Speakers
Alferso Abrahams
UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER UTRECHT, NETHERLANDS
Alferso C. Abrahams is working as staff internist-nephrologist at the university medical center utrecht and is acting head of the dialysis department. his principle research interests are in peritoneal dialysis (pd) and patient reported outcome measures (proms). he is principle investigator of the Dutch Nocturnal and Home Dialysis Study To Improve Clinical Outcomes (domestico) and the Percutaneous Peritoneal Dialysis Catheter Insertion (predict) study and involved in several other studies. furthermore, he is member of the dutch taskforce home dialysis.
KERRY ALLEN
UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM, UK
Dr. Kerry Allen is an Associate Professor at the Health Services Management Centre, University of Birmingham. She joined the university in 2009 after working as a European research manager for Ecotec Research and Consulting (now Ecorys UK), focussing on evaluation of European Commission health and equalities programmes. With a disciplinary background in medical sociology, she is interested in applied research that improves health and care services, especially for people with complex needs or long term conditions. Her core research areas are: How people experience long-term conditions, self-management and decision-making; quality measurement; social care governance and integration. Kerry has particular expertise in qualitative study design in health and care settings and co-produced design.
CHRISTOPH AUFRICHT
MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF VIENNA, AUSTRIA
Univ. Prof. Christoph Aufricht is Head of the Division of Pediatric Nephrology and Gastroenterology at the Vienna General Hospital – Medical University of Vienna. He has received training also at Yale and UCLA. He is member of the European Pediatric Dialysis Working Group, board member of the Austrian Society for Nephrology and past-president of the Austrian Pediatric Nephrology Working Group. He is Principal Investigator in the Horizon 2020 Programme “IMPROVE-PD”, author of more than 130 peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals, holder of two patents, scientific founder and CSO of Zytoprotec and recipient of several national and international awards.
Virginia Aylett
NHS THE LEEDS TEACHING HOSPITALS. UK
Dr Virginia Aylett has been a Consultant Geriatrician in Leeds since 2002. In 2018, with support from Dr Andrew Mooney, Consultant Nephrologist, she set up the Medicine for the Elderly Renal Liaison clinic, which is believed to be the first in the UK. She provides a holistic review of older patients with end-stage renal failure, and helps them and their families come to difficult decisions surrounding future treatment. She has been on the NICE committee for guidelines relating to kidney disease and renal replacement therapy.
BERT BAMMENS
KU LEUVEN, BELGIUM
Bert Bammens, MD, PhD, received the degree of Medical Doctor from KU Leuven, Belgium, in 1999. In 2005 he finished his PhD traineeship with the public defense of his doctoral thesis entitled “The protein-bound solute p-cresol – Generation, elimination and clinical implications in patients with chronic kidney disease”. He is currently working as full-time senior academic staff member of the Department of Nephrology, Dialysis and Renal Transplantation at the University Hospitals Leuven. He teaches renal physiology and pathophysiology as professor at the Nephrology & Renal Transplantation Research Group, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Transplantation, Faculty of Medicine of KU Leuven, Belgium. He is the program director of the bachelor and master programs of medicine at KU Leuven, Belgium.
His scientific points of interest are cystic kidney diseases, renal replacement therapy with focus on home therapies, and mechanisms of cardiovascular disease in patients with chronic kidney disease
MARIA BARToSOva
UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL IN HEIDELBERG, GERMANY
Dr. Maria Bartosova is PostDoc at the University Hospital in Heidelberg, Germany and received PhD within the Marie Curie funded network European Training and Research in Peritoneal Dialysis (EuTRiPD) in 2018. While funded by the German Research Foundation, she described molecular structures underlying the peritoneal transport machinery. Her research has received 16 inter/national awards and she has published 28 original articles and 4 reviews. Currently she is an Olympia-Morata and Elite-Programme fellow and co-supervisor in ImprovePD consortium.
She is managing the International Peritoneal Biobank and applies innovative molecular biology methods in multi-disciplinary manner to gain insight in the molecular pathways underlying the peritoneal and cardiovascular health in (pediatric) patients with chronic kidney disease, on peritoneal dialysis and after transplantation to identify novel therapeutical targets.
CLÉMENCE BÉCHADE
CENTRE HOSPITALIER UNIVERSITAIRE, FRANCE
Dr Clémence Béchade is a nephrologist at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire of Caen, in charge of the peritoneal dialysis programme with Pr Thierry Lobbedez. She did a clinical fellowship in adult nephrology with a focus on home dialysis at the Cliniques Universitaires St-Luc, Brussels (UCL), under supervision of professors Michel Jadoul and Eric Goffin. She trained in epidemiology at the Ecole de Santé Publique of Nancy and defended a PhD thesis in 2017 on the transitions in the care of the patients with CKD. She is an active member of the French Peritoneal Dialysis Registry (RDPLF) and REIN registry. She is a senior lecturer at the University of Caen since 2021. Her areas of interest are self-care dialysis and epidemiology ; she has published several papers on these topics in international journals.
Cécile Bénézech
UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH, UK
Cécile Bénézech is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh in the Centre for Cardiovascular Sciences. Her lab is interested in the interplay between the immune system and the cardiovascular system and thrive to discover key immune pathways involved in maintaining metabolic and cardiovascular health and homeostasis in the serous cavities. The lab aims to understand how dysregulation of immune pathways associated with obesity, age or disease leads to increased risk of infection and cardiovascular diseases and to identify new immune therapeutic targets to boost immune defence and treat cardiovascular diseases.
