Follow the twists and turns toward better kidney care — more on the road ahead
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After 35 years, I am stepping down as editor-in-chief for Healio | Nephrology News & Issues. Retirement awaits, but I have pledged to myself to keep active.
Whatever I do, it will not compare to what I have learned and experienced as a journalist in covering the specialty of nephrology for more than 3 decades.
When I started as editor in 1989, I had to be a quick learner. Medicare was deciding how much to pay for Amgen’s new blockbuster anemia drug, Epogen. Patients drained by kidney failure and dialysis were finally getting relief. A few months later, nephrologists Tom Parker, MD, and Alan Hull, MD, co-chaired a landmark international conference in Dallas on morbidity and mortality among patients on dialysis. The conclusion? While U.S. patients were sicker, dialysis providers and nephrologists were delivering subpar treatment compared with other countries.
Help in tracking those outcomes, like morbidity and mortality, arrived in 1989 as well: the first edition of the U.S. Renal Data System’s Annual Data Report with hundreds of pages about how kidney disease is managed. It put the community on the global stratosphere for data analysis and collection. More than 30 years later, the 2024 edition of the annual report is set to be released.
Lastly, work was completed in 1991 on the Institute of Medicine study, “Kidney Failure and the Federal Government.” The report offered a number of recommendations on how we could make kidney care better.
Those were all big events we covered in the pages of Healio | Nephrology News & Issues, and there were more to come. What we have learned and come to appreciate is that patients with a chronic disease have a long and difficult path — a hard road for them and for the physicians, nurses, social workers, dietitians, nephrology clinical technicians and nephrology biomedical technicians in this community and the companions and caregivers who care for them, keep dialysis clinic doors open, monitor patients at home, provide care for patients with late-stage chronic kidney disease or help manage those with kidney transplants.
I believe innovation in kidney care will bring brighter days and more treatment options. Plenty of twists and turns are ahead but keep your eye on the road. Healio | Nephrology News & Issues will be there with you.
Perspective
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Many things that have happened in the science, business, workforce and policy arenas affecting nephrology since 1989. Mark has always seemed to have an inside track on the news because he is so well-respected by the sources of these developments. The Editorial Advisory Board members of Healio | Nephrology News & Issues and other experts who provide context are eager to do so because it is a delight to work with Mark.
Mark’s dedication, perceptiveness and humility have made him an outstanding reporter and editor. He has turned Healio | Nephrology News & Issues into the best-regarded and most timely source for nephrology news and issues with commentary from the most knowledgeable nephrologists, allied professionals, patients and industry representatives. Mark is a genuine person with comprehensive knowledge and historical perspective of the forces that affect nephrology practice unmatched by anyone else in the business. He has no agenda except to report the facts without bias and to engage the most respected experts in the discipline to provide context and perspectives on the facts.
I think I can speak for all the current and past members of the Healio | Nephrology News & Issues Editorial Advisory Board in saying that Mark will be missed. We wish him the best of happiness and success as he moves on to the next phase of his life.
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