Global Outreach Postings
Global Outreach
Educating children about chronic kidney disease is a fruitful investment Featured
By Sally Horspool
The Department of Nephrology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences recently organized a kidney disease awareness program aimed at children. The program was endorsed and supported by the Kidney Foundation Institute of Delhi, the Indian Academy of Nephrology and the Indian Society of Nephrology. Nearly 800 school children from 20 schools in Delhi, both public and private, and thirty teachers took part in this half day education program.
The function was inaugurated by the Education Director for the National Capital Region of Delhi. He pointed out that the education department runs a few medical prevention programs on anemia, obesity and diabetes, eyesight, personal hygiene, etc. However, kidney disease assessment is still not part of this. He promised that after feedback from organizers it may also be possible to include kidney disease in school medical programs.
ISN councillor, Sanjay Kumar Agarway says that the education program focused on topics such as kidney function and the common symptoms of kidney disease, common kidney diseases, obesity, the effects of hypertension and diabetes, kidney stone disease. It also looked at managing patients with end stage kidney failure, chronic kidney disease and how to prevent acute and chronic kidney diseases.
Each session included a quiz where the children were awarded a prizeS. The event ended with a question and answer session in which children and teachers could interact with the experts.
The next deadline to apply for the ISN Global Outreach (GO) Fellowship Program is 15 June 2012. To find out more about this ISN GO Program CLICK HERE. You can apply online HERE now. You can also consult the Fellowship booklet HERE to get practical details on the program and the application process.
In the recent years, ISN has expanded the Fellowship Program to allow opportunities for nephrologists to train in their own region of the world rather than in North America, Europe or Australasia. Such Fellowships are consistent with the overall goal of the Fellowship Program to build capacity by offering appropriate clinical and research training and ISN has partnered with some key organizations to encourage intra-regional trainings. Click here to explore all possibilities offered by the ISN partners.
For further information, contact
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
at the ISN Headquarters.
ISN Educational Ambassador Program deadline extended to May 31st, 2012 Featured
By Sally Horspool
The deadline for the ISN Global Outreach Educational Ambassador Program has now been extended. Applications will be accepted until May 31st, 2012.
If you are a center looking for an expert to train staff or you are an ISN member looking to volunteer as an ISN Educational Amabassador, you can apply HERE.
Thanks to the ISN GO Educational Ambassadors Program, centers in the developing world can request an expert to join them onsite to provide very specific training or to develop community-based research and screening programs. So far, the program has proved very popular since it was first set up in 2009.
Read some of the success stories HERE.
An ISN Global Outreach (GO) Continuous Medical Educational (CME) course was held from April 25 to 27 in Almaty, Kazakhstan as part of the 2nd Congress of Nephrologists of the New Independent States. The congress was organized by the ISN Regional Committee in Russia, the Central Independent States chaired by Helena Zakarova and Professor A.B. Kanatbayeva, president of the Kazakhstan Nephrology Association and Chief of Nephrology at the National Medical University in Kazakhstan.
ISN GO Program Chair William Couser explains: "The ISN GO region of Russia and the Central Independent States encompasse 11 countries. In the past, most ISN programs in this region have focussed on Russia, particularly Moscow and St-Petersburg, and have been attended primarily by Russian nephrologists."
The meeting was one of the first ISN-sponsored meetings in this region outside of Russia. It was attended by about 170 nephrologists from 9 countries in the region including Kazakhstan, Azarbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgystan, Russia, Uzbekistan, Ukraine and Estonia as well as individuals from Austria, France, Germany and the US.
"It is a tribute to the regional committee that ISN was able to participate and showcase its programs in this meeting in Kazakhstan, 4000 km from Moscow, which involved 7 additional countries. We are very optimistic that this event will increase awareness of ISN in this important area and lead to greater opportunities for ISN to serve nephrologists from the central independent states through our GO programs."
Representatives of each of the regional countries chaired individual scientific sessions. ISN was represented by William Couser who gave an overview of ISN programs, chaired a session on "CKD and Glomerular Kidney Diseases" and gave translated lectures on "Pathogenesis and treatment of membranous nephropathy" and "Pathogenesis and treatment of minimal change disease/focal sclerosis in adults."
Find out more about applying for this program, HERE.
ISN announces new chair of ISN GO R&P Committee Featured
By Sally Horspool
ISN is happy to welcome Marcello Tonelli as the new chair of the ISN Global Outreach Research and Prevention (R&P) Program. He will now take over from ISN President Elect Giuseppe Remuzzi, who has headed the committee since its foundation. Remuzzi says that "being appointed to chair the first ISN GO Research and Prevention Committee was a real honor. It was an intense and engaging experience to start this new venture of cooperation with colleagues who often work in challenging, diverse, and sometimes unbelievably difficult circumstances."
ISN would like to thank Giuseppe Remuzzi for his hard work and dedication throughout his chairmanship and wish him continued success with his other engagements at ISN. The ISN GO R&P Committee enabled ISN to promote programs that provided a global strategy and tools to prevent progressive renal diseases in emerging countries, where renal replacement therapy is often unavailable or unaffordable.
Tonelli is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Alberta in Canada where he founded the Alberta Kidney Disease Network and is president of the Canadian Society of Nephrology. His research interests are in the clinical and epidemiologic aspects of kidney disease and associated conditions, particularly cardiovascular disease. He served on the Research and Prevention Committee and spent a sabbatical at the committee headquarters in Bergamo before being selected for this position.
Through the Call for Proposals, the ISN GO R&P Program has funded more than 40 prevention programs worldwide to respond to patients at high risk of developing chronic renal injury or who would benefit from early management to prevent or halt disease early stage renal disease, eventually limiting the associated great risk for cardiovascular disease.
