research interests include antibody-mediated and innate renal disease, and the clinical areas of glomerulonephritis and transplantation.
Top Clinical Science: Emma McMahon and Pavan Kumar Rao
Emma McMahon is an accreditedpracticing dietitian and PhD candidate from the Princess Alexandra Hospital, Queensland, Australia. She worked as a clinical dietitian and research dietitian before beginning her doctoral studies. She is currently in her final year of her doctorate exploring dietary sodium and cardiovascular risk in people with chronic kidney disease. Emma has an interest in research methodology, and has been involved in several other fields of research including weight loss, taste dysfunction and evidence-based practice guidelines, as well as research exploring other cardiovascular and renal risk factors. She holds a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Education and a Master of Nutrition and Dietetics majoring in Research.
Pavan Kumar Rao is a second year post graduate student in DM Nephrology, from Andhra Medical College, Vishakhapatnam, India. In 2003, he graduated from Rangaraya Medical College, Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh, India and later completed his post graduate degree in Pediatrics in 2008 from the same college. He received the best outgoing student award in his post graduation and also presented papers at state and national levels. He was second in the neonatalogy category for the paper titled Staphylococcus aureus as an emerging organism in neonatal septicemia in 2006, National Conference held at Mumbai. During my DM he presented paper on “Nutritional assessment SGA score and Quality of Life index in Hemodialysis patients at the Indian Society of Hemodialysis Conference 2013 held in Bhubaneshwar,and a poster at the Indian Society of Nephrology Conference 2012 Spontaneous Remission in Membranous Nephrology.
To find out more about the World Congress of Nephrology, CLICK HERE.