Bertram Kasiske, MD, FACP, (Work Group Chair), is Director of Nephrology at Hennepin County Medical Center and Professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota, and is Director of Transplant Nephrology at Fairview University Medical Center. He also serves as Deputy Director of the United States Renal Data System (USRDS) Coordinating Center. Dr Kasiske is the Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Kidney Diseases. In addition, he serves on the Board of Directors of the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). His areas of research and special interest include cardiovascular disease, hyperlipidemia, and chronic renal allograft nephropathy. Dr Kasiske has a research grant from Merck; has lectured for Roche, Novartis, Wyeth, and Fujisawa; and has been a consultant to Wyeth and Novartis.
Fernando G. Cosio, MD, (Work Group Vice-Chair) is currently Senior Associate Consultant at the Mayo Clinic and Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic Medical School in Rochester, MN. Until August 2002 Dr Cosio was Professor of Medicine and Pathology in the Departments of Internal Medicine and Pathology, Division of Nephrology, at The Ohio State University. He is a member of the National Kidney Foundation, the American Society of Transplant Physicians, the American Diabetes Association, the American Association of Immunologists, the International Society of Nephrology, and The American Society of Nephrology. Dr Cosio has served on the Scientific Program Committee of the National Kidney Foundation’s Clinical Nephrology Meetings. He also served on the Clinical Resource Policy Group and the Promotion and Tenure Committee, which he also chaired, at the Ohio State University, and is a past chairman of Clinical Research Center Advisory Committee in that institution. Dr Cosio is a reviewer for the American Journal of Kidney Diseases, the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, the Journal of Immunology, Kidney International, and the American Journal of Transplantation, and was a reviewer of national grants for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the American Diabetes Association, and the National Institute of Digestive and Kidney Disease, Subcommittee D, which he also chaired. In addition to the NIH, he has received grants from the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation and the National Kidney Foundation of Ohio.
Judith Beto, PhD, RD, FADA, is a Research Associate at Loyola University Medical Center and a Professor of Nutrition Sciences at Dominican University in River Forest, IL. In addition, she is a Volunteer Nutritional Counselor at the Cook County Department of Public Health Primary Referral Clinic and a member of the Curriculum Committee of the Advisory Council at the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago. A Fellow of the American Dietetic Association, she serves on the organization’s Research Practice Group and Renal Dietitians Practice Group, which she also chaired. Dr Beto is on the National Kidney Foundation’s Council on Renal Nutrition, where she serves on the Research Grant Committee, and has been a past National Program Chairman and Executive Committee member. She has also served on the NKF’s Scientific Advisory Board and is a member and past president of the Illinois Council on Renal Nutrition of the National Kidney Foundation of Illinois. In addition to being selected as a nominee for the United States Department of Agricultural Food and Agricultural Sciences Excellence in College and University Teaching Awards Program, she has received many honors, including the Excellence Award for Outstanding Achievement as a Dietetics Educator from the American Dietetic Association Region V. Dr Beto is a past editor of the Journal of Renal Nutrition, past associate editor of Perspectives in Applied Nutrition, and has authored numerous journal articles, books and book chapters. She has received grants from the National Kidney Foundation’s Council on Renal Nutrition, the American Dietetic Association Foundation, and Dominican University, and is on the Scientific Advisory Board of R&D Laboratory, Marina del Ray, CA.
Kline Bolton, MD, FACP, is Professor of Medicine at University of Virginia in Charlottesville, where he is Chief of the Division of Nephrology and Director of the Nephrology Clinical Research Center, Kidney Center and Renal Operations. He has received special honors from organizations ranging from the American Society for Clinical Investigation to the International Society of Nephrology. He has published many articles in journals ranging from American Journal of Kidney Diseases and Kidney International to Immunologic Renal Diseases, and contributed to numerous text books, including the Textbook of the Autoimmune Diseases and the Textbook of Nephrology. He is Chairman of the Renal Physicians Association Work Group on Appropriate Preparation of Patients for Renal Replacement Therapy. Dr Bolton serves on the Advisory Boards for Amgen and Ortho-Biotech. His research interests are in refining the epitope(s) involved in causing Goodpasture’s syndrome, treating glomerulonephritis, and disease management of CKD and ESRD.
