Latest ISN News - ISN Gateway

1. ISN on the Discovery Channel's Profile series

   A video about the impact of kidney disease worldwide and ISN Global Outreach Program activities was aired on the Discovery Channel in early May. To watch this video, CLICK HERE and scroll to the bottom of the page.

   You can now view this interesting report that explains the importance of education in improving kidney care around the world. Several ISN leaders tell how sharing knowledge across countries can make a huge difference to the lives of kidney patients in developing and developed countries.

   To watch this video, CLICK HERE and scroll to the bottom of the page.
   
   

2. ISN Video Legacy Project

   ISN is happy to announce the launch of the ISN Video Legacy Project. This project is dedicated to the archival preservation of some of the greatest names in the history of nephrology. It is a compilation of video and audio interviews with doctors from all over the world and was launched by Stewart Cameron (UK) and Kim Solez (Canada).

   The first series of interviews are with George Schreiner which were conducted by Agnes Fogo (USA) and Kim Solez (Canada) in Great Falls, Virginia, USA on 27 June 1997. Schreiner was ISN President from 1978 to 1981, and was a great pioneer in nephrology. For many years he led the nephrology program at Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA. He made many substantial academic contributions, especially in the science of dialysis.

   In the early 1970s, he spearheaded major legislation that resulted in the US federal government’s support of dialysis and transplantation modalities through the End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Medicare Program, ensuring that renal replacement therapy became available to people in the US regardless of their ability to pay.

   More interviews like this will be featured on the Video Legacy Project website, so please do check back regularly.

   CLICK HERE to access the Video Legacy Project.

3. Educating children about chronic kidney disease is a fruitful investment

   The Department of Nephrology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences recently organized a kidney disease awareness program aimed at children. The program was endorsed and supported by the Kidney Foundation Institute of Delhi, the Indian Academy of Nephrology and the Indian Society of Nephrology. Nearly 800 school children from 20 schools in Delhi, both public and private, and thirty teachers took part in this half day education program.

   The function was inaugurated by the Education Director for the National Capital Region of Delhi. He pointed out that the education department runs a few medical prevention programs on anemia, obesity and diabetes, eyesight, personal hygiene, etc. However, kidney disease assessment is still not part of this. He promised that after feedback from organizers it may also be possible to include kidney disease in school medical programs.

   ISN councillor, Sanjay Kumar Agarway says that the education program focused on topics such as kidney function and the common symptoms of kidney disease, common kidney diseases, obesity, the effects of hypertension and diabetes, kidney stone disease. It also looked at managing patients with end stage kidney failure, chronic kidney disease and how to prevent acute and chronic kidney diseases.

   Each session included a quiz where the children were awarded a prizeS. The event ended with a question and answer session in which children and teachers could interact with the experts.

4. Apply for the ISN GO Fellowship Program

   The next deadline to apply for the ISN Global Outreach (GO) Fellowship Program is 15 June 2012. To find out more about this ISN GO Program CLICK HERE. You can apply online HERE now. You can also consult the Fellowship booklet HERE to get practical details on the program and the application process.
   

   In the recent years, ISN has expanded the Fellowship Program to allow opportunities for nephrologists to train in their own region of the world rather than in North America, Europe or Australasia. Such Fellowships are consistent with the overall goal of the Fellowship Program to build capacity by offering appropriate clinical and research training and ISN has partnered with some key organizations to encourage intra-regional trainings. Click here to explore all possibilities offered by the ISN partners.
   
   For further information, contact Samantha Rens at the ISN Headquarters.

5. Winners of free passes to Vicenza course announced

   ISN is happy to announce the winners of the free passes for the 30th Anniversary Vicenza International Course, taking place at the Congress Center Fiera in Vicenza, Italy from June 12 to 15, 2012. 

   Here are the four lucky winners:

   Thyago P. de Moraes (Brazil) 

   Pratish Jacob George Kandathil (India) 

   Dhanya Mohan (United Arab Emirates) 

   Eng Khim Ng (Malaysia)

   The course gathers specialists from different disciplines in a single scientific event with a multidisciplinary approach to the critically ill patient with acute kidney injury and multiple organ dysfunction. More information about the course and the program can be viewed by CLICK HERE.
   
   

6. ISN Educational Ambassador Program deadline extended to May 31st, 2012

   
   The deadline for the ISN Global Outreach Educational Ambassador Program has now been extended. Applications will be accepted until May 31st, 2012.

   If you are a center looking for an expert to train staff or you are an ISN member looking to volunteer as an ISN Educational Amabassador, you can apply HERE.

   Thanks to the ISN GO Educational Ambassadors Program, centers in the developing world can request an expert to join them onsite to provide very specific training or to develop community-based research and screening programs. So far, the program has proved very popular since it was first set up in 2009.

   Read some of the success stories HERE.

