Sylvia E. Rosas (@sylviaerosas) is a nephrologist and epidemiologist at the Joslin Diabetes Center and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Her clinical and research interest include diabetic kidney disease as well as health disparities in individuals with CKD. Dr. Rosas is the President of the National Kidney Foundation and chairs the NKF Health Equity Advisory Committee.

It has been a true honor to serve as the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) President from October 2022 to October 2024. I am very proud of the accomplishments during my tenure at the NKF. My focus during these last two years has been to increase kidney health equity, which is now part of the NKF mission statement.

I would like to highlight some of NKF’s recent accomplishments. The NKF successfully advocated to eliminate black race as a variable from the Kidney Donor Risk Index, which is a tool for decision-making for suitability of deceased donor kidneys for transplant. More and more labs are implementing the race-free CKD-EPI 2021 eGFR creatinine equation. In addition, the NKF website and patient programs such as NKF PEERs , NKF CARES and the Big Ask, Big Give program are now available in Spanish. The NKF patient materials are now available in multiple languages, including Arabic, Bosnian, Dari, Farsi, Kinyarwanda, Nepali, Pashto, Burmese, Somali, Swahili, and Vietnamese. Additionally, we launched the Kidney Health Equity Community Engagement Awards, which funds two grants each year. Similar to the Young Investigator Research Grant Program, they are due February 10, 2025. We are currently seeking letters of intent for the new Research and Advancement in Cardio Renal Health Award (REACH) jointly sponsored with Women in Nephrology and Bayer. The KidneyCARE (Community Access to Research Equity) Study, a kidney disease patient registry, has been launched and will help connect researchers and patients.

The NKF’s CKDintercept program involves a systematic approach for clinicians, public health practitioners, and quality improvement professionals to transform CKD care, advance health equity, and improve health care quality. The Ending Disparities in CKD Leadership Summits convene diverse health care stakeholders to engage them to improve CKD care in their communities using the collective impact model. The Leadership Summits have been held in 10 states using data-driven discussions to understand the impacts of undiagnosed CKD, barriers to improvement, and community-level solutions. This past summer we held one in Massachusetts and we are currently working on implementing solutions identified at the summit. At the national level, NKF is working towards incentives to improve CKD testing among persons with diabetes and hypertension. CKDintercept’s Kidney Health Evaluation for patients with diabetes was added as a Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) measure and is now part of the CMS Medicare Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS).

The NKF continues to lead scientific workshops that will change how we practice nephrology. Recently, the NKF Genetic Testing Working Group published a modified Delphi process to develop recommendations for genetic testing for monogenic disorders and to identify genetic risk factors for oligogenic and polygenic causes of kidney diseases. The NKF is sponsoring a guideline for the measurement of urinary proteins in clinical practice and clinical trials which will be finalized by summer 2025. In addition, a scientific workshop will evaluate hierarchical composite endpoints for clinical trials of kidney disease progression. During the 2025 NKF Spring Clinical Meetings in Boston we will convene a multidisciplinary planning committee to develop a standardized core patient education curriculum for stage 4-5 CKD.

NKF is working with all stakeholders to increase transparency and help shape a transplant system that is patient-centric. Donated organs are a precious gift; unfortunately 25% of donated kidneys are currently not transplanted. Changes in technology, transportation, metrics, and payments  are needed in order to make sure that every patient who is eligible and who wants a kidney transplant is able to obtain one.

Read the recent Editorial by Dr Rosas and Morgan Reid published in AJKD:
“Aiming for a Patient-Centered Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network”

The NKF Innovation fund is a philanthropic impact investment program primarily for early-to-mid stage companies developing therapies to eliminate preventable kidney disease, eliminate the transplant waiting list, and ensure that dialysis patients have full, productive lives. Last month, 34 Lives, a company that improves the suitability of discarded organs for transplantation, secured a $44 million grant from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health.

These successes are just a few that have been possible due to the drive and dedication of the NKF staff and our professional volunteers. I want to thank past president Dr. Paul Palevsky for his leadership and guidance. I would like to thank the NKF board members, particularly Tracy McKibben who served as Chair of the NKF national board during my tenure, and Chief Executive Officer Kevin Longino and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Joseph Vassalotti for their unwavering support. I want to thank our patients, their families, and our community volunteers who inspire each and every one of us to continue to grow as clinicians, researchers, and advocates. The NKF will be celebrating 75 years in 2025. This is the right time to engage or re-engage with the NKF – become an advocate, become a member, or engage in your local NKF board.

Our field is moving forward in giant leaps. I’m proud of what has been accomplished, but there is more to be done. It is with excitement and gratitude that I enter the next phase as NKF Past President and wish my successor, Dr Kirk Campbell, continued success. I will devote my efforts to scientific endeavors and to raise funds to strengthen the NKF grant portfolio in order to translate these amazing discoveries and new therapies into improved clinical outcomes and quality of life for kidney patients.

-Post prepared by Sylvia Rosas, NKF President 2022-2024