Blanche M. Chavers, MD, is Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota. She is a member of the American Society of Nephrology, The American Society of Pediatric Nephrology, the American Society of Transplantation, The International Society of Nephrology, and the International Society of Pediatric Nephrology. Dr Chavers is on the Public Policy Committee of the American Society of Pediatric Nephrology. She is also a past member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the North American Pediatric Renal Transplant Cooperative Study and is Deputy Director of the Cardiovascular Special Studies Center, US Renal Data System, NIH, and served on the Board of Directors of the Minnesota International Health Volunteers. Dr Chavers has been on the editorial boards of Colleagues and Pediatric Nephrology, and is Co-editor of the American Journal of Kidney Diseases. She has been published numerous times in a variety of journals and books. Dr Chavers has been a recipient of the Mary Jane Kugel Award from the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, the International Diabetes Center Award of Honor, the NIH Clinical Investigation Award, and the Viking Children’s Fund Fellowship Award. Her areas of research and special interest include diabetic neuropathy, pediatric kidney transplantation, and cardiovascular disease in children with kidney disease. Dr Chavers has received grants from the Department of Health and Human Services for the National Health and Nutrition Survey IV (NHANES), the US Renal Data System, and Roche Global Development.
Richard Grimm, Jr, MD, PhD, is Director of the Berman Center for Outcomes and Clinical Research at the Minneapolis Medical Research Foundation, and Chief, Division of Clinical Epidemiology, Hennepin County Medical Center. He is also a Professor in the Cardiovascular Division, Internal Medicine, at the Medical School of the University of Minnesota, and a Professor in the Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, at the University of Minnesota. Dr Grimm has been the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at Duke University Medical Center, and is an established investigator for the AHA as well as a Clinical Hypertension Specialist for the American Society of hypertension. He is a member of the Association of Black Cardiologists, the American Heart Association Basic Science Council, the International Society of Hypertension, and the International Society of Hypertension in Blacks, and a fellow of the American Heart Association Council on Epidemiology and Prevention and the Council for High Blood Pressure Research and is currently a member of National Kidney Foundation’s KDOQI Advisory Board. Dr Grimm is on the editorial boards of Hypertension, Heart Disease, the American Journal of Hypertension, and the Clinical Journal of Women’s Health, and he has been published numerous times in a wide range of journals. His areas of research and special interest include hypertension, cardiovascular disease risk factors, and clinical trials. Dr Grimm has received research funds or grants from Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck, AstraZeneca, and Solvay.
Adeera Levin, MD, FRCPC, is Professor of Medicine at the University of British Colombia, St. Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada, Division of Nephrology. She is the Director of Clinical Research and Education for Nephrology, and the Post Graduate Fellowship Director. She is currently chair of the Kidney Foundation of Canada Fellowship and Scholarship Committee. In addition, she is the Director of the BC Provincial Agency, an organization working with the government to enhance the care of patients with kidney disease. Her areas of interest and publication include early kidney disease, comorbidity, anemia, and other non-traditional risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Dr Levin is the principal investigator on several multicenter Canadian studies and has developed a group of investigators known as the Canadian Renal Disease Alliance Group. Dr Levin has recently been appointed to the position of KDOQI Co-Chair. She is a member of The American Society of Nephrology, the International Society of Nephrology, the Kidney Foundation of Canada, and the University of British Colombia, Research Advisory Committee at St. Paul’s Hospital. Dr Levin is the recipient of the UBC Martin Hoffman Award for Excellence in Research, and the Dean Whitlaw Award for Outstanding Grand Rounds. She serves on the editorial board of Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation and the American Journal of Kidney Diseases, and reviews articles for Peritoneal Dialysis International, the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, Kidney International, and Canadian Family Practice. Dr Levin is on the Medical Advisory Board of Amgen Canada and Amgen USA, as well as Janssen Cilag International, Ortho Biotech Inc., Canada, and Roche International. She has received grants from the Kidney Foundation of Canada to study comorbidities associated with chronic kidney disease, and more recently to study the variability of the care delivered across Canada to patients with CKD. She has also received grants from BC Health Research Foundation, BC Transplant Foundation, Janssen Cilag International, Ortho Biotech, Amgen, and Genzyme, Inc.
Bassem Masri, MD, is Director of the Cardiac Prevention and Intervention Center at Weill Medical College of Cornell University and New York Presbyterian Hospital. He has completed fellowships in cardiology, level III echocardiography, and lipidology. Dr Masri serves on the Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology Research Council of the American Heart Association, as well as the AHA’s Hypertension Council, and Circulation Council. His areas of research and special interest include lipid metabolism, vascular biology, dyslipidemia lipid treatment, hypertension, and preventative cardiology. He is a past Director of Echocardiography at Ben Taub General Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine. Dr Masri has received research funding from the National Institutes of Health as well as from Merck, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Sankyo, and Smith Kline Beecham (now GlaxoSmithKline).