EDWINA BROWN
IMPERIAL COLLEGE HEALTHCARE, UK
Professor Edwina Brown is a consultant nephrologist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and is President of the International Society for Peritoneal Dialysis. She has published on peritoneal dialysis, outcomes of older people on dialysis and renal palliative care and has over 200 publications. She is currently the principal investigator for Kidney Transplantation in Older People (KTOP) which will complete during 2023. She co-chaired the ISPD guideline committee (2014-2020) and chaired the group developing the 2020 guideline on ‘Prescribing high quality, goal-directed peritoneal dialysis’. She co-chaired the KDIGO controversies conference on symptom-based complications in dialysis in May 2022.
Manuel López-Cabrera
SPANISH SUPERIOR COUNCIL OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH, SPAIN
Dr. Manuel López-Cabrera is a Professor of the Spanish Superior Council of Scientific Research, and his laboratory is focused on the involvement of mesenchymal conversion of mesothelial cells in the functional decline of the peritoneum during peritoneal dialysis (PD) and in other pathologies affecting the peritoneal membrane. In 2003 his group demonstrated for the first time, that mesothelial cells undergo an Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) in contact with the dialysis fluids, which ultimately leads to a deterioration of the peritoneal membrane with fibrosis and ultrafiltration failure. The group has also demonstrated that EMT is a potential therapeutic target to prevent/treat PD-induced peritoneal fibrosis and functional decline. Professor López-Cabrera has published over one hundred thirty scientific articles, which have accumulated more than 5.600 citations, and has been the Coordinator of the European Project IMPROVE-PD (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks).
ANNE LORRAINE CLAUSE
UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL OF BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
Dr Anne Lorraine Clause, M.D., is a nephrologist at the University Hospital of Brussels, H.U.B- Erasme, in charge of the home dialysis programme since 2019. She was trained on home dialysis at the Cliniques Universitaires St-Luc, Brussels (UCL), under supervision of professors Johann Morelle and Eric Goffin. Anne Lorraine is an active member of the SFNDT dialysis committee, of the Euro-PD young leadership programme, vice-president of the French Belgian nephrologists association GNFB and member of the RESUME asbl.
Her areas of interest are predialysis and shared-decision-making, home dialysis and kidney stones. She takes part in several clinical studies and has published some papers on these topics in international journals.
RICHARD CORBETT
HAMMERSMITH HOSPITAL, UK
Richard Corbett is a Consultant Nephrologist at Hammersmith Hospital, London. Having completed a PhD applying circulatory fluid mechanics to problems with arteriovenous fistulas, his research interests continue to relate to improving outcomes for people receiving dialysis.. As well as inserting percutaneous PD catheters, a large proportion of his clinical work is within the growing Renal Home Therapies Unit at Hammersmith Hospital with a particular focus on PD. He is the clinical chair for the London Kidney Network Dialysis at Home workstream working to improve the uptake and quality of care for people on both peritoneal and home haemodialysis across London.
Cécile Courivaud
UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL OF BESANÇON, FRANCE
Prof. Cécile Courivaud, is rank A professor of universities in nephrology, MD, PHD, and clinical practionner in nephrology dialysis and transplantation. She is in charge of the dialysis sector (in center hemodialysis, self-dialysis, home hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis) of the Universitary Hospital of Besançon. Being a researcher empowered to supervise research, she also maintains clinical activities in the field of Nephrology and Renal Transplantation. Her main areas of interest are currently:
“Personalized” dialysis through the promotion of incremental dialysis and a better characterization of the fragile status and its impact on the future of cohorts of dialysis patients.
She is the promoter of a national Hospital Project of Clinical Research founded by government (PHRC) called Qualifragilys (inclusions in progress) which is a randomized controlled study on incremental hemodialysis (HD) versus conventional HD in incident fragile patients. Promotion of patient autonomy within the various dialysis techniques with expertise in the field of PD and daily low flow HD at home. She is a member of the French Society of Nephrology Dialysis and Transplantation (SFNDT), and member of good practices committee of the RDPLF.
Andrew Davenport
ROYAL FREE HOSPITAL, UK
Andrew graduated from Cambridge University, and trained in peritoneal mesothelial cell biology at Cardiff Royal Infirmary, and has current research interests in the nutrition of peritoneal dialysis patients, randing from dietary intake to nutritional losses and changes in body composition with peritoneal dialysis.
LUKE DAVIES
SWANSEA UNIVERSITY MEDICAL SCHOOL, UK
Dr. Luke Davies is a Lecturer in Myeloid Immunometabolism at Swansea University Medical School. He completed his PhD at Cardiff University in 2014 on peritoneal immunity, before securing a prestigious Henry Welcome postdoctoral fellowship which allowed him to specialise in peritoneal immunometabolism in the National Institutes of Health (NIH, USA) for 5 years. Luke produced research that forced a sea change in the field of myeloid cell biology – redefining peritoneal macrophages as a self-sustaining population that maintain a tissue-specific gene expression profile. Luke has since further dissected the metabolic programming of peritoneal immune cells and their specialisation for the peritoneal environment. Now, his focus is to enhance our understanding of human peritoneal biology and translate expertise gained from working on immunometabolism toward improving peritoneal dialysis
SIMON DAVIES
KEELE UNIVERSITY, UK
Simon Davies is a consultant nephrologist at the University Hospital of North Midlands and professor of Nephrology and Dialysis Medicine in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Keele University, UK.
