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NKF selects recipients for research awards
The National Kidney Foundation has named five physicians to receive the 2018 NKF Young Investigator Research Grant Program.
The grants are awarded in specified categories for 1-year terms. “They are given based upon careful and balanced peer review by an independent committee with an emphasis on the support of high-quality, clinical investigation,” the NKF said in a statement.
This year’s recipients include:
Kevin Erickson, MD, MS, who for the second straight year, has been awarded the Southeast Texas Research Grant to further examine whether receiving regular nephrology care prior to developing ESRD helps patients remain employed after their kidneys fail. Erickson is an assistant professor in medicine-nephrology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
Syed Ali Husain, MD, MPH, is a recipient of a Young Investigator Grant for research that seeks to reduce the number of kidneys discarded from deceased donors by improving the assessment of quality organs. Husain is an assistant professor of medicine at the Columbia University Medical Center in New York and is associate director of the nephrology fellowship at the Columbia University Medical Center.
Daphne H. Knicely, MD, a Maryland nephrologist, was awarded the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Grant to spearhead a program that seeks to sharply increase "health literacy" among patients who have chronic kidney disease. Knicely is associate director of the nephrology fellowship program at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore and is an assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Knicely is collaborating on the research project with colleague Sumeska Thavarajah, MD, an assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Jennifer Scherer, MD, is the winner of the Satellite Dialysis Clinical Investigator Grant for a pilot study testing whether palliative care integrated with nephrology care – or standard nephrology care alone – can improve outcomes for patients with kidney disease. Scherer is assistant professor in the department of medicine at NYU Langone Health.
Roderick Tan, MD, PhD, a Pennsylvania nephrologist, was awarded the Edith H. Blattner Grant Young Investigator Grant for research that will utilize high-resolution ultrasound to closely examine the kidney’s vital small blood vessels. Tan is an assistant professor of medicine in the division of renal-electrolyte in the department of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. He is collaborating on the study with colleague Kang Kim, PhD, an associate professor of medicine and bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh and the Heart and Vascular Institute at UPMC.
“We strive to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to finding new and better ways to fight or treat kidney disease,” Joseph Vassalotti, MD, chief medical officer of the NKF, said in the statement. “Ultimately, it’s about improving the lives of millions of kidney patients, so it is with great responsibility and pride that we support the vital research of these doctors.”
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