Rulan Parekh, MD, MS, is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Internal Medicine at Johns Hopkins University. She is a previous recipient of the American Kidney Fund clinical scientist fellowship and the Carl W. Gottshalk ASN Award for clinical investigation. In addition, Dr Parekh has received research funding from the Child Health Center of the National Institutes of Health, The Thomas Wilson Sanitarium, and the National Kidney Foundation of Maryland. She is currently funded by the NIDDK-NIH to study cardiovascular disease in young adults with end stage renal disease. She is also participating in a multicenter collaborative study: The Family Investigation of Nephropathy in Diabetes (FIND). She is a scientific reviewer of grants for National Kidney Foundation of Maryland, the Clinical Scientist Selection Committee of the American Kidney Fund and abstract reviewer for the American Society of Nephrology meetings. She is a member of the advisory committee on obesity and minority children of the International Society on Hypertension in Blacks (ISHIB). Dr Parekh also reviews articles for the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, the American Journal of Kidney Diseases, Kidney International, the American Journal of Epidemiology, Clinical Nephrology, and Peritoneal Dialysis International. She is a member of the American Society of Nephrology, the American Society of Pediatric Nephrology, the Canadian Society of Nephrology, and the International Society of Pediatric Nephrology.
Christoph Wanner, MD, is Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Division of Nephrology, at University Hospital, Würzburg, Germany. He is a member of the German Society for Internal Medicine; the European Dialysis and Transplantation Association (EDTA), where he serves on the Advisory Board for Best Practice Guidelines; the National Kidney Foundation; the International Society of Nutrition and Metabolism in Renal Disease; the German Association of Clinical Nephrology; the International Society of Nephrology; the American Society of Nephrology; and the German Society of Nephrology, for which he served on the Steering Committee. Dr Wanner is on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Kidney Diseases; Clinical Nephrology; Kidney International; Kidney and Blood Pressure Research; and Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation, where he is Managing Editor. In addition, he serves in an advisory or review capacity with Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Circulation, and Atherosclerosis. He has been the recipient of the American Medical Association’s Award for Clinical Investigation, and the Merck Award for Clinical Investigation. Dr Wanner has many original publications, reviews, editorials, books, and book chapters to his credit and has been involved in ongoing research in his field. He is principal investigator of the 4D trial. He has received research grants from Pfizer and Fresenius Medical Care (FMC) and lecture fees from Aventis, Roche, Merck, Janssen-Cilag, and FMC.
David C. Wheeler, MD, FRCP, is Senior Lecturer in Nephrology at University College, London. He was previously a Medical Research Council (MRC) Research Fellow in London and an MRC/ NIH Traveling Fellow in Boston. His areas of research and special interest include the impact of hyperlipidemia on the kidney and the prevention of cardiovascular complications of chronic kidney disease. Dr Wheeler is deputy editor of Nephron Clinical Practice and is a member of the Editorial Board of Nephrology, Dialysis, and Transplantation, the American Journal of Kidney Diseases, and the Journal of Renal Nutrition. He is the UK National Coordinator for the Study of Heart and Renal Protection (SHARP). Dr Wheeler’s research is currently funded by the UK National Kidney Research Fund, the British Heart Foundation, the British Renal Society, and the Baxter Healthcare Extramural Grant Program. He has also received research funding from Merck and Amgen, has undertaken consultancy work for Fresenius, serves on the UK and European Advisory Boards of Genzyme, and has been paid lecture fees by Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novartis, Wyeth, and Fujisawa.
Peter W.F. Wilson, MD, is Professor of Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine and a fellow of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity. He has previously been a Medical Officer in the Clinical and Genetic Epidemiology Section, Division of Heart and Vascular Diseases, at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. Dr Wilson is a member of the American Diabetes Association, the American College of Physicians, and the American Heart Association. He has been a fellow with the AHA’s Epidemiology Council and served with the organization’s Massachusetts Cholesterol Task Force. Dr Wilson has served on the Editorial Board of Atherosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology and is the author or co-author of more than 330 scientific articles. He has been the recipient of the Citation Award and the Commendation Medal from the US Public Health Service, and his areas of research and special interest include lipids, diabetes, cardiovascular risk, and cardiovascular and metabolic epidemiology. Dr Wilson has received research support from Roche Laboratories and served as a consultant to Lilly, Bayer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, and Roche. He has also been a speaker for Merck, Pfizer, and Roche.