ISN Fellow John Mutiso, from Makueni County Referral Hospital in Kenya, spent a year under the mentorship of Graham Paget and Charlotte Maxeke at the Johannesburg Academic Hospital in South Africa to train in clinical nephrology.

According to Dr. Mutiso, significant strides in kidney care have been made in Kenya, but: “politicians and policymakers need to know that kidney care goes beyond hemodialysis. We need to invest in research, preventive nephrology, peritoneal dialysis, and kidney transplantation.”

Mutiso comments: ‘My training was comprehensive and self-directed. During my training, I was also involved in the teaching of both undergraduate and postgraduate students. I interacted with Nephrology Ph.D. students and that has positively impacted my views on research, health planning, and policy formulation.’

Dr. Mutiso has already set up a renal clinic at the county hospital. In addition, he hopes to ask the county government to avail funds to carry out research in the community. He adds: ‘We want to ensure that our patients are getting quality hemodialysis.’