Remuzzi adds that "besides the scientific quality of these programs, it is rewarding to see how, through the ISN R&P Program, young nephrologists started clinical research projects in centers where research was an unknown word. This new approach was instrumental for several of them to bring kidney disease to the attention of Health Ministries and, in some cases, even promote prevention as part of national health care systems."
"More importantly, however, has been the commitment to try to create an in-country capacity, notably a human capacity that can independently determine problems to be addressed instead of having a westernized impression of those problems imposed from outside. Medical and research institutions in the industrialized world as well as ISN can learn from these important experiences."
Next ISN GO Regional Workshop focuses on Eastern and Central Europe Featured
By Sally Horspool
ISN is taking part in this year's European Renal Association - European Dialysis and Transplant Association (ERA-EDTA) Congress at the Palais des Congrès in Paris, France from May 24 to 27, 2012.
The Society has taken the opportunity to organize an ISN Global Outreach (GO) Regional Workshop for participants from Eastern and Central Europe. This will take place on May 26, 2012 from 1.15pm to 3.15 pm (room 351, level 3 of the Palais des Congrès).
This is a unique opportunity to meet directly with the ISN leaders and discuss local and regional needs for global outreach programs to strengthen the connections between ISN and Eastern and Central Europe.
From the ISN leadership, ISN President John Feehally, ISN GO Eastern and Central Europe Committee Chair Lazlo Rosival, ISN GO CME Program Chair Norbert Lameire and ISN GO SRC Program Chair Paul Harden have confirmed their participation.
This meeting will allow the ISN leadership to better assess the needs for promoting nephrology in Eastern and Central Europe and get more involved with the regional committee and ERA-EDTA in coordinating their work. The objective is also to promote interaction and networking between ISN's different programs in Eastern and Central Europe and provide a setting for GO participants from this regions to meet.
For further information, contact Sophie Dupuis at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
ISN GO Fellowship Program - latest results out now Featured
By Sally Horspool
ISN is happy to announce the results of the latest round of applications for the ISN Global Outreach (GO) Fellowship program. Read the following document to find out who has been awarded funding to participate in this outstanding program.
Successful ISN Fellowship Applicants 2012-1.pdf
This time around, 27 applications were received, of which 21 candidates were successful and will be funded by ISN. The ISN Fellowship Program is grateful to APSN, IPNA, CREED, KRUK, ERA-EDTA and TSN for sponsoring some of the successful applicants. On top of that, three ISN Fellows have been awarded fellowships named after important supporters: Amgen, Saulo Klahr and the Schrier family.
In the last round, high interest came from Africa followed by South Asia, Latin America and East Asia and then Eastern and Central Europe. If you are interested in joining find out more HERE. The next application deadline is June 15, 2012. To find out how to apply, CLICK HERE.
The ISN Fellowship Program provides relevant and contemporary nephrological training to physicians from emerging countries, with the ultimate goal of improving the standards in the Fellows' home countries upon their return and becoming leaders in their fields.
ISN Fellows receive hands-on training in advanced host institutions, allowing them to acquire state-of-the-art knowledge in basic and clinical nephrology, dialysis, transplantation, and epidemiology. The training focuses on providing the exact skills and knowledge specifically required by the home institution.
China to abolish organ transplant from executed prisoners
By Luca SegantiniChina has pledged to end the practice of taking organs from executed prisoners within the next five years, state media report.
Officials say the country would instead rely on a new national donation system for organ transplants.
Read more on BBC News or China Daily.
Mark your calendar for the ISN Global Outreach (GO) Research and Prevention Program application deadline on April 1st, 2012. If you are interested in applying for this ISN GO Program, make sure to send your application online before this date. CLICK HERE to find out more.
Since 2006, The ISN GO Research and Prevention Committee has been dedicated to promoting research and educational programs in emerging countries. It has implemented research projects on detecting and managing CKD, hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases.
Twice a year, the Committee coordinates an open call for proposals to select and support prevention projects in developing countries on a competitive basis. The program was launched as a response to the lack of existing programs that strive to detect, manage, and prevent pandemic noncommunicable chronic diseases on a global level.
For more information on the ISN GO Research and Prevention Program, CLICK HERE.
The Damanhour Medical National Institute in Egypt and the Sheffield Kidney Institute in the UK have now been officially recognized a level B pair in the ISN Global OUtreach (GO) Sister Renal Center (SRC)Program. This status was awarded to the pair following the successful activities they were involved in last year.
Last April, at the World Congress of Nephrology 2011, Zaghloul Gouda received an appreciation award from the ISN Global Outreach Research and Prevention Program for his efforts in implementing the EGIPT Chronic Kidney Disease program in Egypt. The EGIPT CKD program sets out to promote early detection and prevention of CKD and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs) on a community level. At the same meeting, Walid Hemida presented a follow-up study about visual field changes in hemodialysis patients conducted at the Damanhour nephrology department. Gouda also talked about the SRC activities between Egypt and the UK, including setting up a web-based program to detect and prevent NCDs worldwide.
The partnership with the Sheffield Kidney Institute has been effective in setting up a filing system to provide easy patient follow up and support the registry database. Training has also been a priority for both institutions with a workshop organized to help nursing staff in the nephrology department. Some 60 local nurses attended this tailor-made course in a country where there is no regular continuous medical education for nursing staff in nephrology. Sheffield Kidney Institute lent its support in putting together the program and setting up a video conference discussion with Meguid El-Nahas on the importance of early detection of CKD for developing countries. This really reflects the role of SRC program in improving nephrology practice in local communities.
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