Dr. Jonathan Himmelfarb is Co-Director of the Center for Dialysis Innovation, Director of the Kidney Research Institute, Joseph W. Eschbach, MD Endowed Chair in Kidney Research, and Professor of Medicine in Nephrology at the University of Washington. He has been a leader in clinical and translational research focused on kidney disease for more than two decades. He has served on numerous grant review committees and scientific advisory boards, and he has held leadership positions in many national and international nephrology societies, including serving as past president of the American Society of Nephrology. Dr. Himmelfarb has been a member of the American Board of Internal Medicine’s subspecialty board on nephrology and an associate editor of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, and has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, Kidney International, BMC Medicine and the Faculty of 1000 in medicine. He is also a founding member of the Faculty of 1000 in research. Dr. Himmelfarb has served on expert panels for the US Food and Drug Administration, the Veterans Health Administration, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and other organizations. He is a member of the external advisory committee for the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Duke University O’Brien Center for Kidney Research, and is a member of the internal advisory committee for the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases-funded Diabetes Research Center at UW Medicine. Dr. Himmelfarb has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed publications.

Dr. Buddy Ratner, PhD, is Co-Director of the Center for Dialysis Innovation, Director of the Engineered Biomaterials Engineering Research Center, Michael L. and Myrna Darland Endowed Chair in Technology Commercialization, and Professor in Bioengineering and Chemical Engineering at the University of Washington. He received his PhD from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. He is an expert in biomaterials used in medical devices and implants, and his lab is working on multiple bioengineering projects for tissues and organs. Dr. Ratner is a fellow and past president of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), as well as a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the AVS (formerly the American Vacuum Society), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, among other groups. Dr. Ratner has authored more than 400 scholarly works and has more than 30 issued patents. His numerous awards include the 2014 Lifetime Inventor and Innovator Award from the University of Washington, as well as three honors received in 2015: the Distinguished Service Award from the ACS Division of Polymer Chemistry; the Langmuir Lecture Award from the American Chemical Society; and the Most Cited Paper Award from the Annals of Biomedical Engineering.

Dr. Vanholder published more than 900 papers, including reviews and book chapters, on adequacy of dialysis, uremic toxicity and various topics related to clinical nephrology, especially cardio-vascular and infectious complications. He serves as a member of the editorial review board of several journals and is subject editor of  Nephrology Dialysis and Transplantation and Toxins. Up till autumn 2010,  he has been chairman of the European Uremic Toxin Work Group (EUTox) and member of the Executive Board and treasurer of Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO). Up till summer 2011 he was chairman of the European Renal Best Practice (ERBP). Up till autumn 2014, he chaired the Renal Disaster Relief Task Force (RDRTF) of the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) and participated in several international relief operations. Dr. Vanholder was founding president of the Belgian Society of Nephrology (BVN-SBN), is past president of the European Society of Artificial Organs (ESAO) and  past president of ERA-EDTA. He is now retired (Prof Em at Ghent University) and chair of the European Kidney Health Alliance and of European Chronic Disease Alliance.

Masaomi Nangaku is a professor and head of the division of nephrology and endocrinology, the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Medicine, and a vice president of the University of Tokyo Hospital. He is an executive councilor and a head of the international committee and the global liaison committee of the Japanese Society of Nephrology (JSN). He is also an executive councilor of the Asian Pacific Society of Nephrology (APSN) in charge of CME and an executive councilor of the International Society of Nephrology (ISN). He has published more than 180 original articles and 60 reviews articles in international journals, and has given 70 invited talks at international academic meetings. He served as a member of Scientific Program Committees of WCN, ISN-NEXUS, ASN, and APCN. He is currently serving as an associate editor of Kidney International. He was a chair of the scientific program committee of the Asian Pacific Congress of Nephrology held in Perth, 2016, under the leadership of Paolo Ferrari, and he is a chair of the scientific program committee of the World Congress of Nephrology to be held in Melbourne, 2019, under the leadership of David Harris. His research interests include oxygen biology, diabetic kidney disease, acute kidney injury, anemia in chronic kidney disease, and epigenetics. 

Sanjiv Sam Gambhir Professor of Translational Medicine, Professor of Chemical Engineering and, by courtesy, of Chemistry and of Operations, Information and Technology at the Graduate School of Business

Joseph M. DeSimone is the Sanjiv Sam Gambhir Professor of Translational Medicine and Chemical Engineering at Stanford University. He holds appointments in the Departments of Radiology and Chemical Engineering with courtesy appointments in the Department of Chemistry and in Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.

The DeSimone laboratory’s research efforts are focused on developing innovative, interdisciplinary solutions to complex problems centered around advanced polymer 3D fabrication methods. In Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, the lab is pursuing new capabilities in digital 3D printing, as well as the synthesis of new polymers for use in advanced additive technologies. In Translational Medicine, research is focused on exploiting 3D digital fabrication tools to engineer new vaccine platforms, enhanced drug delivery approaches, and improved medical devices for numerous conditions, with a current major focus in pediatrics. Complementing these research areas, the DeSimone group has a third focus in Entrepreneurship, Digital Transformation, and Manufacturing.

Before joining Stanford in 2020, DeSimone was a professor of chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and of chemical engineering at North Carolina State University. He is also Co-founder, Board Chair, and former CEO (2014 – 2019) of the additive manufacturing company, Carbon. DeSimone is responsible for numerous breakthroughs in his career in areas including green chemistry, medical devices, nanomedicine, and 3D printing. He has published over 350 scientific articles and is a named inventor on over 200 issued patents. Additionally, he has mentored 80 students through Ph.D. completion in his career, half of whom are women and members of underrepresented groups in STEM.

In 2016 DeSimone was recognized by President Barack Obama with the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the highest U.S. honor for achievement and leadership in advancing technological progress. He has received numerous other major awards in his career, including the U.S. Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award (1997); the American Chemical Society Award for Creative Invention (2005); the Lemelson-MIT Prize (2008); the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award (2009); the AAAS Mentor Award (2010); the Heinz Award for Technology, the Economy and Employment (2017); the Wilhelm Exner Medal (2019); the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award (2019 U.S. Overall National Winner); and the Harvey Prize in Science and Technology (2020). He is one of only 25 individuals elected to all three branches of the U.S. National Academies (Sciences, Medicine, Engineering). DeSimone received his B.S. in Chemistry in 1986 from Ursinus College and his Ph.D. in Chemistry in 1990 from Virginia Tech.

Richard A. Knight is a healthcare professional and a former hemodialysis patient.  He received a kidney transplant approximately fourteen years ago. He is President of the American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP), the oldest and largest independent kidney patient organization in the United States.  He is a former member of the NIDDK Advisory Council and serves as the Co-Chair of the Stakeholder Engagement Sub Group for NIDDK’s Strategic Plan. He also is a member of the Scientific Registry for Transplant Recipients Review Committee and Co-Chair of the SRTR’s Patient and Family Advisory Sub-Committee.

Mr. Knight has a background in public policy and Congressional operations based on his professional experience on Capitol Hill, where he served in various roles, including communications, policy and Legislative Director, and his advocacy work as a kidney transplant patient. While working in the U.S. House of Representatives, Mr. Knight served as a liaison to the Congressional Black Caucus for his Member of Congress. He was involved in work with the House Energy and Commerce and Small Business Committees. Mr. Knight’s knowledge of Executive Branch agency budget and procurement policies is based on direct experience as a Federal government contractor and a ten-year co-chair of the Baltimore Washington Corridor Chamber of Commerce Annual Regional Government Procurement Fair.

Mr. Knight received his MBA from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business and his B.A. in Accounting from Hampton University. He is a business strategist, providing patient engagement consulting for healthcare organizations and businesses, developing tools designed to leverage patient input and preferences in their care plans and quality measures. As a small business owner, he is heavily involved in business and education issues through multiple networks in the Washington, D.C. region. He serves as a Lecturer in Bowie State University’s (BSU) College of Business (COB). He is a founding member of BSU’s College of Business Advisory Council. He currently serves on the COB Strategic Planning and Fundraising Committees.

Dr. Cervantes received her undergraduate degree at CU Boulder and completed both her medical degree and internal medicine residency at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.  Dr. Cervantes has worked for over 12 years as an internal medicine hospitalist at Denver Health, the safety-net hospital in Denver.  Funded by the Harold Amos RWJF award and the Doris Duke Foundation, Dr. Cervantes’ research described the worse outcomes of undocumented immigrants with kidney failure who rely only on emergency dialysis.  In 2019, as a result of Dr. Cervantes’ research and stakeholder engagement, Colorado Medicaid opted to include the diagnosis of kidney failure as a qualifying condition under Emergency Medicaid thereby expanding access to standard dialysis. Dr. Cervantes is invested in conducting research to improve person-centered and clinical outcomes among Latinx patients with chronic kidney disease and is currently funded by a K23 and an RWJF Clinical Scholars grant.

