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The ISN was deeply saddened to learn of the death of Robert William Schrier, a giant of global nephrology and modern medicine. Alongside his many achievements in academic nephrology, Bob Schrier committed himself to the ISN and became one of its most effective and innovative leaders.

He served in ISN leadership for more than twenty years. He was elected to the ISN Council in 1978, for ten years from 1981 was Treasurer, then in 1991 became President-Elect, and was ISN President from 1995 to 1997.

He was one of the first ISN  leaders to call for its transformation from a conventional medical scientific society, mostly focused on meeting the needs of its members in high income countries, to a truly global organisational with a continuing and growing commitment to capacity building in low and middle income countries.

From 1986 he was the first chair of the ISN Fellowship Committee, and showed his continuing commitment to the program by  hosting in his own center in Denver between 1989 and 2013 fourteen ISN Fellows (from China, Croatia, India, Russia, Tunisia, Turkey and Ukraine).  Then in 1993 he proposed that ISN should establish the ISN Commission on Global Advancement of Nephrology (COMGAN) which began to coordinate ISN’s activities in the developing world. In 1995 he proposed the notion of partnerships to foster collaboration between centers in developed and developing countries; this became the Sister Renal Center Program. The Schrier Award, for the most deserving Sister Center Partnership, was established in his honor.

He was thus the ISN leader who above all others had the vision and energy to set the ISN on course to its unique modern role as educator and advocate in global nephrology, building sustainable capacity worldwide.  Thanks to his innovation, the ISN now has the largest specialty medical outreach program in the world.

He and his wife Barbara continued in later years to be strongly committed to the ISN. His own personal generosity and that of his family established the ISN-Schrier Fund which still supports the most highly rated ISN Fellows.

Bob Schrier was a physically imposing man (a very considerable basketball player in his youth) and with it came a quiet authority and charm which gained him universal respect. He had the determination and resolve to ensure the success of the tasks he set himself, and to bring others with him to complete the work.

His exceptional contributions across nephrology and medicine were recognised by numerous prestigious awards, including in 2003 the ISN’s Jean Hamburger Award (with Stewart Cameron, for outstanding clinical research in nephrology)  and Bywaters Award (for understanding of acute kidney injury). An upcoming editorial in Kidney International will commemorate his many achievements.

We are all beneficiaries of Bob Schrier’s passion for the ISN and his vision for what it might achieve. We miss him, but we remember him with great fondness and respect.

ISN Community