ASN Announces Kidney Week Daily Plenary Keynote Speakers

The American Society of Nephrology (ASN) has announced the plenary keynote speakers for its premier event, Kidney Week, taking place October 23-27 in San Diego, California. Each day will commence with a State-of-the-Art Lecture from these world-renowned experts and visionaries.

Thursday, October 24
“Accelerating Health Care Innovation in Nephrology With Artificial Intelligence”
David C. Rhew, MD

Dr. Rhew is the global chief medical officer and vice president of health care at Microsoft. He also served as the company’s international coordinator for the pandemic response. In addition, he is an adjunct professor at Stanford University and serves on AdvaMed’s digital health board and the governing committee for National Evaluation System for health Technology Coordinating Center, the medical device advisory group for the US Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Rhew holds six US technology patents that allow for authoring, mapping, and integrating clinical decision support into electronic health records. He has been recognized as one of the 50 most influential clinician executives by Modern Healthcare.

Friday, October 25
“From Reading the Genome for Risk to Rewriting It for Cardiovascular Health”
Sekar Kathiresan, MD

Dr. Kathiresan is chief executive officer (CEO) of Verve Therapeutics, which he co-founded with the goal of creating a pipeline of single-course gene editing therapies focused on addressing the root causes of cardiovascular disease.

Previously, he served as director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Genomic Medicine, director of the cardiovascular disease initiative at the Broad Institute, and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. He has been recognized with the American Heart Association’s highest scientific honor, the Distinguished Scientist Award, and received the American Society of Human Genetics’ Curt Stern Award (2018).

Saturday, October 26
“Understanding, Improving, and Applying Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Kidney Tissues”
Melissa H. Little, PhD

Dr. Little serves as CEO of the Novo Nordisk Foundation Centre for Stem Cell Medicine, chief scientist at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, and leader of the Kidney Regeneration Laboratory in Melbourne, Australia. She is immediate past president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research and an honorary professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Melbourne.

She has received many awards for her research and is on the editorial boards of Cell Stem Cell, Nature Reviews Nephrology, Development, and Kidney International. She is a companion of the Order of Australia and a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences, and the Danish Royal Academy of Science and Letters.

Sunday, October 27
“The Curative Therapy for Sickle Cell Disease: The Good, the Bad, and the Future”
Michael R. DeBaun, MD, MPH

Dr. DeBaun is a professor of pediatrics and medicine and vice chair of clinical and translational research for the Department of Pediatrics at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and is director of the Vanderbilt-Meharry Center of Excellence in Sickle Cell Disease. He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2009 and serves as president of the American Pediatric Society.

Dr. DeBaun has been awarded the Ernest Beutler Prize and Lecture in Clinical Science from the American Society of Hematology (2014), the Maureen Andrews Award from the Society of Pediatric Research (2017), the American Society of Hematology Clinical Research Mentor Award (2019), and the Stanford University Medical School Lifetime Achievement Award (2019).