His principal research interests are in peritoneal dialysis, the evaluation of fluid status in advanced kidney failure and the utilisation of Home Therapies. He has led or co-led a number of influential studies including the European Automated Peritoneal Dialysis Outcome Study (EAPOS), the GLOBAL Fluid Study, PD-CRAFT and the International Peritoneal Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Patterns Study (PDOPPS). Other international collaborations have included trials evaluating the effects of polyglucose and low sodium solutions on fluid status in PD patients, and the use of bioimpedance to guide fluid management (UK-Shanghai Trial and the BISTRO trial).
His research is supported by Kidney Research UK, UK National Institute of Health Research, and the National Institute for Health Research (US).
He is currently president of Euro-PD and was president of the International Society of Peritoneal Dialysis 2010-12. He has co-led the International Society of Nephrology’s Kidney Failure Strategy and currently leads on the development of a toolkit, in collaboration with the WHO, to support the development of dialysis services in low resource settings. He is a Kidney Research UK trustee and chairs their Research Strategy Committee.
Philippe Delaey
UCLOUVAIN, BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
Dr Philippe Delaey is an internal medicine doctor and a last year fellow in nephrology at Cliniques Universitaires St-Luc, Brussels. He graduated in 2017 at the UCLouvain and completed his internal medecine residency program in various hospitals in Belgium and Luxemburg. He was trained in clinical nephrology, kidney transplantation and dialysis techniques under supervision of Professors Eric Goffin, Michel Jadoul, Johann Morelle and their team at Cliniques Universitaires St-Luc. He is interested in clinical nephrology, including dialysis and home based therapies. By the end of the year, he is going to work as a clinical nephrologist at the Centre Hospitalier de l’Ardenne which is located in the south of Belgium and where he will develop home dialysis programs.
Claudine DOLMIN
UCLOUVAIN, BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
Claudine has been Head Nurse in extra-hospital dialysis at the Saint-Luc University Clinic since July 2020. She is in charge of managing a self-dialysis center, a training center for patients in peritoneal dialysis and home hemodialysis.
INES DUFOUR
UCLOUVAIN, BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
Dr Inès Dufour is a last year fellow in clincial nephrology in the department of Nephrology at Cliniques Universitaires St-Luc, Brussels. She graduated at UCLouvain in 2017, and began her nephrology fellowship in 2017 at Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels. She performed one year of Research from 2021-2022 in Necker Hôpital Enfants Malades, Paris, France. She was trained on home dialysis at Cliniques Universitaires St-Luc, Brussels. She has a special interest voor home-based therapies.
EDGARD EECKMAN
PATIENT EMPOWERMENT, BELGIUM
Edgard Eeckman is president of the Belgian not-for-profit organisation Patient Empowerment. Previously, he was communications manager of the UZ Brussel for 16 years. He studied communication sciences at the Free University of Brussels and holds a PhD in media and communication studies. He is guest professor on Patient Empowerment at, among others, the Erasmus University College Brussels and affiliated as a scientist with the VUB research group ECHO on Media, Culture and Politics. He has published several books on patient empowerment, communication in healthcare and communication in general.
JAMES FOTHERINGHAM
SHEFFIELD KIDNEY INSTITUTE, UK
James’ research has been recognised by young investigator awards from the British Transplant Society and the Renal Association leading to an intermediate fellowship on comparative effectiveness using real world data. His primary interest is health economic evaluation in kidney disease. His skills are recognised by his appointment as Vice Chair of one of the reimbursement committees in the UK. He holds multiple grants within which he leads economic evaluation workstreams. He remains an active physician at the Sheffield Kidney Institute.
KARLIEN FRANÇOIS
UNIVERSITAIR ZIEKENHUIS BRUSSEL, BELGIUM
Karlien François is a nephrologist and head of the home dialysis unit at the Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel, Belgium. She is a clinical researcher co-director of the PREDICT project that aims to advance knowledge and skills for percutaneous insertion of peritoneal dialysis catheters.
paul gemmel
GHENT UNIVERSITY, BELGIUM
Paul Gemmel is full professor of Service and Healthcare Management at the Faculty
of Economics and Business administration of the Ghent University, Belgium. From the 1th of October 2023, Paul will become the Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration at Ghent University. He is also associated member of the department of Public Health and Primary Care of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. In his research and education, he combines service management and operations management to better understand the relationship between the design of the service delivery system and the patient experience.
CATHERINE GERONTITIS
CENTRE HOSPITALIER DU BOIS DE L'ABBAYE, BELGIUM
Catherine Gerontitis is a geriatrician in Centre Hospitalier du Bois de l’Abbaye in Belgium (Liège). Her main activity is working in an acute geriatric unit. She is interested in the particularities of aging in chronique kidney disease. Her first work in this topic was a survival study over incident elderly patients in peritoneal dialysis. Then she want to develop a specific geriatric assessement for elderly with chronique kidney disease. A clinical project as been done in Charleroi in 2022-2023 to assess frailty in some patients with CKD4-5. The results are promessing.
Karin Gerritsen
UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER UTRECHT, NETHERLANDS
Karin Gerritsen, MD PhD, is internist-nephrologist and associate professor, at the University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands, with a main interest in home dialysis. Her research focuses on innovative dialysis technologies, including portable/ wearable dialysis, novel dialysis membranes, protein bound toxin removal, systems-on-chip for dialysis, biohybrid systems and green dialysis. As PI on several international (EC-funded) and national (Growth Fund, DKF-, NWO- and HH-funded) collaborative projects, she has a coordinating role in the development and (pre)clinical validation of these novel technologies, in close involvement with the Dutch Kidney Foundation.
