We’re

We believe that it is our responsibility to take a bold, strategic and optimistic approach to help the 850 million people1 worldwide who suffer with chronic kidney disease.

That is why we’ve shifted both the conversation and the agenda from kidney disease to kidney health, challenging both the status quo and traditional measures of kidney function.

1 theisn.org/blog. Accessed 03.2024.

We’re setting big goals:

Our primary goal mirrors one set by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in 2019’s Advancing American Kidney Health Initiative2:

To increase efforts to detect, slow, and prevent the progression of kidney disease, in part by addressing more risk factors upstream, specifically in stages 1-3b.

2 aspe.hhs.gov. Accessed 03.2024.

The sooner, the better.

Joseph Vassalotti, MD, FASN
Chief Medical Officer, National Kidney Foundation
Clinical Professor of Medicine, Nephrology, Mount Sinai Medical Center

“If we innovate to slow the trajectory of kidney disease by focusing on upstream kidney health, we can significantly improve patient outcomes and contain costs as primary care intervention studies have shown.”

Fernando Carnavali, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai
Division Chief of General Medicine, Mount Sinai West

“It’s in these patients, in the early phases [DKD stage 1-3], that being able to assess the risk for disease progression is most important. Further, as an example of a potential inaccuracy with significant clinical consequences, an eGFR reading can be falsely elevated at the beginning of kidney failure, creating a false sense of confidence when really the opposite is true.”

Katherine Tuttle, MD, FASN, FACP, FNKF
Professor of Medicine in Nephrology at the University of Washington
Executive Director for Research at Providence Health Care
Co-Principal Investigator at the Institute for Translational Health Sciences

“If we could clinically identify those patients most at risk early and know which therapies would benefit them most – that would be the game-changer.”

Amit Sharma, MD, FASN
U.S. Vice President Cardiovascular & Renal, Medical Affairs at Bayer Pharmaceuticals
Board of directors, Kidney Health Initiative
National Kidney Foundation’s Patient Network and National Leadership Council

“Now, we have biomarkers and clinical features, that when combined with iterative machine learning, enable risk prediction formulas that give doctors the key answers needed: who is at highest risk vs not and what is the appropriate course of treatment.

This is critical, since we only have approximately 15 minutes with each patient. We need to be able to quickly review data and make an informed action plan. This risk prediction “score” will enable us to focus more resources on those who need it most and enable us to prescribe the best therapeutic.”