Media Release 30 June 2009

National Summit on Chronic Kidney Disease

A conference featuring local and international experts on Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) will meet in Melbourne on 23-24 July 2009.

Anne Wilson CEO of Kidney Health Australia said the conference will focus on all the issues affecting the delivery of best care to Australians with CKD, will review systematically CKD activities occurring in Australia and will workshop solutions.

"The aim of the conference is to reassess where Australia is positioned with regard to the prevention, early detection, and best management of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and kidney failure and in particular to examine ways in which the kidney sector might work more effectively with Government."

Ms Wilson said chronic kidney disease in Australia is a major public health threat which needed a significant public health response to cope with the combination of the size of the problem and Australia's ageing population.

The Australian CKD scene is characterized a steady increase in the numbers of people entering dialysis programs and in those dying of kidney failure. Almost 1 million hospitalizations for dialysis occurred in 2007-8 accounting for 17.4% of all separations from public hospitals. This number had increased by 131% over the last 5 years (AIHW, June 2009). The number of people with silent or asymptomatic early CKD was believed to be on the increase driven by the increased prevalence of diabetes and the ageing of the population.

Dr Tim Mathew, Medical Director of Kidney Health Australia said the conference will address the full spectrum of kidney disease from early detection to end stage kidney failure and will bring together some of the world's leading CKD experts with experience in developing public health policies and delivery systems.

"There will be a facilitated workshop to identify issues and canvas solutions. The outcome will be an action plan that focuses on improving outcomes and guiding the kidney sector and government on the path ahead.

"Attendance will be by invitation and will consist of senior nephrologists, kidney sector health professionals, General Practitioners and representatives from Commonwealth and State Government's health departments."

Media Enquiries:
Dr Tim Mathew, Medical Director, Kidney Health Australia Mobile: 0416 149 863
Ron Smith, National Communications Manager, Kidney Health Australia
Mobile: 0417 329 201

Conference Key Note Speakers

Dr DONAL O'DONOGHUE
Donal has been a Consultant Renal Physician at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust since 1992. He was appointed the first National Director for Kidney Care in England in 2007. After gaining degrees in Physiology and Medicine from ManchesterUniversity, Donal trained in Renal and Internal Medicine in Leicester, Nottingham, Manchester and Edinburgh. Donal was the inaugural president of the multi-professional British Renal Society and is a former Treasurer and President elect of the Renal Association. Donal chaired the National Service Framework for renal services and leads the policy team and implementation strategy for kidney services in England.

This has included aligning kidney policy with public health and vascular risk reduction programs, early detection schemes, integrated care and development of a chronic disease management model of care for advanced kidney disease.

Current research interests include epidemiology of chronic kidney disease and acute kidney injury, the biology and management of progressive kidney disease and models of service delivery to optimise outcomes in advanced kidney disease including support during adolescence and transplantation.

Prof ALLAN COLLINS
An expert in chronic kidney disease clinical and economic outcomes, Dr. Collins is President of the National Kidney Foundation. He is Professor of Medicine, University of Minnesota School of Medicine, HennepinCountyMedicalCenter in Minneapolis, MN. He also serves as Director of the Chronic Disease Research Group of the Minneapolis Medical Research Foundation and as Principal Investigator for the U.S. Renal Data System (USRDS) CoordinatingCenter of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Collins manages all data resulting from the NKF's KEEP screening programs nationwide as the Director of the KEEPCoordinatingCenter.

He has participated in major disaster relief programs such as the Armenian earthquake relief in 1988 and is part of the disaster assistance response team for the U.S. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance.

Dr ADEERA LEVIN
Dr Levin is currently a Professor of Medicine at University of BC, and Co-director of the Clinical Investigator Program at UBC. She is the Executive director of the BC Provincial Renal Agency, an organization which manages and co-ordinates the care of patients with kidney disease in the province of BC, and which has developed and maintained the provincial registry for renal patients.

She is immediate past Chair of the NKF KDOQI guideline process, and is on the Board of Directors and Executive committee of the newly formed KDIGO, an international group providing collaborative structure for outcomes research and guideline development in CKD.

She was awarded a team planning grant from Michael Smith Foundation to develop a research strategy for the study of complex patients (INTEGRATION), and a Health Innovation Fund Grant from the Ministry of Health, British Columbia to develop and evaluate a model of coordinated specialist care for complex patients.