$20 Million Gift Will Fund New Glomerular Kidney Center at Columbia University

Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons announced that it will establish the David Koch Jr. Glomerular Kidney Center with a $20 million gift from the David Koch Jr. Foundation.

Gerald Appel, MD, will serve as the center’s inaugural co-director. Dr. Appel, a professor of medicine, created the nation’s first academic research, clinical, and medical education program focused on glomerular diseases at Columbia in 2000. He will share co-director duties with Andrew Bomback, MD, an associate professor of medicine and glomerular diseases expert.

The center will offer care to patients with glomerular diseases, including those referred by other kidney specialists, and will expand education and training in glomerular diseases for medical professionals through a fellowship program.

The center will also focus on advancing research in the tradition of previous Columbia physician-scientists, who established nonchemotherapy-based regimens for lupus nephritis, formulated diagnostic criteria for focal segmental glomerulosclerosis and C3 glomerulopathy, and utilized complement-based therapies as disease-targeting agents.