Bessie Young, MD, MPH, FACP is Associate Chair for Diversity and Inclusion for the Department of Medicine, Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington, and Section Chief of Nephrology at the VA Puget Sound Health Care Center. She is co-chair of the Department of Medicine’s Diversity Council and leads many of the equity, diversity and inclusion efforts for the Department. Her research concentrates on health disparities, including evaluating risk factors for development and progression of kidney disease in African Americans, genetic testing for APOL1-associated kidney disease in African Americans, education for kidney disease and kidney replacement therapies, and evaluating the intersection of health disparities and health equity issues in medicine.  She is a member of the University of Washington’s Kidney Research Institute (KRI) and the Veterans Affairs Center for Innovation for Veteran-Centered and Value-Driven Care (COIN) and founding director of the University of Washington Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Center for Transformational Research (UW JEDI-CTR).

Dr. Crews is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Nephrology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She holds appointments with the School of Nursing, the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research, the Center on Aging and Health, and the Center for Health Equity, where she is Associate Director for Research Development.  Her research focuses on addressing disparities in the care and outcomes of kidney disease and hypertension. An elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, Dr. Crews has received numerous awards for her research contributions, including the 2018 Johns Hopkins University President’s Frontier Award–a $250,000 award granted to a single faculty scholar on the cusp of transforming their field. She is a former National Academy of Medicine (NAM) Emerging Leader Scholar and was the inaugural Gilbert S. Omenn Anniversary Fellow of the NAM. In 2019, Dr. Crews received the W. Lester Henry Award for Diversity and Access to Care from the American College of Physicians and the Distinguished Leader Award from the American Society of Nephrology.

Dr. Larry Kessler, ScD, is the Director of Regulatory Oversight for the Center for Dialysis Innovation, and Professor in the Department of Health Services in the School of Public Health at the University of Washington. He has over 30 years of experience in health services research. He came to the University of Washington from US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) where he served as the director of both the Office of Surveillance and Biometrics and the Office of Science and Engineering Laboratories at the Center for Devices and Radiological Health. Dr. Kessler’s work in cancer surveillance with the Applied Research Branch at NCI substantially changed the way in which cancer surveillance is performed, with the addition of the Cancer supplements to the National Health Interview Survey, the SEER-Medicare data system, and the Breast Cancer Screening Consortium and the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium. He has an extensive research record in applied health services research with special work in cancer, in cancer surveillance research, and regulatory knowledge of medical products. Dr. Kessler’s recent research has broadened this into related fields of comparative effectiveness, patient centered and outcomes research. His recent work has focused on use of technologies in medical care. He is currently involved with several randomized trials and observational studies of comparative effectiveness and patient- centered outcomes research.

Shuchi Anand, MD, MS is an Assistant Professor of Medicine. She initially focused her research on a series of studies related to physical health and function in end stage renal disease and later on projects related to global health and nephrology. In addition to conducting studies of chronic kidney disease epidemiology in India and Bangladesh, Dr. Anand has been working in Sri Lanka to develop a case definition for chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology (CKDu, also referred to as Mesoamerican Nephropathy) and has designed a case-control study testing multiple environmental and behavioral exposures.  She plays an active role in international efforts to promote research in CKDu and has served as mentor to several trainees to participate in her global health research.  Dr. Anand currently mentors two Nephrology fellows including an NIH F32 awardee (Garcia, Bradshaw).

Mark D. Lim is the Vice President of Research, Discovery, and Innovation at the American Society of Nephrology’s Alliance for Kidney Health (ASN). The department aims to sustain the growth of innovations for people with kidney diseases, building on two public private partnerships with the US Government. KidneyX is a partnership with US Department of Health and Human Services that incentivizes entrepreneurs, and the Kidney Health Initiative is a partnership with the US Food and Drug Administration and over 120 member organizations that creates regulatory science solutions as a pre-competitive consortium. Mark also serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Quebec Consortium of Drug Discovery, a multi-pharmaceutical and government effort to support the development of drug development technologies. Prior to ASN, Mark supported the biomedical funding strategies of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Department of Defense, and US National Cancer Institute, and also supported the Milken Institute’s FasterCures. Mark has over 33 publications on global health diagnostic product development, role of public private partnerships, biospecimen science, and nanotechnology, with a PhD in Inorganic Chemistry from UC Santa Barbara and postdoctoral training in Pharmaceutical Chemistry at UC San Francisco.

Zach is the Artificial Kidney Product Specialist for the American Society of Nephrology focused on coordinating and focusing the kidney community and broader biotech industry in the pursuit of a commercializing an artificial kidney.

• Chemical Engineer and Polymer Scientist
• Member: National Academy of Engineering
• Founder of The Polymer Technology Group (PTG)
• President/CEO and Co-Founder of ExThera Medical Corporation, Martinez, CA
• Co-inventor of  the Seraph® Microbind® Affinity Blood Filter
• Serial entrepreneur who sold his last company (PTG) to Royal DSM:  Investor Return >130X
• 50 years of experience in biomaterials development and materials-intensive device R&D/Manufacturing:   11 years at ExThera, 21 years at PTG, 10 years at Thoratec Corp, 7 years at Avco Medical Products
• 65+ U.S. patents, several awards and scientific publications

Prof. Melissa Little, BSc (Hons), PhD, GAICD, FAAHMS, FAA, is the Chief Scientist and Theme Director, Cell Biology, at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, Australia. She also holds a position as Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne. An NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow, she heads the Kidney Research Laboratory. Melissa is the incoming President of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, having previously held the role of President of the Australasian Society for Stem Cell Research, Program Leader of Stem Cells Australia and the Chief Scientific Officer of the Australian Stem Cell Centre.

Internationally recognized for her work on kidney development and her pioneering studies into potential regenerative therapies in the kidney, Professor Little’s approach to generating kidney organoids from human pluripotent stem cells has been adopted across the globe where it is being applied to disease modelling, drug screening and renal replacement therapies. Founded on >20 years of fundamental developmental biology, her stem cell research illustrates the capacity for understanding to be applied to product development. Professor Little’s work has been recognized by many awards, including the GlaxoSmithKline Award for Research Excellence (2005), an Eisenhower Fellowship (2006), a Boorhaave Professorship (2015) and Honorary Doctorate (2019), Leiden University, the Eureka Prize (2016), the Alfred Newton Richards Award from the International Society for Nephrology (2018) for her kidney organoid research, the Julian Wells Medal (2020) for her contribution to understanding of genetic basis of kidney development and the Homer W. Smith Award (2021) for her outstanding contributions that fundamentally affect the science of nephrology. She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences and is on the editorial board of the Cell Stem Cell, Nature Reviews Nephrology, Journal of the American Society for Nephrology, Development, Kidney International and Developmental Biology.

Mr. Conway is Chair of Policy & Global Affairs, and Immediate Past President, of the American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP), the nation’s largest kidney patient organization. As a kidney patient, he has managed kidney disease for forty-one years, including three on peritoneal dialysis and, for the past twenty-four years, with a transplant. For his advocacy efforts before the White House and Congress, he has received both the ASN and AAKP President’s Medal.  He currently serves as: Chair of the FDA Patient Engagement Advisory Committee (PEAC); member of the External Expert Panel for the NIH/NIDDK Kidney Precision Medicine Project; Patient Voice Editor for CJASN and as a member of the patient advisory committee of the Kidney Research Institute. He has served in policy roles under four presidents, is a recipient of the Department of Homeland Security Secretary’s Silver Medal for exceptionally meritorious service to America and, in 2021, was named to the Presidential Rank Review Board to evaluate senior federal civil servants for White House recognition. 

Shreeram Akilesh, M.D., Ph.D., is a UW Medicine board certified anatomical pathologist and UW Associate Professor of Pathology. Seattle Met magazine has named him a Seattle Top Doctor. 
 
Dr. Akilesh has special expertise in medical diseases of the kidney. He is motivated to translate basic research discoveries toward providing better care for patients with kidney disease. 
 
Dr. Akilesh graduated valedictorian of Dartmouth College. He earned his M.D. at Washington University, St. Louis. He has received the prestigious Damon Runyon Cancer Research Fellowship. He is a member of the American Society of Nephrology, United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology and the Renal Pathology Society. 
 
Dr. Akilesh’s research focuses on understanding how DNA interacts with the environment in both health and disease. 

Michael joined Outset after 14 years of clinical practice as a founding partner and President of North Texas Kidney Consultants- DFW. He is board certified in Internal Medicine and Nephrology receiving his training at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in Houston. His clinical research focus has been on the expansion and improvement of home dialysis options for patients with renal disease. 