ERIC GOFFIN
UCLOUVAIN, BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
Prof Eric Goffin is Full Professor of Medicine at UCLouvain, Brussels, Belgium, Head of the Nephrology Unit and responsible of the Self-care Dialysis Unit (patients’ pre-dialysis education program, the self-care satellite dialysis unit Carpe Diem, and both the Peritoneal Dialysis and Home Hemodialysis programs) at Cliniques Universitaires St-Luc, Brussels. He completed his training in Nephrology and Kidney Transplantation at UCLouvain, Brussels and he was an exchange fellow at the School of Clinical Medicine at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, University of Cambridge, UK. In the Nephrology team, he is also currently co-responsible of the renal graft candidates’ evaluation and of the renal post-transplant outpatient clinic.
Throughout his career Prof Goffin authored over 190 scientific articles ; he has been an active member of scientific committees among which the French-speaking Nephrology Society, where he served as President of the Dialysis Committee. In the past decade, Prof Goffin actively participated in the organization of many conferences, lectures and congresses in which he had responsibilities as both key speaker and chairman, including the Selfcare Dialysis Symposium which is held every two years in Brussels. He also regularly serves as reviewer for major nephrology and dialysis scientific journals.
His main topics of research interest are in line with his clinical activities and include pre-dialysis information programs; patients reported outcomes, water and solute transport across the peritoneal membrane, clinical outcomes in Clinical TP, Home Hemodialysis and Peritoneal Dialysis patients, as well as the modalities of transition between the different renal replacement therapies.
Helga Gudmundsdottir
OSLO UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL, NORWAY
Helga Gudmundsdottir, MD, PhD, is a senior consultant nephrologist and the head of the Peritoneal Dialysis Department at Oslo University Hospital/Ulleval. She received her medical degree from the University of Iceland and specialized in Nephrology and Internal Medicine at Oslo University Hospital/Ulleval.
She is the chair of the Scientific Committee of the Norwegian Society of Nephrology, planning both national meetings for nephrologist and the obligatory course on dialysis for young doctors. She is a member of PD-council and is a EuroPD ambassador.
Ulrika Hahn Lundström
KAROLINSKA UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL, SWEDEN
Dr Hahn Lundstrom is a senior consultant nephrologist, head of the Peritoneal Dialysis Department, at the Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm. She received her M.D. and training in nephrology and internal medicine at Karolinska.
She received her PhD at CLINTEC, Karolinska Institutet in 2022 with the thesis “Renal function decline and optimized planning for kidney replacement therapy.” Her research interest originates in clinical experience and includes factors influencing planning and management for KRT and vascular accesses. Dr Hahn Lundstrom is a EuroPD ambassador, and organizes the Swedish Access meeting, a transdisciplinary conference for improved access, dialysis, and renal care.
SARAH HERRICK
UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER, UK
Sarah Herrick is a principal investigator and leader of peritoneal cell biology at the University of Manchester, UK. She received her doctorate in Tissue Repair from the University of Manchester and went on to hold a research appointment at University College London investigating serosal scarring and adhesion formation. Her current research focuses on understanding key molecular and cellular events leading to peritoneal scarring and identifying novel therapeutic targets by using cell culture systems, experimental models, and patient samples.
rebecca herzog
MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF VIENNA, AUSTRIA
Dr. Herzog is a translational researcher aiming to link omics-driven basic science and patient-centred clinical research in PD. She investigates molecular interventions to modulate pathomechanism in the peritoneum. She and her colleagues at the Medical University of Vienna developed a novel PD-fluid from experimental discovery to clinical testing. She discovered the role of a specific PTM in PD, developed an immunecompetence assay, and revealed the PD-effluent proteome. She received 21 inter/national awards, an ERA fellowship, the 2019 Stanley Sheldon Young Investigator Award, and is a PI in IMPROVE-PD.
Bettie Hoekstra
MAASSTAD HOSPITAL, THE NETHERLANDS
My core business is working with peritoneal dialysis patients in the outpatient clinic. I also see ESRD patients and screen the frail and elderly before engaging in renal replacement treatment. I was for several years chair of the special interest group Peritoneal Dialysis, V&VN, now regular member. Further on, I am chair of VSN, working group of nurse practitioners in nephrology (V&VN VS). In 2020/2021 I had the privilege of following the course strategy and positioning of the nurse practitioner (V&VN VS). Resulting in participation of several networks according nurse practitioners and physician assistants and nephrology. One of my special interests is education and teaching. Topics: End of life care, CKD, EBM, Peritoneal Dialysis, Kidney failure population, pre dialysis research, lifestyle. Also coaching dialysis nurses in education concerning their nursing research and patients in changing lifestyle belongs to my expertise.
DANIEL Jacobs-Tulleneers-Thevissen
VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT, BELGIUM
Daniel Jacobs-Tulleneers-Thevissen is head of department of surgery and coordinator of the Transplant Center at UZ Brussel. He is also a senior lecturer in anatomy at the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. He studied medicine at Hasselt University and VUB. He combined his training as a surgeon with a preclinical research project at the Diabetes Research Center of the VUB, and obtained his PhD in medical sciences in 2013. Afterwards, Daniel Jacobs-Tulleneers-Thevissen further specialized in abdominal transplant surgery and endocrine surgery. He has a particular interest in pancreatic transplantation and cell therapy for diabetes.
