Young Nephrologists Reporting from Around the World During a Troubled Year
The ISN values its young members and welcomed the many powerful and inspiring first-hand accounts it received from different world regions that demonstrated what it meant to be a young nephrologist in 2020:
From January, the ISN Young Nephrologists Committee worked alongside the ISN Research Working Group to present “Breakthrough Discoveries,” 60 + 1 globally representative narratives outlining discoveries of significance to the nephrology community. We would like to thank the following YNC members for writing articles in support of this ISN 60th anniversary activity:
Abduzhappar Gaipov Caner Alperslan Lili Zhou
Mirna Aleckovic Muzamil Hassan Nikolay Bulanov
Rhys Evans Rolando Claure-Del Granado Sabine Karam
Shankar Yadav Yosuke Hirakawa – Coordinator
In April, the Young Nephrologists Committee welcomed seven new members, each representing a different region of the globe, underlining the ISN commitment to inclusion and diversity.
Alexandra Cambier (France) Yosuke Hirakawa (Japan) Shankar Prasad Yadav (Nepal)
Nikolay Bulanov (Russia) Lili Zhou (China) Caner Alparslan (Turkey)
Sabine Karam (Lebanon)
Many young ISN members have been at the forefront of the global fight against COVID-19. In May, Marina Wainstein (Australia), Rolando Claure-Del Granado (Bolivia), and Chimota Phiri (Malawi) shared the challenges of managing the COVID-19 crisis.
Young ISN Member Dr. Grace Igiraneza (Rwanda), who undertook an ISN Fellowship at Yale University, outlined the findings from her investigation into the capacity of sub-tertiary hospitals to manage kidney disease in Rwanda. Her research findings, published in Kidney International Reports, can be read here.
Two other Young ISN Members, Dr. Rhys Evans (United Kingdom), ISN Young Nephrologist Committee Member, and Dr. Chimota Phiri (Malawi), ISN African Regional Board Member, commented on the importance of this work in this associated article.
In July, we received further reports from young ISN members from Bangladesh, Ghana, and Brazil describing their experience of working conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In September, Dr. Karam, Head of the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension at Saint George Hospital University Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon, gave a first-hand account of the aftermath of the massive explosion that devastated the city in August.
ISN Fellows and ISN Young Nephrologists Committee members from around the world initiated a collaborative research project exploring AKI practice patterns in all the Fellows’ home countries in 2019, which continued progressing in 2020.
The research explores disparities in access to kidney transplantation in their respective countries, with a special interest in the data from low-income countries. The results were submitted as an abstract for WCN20.
The ISN 0by25 initiative was recognized for academic-scientific merit in September by the Medical College of Bolivia for Young Nephrologists Committee member Dr. Rolando Claure Del Granado’s research activities and the study “Recognition and management of community-acquired acute kidney injury in low-resource settings: the ISN 0by25 feasibility trial.”
The scientific committee presented the award personally to Dr. Rolando Claure Del Granado for his involvement in the initiative.
In November, Tatiara Bueno, SOS Rim Medical Clinic in Porto Velho, Brazil, described the challenges and successes of life as a nephrologist in her region.
In December, Dr. Mirna Alečković-Halilović, ELP Steering Committee member, commented on the process of selecting ISN’s first ELP cohort. Young Nephrologists Committee Chair Gavin Dreyer and YNC member Rolando Claure Del Granado are also ELP Steering Committee members.
ISN’s young nephrologists took to Twitter more than ever in 2020, using #ISNyoung to connect from different corners of the world and share information.