Dr. Augustin is the CEO of NextKidney. He has over a decade of experience in developing and launching medical devices. He previously served as the Co-founder and CEO of Physidia and also held leadership positions at Boston Scientific, American Medical Systems and Merz Pharmaceuticals. 

Katherine Barraclough is a consultant nephrologist from Melbourne, Australia. She is particularly interested in the intersection between planetary and human health and environmentally sustainable healthcare delivery. She is Chair of the Australia New Zealand Society of Nephrology Environmental Sustainability Committee and also a Board member and Victorian Chair of Doctor for the Environment Australia. She strongly believes that health professionals need to more than simply care for those who are ill – they also have a central role to play in ensuring that healthy, stable environments exist so that current and future generations can thrive. 

Mike has 30 years’ experience in the medical device industry as an entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and CEO.  He cofounded several device companies, three of which (Novacept, Cohesion Technologies, Pulmonx) have reached exits worth a combined >$2B.  He led the regional office for $400M venture capital firm vSpring (now Signal Peak), and has served as CEO of two early-stage device companies.  Earlier in his career, he served as a Navy officer aboard a destroyer and taught physics at the U.S. Naval Academy.  Mike holds a Stanford MBA, M.I.T. MS, and U.S. Naval Academy BS. 

Dr Cook grew up in Kenya, went to high school at St Edward’s, Oxford and studied medicine at St Bartholomew’s Medical School, London. He did a PhD at the National Heart and Lung Institute, UK and a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Harvard. He trained in cardiology and sub-specialized in cardiac MRI. He is Professor at Imperial College, London and Duke-National University of Singapore (Duke-NUS). He is a cardiologist at the National Heart Centre Singapore where he oversees the clinical MRI service. He is the Director of the National Heart Research Institute Singapore and Program Director of the CVMD program at Duke-NUS. He is co-founder of Enleofen, a biotechnology company developing therapies for the treatment of fibrotic diseases.  

His team discovered a critical role for the IL-11 cytokine in fibrosis and inflammation. He is co-founder of Enleofen, a Singaporean biotechnology company developing first-in-class antibody therapeutics for a range of fibro inflammatory diseases of the liver, kidney, heart, lung and bowel. The overarching goal of his research is to understand cardio metabolic disease mechanisms and to translate basic science discoveries to healthcare. 

Dr. Bruce Culleton serves as Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of CVS Kidney Care, a CVS Health business, and provides medical expertise and guidance for all strategic initiatives. He also is responsible for the successful execution of the HemoCare Hemodialysis System clinical trial and evidence generation activities, scientific and educational programs, and clinical programs to support patient safety and improve clinical outcomes. Dr. Culleton also leads CVS Kidney Care’s Health Equity function. 

Prior to his current role, Bruce was Vice President of Global Clinical Development at Becton Dickinson and Vice President and Global Renal Therapeutic Lead at Baxter Healthcare. Before joining industry in 2007, Bruce was an academic nephrologist at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada.   His clinical research focused on chronic kidney disease epidemiology and clinical trials in dialysis.  He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed publications including several seminal articles investigating the intersection of cardiovascular disease and kidney disease. 

Bruce received his Medical Degree from Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada. He has also completed Fellowships in Internal Medicine and Nephrology from the Royal College of Canada and a Fellowship in Clinical Epidemiology from the Framingham Heart Study, MA . He also earned a MBA from Kellogg School of Business in Evanston, IL. 

Congresswoman Suzan DelBene represents Washington’s 1st Congressional District, which spans from northeast King County to the Canadian border and includes parts of King, Snohomish, Skagit, and Whatcom counties. First sworn into the House of Representatives in November 2012, Suzan brings a unique voice to the nation’s capital with more than two decades of experience as a successful technology entrepreneur and business leader. Suzan takes on a wide range of challenges both in Congress and in the 1st District and is a leader on issues of technology, health care, trade, taxes, environmental conservation, and agriculture. 

Suzan currently serves as the Vice Chair on the House Ways and Means Committee, which is at the forefront of debate on a fairer tax code, health care reform, trade deals, and lasting retirement security. She serves on the Select Revenue Measures and Trade Subcommittees. Suzan also serves as Chair of the forward-thinking New Democrat Coalition, which is the largest ideological coalition among House Democrats, and is co-chair of the Women’s High Tech Coalition, Internet of Things Caucus, and Congressional Kidney Caucus. She is also a member of the Pro-Choice Caucus. 

Suzan spent part of her early childhood in Newport Hills and Mercer Island before her father lost his job. After fourth grade, her family moved all over the country in search of work. Through hard work and financial aid, she earned her BA in biology from Reed College. She started her career in immunology research before earning an MBA from the University of Washington and embarking on a successful career as a technology leader and innovator. Over more than two decades as an executive and entrepreneur, she helped to start drugstore.com as Vice President of Marketing and Store Development, and served as CEO and President of Nimble Technology, a business software company based on technology developed at the University of Washington. Suzan also spent 12 years at Microsoft, most recently as corporate vice president of the company’s mobile communications business. 

Before being elected to Congress, Suzan served as Director of the Washington State Department of Revenue. During her tenure, she proposed reforms to cut red tape for small businesses. She also enacted an innovative tax amnesty program that generated $345 million to help close the state’s budget gap while easing the burden on small businesses. Suzan’s mix of real-world experience in the private and public sector gives her a deep understanding of how to build successful businesses, create jobs, implement real fiscal accountability, and adopt policies that provide individuals with access to opportunity. 

William H. Fissell, MD, is a physician scientist who has devoted his career to patient care and translational research in renal disease. 

Fissell earned BS degrees in physics and electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

He built on his engineering training at Case Western Reserve University, where he earned an MD, and then completed postgraduate training in internal medicine at University Hospitals of Cleveland and the Louis B. Stokes Cleveland Veteran’s Administration Hospital. 

Fissell then moved to University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, for his fellowship in nephrology, where he trained with H. David Humes, MD, developer of the first bioartificial kidney used in clinical trials. He remained at the University of Michigan for his first two faculty appointments before moving to the Cleveland Clinic in 2007. 

Fissell is an associate professor of clinical medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Before moving to Vanderbilt in fall 2012, he was the director of the Renal Nanotechnology Laboratory at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, where he pioneered work in the application of silicon nanotechnology to hemodialysis and hemofiltration. He has been supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the American Society of Nephrology Carl W. Gottschalk Award. 

Dr. Marjorie Foo is the Director of Singapore General Hospital Peritoneal Dialysis Program and Senior Consultant in Renal Medicine unit. She is also the Clinical Senior Lecturer at National University of Singapore and associate professor at Duke-NUS Medical School. 

Dr. Foo actively engages across several committees working to strengthen kidney care and dialysis efforts globally. She is the Chair of Clinical Privileging and Competency committee and Chair of Renal Medicine Senior Residency Examination Committee. She’s involved in the Part time physician scheme (PTPS) Ministry of Health , Singapore and co-chairs the Clinical Integration Committee at SGH. 

She graduated from Queen’s University Belfast in 1989, MB ChB. BAO ( Belf), and attained MRCP (UK) 1992, FAMS 2003 and FRCP (Glasgow) 2004. In the UK, Dr. Foo was trained in University College Hospital, The Middlesex Hospital and Hammersmith Hospital London. Her training in Nephrology was completed in 2001. 

Dr. Foo is fully trained in all aspects of Nephrology; i.e. transplantation, general nephrology, haemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis. Her main subspecialty interest is in peritoneal dialysis and the use of telemedicine in monitoring of chronic disease treatment and quality of life on dialysis. 

Rebecca Fox, Northwest Kidney Centers President and CEO, has been starting and leading healthcare organizations for more than 20 years. She is passionate about the power of research and innovation to improve lives, and she has a record of success motivating teams and establishing creative partnerships. Ms. Fox brings to Northwest Kidney Centers a strong history of successfully building and growing companies within complex healthcare regulatory and payer environments. She is a former c-level executive at Scripps Health, a Chief Growth Officer for a national company, and the Founder & former CEO of AristaMD, a technology-enabled service company. She holds a Masters of Public Health from the Roosevelt University in Chicago and a B.A.S in English from the University of Illinois in Champaign Urbana. 

Dr. Benjamin Freedman is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine, Division of Nephrology. He is also a member of the Kidney Research Institute and the Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine. Dr. Freedman received his Ph.D. in Cell and Developmental Biology in 2009 from the University of California at Berkeley. He performed postdoctoral studies in the Renal Division of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Freedman is currently performing biomedical research using human pluripotent stem cells to model kidney disease pathophysiology and develop new therapies. 