KLAUS KRATOCHWILL
CDL-MSRPD, AUSTRIA
Klaus Kratochwill is a translational biomedical researcher in Vienna, where he heads the “Christian Doppler Laboratory for Molecular Stress Research in Peritoneal Dialysis (CDL-MSRPD)”. He was one of the principal investigators of two EU-funded projects (EuTRiPD, IMPROVE-PD) including research institutes and industry throughout more than 10 EU member states. He applies systems biology to identify molecular stress signatures as surrogate markers of clinical outcome in peritoneal dialysis, and to identify novel cytoprotective additives and characterize their molecular mode-of-action.
Laura Labriola
CLINIQUES UNIVERSITAIRES SAINT-LUC, BELGIUM
Prof. Laura Labriola completed her training in Internal Medicine and Nephrology at Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Université catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium in 2005. She also spent a year at Charité, Campus Virchow Klinikum, Berlin, Germany.
Currently she is a Nephrology staff member at Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, where she is in charge of the in-center hemodialysis unit and the nephrology consultations for patients hospitalized in other units. She authored or co-authored more than 60 scientific papers (a.o. in NDT, AJKD, ClinJASN, Semin Dial, PLOS One and other journals).
Her topics of interest are clinical outcomes in Hemodialysis, with focus on vascular access (with especial interest on prevention and treatment of vascular-access related infections) and transmission of infections in hemodialysis units, and Clinical Nephrology. She is a member of the ERBP working group devoted to vascular access. She is a reviewer for scientific journals, especially NDT.
MARK LAMBIE
KEELE UNIVERSITY, UK
After medical school in Oxford and London, and speciality training in England and New Zealand, Dr. Lambie was appointed as a consultant nephrologist in the UK in 2011 and he is currently a Reader in Renal Medicine at Keele University. His current roles include Training Programme Director for the Specialised Foundation Programme in the West Midlands, and Co-chair of the Midlands Kidney Network and he teaches on a variety of national and international courses.
His research spans health services, translational and epidemiological approaches to dialysis medicine, including the role of inflammation and peritoneal membrane in patient outcomes, and he is a co-investigator in Inter-CEPt and national CI for P-DOPPS in the UK. He is a councillor for ISPD and co-chairs the International Studies Committee, and co-chairs both the KRUK Dialysis Research and Innovation Network, and the UKKA Home Dialysis Special Interest Group.
Antoine Lanot
UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL OF CAEN, FRANCE
Antoine Lanot holds an engineering degree from the National school of “Arts et Métiers”, and a MSc in biomechanics from the Human Biomechanical Institute of Paris both obtained in 2006, Antoine then graduated in 2016 from the medical school in Caen, France.
He is a nephrologist in the university hospital of Caen, invested in the care of patients treated by dialysis, and in nephrology intensive care.
His fields of interest are public health and epidemiology applied to the different dialysis modalities. He defended his PhD thesis in 2021 on the risks of transfers to in-center hemodialysis in people treated with PD.
MONIKA LICHODZIEJEWSKA-NIEMIERKO
MEDICAL UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL OF GDAŃSK, POLAND
Professor Monika Lichodziejewska-Niemierko is a Head of the Peritoneal Dialysis Unit in the Department of Nephrology Transplantology and Internal Medicine at the Medical University Hospital of Gdańsk and a Head of the Department of Palliative Medicine Medical University of Gdańsk, Poland.
A specialist in internal medicine, nephrology and hypertensiology, interested in providing good quality of life for kidney patients, great supporter of home therapies and share decision-making. Vice-chair of the EuroPD, council member of the ISPD, head of the PD- working group of Polish Society of Nephrology. Extensively involved in teaching patients, under and postgraduates, organizes PD courses for nephrology staff. Author of over 200 scientific publications
Iona Madden
GREAT ORMOND STREET HOSPITAL, UK
Iona Madden is a Consultant in Paediatric Nephrology at Great Ormond Street Hospital, London.
She studied medicine in France and trained in Paediatric Nephrology at Bordeaux University Hospital, Bordeaux, and Necker Hôpital Enfants Malades, Paris, France. She has a special interest in paediatric dialysis and the management of chronic kidney disease in children.
LEAH MCLOUGHLIN
BANGOR UNIVERSITY, UK
Leah is a healthcare scientist with expertise in health services, complex systems, patient involvement, mixed method research and co-production. Leah has specific interests in all aspects of organ donation and transplant services, people living with chronic kidney disease (including reproductive health), shared decision-making and patient and public involvement in research.
Sandip Mitra
MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS, UK
Consultant Nephrologist and Director for Research and Innovation at Manchester University Hospitals and Professor in Nephrology at University of Manchester with particular interests in Blood Purification. He is recipient of NHS Innovation Dragon Den’s Challenge award and recognised Top50 NHS Innovator. International roles include Deputy Director for NIHR Devices for Dignity MedTech Cooperative & Vice Chair of EUDIAL (ERA). His work has been recognised with 13 prestigious national and international awards including the British Renal Medicine Award and National Clinical Excellence Award. Dr Mitra is globally recognised for his research and transformation in dialysis medicine and medical devices.
GUIDO MOLL
BIH CENTER FOR REGENERATIVE THERAPIES (BCRT) , GERMANY
Scientist with translational focus in immunology, regenerative medicine, and stem cell biology. Coapplicant on DFG/NCN-funded project EXPAND-PD on antagonizing detrimental cytokine signaling and angiogenesis to expand access and duration of peritoneal dialysis treatment. Assistant scientific coordinator for EU-H2020-funded ATMP/GMP projects at BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Germany. Prior PhD and Postdoc studies on improving safety and efficacy of various ATMPs at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden and Charité. Diploma studies on adoptive T-cell therapies at Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR), Brisbane, Australia. Engineering Diploma in Medical Biotechnology from University of Technology in Berlin (TUB), Berlin, Germany.
