The 8th annual National Young Investigators forum took place at NKF SCM13 on April 2nd where 30 of the best original research projects were presented by fellows in the US who won regional competitions. There were many great presentations, with a morning of basic science presentations and clinical research presentations in the afternoon. Great topics, spanning AKI and CKD, nephrolithiasis, dialysis care and trends, racial disparities and transplant. Here is a list of the winners:

Clinical Research Competition Winners:

• 1st – Tanya Johns – Johns Hopkins Medical Center – “The Influence of Neighborhood Poverty on Racial Differences in Mortality among US Young Adult Dialysis Patients”
• 2nd – John Thurlow – Walter Reed Army Medical Center- “Cost-Utility Analysis of Tolvaptan vs. Standard Care Alone in Hospitalized Patients with Decompensated Congestive Heart Failure”
• 3rd – Jenny Shen – Stanford University – “Use and Safety of Heparin in Hemodialysis Patients Following a Gastrointestinal Bleed”

Basic Science Competition Winners:

• 1st – Melissa Muff-Luett – University of Iowa Children’s Hospital – “Pseudotyped Adeno-Associated Virus 9 Expression of GFP using a Truncated Nephrin Promoter”
• 2nd – Gentzon Hall – Duke University Medical Center “Novel Missense Mutation in Cell Cycle Gene FSGS7 is a Cause of Autosomal Dominant FSGS”
• 3rd – Michael Eadon – University of Chicago – “Genetic and Epigenetic Variants Contributing to Clofarabine Cytotoxicity and Renal Cell Death”