Prof. Yury Gogotsi is Distinguished University Professor and Charles T. and Ruth M. Bach Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Drexel University. He also serves as Director of the A.J. Drexel Nanomaterials Institute. He received his MS (1984) and PhD (1986) from Kiev Polytechnic and a DSc degree from the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences in 1995. His research group works on 2D carbides and nitrides (MXenes), nanostructured carbons, and other nanomaterials for energy, water and biomedical applications. He has co-authored 2 books, more than 600 papers in peer-reviewed journals and edited 14 books. He is recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher in Chemistry and Materials Science, and a Citations Laureate by Clarivate Analytics. 

He has received numerous awards for his research including the ACS Award in the Chemistry of Materials, International Nanotechnology Prize (RUSNANOPrize), Ceramic Prize from the World Academy of Ceramics, European Carbon Association Award, S. Somiya Award from the International Union of Materials Research Societies, Nano Energy award from Elsevier, R&D 100 Award from R&D Magazine (twice) and two Nano 50 Awards from NASA Nanotech Briefs. He has been elected a Fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS), Materials Research Society, American Ceramic Society, the Electrochemical Society, the International Society of Electrochemistry, Royal Society of Chemistry, the World Academy of Ceramics and the European Academy of Sciences. He also served on the MRS Board of Directors, serves on editorial boards of more than a dozen of journals and is acting as Associate Editor of ACS Nano. 

Victor Gura, MD,Internist & Nephrologist, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center 

Dr. Victor Gura is a world-renowned board-certified internist and nephrologist serving patients throughout the Beverly Hills, California area. Dr. Gura is on staff at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he provides state-of-the-art care for patients from across the country and around the world.  

After earning his medical degree at Universidad De Buenos Aires, Dr. Gura completed an internship at T. Shmea Hospital followed by residencies at Tel Aviv University/Beilinson Hospital and the University of Southern California (USC). With decades of experience in both internal medicine and nephrology, Dr. Gura has an international presence and is the inventor of the revolutionary Wearable Artificial Kidney (WAK™), a portable, ergonomically designed dialysis device that enables patients to experience the benefits of daily dialysis while performing their normal, day-to-day routines. The WAK™’s unique design helps eliminate fluid on a regular basis to reduce strain on the kidneys, lungs, and heart while also reducing blood pressure. Plus, the WAK™ reduces or eliminates the risk of malnutrition in patients with an end-stage renal disease, which in turn can help prevent infections and other dangerous side effects of ESRD. The device’s contoured profile is designed for patient comfort, and the device weighs less than 10 pounds, making it extremely portable and easy to use. Powered by 9-volt batteries, the WAK™ uses a tiny fraction of the amount of fluid required by conventional dialysis, and because it’s portable, it eliminates the need to travel to dialysis centers, which can be especially important for patients in more rural areas. 

Dr. Jamie Hestekin is an associate professor at the University of Arkansas in the Department of Chemical Engineering, and a research partner and Chief of the University of Arkansas research team with the US Kidney Research Corporation. 

Dr. Hestekin received his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering in 1995 from the University of Minnesota, Duluth and his PhD in chemical engineering in 2000 from the University of Kentucky under the advisement of Dr. D. Bhattacharyya.  He spent three years at Argonne National Laboratory where he worked on a research project that won a prestigious R&D 100 Award in 2006.  He spent 3 years at Kraft Foods while co-inventing the milk component of Tassimo Hot Beverage System.  He has won a University of Arkansas faculty gold medal, one of 7 given out campus wide each year for outstanding service to undergraduates; was in the inaugural class of the Honors College distinguished faculty award, one of 10 given out university wide; has been to the National Academy of Engineering Frontiers of Engineering and Frontiers of Engineering Education Camps; was conference co-chair for the 2012 North American Membrane Society Annual Meeting; and currently serves as secretary for the North American Membrane Society as well as many other activities.   

Research in the Hestekin group is broken into two areas.  The first area focuses on charged separations, mainly using wafer enhanced electrodeionization, and applications of these charged separations.  This has been applied to separation of ions from grape juices, biofuel cell ion removal, and the modeling and selective separation of organic acids from fermentations.  The second area focuses on the extraction of oils and carbohydrates from algae and their ultimate production into both biodiesel and butanol.  Student projects in this area include enhancement of butyric acid fermentation with electrodeionization for continuous product separation, direct conversion of algae into butanol, the production of biodiesel from lipids using continuous supercritical methanol esterifications, and the extraction of carbohydrates and lipids from algae using mechanical disruption coupled with sonication. 

Osman Khawar obtained his MD from the University of Glasgow and his MPH from Johns Hopkins. He is a Board-Certified nephrologist with a passion for Home Dialysis. He is an experienced Clinical researcher and entrepreneur who has run several businesses in the Dialysis industry including a Clinical Research company and several Dialysis Units in San Diego. He currently serves on the Palomar Health Foundation Board. 

Dr. Paul Komenda, Professor of Medicine at the University of Manitoba, is a fellow of the American Society of Nephrology and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons Canada and has extensive clinical and academic experience. Dr. Komenda previously served on the Scientific Advisory Board of NxStage Medical. He gained his medical qualification in 2001 from the University of Manitoba and is a board certified Nephrologist. Dr. Komenda studied health economics and a Masters and Health Administration from the University of British Columbia and was medical director of a large Home Hemodialysis Program at the Seven Oaks General Hospital in Manitoba for over 10 years.  His research into CKD screening and prevention in Canadian First Nations earned his team a top Global Award from UNIVANTS for healthcare innovation.  He currently serves as the Chief Medical Officer at Quanta Dialysis Technologies. 

Dr. Komenda has over 150 published peer reviewed articles in health services research and clinical nephrology and, with a specialist knowledge and interest in the field of home dialysis, CKD epidemiology and health economics, Dr. Komenda is highly regarded as an expert in his field.   

Mahesh is the clinical lead for DaVita Venture Group and focuses on establishing strategic partnerships with industry leaders, while remaining active in DaVita’s R&D efforts. Prior to DaVita Venture Group, he served as DaVita’s first international Chief Medical Officer. 

Before DaVita, Mahesh served as medical director for Epogen® at Amgen, and practiced nephrology in northern Virginia for nearly five years. He earned his MD from Jefferson Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University. He also holds an MPH from Johns Hopkins University and an MBA from the Johns Hopkins Carey School of Business. 

Internationally recognized for her work on kidney development and her pioneering studies into potential regenerative therapies in the kidney, Professor Little’s approach to generating kidney organoids from human pluripotent stem cells has been adopted across the globe where it is being applied to disease modelling, drug screening and renal replacement therapies. Founded on >20 years of fundamental developmental biology, her stem cell research illustrates the capacity for understanding to be applied to product development. Professor Little’s work has been recognized by many awards, including the GlaxoSmithKline Award for Research Excellence (2005), an Eisenhower Fellowship (2006), a Boorhaave Professorship (2015) and Honorary Doctorate (2019), Leiden University, the Eureka Prize (2016), the Alfred Newton Richards Award from the International Society for Nephrology (2018) for her kidney organoid research, the Julian Wells Medal (2020) for her contribution to understanding of genetic basis of kidney development and the Homer W. Smith Award (2021) for her outstanding contributions that fundamentally affect the science of nephrology. She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences and is on the editorial board of the Cell Stem Cell, Nature Reviews Nephrology, Journal of the American Society for Nephrology, Development, Kidney International and Developmental Biology. 

Dr. Schiller has been Chief Medical Officer at Satellite Healthcare since 2010. In this role, Dr. Schiller is responsible for Quality, Physician Leadership and Research & Development. 

She oversees the development and implementation of the quality strategy, its execution and organizational infrastructure. Dr. Schiller serves as Chief of Staff, and as such provides oversight on more than 80 medical directors and over 400 referring physicians. As CMO Dr. Schiller is responsible for the delivery of care to more than 8,000 dialysis patients with more than 20% undergoing home dialysis.  

She directs Satellite’s clinical research efforts, which by deliberate policy are applied pragmatic real-world studies directed towards improvement in patient experience and outcomes. She has participated in several FDA studies for approval of new drugs and devices in ESRD care. 

Dr. Schiller serves as an Adjunct Lecturer in the Division of Nephrology at Stanford University. She serves on the Expert Panel for the USRDS database.  

She is passionate about equal access to healthcare and all efforts to allow more patients to live their best life possible through individualized dialysis care. The courage and persistence of patients undergoing dialysis inspires her. 