Johannes Münch
CHARITÉ UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL IN BERLIN, GERMANY
Johannes Münch is a physician at the Department of Nephrology and Intensive Care Medicine at the Charité University Hospital in Berlin, Germany, and previously worked at the University Hospital in Leipzig, Germany. There he established a procedure for PD catheter placement using mini-laparoscopy that can be performed by nephrologists themselves. In addition to PD, his current research focuses on the genetic basis of kidney disease and nephrolithiasis.
Annie-Claire Nadeau-Fredette
UNIVERSITÉ DE MONTRÉAL, CANADA
Dr. Annie-Claire Nadeau-Fredette is an Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at the Université de Montréal and a research scholar from Les Fonds de recherche du Québec en Santé. She is the Director of Home Dialysis at Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont, in Montréal. Her research program involves the characterization and optimization of transitional periods in patients with kidney failure, especially those on home dialysis. She has over 65 publications including large registry-based and prospective studies and is involved in national and international efforts aiming to improve care of patients living with advanced chronic kidney disease.
MARIE CHRISTINE PADERNOZ
HOSPITAL OF SAINT LÔ, FRANCE
Marie Christine Padernoz has been a registered nurse since 1977. She has worked mainly in haemodialysis/nephrology, and became a referral nurse in peritoneal dialysis (PD) from 1992 to 2011, in the PD unit of the hospital of Saint Lô (France).
She has participated in numerous works and given lectures in national and international learned societies AFIDTN, RDPLF, SUN(University Seminar of Nephrology (SUN), ERA-EDTA, ISPD).
She is a member of the board of the French-speaking registry of peritoneal dialysis and home haemodialysis (RDPLF), participates in the quality control of its database; she is particularly involved in the field of dialysis adequacy. In addition to her involvement in the RDPLF, she continues to train nurses and doctors in dialysis practice.
She is a member of the Nursing Advisory Board of the Home Dialysis Bulletin, the bilingual journal of the RDPLF (https://www.bdd.rdplf.org).
JERNEJ PAJEK
UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTRE, LJUBLJANA
Prof. Jernej Pajek, MD, PhD, University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Zaloška 2, 1525 Ljubljana, consultant in internal medicine and nephrology (2008-), head physician of the Center for peritoneal dialysis and chronic hemodialysis at UMC Ljubljana (2015-), professor in the field of internal medicine (University of Ljubljana, 2020-), PhD thesis in Biocompatibility of solutions for peritoneal dialysis, 2006). Regular lecturer at annual Slovenian and international events, PD Academy and PD Forum events. Certified in Executive healthcare leadership, Cornell university (eCornell), Ithaca, NY, USA (October, 2018-) and certified Quality systems manager (Slovenian Association for Quality and Excellence 2013-). A member of Vascular Access Society council (2017-), with ongoing intensive activity in the field of interventional nephrology. National coordinator for nephrology specialization (2019-).
Member of the EuroPD young ambassador group and a member of standards and guidelines committee of ISPD. Publications: for the exact list of published Pubmed manuscripts please see: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=pajek+j. In the field of peritoneal dialysis dedicated to search for opportunities to increase the utilization of peritoneal dialysis and to elevate the quality of care in all aspects of PD.
François Paquot
CENTRE HOSPITALIER UNIVERSITAIRE DE LIÈGE, BELGIUM
Dr François Paquot is a nephrologist at Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Liège in Belgium, in charge of the home hemodialysis program. His points of interest are chronic kidney disease, home dialysis and doppler ultrasonography in Nephrology. He followed a clinical training at Cliniques Universitaires St-Luc, Brussels, in the unity of self-care dialysis of Prof Eric Goffin.
JEFFREY PERL
ST MICHAEL'S HOSPITAL, CANADA
Dr Jeffrey Perl is a staff nephrologist at, St Michael’s Hospital in Toronto and Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto. He received his Master of Science in Epidemiology from The Harvard School for Public Health. He is a prior recipient of The John Maher Young Investigator Award by the International Society for Peritoneal Dialysis and has received several teaching awards at The University of Toronto and St. Michael’s Hospital. He serves as the current editor-in-chief of Peritoneal Dialysis International. He is also chair of the home dialysis subcommittee of the American Society of Nephrology COVID-19 response team. His primary research interests and clinical practice focuses on improving the survival and quality of life for patients on home dialysis. Dr. Perl is a primary investigator in The International Peritoneal Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Patterns Study (PDOPPS) and principal investigator of the Optimizing the Prevention of Peritoneal Dialysis Associated Peritonitis in The United States (OPPUS) study.
Monika Pischetsrieder
FRIEDRICH-ALEXANDER UNIVERSITÄT ERLANGEN-NÜRNBERG, GERMANY
Prof. Dr. Monika Pischetsrieder got her PhD and Habilitation at the Ludwig-Maximilian Universität München in the field of Food Chemistry. In 1999, she was appointed as Associate Professor and 2004 as Full Professor and Chair of Food Chemistry at the Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. Since 1999 she has been involved in multiple projects revealing the chemistry of Peritoneal Dialysis Solutions.
