NKF announces winner of Celeste Castillo Lee Patient Engagement Award
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Cari Maxwell, a member of the National Kidney Foundation’s Kidney Advocacy Committee, was honored with the Celeste Castillo Lee Patient Engagement Award at the NKF Spring Clinical Meetings, according to a press release.
The Celeste Castillo Lee Patient Engagement Award honors a kidney patient who has played a leading role in representing patients and advocating for others in the kidney community.
“Cari has followed in the footsteps of Celeste Castillo Lee in putting patients at the center of all aspects of health care through her involvement with NKF and so many community partners,” Paul Palevsky, MD, president of the NFK, said in the release. “We sometimes forget that advocates like Cari are doing so much to advance kidney care while also dealing with a serious illness – kidney disease. It makes her accomplishments all the more poignant.”
Maxwell, a “champion for patient education, early detection and patient-centered clinical research,” according to the release, was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease (PKD) in 1989 and participated in the clinical trial for the first FDA-approved treatment for PKD.
“It’s truly humbling to be recognized among the other fantastic advocates who have received this award,” Maxwell said in the release. “It validates our collective hard work and dedication to those living with kidney disease, their caregivers, and those we've lost to kidney disease. I’m grateful to the NKF for providing the platform and opportunity to get involved in the kidney disease community and to meet the wonderful advocates, physicians, scientists, and other stakeholders who, like me, are working toward our common goal.”
Maxwell’s father, who died in 2018, had PKD. Her two siblings and oldest child have autosomal dominant PKD, according to the release.
“My father, Conrad Nasatka, was diagnosed with PKD in his thirties,” she said in the release. “It was his brave fight and positive example to me that has fueled my passion for speaking up about kidney disease and for the needs and rights of patients. It’s my hope that in some small way my efforts honor his memory.”
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