Suzanne Watnick, MD is the Chief Medical Officer at Northwest Kidney Centers and a Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle. She is a practicing nephrologist who has cared for Veterans at the Portland Veterans Administration (VA) and now the Puget Sound VA, specializing in care for those with chronic kidney disease, including end-stage renal disease. She has extensive experience in the oversight of provision of care for ESRD patients both at the VA and in Washington state regarding all aspects of care delivery – from the ESRD prescription to quality and safety oversight, to clinical and medical staff supervision, and pharmacy services.  

 She has served on the public policy board of the American Society of Nephrology for several years and has expertise in patient advocacy, payment reform and quality improvement. 

 Dr. Watnick was on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The first reported patient to have died from COVID-19 was a patient at Northwest Kidney Centers, where Dr. Watnick and her colleagues were first-in-nation to address care for people on dialysis with active COVID-19. She continues work to address the care of people with COVID-19 through patient care, education, research, and advocacy. 

Dr. Jonathan Himmelfarb is Co-Director of the Center for Dialysis Innovation, Director of the Kidney Research Institute, Joseph W. Eschbach, MD Endowed Chair in Kidney Research, and Professor of Medicine in Nephrology at the University of Washington. He has been a leader in clinical and translational research focused on kidney disease for more than two decades. He has served on numerous grant review committees and scientific advisory boards, and he has held leadership positions in many national and international nephrology societies, including serving as past president of the American Society of Nephrology. Dr. Himmelfarb has been a member of the American Board of Internal Medicine’s subspecialty board on nephrology and an associate editor of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, and has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, Kidney International, BMC Medicine and the Faculty of 1000 in medicine. He is also a founding member of the Faculty of 1000 in research. Dr. Himmelfarb has served on expert panels for the US Food and Drug Administration, the Veterans Health Administration, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and other organizations. He is a member of the external advisory committee for the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Duke University O’Brien Center for Kidney Research, and is a member of the internal advisory committee for the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases-funded Diabetes Research Center at UW Medicine. Dr. Himmelfarb has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed publications.

Dr. Buddy Ratner, PhD, is Co-Director of the Center for Dialysis Innovation, Director of the Engineered Biomaterials Engineering Research Center, Michael L. and Myrna Darland Endowed Chair in Technology Commercialization, and Professor in Bioengineering and Chemical Engineering at the University of Washington. He received his PhD from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. He is an expert in biomaterials used in medical devices and implants, and his lab is working on multiple bioengineering projects for tissues and organs. Dr. Ratner is a fellow and past president of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), as well as a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the AVS (formerly the American Vacuum Society), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, among other groups. Dr. Ratner has authored more than 400 scholarly works and has more than 30 issued patents. His numerous awards include the 2014 Lifetime Inventor and Innovator Award from the University of Washington, as well as three honors received in 2015: the Distinguished Service Award from the ACS Division of Polymer Chemistry; the Langmuir Lecture Award from the American Chemical Society; and the Most Cited Paper Award from the Annals of Biomedical Engineering.

Dr. Larry Kessler, ScD, is the Director of Regulatory Oversight for the Center for Dialysis Innovation, and Professor in the Department of Health Services in the School of Public Health at the University of Washington. He has over 30 years of experience in health services research. He came to the University of Washington from US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) where he served as the director of both the Office of Surveillance and Biometrics and the Office of Science and Engineering Laboratories at the Center for Devices and Radiological Health. Dr. Kessler’s work in cancer surveillance with the Applied Research Branch at NCI substantially changed the way in which cancer surveillance is performed, with the addition of the Cancer supplements to the National Health Interview Survey, the SEER-Medicare data system, and the Breast Cancer Screening Consortium and the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium. He has an extensive research record in applied health services research with special work in cancer, in cancer surveillance research, and regulatory knowledge of medical products. Dr. Kessler’s recent research has broadened this into related fields of comparative effectiveness, patient centered and outcomes research. His recent work has focused on use of technologies in medical care. He is currently involved with several randomized trials and observational studies of comparative effectiveness and patient- centered outcomes research.

John A. Rogers is the Louis Simpson and Kimberly Querrey Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Biomedical Engineering and Medicine at Northwestern University, with affiliate appointments in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering and Chemistry, where he is also Director of the newly endowed Center for Bio-Integrated Electronics.  He has published more than 650 papers, is a co-inventor on more than 100 patents and he has co-founded several successful technology companies.  His research has been recognized by many awards, including a MacArthur Fellowship (2009), the Lemelson-MIT Prize (2011), and the Smithsonian Award for American Ingenuity in the Physical Sciences (2013) – and most recently the Benjamin Franklin Medal from the Franklin Institute (2019).  He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Inventors and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

OC, BASc (Toronto), ScD (MIT), FAAAS, FAIMBE, FCIC, FBSE, FRSC, PEng

Lori Hartwell has made a difference in the lives of people with chronic kidney disease. Living with kidney disease since age two, having survived 50 plus surgeries, 13 years of dialysis and now living with her fourth kidney transplant. In 1993, because of her struggle to find social and peer support to manage her condition, Lori founded the Renal Support Network (RSN) and coined the mottos “An illness is too demanding when you don’t have hope” and “One friend can make a difference” to reflect her belief that people can live joyfully despite having a chronic illness.

Nicholas Greene Professor of anesthesiology and biomedical engineering at Yale University

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Raymond Harris, MD is a graduate of Yale College and Emory University Medical School. He undertook his residency training at University of California, San Francisco and his nephrology fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He has been a faculty member at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine since 1986 and is currently the Ann and Roscoe R. Robinson Professor of Medicine and Molecular Physiology and Biophysics. He served as the Chief of the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension from 2000-2018 and is currently the Associate Chief. He is also the director of the Vanderbilt Center for Kidney Diseases and the director of the Vanderbilt O’Brien Center. He has actively promoted the development of both clinical and pre-clinical research and has fostered the career of numerous physician-scientists, clinician educators and research scientists. He is an active physician-scientist, with funding from the NIH and VA. He has been a leader in understanding mechanisms of growth and repair in response to acute and chronic injury. He was elected to both the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the American Association of Physicians. He has served on numerous grant review committees, including NIH Pathobiology A, NIH Pathobiology of Kidney Disease (Chair), VA Merit Review Board (Chair) and NKF Basic Science Fellowship Committee (Chair) and is currently serving on the NIDDK Board of Scientific Counselors. He served on the ASN program committee in 2007 and 2008 and chaired the committee in 2009. He served as an Associate Editor of JASN from 2004-2007 and as the Deputy Editor of JASN from 2007-2010. He was elected to the ASN Council in 2010, served as the Chair of the Education Committee from 2010-2014 and as President from 2016-2017.

Jenny Flythe is a nephrologist and clinical investigator at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Kidney Center and Director of Dialysis Services at UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill, NC. She completed medical school at the UNC School of Medicine, Internal Medicine residency training at Oregon Health & Science University, and Nephrology fellowship training at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital-Massachusetts General Hospital Combined Program. She earned her Master’s in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health. She is active in the dialysis and nephrology communities with service on the American Society of Nephrology’s (ASN) Dialysis Advisory Group and Quality Committee, two Kidney Health Initiative (public-private partnership between the Food and Drug Administration and ASN) workgroups, and a Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) dialysis initiation controversies committee. She is a member of the Editorial Boards of the American Journal of Kidney Diseases, Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, and Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation. Her research interests include comparative effectiveness of dialysis treatment interventions, stakeholder engagement, and patient-reported outcomes among individuals undergoing maintenance dialysis. Dr. Flythe’s research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), and Industry.

Dr. Kliger is a Clinical Professor of Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, and Vice President, Chief Quality Officer, Yale New Haven Health System. He served formerly as Senior Vice president, Chief Medical Officer, Hospital of Saint Raphael, New Haven Connecticut. He is a past president of the Renal Physicians Association, and serves on its Quality, Safety and Accountability Committee. He is a past president of the Forum of ESRD Networks. He is chairman of the steering committee for the NIH Frequent Hemodialysis Study, a national prospective randomized study of in-center daily and home nocturnal hemodialysis. Dr. Kliger has received several teaching awards from the Yale house staff, and in February 2000 was the recipient of the James Colangelo award of the Connecticut National Kidney Foundation for distinguished service to the renal community. In September 2004, he received the Maureen Lundin AAKP RENALIFE Award from the American Association of Kidney Patients.

