The NKF to Honor Nephrologist and NYU Professor of Medicine Dr. David Charytan with the Distinguished J. Michael Lazarus Award
(April 24, 2024, New York, NY) — The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) is thrilled to announce that Nephrologist and Professor of Medicine David M. Charytan, MD, MSc, will be the 2024 recipient of the prestigious J. Michael Lazarus Distinguished Award. Dr. Charytan maintains a broad clinical practice in general nephrology at New York University Langone Medical Center with research focuses on chronic dialysis, diabetic kidney disease, and cardiovascular disease in the setting of chronic kidney disease. This award will be given to Dr. Charytan during the annual NKF 2024 Spring Clinical Meetings that will be held in Long Beach, CA, in May.
NKF presents this award each year to honor Dr. Lazarus for his major contributions to the clinical science and care of dialysis patients and to recognize individuals whose research has yielded novel insights related to renal replacement therapy.
“It’s a true honor to be recognized by the NKF and particularly meaningful that it’s an award named after Mike Lazarus who did so much to improve the lives of kidney patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD),” said Dr. Charytan. “Being acknowledged by your peers for a career’s worth of effort is incredibly gratifying and rewarding. I have worked with and been inspired by some of the prior recipients of this award. Like them, my goal has always been simply to improve the lives of people who suffer from the misfortune of ESRD.”
Dr. Charytan received his medical degree from NYU’s School of Medicine and a Master of Sciences in Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health. He was a resident in internal medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. As a practicing nephrologist, he helps patients with complex, critical illnesses, acute kidney issues, and chronic kidney disorders. During the COVID-19 surge, he facilitated the development of an acute peritoneal dialysis program at NYU at both Tisch Hospital and Bellevue Hospital.
As a Division Director at NYU Langone Medical Center, he’s responsible for initiatives to increase the use of SGLT2 inhibitors in patients with diabetic kidney disease, to bring Accelerated Venovenous Hemofiltration (AVVH) to Tisch Hospital and Bellevue Hospital, to expand the outpatient dialysis offerings and dialysis footprint at NYU, and to improve quality of care in a variety of areas. As an active researcher, Dr. Charytan utilizes large databases, translational and cohort studies, and clinical trials to explore his research interests.
He is a founding Steering Committee member of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Hemodialysis Novel Therapies Consortium where he was the lead Private Investigator for two of the network’s trials. Dr. Charytan has helped lead multiple trials as a member of the executive leadership team including the HOPE trial (pain in hemodialysis-dependent ESRD), the CREDENCE trial (diabetic nephropathy), and the Monitoring in Dialysis Trial (arrhythmia monitoring in hemodialysis patients).
He has published more than 200 manuscripts and has served as the Principal Investigator on multiple grants with continuous funding by foundations and the NIH since 2006. In addition, Dr. Charytan is an Associate Editor at the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology and previously was a member of the American Society of Nephrology’s Dialysis Advisory Group.
“Dr. Charytan's clinical and research contributions to the care of dialysis patients have advanced the field and make him the deserving recipient of this year’s prestigious J. Michael Lazarus Distinguished Award,” said NKF President Sylvia Rosas, MD, MSCE. “From his clinical innovations to his continued active research, Dr. Charytan strives to better understand and identify therapies that address the needs of patients living with chronic kidney disease particularly those on dialysis.”
“Nephrology is a unique specialty that allows me to harness a love of math, science, and physiology in the service of people with acute or chronic dialysis,” said Dr. Charytan. “I draw inspiration from all of my patients and my family members who have faced kidney failure, dialysis, and transplantation providing me an intimate look at the struggles and a profound, underlying motivation for my work.”
The annual NKF 2024 Spring Clinical Meetings will be held in Long Beach, CA, from May 14-18.
NKF Spring Clinical Meetings
For the past 32 years, nephrology healthcare professionals from across the country have come to NKF’s Spring Clinical Meetings to learn about the newest developments related to all aspects of nephrology practice; network with colleagues; and present their research findings. The NKF Spring Clinical Meetings is designed for meaningful change in the multidisciplinary healthcare teams’ skills, performance, and patient health outcomes. It is the only conference of its kind that focuses on translating science into practice for the entire healthcare team.
About Kidney Disease
In the United States, more than 37 million adults are estimated to have kidney disease, also known as chronic kidney disease (CKD)—and approximately 90 percent don’t know they have it. About 1 in 3 adults in the U.S. are at risk for kidney disease. Risk factors for kidney disease include: diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, and family history. People of Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian American, or Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander descent are at increased risk for developing the disease. Black or African American people are about four times as likely as White people to have kidney failure. Hispanics experience kidney failure at about double the rate of White people.
NKF Professional Membership
Healthcare professionals can join NKF to receive access to tools and resources for both patients and professionals, discounts on professional education, and access to a network of thousands of individuals who treat patients with kidney disease.
About the National Kidney Foundation
The National Kidney Foundation is revolutionizing the fight to save lives by eliminating preventable kidney disease, accelerating innovation for the dignity of the patient experience, and dismantling structural inequities in kidney care, dialysis, and transplantation. For more information about kidney disease, please visit www.kidney.org/
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