National Kidney Foundation Bestows Highest Honor on San Francisco’s Neil Powe, MD

 

 

New York, NY, Dec. 4, 2018 - Each year the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) considers the work of hundreds of specialists in the field of nephrology and selects among them those who most exemplify the relentless efforts of the NKF to enhance the lives of patients through action, education and accelerating change.

 

This year, Dr. Neil Powe, MD, MPH, MBA, the Chief of Medicine at the Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and the Constance B. Wofsy Distinguished Professor and Vice-Chair of Medicine at the University of California – San Francisco, where he serves as administrative leader of the Department of Medicine, has been selected as the recipient of the NKF’s highest honor, the  David M. Hume Memorial Award.

 

The David M. Hume Award was created in memory of one of the National Kidney Foundation's most distinguished members. In 1954, Dr. Hume was part of the team that performed the first successful kidney transplant at Brigham Hospital in Boston. This award is reserved for a distinguished scientist-clinician in the field of kidney and urologic diseases who exemplifies high ideals of scholarship and humanism in an outstanding manner.

 

Dr. Powe will receive his award at the  NKF 2019 Spring Clinical Meetings in Boston, MA, May 8-12.

 

“I was quite surprised when notified by the NKF leadership that I would receive this award,” Dr. Powe said. “David Hume was a pioneer whose life’s work transformed kidney disease care and medicine. I enjoy generating cutting-edge science to disrupt the forces that cause kidney disease, lead to its unnecessary morbidity and interfere with the quality of lives, particularly for persons who are the most vulnerable in our society. Inspiring and fostering careers of young investigators who accept the same challenge, and innovatively tackle new frontiers of research, has been a high priority for me. It’s thrilling and humbling that awesome NKF leaders and members are recognizing me for the work I love so much. I hope my prior and future contributions, like those of Dr. Hume and others who have received this award, have helped to preempt the illness burden of kidney disease in this time, and will continue to in the years to come.”

 

Dr. Powe’s work unites medicine and public health. His landmark investigations of outcomes in chronic kidney disease, particularly on health disparities, have influenced clinical practice and policy.  He led the Choices for Healthy Outcomes in Caring for ESRD (CHOICE) study, one of the first national cohort studies of patient outcomes. He is a principal investigator of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention National CKD Surveillance System.

 

“Dr. Powe is the personification of the description of the David M. Hume Memorial Award,” said NKF President Dr. Holly Kramer. “His body of work has been instrumental in the strides made in kidney research, improving patient outcomes and enhancing the lives of those who are affected by chronic kidney disease. He has been instrumental in raising awareness about CKD.”

 

In a remarkable 450 publications, he has studied early referral of CKD patients, patient-physician contact in dialysis care, cost-effectiveness of screening for proteinuria, race differences in cardiovascular procedure use among CKD patients, effect of treatment modalities on survival, outcomes of emergent vs standard hemodialysis for immigrants, outcomes of dialysis care by type of ownership and access to transplantation.

 

Dr. Powe earned his medical degree at Harvard Medical School and his MPH at Harvard School of Public Health and served his residency and fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania.

 

For the past 27 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 are 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.  This year’s Spring Clinical Meetings will be held May 8-12 in Boston, MA.

 

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. 

 

In the United States 30 million adults are estimated to have chronic kidney disease—and most aren’t aware of it.  1 in 3 American adults are at risk for chronic kidney disease.  Risk factors for kidney disease include diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity and family history.  People of African American, Hispanic, Native American, Asian or Pacific Islander descent are at increased risk for developing the disease.  African Americans are 3 times more likely than Whites, and Hispanics are nearly 1.5 times more likely than non-Hispanics to develop end stage renal disease (kidney failure).

 

 

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