ANNE-CATHERINE RABY
SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, CARDIFF
Anne-Catherine is a lecturer at the Welsh Kidney Research Unit (WKRU) and the Welsh Heart Research Institute (WHRI) of Cardiff University’s School of Medicine. Her research has centred on the mechanisms regulating inflammation, with particular interest to a family of immune sensors called Toll-like receptors (TLRs). These receptors play a critical role in the clearance of infection and in the resolution of tissue damage following sterile injury. Dysregulation in TLR’s activity has been found to be involved in many inflammatory pathologies. In recent years, Anne-Catherine has sought to investigate the role of TLRs and their endogenous ligands, or DAMPs, in CKD/PD-associated pathologies. Their work has revealed a critical role for TLRs/DAMPs in mediating PD-solution induced peritoneal membrane fibrosis and evaluated a promising TLR inhibiting strategy to prevent fibrosis development, thereby delaying technique failure. Ongoing research in her lab investigates the role of specific TLR DAMPs in, and their potential as therapeutic targets against, the increased CV risk observed in the CKD population.
BEN REYNOLDS
ROYAL HOSPITAL FOR CHILDREN, UK
Ben Reynolds is a paediatric nephrologist, based in Glasgow UK. He trained in Glasgow and Newcastle, with a brief stint in Toronto, and a longer stint in Edinburgh completing a PhD in cellular immunology and regulatory T-cells. Ben has been a consultant at the Royal Hospital for Children from 2016, and is the clinical lead for transplantation, and lead for clinical research. His interests include several steps in the kidney patient journey, including patient understanding, patient education, and how to best support shared decision-making. In free time, Ben is a martial artist and VR enthusiast.
MARIA FERNANDA SLON ROBLERO
HOSPITAL UNIVERSITARIO DE NAVARRA, SPAIN
Consultant Nephrologist at Hospital Universitario de Navarra. Head of the Home Dialysis Program in Navarra. Clinical Associated Professor of Medicine at Universidad de Navarra. Co-investigator in the area of cardiovascular and kidney disease of Navarre Institute for Health Research (IDISNA). Coordinator of the Working Group of the Spanish Society of Nephrology for support and promotion of home hemodialysis in Spain. Member of the Scientific Committee of the Spanish Renal Registry.
Anabela Rodrigues
HOSPITAL SANTO ANTONIO, PORTUGAL
Anabela is a doctor with hospital based clinical work since 1990. She is Consultant nephrologist at the Department of Nephrology, Head of the Peritoneal Dialysis Unit in Centro Hospitalar Universitario de Santo Antonio, with Specialization (2019) in Management and Direction of Health Services, from Porto Business School, University of Porto (UP). Since 2020 Anabela has served as President of National Commission of Dialysis (CNAD/DGS) Health Ministry. Anabela’s PhD thesis in Medical Science, addressed peritoneal transport, with R Krediet (AMC, Amesterdam University) as promotor (2007). Anabela has been an invited lecturer in International Congresses and certificated courses, with active responsibility in doctoral and pos-doctoral projects in the University of Porto. Major outputs are related with chronic kidney disease epidemiology and pathophysiology, dialysis, peritoneal dialysis, and renal transplantation outcomes. Anabela promotes quality circuits in advanced CKD care. Her areas of interest, health sciences, nephrology, economic, management studies and quality management.
Bénédicte Sautenet
UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL OF TOURS, FRANCE
Bénédicte Sautenet is Professor of Therapeutics at the University Hospital of Tours in France. She works in the Nephrology-Arterial Hypertension – Dialysis – Kidney Transplantation department and is a researcher in the INSERM methodS in Patient-centered outcomes & HEalth ResEarch (SPHERE) team. His areas of research concern the standardization of outcomes in nephrology trials as part of the Standardized Outcomes in Nephrology (SONG) initiative as well as the epidemiology of chronic kidney disease and arterial hypertension.
Claus Peter schmitt
CENTER OF PEDIATRIC AND ADOLESCENT MEDICINE, GERMANY
Claus Schmitt is consultant of Pediatric Nephrology, Hepatology and Rheumatology at the Centre of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Heidelberg, Germany. His research is focused on chronic kidney disease mineral bone and vascular disease and on dialysis. He is member of the German collaborative research group on reactive metabolites, co-chair of the European PD Research Consortium ImprovePD, co-lead of the International Pediatric Dialysis Network and heads the International Peritoneal Biobank. He has published more than 200 scientific articles and his research group received 31 scientific awards.
JOHAN STEEN
GHENT UNIVERSITY, BELGIUM
Johan Steen is currently active as a postdoctoral at Ghent University (department of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics). After his training as a cognitive psychologist, and later as biostatistician, he pursued a PhD in statistics, with a special focus on causal inference and mediation analysis, which he completed in 2016.
His current research broadly focuses on statistical methods for properly evaluating prognostic models, and on drawing and improving causal inferences from routinely collected hospital data to better inform clinical decision making in intensive care medicine and nephrology. The time-dependent nature of exposures, medical interventions and confounding factors often requires trading traditional for more advanced statistical methods. In his work, he hopes to further develop and to foster more widespread usage of these statistical methods for causal inference in the biomedical sciences and hospital epidemiology, as well as to raise awareness of methodological and design-related pitfalls.
RAFFAELE STRIPPOLI
SAPIENZA UNIVERSITY, ITALY
Raffaele Strippoli is Associate Professor at the Department of Molecular Medicine, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy. Moreover, he has a research appointment at INMI Spallanzani IRCSS in Rome. He received his MD degree and his Doctorate in Immunology at Sapienza University. Moreover, he was a postdoctoral investigator at the Spanish National Center for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC) in Madrid, Spain.
He has a long-lasting interest in the understanding of molecular mechanisms controlling the plasticity of mesothelial cells, and in particular in the induction and the reversal of mesothelial to mesenchymal transition (MMT).
