AKF awards clinical scientist in nephrology fellowships to two researchers
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The American Kidney Fund awarded clinical scientist in nephrology fellowships to two researchers studying disparities in kidney transplants and genetic variants in nephrotic syndrome, according to a press release.
Jillian Caldwell, DO, a nephrology fellow at Stanford University School of Medicine, received funding for a project measuring the association between immunologic matching in kidney transplants and equitable access to transplantation.
"Kidney transplantation is a way to restore our patients' quality of life and health and should be accessible to all. However, disparities still exist, and many patients' transplants are compromised by systemic barriers to care, such as inability to afford immunosuppression," Caldwell said in the release. "I am grateful to AKF for this opportunity and hope our work will advance policies that grant all patients equal access to well-matched, successful kidney transplants."
AKF also awarded funding to Janewit Wongboonsin, MD, MS, a clinical and research fellow in the Brigham and Women's Hospital-Massachusetts General Hospital Renal Fellowship Program. Wongboonsin intends to study the genetic signatures of nephrotic syndrome using an electronic health record-linked biobank of 130,000 participants. From the research, Wongboonsin hopes to provide insight to future clinical genetic epidemiology studies.
"Genomic information has shown promise in assisting with diagnosis and management of multiple diseases. Nephrology is starting to integrate the use of genetic information to help our patients," Wongboonsin said in the release. "My research aims to understand the impact of genetic forms of nephrotic syndrome on adults with this disease. Doing so will ultimately enable us to use genomic information more effectively to augment the care we provide."
Caldwell and Wongboonsin intend to begin their AKF-funded projects in July 2022.
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