Dr. Jonathan Himmelfarb is Co-Director of the Center for Dialysis Innovation, Director of the Kidney Research Institute, Joseph W. Eschbach, MD Endowed Chair in Kidney Research, and Professor of Medicine in Nephrology at the University of Washington. He has been a leader in clinical and translational research focused on kidney disease for more than two decades. He has served on numerous grant review committees and scientific advisory boards, and he has held leadership positions in many national and international nephrology societies, including serving as past president of the American Society of Nephrology. Dr. Himmelfarb has been a member of the American Board of Internal Medicine’s subspecialty board on nephrology and an associate editor of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, and has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, Kidney International, BMC Medicine and the Faculty of 1000 in medicine. He is also a founding member of the Faculty of 1000 in research. Dr. Himmelfarb has served on expert panels for the US Food and Drug Administration, the Veterans Health Administration, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and other organizations. He is a member of the external advisory committee for the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Duke University O’Brien Center for Kidney Research, and is a member of the internal advisory committee for the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases-funded Diabetes Research Center at UW Medicine. Dr. Himmelfarb has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed publications.

Dr. Buddy Ratner, PhD, is Co-Director of the Center for Dialysis Innovation, Director of the Engineered Biomaterials Engineering Research Center, Michael L. and Myrna Darland Endowed Chair in Technology Commercialization, and Professor in Bioengineering and Chemical Engineering at the University of Washington. He received his PhD from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. He is an expert in biomaterials used in medical devices and implants, and his lab is working on multiple bioengineering projects for tissues and organs. Dr. Ratner is a fellow and past president of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), as well as a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the AVS (formerly the American Vacuum Society), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, among other groups. Dr. Ratner has authored more than 400 scholarly works and has more than 30 issued patents. His numerous awards include the 2014 Lifetime Inventor and Innovator Award from the University of Washington, as well as three honors received in 2015: the Distinguished Service Award from the ACS Division of Polymer Chemistry; the Langmuir Lecture Award from the American Chemical Society; and the Most Cited Paper Award from the Annals of Biomedical Engineering.

Dr. Larry Kessler, ScD, is the Director of Regulatory Oversight for the Center for Dialysis Innovation, and Professor in the Department of Health Services in the School of Public Health at the University of Washington. He has over 30 years of experience in health services research. He came to the University of Washington from US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) where he served as the director of both the Office of Surveillance and Biometrics and the Office of Science and Engineering Laboratories at the Center for Devices and Radiological Health. Dr. Kessler’s work in cancer surveillance with the Applied Research Branch at NCI substantially changed the way in which cancer surveillance is performed, with the addition of the Cancer supplements to the National Health Interview Survey, the SEER-Medicare data system, and the Breast Cancer Screening Consortium and the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium. He has an extensive research record in applied health services research with special work in cancer, in cancer surveillance research, and regulatory knowledge of medical products. Dr. Kessler’s recent research has broadened this into related fields of comparative effectiveness, patient centered and outcomes research. His recent work has focused on use of technologies in medical care. He is currently involved with several randomized trials and observational studies of comparative effectiveness and patient- centered outcomes research.

John Rogers, PhD is the Louis Simpson and Kimberly Querrey Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Biomedical Engineering and Medicine at Northwestern University, where he is also Director of the newly endowed Center for Bio-Integrated Electronics He has published more than 550 papers, and is an inventor on over 100 patents and patent applications, more than 70 of which are licensed or in active use by large companies and startups that he has co-founded. His research has been recognized with many awards including the Smithsonian Award for American Ingenuity in the Physical Sciences, the Lemelson-MIT Prize and a MacArthur Fellowship. He is a is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Robert M. Califf, MD, MACC, is vice chancellor for health data science and director of Duke Forge, the Center for Actionable Health Data Science at Duke Health, Donald F. Fortin, MD Professor of Cardiology in the Duke University School of Medicine, Chair of the Board of the People Centered Research Foundation, and an advisor for Verily Life Sciences, a member of the Alphabet family of companies formed by Google. He served in the administration of President Barack Obama as Deputy Commissioner for Medical Products and Tobacco in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from 2015-106, and as Commissioner of Food and Drugs from 2016-2017.

Bruce Culleton is the Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, CVS Kidney Care; former Vice President of Global Clinical Development, Becton Dickinson; former Vice President, Baxter International Inc.

Dr. Murray Sheldon, MD received his medical degree from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1975. He completed his general surgical residency with Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Oakland, California and his cardiovascular fellowships at the University of California, Davis and the Montefiore Hospital and Medical Center in New York. In 1983, he entered private practice as a staff surgeon in several medical centers in Northern California performing cardiac, thoracic and vascular surgery. In 2003, he chose to become engaged in a highly productive career in the medical device industry, leading device development projects and providing expert consultative services to numerous device development firms.

From 2003-2009, Murray was the Medical Director for Arbor Surgical Technologies, which developed a unique two-piece, sutureless aortic valve for clinical aortic valve replacement that was sold to Medtronic. Most recently, prior to joining FDA, he was the Medical Director for the minimally invasive surgical program at BioVentrix, Inc. and developed a catheter-based procedure for surgical ventricular reconstruction for heart failure patients. This device has recently obtained a CE mark in Europe. He also was the Medical Director for Solinas Medical, Inc. and was instrumental in developing a unique device for dialysis access. That device has recently received two 510(k) clearances.

Dr. Sheldon has joined the FDA in 2013 as the Associate Director for Technology and Innovation. He oversees the Center’s initiatives to proactively facilitate medical device innovation to address unmet public health needs and to align what is traditionally done at FDA with what is required to support the US medical device ecosystem. His primary focus is working with staff, the medical device industry, the clinical community and other stakeholders on ways to facilitate bringing innovative medical devices to the patients in the US first in the world. Dr. Sheldon currently leads the CDRH Payer Communication Task Force, identifying methods to streamline the path from FDA approval to coverage and reimbursement.

Dean Kamen is an inventor, an entrepreneur, and a tireless advocate for science and technology. His roles as inventor and advocate are intertwined—his own passion for technology and its practical uses has driven his personal determination to spread the word about technology’s virtues and by so doing to change the culture of the United States.

As an inventor, he holds more than 440 U.S. and foreign patents, many of them for innovative medical devices that have expanded the frontiers of health care worldwide. While still a college undergraduate, he invented the first wearable infusion pump, which rapidly gained acceptance from such diverse medical specialties as oncology, neonatology, and endocrinology. In 1976, he founded his first medical device company, AutoSyringe, Inc., to manufacture and market the pumps. Then, working with leading diabetes researchers, Dean pioneered the design and adoption of the first portable insulin pump. It was quickly demonstrated that using a pump could much more effectively control patients’ blood glucose levels. . At age 30, he sold AutoSyringe to Baxter Healthcare Corporation.

Following the sale of AutoSyringe, Inc., he founded DEKA Research & Development Corporation to develop internally generated inventions as well as to provide research and development for major corporate clients. Kamen led DEKA’s development of the HomeChoiceTM peritoneal dialysis system for Baxter International Inc. The HomeChoiceTM system allows patients to be dialyzed in the privacy and comfort of their home and quickly became the worldwide market leader. Kamen also led the development of technology to improve slide preparation for the CYTYC (now Hologic Inc.) ThinPrep® Pap Test. Kamen-led DEKA teams have also developed critical components of the UVARTM XTSTM System, an extracorporeal photophereisis device marketed by Therakos, a unit of Johnson & Johnson, for treatment of T-Cell lymphoma. An advanced prosthetic arm in development for DARPA should advance the quality of life for returning injured soldiers. Other notable developments include the HydroflexTM surgical irrigation pump for C.R. Bard, the CrownTM stent, an improvement to the original Palmaz-Schatz stent, for Johnson & Johnson, the iBOTTM mobility device, and the Segway® Human Transporter.

Kamen has received many awards for his efforts. Notably, Kamen was awarded the National Medal of Technology in 2000. Presented by President Clinton, this award was in recognition for inventions that have advanced medical care worldwide, and for innovative and imaginative leadership in awakening America to the excitement of science and technology. Kamen was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1997. He was awarded the Lemelson-MIT Prize in 2002, and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in May 2005. He is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical & Biological Engineering, as well as many other national and international engineering organizations.

In addition to DEKA, one of Dean’s proudest accomplishments is founding FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), an organization dedicated to motivating the next generation to understand, use and enjoy science and technology. Founded in 1989, this year FIRST® will serve more than 1,000,000 young people, ages 6 to 18, in more than 86 countries around the globe. Last year, high-school-aged participants were eligible to apply for more than $50 million in scholarships from over 200 leading colleges, universities, and corporations.

Prof. Kazuhiko ISHIHARA graduated Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan (Applied Chemistry) in 1984 and had PhD degree of engineering. After that, he has been in Sagami Chemical Research Center (1984-1986), Tokyo Medical and Dental University (1987-1998). He moved to The University Tokyo in 1998 and has been full professor since 2000.

His research interests include polymer biomaterials, cell and material interactions, blood/bio compatibility of materials, bioinspired chemistry, artificial cell membrane, nano/micro diagnostic system, and biointerfaces. He has been published more than 600 scientific articles, 100 review articles, and books/book chapters. Most importantly, he has developed essential synthetic process of 2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine (MPC) and its polymers as biomaterials. The MPC and MPC polymers are now commercially available and applied for medical devices in various fields worldwide.