His current research focuses on the impact of infections in peritoneal fibrosis and on the epigenetic mechanisms controlling MC plasticity with emphasis on the role of specific epigenetic regulators such as histone deacetylases, microRNAs and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs).
Wim Van Biesen
GHENT UNIVERSITY, BELGIUM
Wim Van Biesen, MD, PhD, is teaching professor of nephrology and head of the Nephrology Department at the Ghent University Department. His research projects focus on enhancing the evidence based approach of nephrology, with an emphasis on acute kidney injury and intensive care medicine. He holds an academic degree in biomedical engineering with a focus on artificial organs and artificial intelligence. As ex-chair of European Renal Best Practice, he still figures in the board and European guideline development committees. He is also responsible for the teaching of evidence based medicine within the ManaMa. He has published over 450 A1 papers, resulting in an Hirsh index of 47. He is the vice-chair of EuroPD. He is the cofounder of the Consortium on Justifiable Digital Healthcare in UZGent.
CAYDIE VAN BRABANT
HAY HEALTH, BELGIUM
Caydie Van Brabant, MSc. in Biomedical Engineering, co-founded the Belgian start-up Hay Health in 2022, alongside partner Niels Vermeire. Recognized for their innovative approach, Hay Health strives to improve the quality of life for patients with kidney failure by offering Home Hemodialysis as a Service (Haas). With key values as affordability, quality, and safety, they aim to make home hemodialysis more accessible through their thrusted third party centralized approach.
Hans Van Der Meersch
AZ ST JAN BRUGGES, BELGIUM
Hans Van Der Meersch is a clinical nephrologist working in the department of Internal Medicine, Nephrology and Infectious diseases in the AZ Sint Jan hospital in Bruges. Dr. Van Der Meersch graduated at the University of Ghent in 2010, and completed his nephrology fellowship at the University Hospital of Ghent and Radboud UMC in Nijmegen. He has a special interest voor home based therapies and elektrolyte/acid-base disorders.
Floris Vanommeslaeghe
GHENT UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL, BELGIUM
Floris Vanommeslaeghe, MD, PhD, is a clinical nephrologist at the Ghent University Hospital. His interests include home dialysis, improving dialysis access, and coagulation disorders in kidney disease.
CHETAN KUMAR VELUMURUGAN
UNIVERSITÉ PARIS CITÉ, FRANCE
Chetan Kumar Velumurugan is a PhD Candidate in Epidemiology, Health Economics, and Prevention at Université Paris Cité. His work focuses on developing open access tools for managing Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) in low-resource settings and evaluating the potential impact of open innovation in this context. Currently, he is developing and testing point-of-care diagnostic tools and portable dialysis machines to support patients with CKD in resource-limited settings. He is passionate about improving public health in developing economies by creating digital solutions for monitoring disease progression and measuring patient outcomes. Before his PhD, he worked in the IT industry, developing products and solutions in the digital health, financial services, and telecommunication domains.
Bernard VÔ
CLINIQUE SAINT-PIERRE OTTIGNIES, BELGIUM
Dr Bernard Vô is a clinical nephrologist working in the department of Nephrology and Dialysis in Clinique Saint-Pierre Ottignies. He graduated at UCLouvain in 2014 and completed his nephrology fellowship in 2020 at Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels, and Hôpital Tenon AP-HP, Paris. He has interest in general nephrology, including dialysis and home-based therapies.
MARTIN WILKIE
SHEFFIELD TEACHING HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION, UK
Consultant nephrologist at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust from August 1995; Editor in Chief Peritoneal Dialysis International 2013-2020; Chief Investigator UK Catheter study (peritoneal dialysis access), Clinical Lead for the Health Foundation funded Shared Haemodialysis Care Programme from 2010; Strategy lead Yorkshire and Humber NIHR Clinical Research Network.
Martin has worked in the home dialysis service at Sheffield since 1995 including both home haemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis. As home therapies lead for Yorkshire and Humber Renal Network in 2010 he established Shared Haemodialysis Care – a Health Foundation funded programme that supports people who dialyse at centres to learn treatment related tasks – this has been widely adopted across the UK and has drawn international attention.
Martin has a strong educational background – including teaching internationally on peritoneal dialysis (he has chaired and has lectured at widely at international meetings. His research interesting include peritoneal dialysis access and patient decision making (contributor to the Yorkshire Dialysis Decision Aid). He has an interest in quality improvement and in 2020 published the report “Kidney Services Improving at Scale”. He has chaired and contributed to guideline development including the 2019 International Society for Peritoneal Dialysis guideline on Peritoneal Access. He was the co-chair for the ISPD/EuroPD Conference March 2021 and was the co-chair of the KDIGO Home Dialysis controversies conference May 2021.
As part of his work with the Yorkshire and Humber Clinical Research Network focused on increasing research participation for people from underserved group her co-chairs the Ethnic Minority Research Involvement group.
ARIANE ZALOSZYC
MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF STRASBOURG, FRANCE
Dr Zaloszyc is MD, PhD in Paediatrics at Strasbourg University Medical School.
She is currently working as a consultant in paediatric Nephrology and Rheumatology in the paediatric division at the Hautepierre Strasbourg Hospital. She is member of the European Pediatric Dialysis Working Group and of the French Pediatric Nephrology Society. She is in charge with the Peritoneal Dialysis Program at the University Hospital of Strasbourg. Her research fields of interest are the CKD-MBD and dialysis in paediatric patients.