7. First ISN GO CME in Kazakhstan

   An ISN Global Outreach (GO) Continuous Medical Educational (CME) course was held from April 25 to 27 in Almaty, Kazakhstan as part of the 2nd Congress of Nephrologists of the New Independent States. The congress was organized by the ISN Regional Committee in Russia, the Central Independent States chaired by Helena Zakarova and Professor A.B. Kanatbayeva, president of the Kazakhstan Nephrology Association and Chief of Nephrology at the National Medical University in Kazakhstan.

   ISN GO Program Chair William Couser explains: "The ISN GO region of Russia and the Central Independent States encompasse 11 countries. In the past, most ISN programs in this region have focussed on Russia, particularly Moscow and St-Petersburg, and have been attended primarily by Russian nephrologists."

   The meeting was one of the first ISN-sponsored meetings in this region outside of Russia. It was attended by about 170 nephrologists from 9 countries in the region including Kazakhstan, Azarbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgystan, Russia, Uzbekistan, Ukraine and Estonia as well as individuals from Austria, France, Germany and the US.

   "It is a tribute to the regional committee that ISN was able to participate and showcase its programs in this meeting in Kazakhstan, 4000 km from Moscow, which involved 7 additional countries. We are very optimistic that this event will increase awareness of ISN in this important area and lead to greater opportunities for ISN to serve nephrologists from the central independent states through our GO programs."

   Representatives of each of the regional countries chaired individual scientific sessions. ISN was represented by William Couser who gave an overview of ISN programs, chaired a session on "CKD and Glomerular Kidney Diseases" and gave translated lectures on "Pathogenesis and treatment of membranous nephropathy" and "Pathogenesis and treatment of minimal change disease/focal sclerosis in adults."

   Find out more about applying for this program, HERE.

8. Apply for the Bernd Tersteegen Award 2012

   Dr. Bernd Tersteegen, the founder of the Verband Deutsche Nierenzentren (DN) e.V., was dedicated to improving outpatient treatment modalities in end stage renal disease. Specifically, he focused on the further technical development of hemodialysis. The Bernd Tersteegen award was established following his death in 1995. The prize is awarded internationally for basic and particularly for clinical research related to chronic renal insufficiency and to advances in treatment of end stage renal disease.

   The annual award of 8000 Euro is usually given to a single applicant but may be shared under certain circumstances. Applicants should be physicians, researchers or engineers who are involved in research in the area of renal failure and renal replacement therapy. Only research papers that have been published in 2011 or 2012 or have not yet been published are suitable for submission. Papers should be written in German or English. Review articles, dissertations, university habilitation works and manuscripts already entered in other competitions may not be submitted.

   Groups of authors, who submit a work, must agree to the designation of a single speaker for the group. The written consent of all co-authors of a paper to the designation of the speaker must accompany the application. An abbreviated curriculum vitae and a list of publications to date should also be submitted.

   Five copies of the work must be submitted by July 15, 2012 to the following address:

   Verband Deutsche Nierenzentren (DN) e.V. President
   Immermannstraße 65 A
   40210 Düsseldorf
   Germany

   The members of the prize committee are chosen by the executive board of the DN. The president of the DN serves as chairman Bernd Tersteegen Award 2012 Committee. For further information CLICK HERE.

9. Obituary: Dimitrios Oreopoulos

   Dimitrios Oreopoulos passed away peacefully in palliative care on April 25, 2012, one month shy of his 76^th birthday. It had been his fervent wish to work until his final day, and he indeed only closed down his office at his beloved Toronto Western Hospital on March 31.

   Although his postdoctoral training in Belfast focused on mineral metabolism, he was asked to take over a nascent peritoneal dialysis unit upon his recruitment to Toronto. He transformed the unit, and indeed the practice of peritoneal dialysis worldwide, over the next four decades. He was a passionate proponent of the therapy, and wrote prolifically on all of its aspects.

   He founded the Peritoneal Dialysis Bulletin in 1980, to allow for communication about this unfamiliar treatment to be disseminated throughout the world. The Bulletin evolved into Peritoneal Dialysis International, the official organ of the International Society of Peritoneal Dialysis, for which he was the editor for many years.

   It is clear that his greatest legacy, however, was the kindness and mentorship that he showed colleagues over the years, and especially in the last decade of his life. The collective grief that I have witnessed since his passing reflects the bond felt by those who worked with him, visited him, and learned from him. Our world is diminished by his passing.

   Joanne M. Bargman

10. Obituary: George Schreiner

    The ISN wishes to announce the death on April 12, 2012 of ISN Past-President, Dr. George Schreiner. He was 89 years old.

    Dr. Schreiner was ISN President from 1978-1981, and was a great pioneer in nephrology. For many years he led the nephrology program at Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA. He made many substantial academic contributions, especially in the science of dialysis.

    In the early 1970s, Dr. Schreiner spearheaded major legislation that resulted in the US federal government’s support of dialysis and transplantation modalities through the End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Medicare Program, ensuring that renal replacement therapy became available to people in the US regardless of their ability to pay.   

    ISN, as part of its Video Legacy Project, some years ago recorded an interview with Dr. Schreiner, which you can access here.