He is active member of Society of Polymer Science, Japan, Japanese Society for Biomaterials, Materials Research Society, Society for Biomaterials. He was former President of Japanese Society for Biomaterials. He is also members of College of Fellows of American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), and Federation of Biomaterials Science and Engineering (FBSE).

He received several scientific awards, for example, Technical Progress Award of Japanese Society of Artificial Organs (2000 and 2011), Award of Japanese Society for Biomaterials (2001), Frank Stinchfield Award, The Hip

Society, The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (2006), Clemson Award, Society for Biomaterials (2009), High-technology Award: Award of Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan (2011), Industrial Award: Fine Ceramic Society, Japan (2013), Award of Society of Polymer Science, Japan (2014), Prizes for Science and Technology from Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan, Development Category (2017), The Prize of Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, National Commendation for Invention (2018), and The Japan Medical Research and Development Grand Prize, Award of Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan (2018).

7-3-1, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan

TEL: +81-3-5841-7124

FAX: +81-3-5841-8647 E-mail: ishihara@mpc.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Dr. Karin Hehenberger is an experienced life sciences executive, who has dedicated her career to applying medical science to impacting people living with chronic disease. Dr Hehenberger founded and launched Lyfebulb in January of 2014, after close to 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry, which she entered after obtaining M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden and conducting her post-doctoral work as a JDRF fellow at the Joslin Diabetes Center at Harvard Medical School. Lyfebulb is a chronic disease-focused, patient empowerment platform that connects patients and industry to support user-driven innovation. Lyfebulb promotes a healthy, take-charge lifestyle for those affected by chronic disease. Grounded with its strong foundation in diabetes, the company has expanded disease states covered into cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis and depression/anxiety. Dr Hehenberger has held leadership positions in the biopharmaceutical industry including at Johnson & Johnson, Eyetech pharmaceuticals and Coronado biosciences, as well as on the investment side of healthcare at both private and public multi-billion dollar funds. Dr Hehenberger is considered an expert in the field of Metabolic disease and is an invited speaker at numerous conferences and at corporate strategy sessions on this topic, as well as the subject of patient impact, innovation and alternative financing methods for early stage research. She recently gave a TEDX talk in Lugano, Switzerland on the importance of patient involvement in reversing the global diabetes pandemic. She is a Senior Advisor, Biotechnology and Medical Innovation for the Department of Endocrinology and Surgery at the Karolinska Institute, the Scientific Advisor to the CEO of Helsinn, member of the Advisory board for the Helsinn Investment Fund (HIF) and a Board member of Amal therapeutics. She is also a board member of the Rolf Luft Diabetes Research Foundation, the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine Foundation (ARMF), and was previously a board member of the Lighthouse Guild foundation. Dr Hehenberger has published a book called “The Everything you need to know about diabetes cookbook”. She is a Swedish citizen, but based in New York City.

Marla Levy will be sharing her journey through four open heart surgeries, and six days on life support which caused AKI and then CKD. Since her recent recovery, she has been passionate about partnering with the medical community in hopes to shine light on how she experienced the continuum of care in both the acute care setting and also in the outpatient dialysis center. Hearing Marla’s story allows others to see the world through a patient’s eyes. It is a completely different perspective which cannot help but evoke new questions on how nephrology patients are treated today, and how to help them avoid the unnecessary pitfalls they continue to fall into. Her honesty, candor and humor are both refreshing and educational.

Professor Allison Tong is a Principal Research Fellow at the Sydney School of Public Health, The University of Sydney. She holds an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Career Development Fellowship. She is a social scientist with experience in patient-centred outcomes research in chronic disease, particularly chronic kidney disease. Allison has an interest in patient involvement in research, including in the context of research priority setting, the development of core outcomes for research, and in the co-production of clinical trials. She co-founded and is on the Executive Committee of the global Standardised Outcomes in Nephrology (SONG) Initiative, which aims to establish consensus-based core outcomes across the spectrum of chronic kidney disease (www.songinitiative.org). She established the Patient-Centred Research Network (PACER, www.pacernetwork.org.au) network, which aims to facilitate knowledge exchange, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and innovation in conducting and implementing patient-centred outcomes research and patient involvement in research

Sandeep Patel is currently the HHS Open Innovation Manager and leads the Department’s use of prizes, crowdsourcing,
accelerators, and other open innovation tools. Since 2010, HHS has run 180+ prizes to solicit solutions to problems integral to its mission (such as flu prediction, foodborne pathogen detection, peer review, and Medicaid management), developed cutting-edge technology (such as disease diagnostics, health IT products, wearables), and helped foster the next generation of biotechnology companies (through as startup challenges and business plan competitions).

Sandeep is a nanotechnologist by training and has built his career around understanding and guiding scientific and technological insights to building products and services that ultimately improve lives on a global scale. Previously he has served in a number of science policy roles, including as a Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the National Academy of Sciences and as a scientific consultant for Thomson Reuters. He also founded a company in Uganda focused on democratizing manufacturing through 3D printing.

Dr. Jonathan Himmelfarb is Co-Director of the Center for Dialysis Innovation, Director of the Kidney Research Institute, Joseph W. Eschbach, MD Endowed Chair in Kidney Research, and Professor of Medicine in Nephrology at the University of Washington. He has been a leader in clinical and translational research focused on kidney disease for more than two decades. He has served on numerous grant review committees and scientific advisory boards, and he has held leadership positions in many national and international nephrology societies, including serving as past president of the American Society of Nephrology. Dr. Himmelfarb has been a member of the American Board of Internal Medicine’s subspecialty board on nephrology and an associate editor of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, and has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, Kidney International, BMC Medicine and the Faculty of 1000 in medicine. He is also a founding member of the Faculty of 1000 in research. Dr. Himmelfarb has served on expert panels for the US Food and Drug Administration, the Veterans Health Administration, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and other organizations. He is a member of the external advisory committee for the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Duke University O’Brien Center for Kidney Research, and is a member of the internal advisory committee for the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases-funded Diabetes Research Center at UW Medicine. Dr. Himmelfarb has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed publications.

Dr. Buddy Ratner, PhD, is Co-Director of the Center for Dialysis Innovation, Director of the Engineered Biomaterials Engineering Research Center, Michael L. and Myrna Darland Endowed Chair in Technology Commercialization, and Professor in Bioengineering and Chemical Engineering at the University of Washington. He received his PhD from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. He is an expert in biomaterials used in medical devices and implants, and his lab is working on multiple bioengineering projects for tissues and organs. Dr. Ratner is a fellow and past president of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), as well as a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the AVS (formerly the American Vacuum Society), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, among other groups. Dr. Ratner has authored more than 400 scholarly works and has more than 30 issued patents. His numerous awards include the 2014 Lifetime Inventor and Innovator Award from the University of Washington, as well as three honors received in 2015: the Distinguished Service Award from the ACS Division of Polymer Chemistry; the Langmuir Lecture Award from the American Chemical Society; and the Most Cited Paper Award from the Annals of Biomedical Engineering.

Leslie was previously Outset’s Chief Operating Officer and an Executive-in-Residence at Warburg Pincus. Prior to Outset, she was Executive Vice President at Lutonix, a cardiovascular medical device company acquired by CR Bard. Prior to Lutonix, Leslie served as Chief Business Officer of AccessClosure, a vascular closure company acquired by Cardinal Health. Before joining AccessClosure, she was the Vice President, Marketing for FoxHollow Technologies, helping to architect the strategy and commercial infrastructure that led to a successful IPO and subsequent acquisition by ev3/Covidien. Leslie’s management experience also includes senior leadership positions at Cytyc Corporation and breast cancer diagnostics company Pro-Duct Health, Inc., which was acquired by Cytyc. She began her medical device career at Guidant Corporation in new product global marketing. Leslie is currently a board member of Cardiovascular Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSII). She received her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University and her MBA from the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley.

Dr. Lawson received his Medical Degree, a PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology and completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biochemistry from the University of Vermont. He then completed a residency in General and Thoracic Surgery and a Fellowship in Vascular Surgery at Duke University Medical Center. He is currently Professor of Surgery and Pathology at Duke University and Chief Medical Officer of Humacyte. Dr. Lawson is a physician-scientist, clinically practicing vascular surgery and actively pursuing basic, translational and clinical research. He has had a lifelong interest in the field of blood coagulation and vascular biology and has continuously studied these areas both scientifically and clinically in his laboratory. Dr. Lawson has become a recognized leader in the field of vascular translational technology and his laboratory has successfully developed a number of molecular, cellular and tissue engineered technologies through translational research studies and first-in-man clinical trials. He is the co-author of over 120 journal articles on the topics of hemostasis, tissue engineering and vascular surgery and lectures nationally and internationally on these topics. Dr. Lawson’s research laboratory has been funded by grants from the American Heart Association, National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense and various biotechnology companies.

Sandeep Patel is currently the HHS Open Innovation Manager and leads the Department’s use of prizes, crowdsourcing,
accelerators, and other open innovation tools. Since 2010, HHS has run 180+ prizes to solicit solutions to problems integral to its mission (such as flu prediction, foodborne pathogen detection, peer review, and Medicaid management), developed cutting-edge technology (such as disease diagnostics, health IT products, wearables), and helped foster the next generation of biotechnology companies (through as startup challenges and business plan competitions).

Sandeep is a nanotechnologist by training and has built his career around understanding and guiding scientific and technological insights to building products and services that ultimately improve lives on a global scale. Previously he has served in a number of science policy roles, including as a Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the National Academy of Sciences and as a scientific consultant for Thomson Reuters. He also founded a company in Uganda focused on democratizing manufacturing through 3D printing.

Fokko Pieter Wieringa (PhD) is Principal Scientist within the Connected Health Solutions Department of IMEC the Netherlands, and a parttime associate professor of medical technology at the University of Maastricht (Dept. of Nephrology). He has 30 years of experience in medical technology and is (co)inventor of 17 granted patents. From 1987-1997 he worked within the clinical physics department of Rijnstate hospital Arnhem, maintaining, evaluating, modifying and co-developing medical devices & clinical laboratory equipment. In 1997 he moved to TNO to perform technical evaluations for the CE-marking of medical devices as well as technology-related troubleshooting, technical mediation and incident investigations in hospitals. In addition to general safety aspects of medical technology, he specialized in the interactions of electricity and light with the human body. Within this context he co-authored several international safety standards and the EU-Directive on Optical Radiation Safety. Alongside his regular job at TNO he realized worlds’ first imaging PPG setup in 2005 and earned a PhD in Biomedical Photonics in 2007 at Erasmus MC, Rotterdam. Transferred to IMEC in 2017 to focus upon Wearable Health Solutions. Dr. Wieringa is a core driver of the Dutch Kidney Foundations’ NeoKidney initiative to develop a portable artificial kidney and European liaison to the international roadmap of the FDA/ASN Kidney Health Initiative (KHI).

Dr. Wieringa is heavily interested in human factor engineering as well as interdisciplinary and translational research.

Mandated by the Dutch Standards Institute (NEN) he represents the Netherlands within worldwide standardization of dialysis equipment (HD & PD), as well as for Photodynamic Therapy and Photodynamic Diagnosis (PDT/PDD) and ECG. Dr. Wieringa is a member of Photonics 21 (WG3 Medical Photonics & WG5 Optical Sensing), the worldwide standardization organization IEC (TC62 Medical Devices) and of the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI).

Rachel Nell Meyer is the Director of Policy and Government Affairs at the American Society of Nephrology and oversees the society’s federal legislative and regulatory advocacy portfolio. Meyer administers ASN’s patient care and research-related advocacy efforts, working with Congress as well as federal agencies including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of Health to influence policies that affect nephrology health professionals and the patients they serve.

Prior to joining ASN, she conducted healthcare research at the Advisory Board Company in Washington, DC. Previously, she worked for Senator Ken Salazar (D-CO), and the New Mexico Department of Public Health. Meyer has a degree in Global Health and Development from the Colorado College.

She has co-authored numerous articles, including “Fostering Innovation, Advancing Patient Safety: The Kidney Health Initiative”; “Comparing Mandated Health Care Reforms: The Affordable Care Act, Accountable Care Organizations, and the Medicare ESRD Program”; and “Considering an Integrated Nephrology Care Delivery Model: Six Principles for Quality.”

Dr. William Clark is a Visiting Professor in the Davidson School of Chemical Engineering at Purdue University and an Affiliate Professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Washington. Dr. Clark spent more than 20 years serving in various roles in the dialysis industry.

During his career, Dr. Clark’s has focused on renal replacement therapy, both for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and acute kidney injury (AKI), with specific interest in extracorporeal membrane transport, solute removal kinetics, and uremic toxins.

Dr. Burke is a graduate of Harvard College and Cornell University Medical College. He completed a medical residency and gastroenterology fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Burke has authored more than 60 publications. In addition, he holds more than 10 patents and has helped to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. For the past 25 years Dr. Burke has been leading drug development efforts at various companies including Glaxo, GelTex Pharmaceuticals, Genzyme, and Sideris Pharmaceuticals. He currently is Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Proteon Therapeutics. Proteon is developing an investigational recombinant human elastase (vonapanitase) for hemodialysis access and peripheral artery disease. The company’s most advanced application is the treatment of radiocephalic fistulas with the goal of increasing fistula use for hemodialysis and long-term patency. Top-line results of Proteon’s 600-patient randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 PATENCY-2 trial are expected in March 2019. Proteon is also studying the use of vonapanitase following balloon angioplasty in patients with critical limb ischemia.

Roderic Ivan Pettigrew, Ph.D., M.D., serves as CEO of Engineering Health (EnHealth) and executive dean for Engineering Medicine (EnMed) at Texas A&M and Houston Methodist Hospital. Dr. Pettigrew also holds the endowed Robert A. Welch Chair in Medical Science. He was the founding Director of the U.S. National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) at the NIH (2002-2017).

His new undertaking is EnHealth, the world’s first initiative to holistically integrate engineering into all of the colleges of a university that are a part of the health care enterprise. EnMed is the first constituent program, creating a new school that integrates engineering into medical training to develop students/physicians who invent solutions to healthcare problems. Of note, an invention is required of each EnMed graduate.

Dr. Pettigrew was the founding director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. Prior to his appointment at the NIH, Dr. Pettigrew was a professor of radiology and medicine (cardiology) at Emory University, professor of bioengineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and director of the Emory Center for Magnetic Resonance Research at the Emory University School of Medicine.

An MIT graduate (Ph.D. ’77) who finished his medical training in Nuclear Medicine at UCSD (’83), he is known internationally for his pioneering work involving four dimensional imaging of the cardiovascular system using magnetic resonance (MRI). Dr. Pettigrew’s current research focuses on integrated imaging and predictive modeling of coronary atherosclerotic disease.

Adam L. Berman is Co-Founder and was CEO of TVA Medical, Inc. (acquired by Becton Dickinson, July 2018). TVA developed an endovascular AV fistula technology for patients requiring hemodialysis, which recently received FDA market authorization in the United States. Adam has 20 years of experience in R&D, Sales and Operational leadership roles for emerging medical device companies creating minimally-invasive technology. He has been responsible for the development and commercialization of cardiovascular laser ablation systems, anastomotic devices and robotic surgical systems. Prior to TVA Medical, Adam’s past companies included Coalescent Surgical, Inc. (now Medtronic), MedicalCV and Computer Motion, Inc. (now Intuitive Surgical). Adam received his BSE Magna Cum Laude in Biomedical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and his MSE in Bioengineering from the University of Washington.

Prof. Leonard has been at Columbia University since 1958. He founded Columbia’s Artificial Organs Laboratory in 1969 and continues to direct it. He was ASAIO’s first engineer-president in 1972. Much of his recent work has been concerned with the role of patient fluid volume in ESRD and technologies that could be used to regulate it, with particular attention to new microporous membranes realized as ultra-thin patterned silicon nitride layers with precisely spaced and dimensioned pores supported on macro-pored silicon chips. He has published about 160 papers, most concerned with the role of fluid mechanics in determining dialyzer performance. He and his long-standing nephrologist colleague Stanley Cortell have recently founded a small business Dialytica to enable wearable ultrafiltration for ESRD patients.

Robbyn K. Anand joined the faculty of the Department of Chemistry at Iowa State University in August 2015 as an Assistant Professor. She earned her Ph.D. in 2010 from the University of Texas at Austin under the guidance of Prof. Richard M. Crooks with the support of an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. She developed microfluidic devices employing bipolar electrodes for electrokinetic focusing of charged species and membrane-free seawater desalination. Then, as an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow, she worked with Prof. Daniel T. Chiu at the University of Washington on the capture and analysis of circulating tumor cells. She pioneered a technique for dielectrophoretic manipulation of biological cells using extended electric field gradients. During this time, she also founded the Puget Sound and Midwest Women Chemists Retreats.

Dr. Murray Sheldon, MD received his medical degree from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1975 and his cardiovascular fellowship at the University of California, Davis and the Montefiore Hospital and Medical Center in New York. After practicing cardiac, thoracic and vascular surgery in Northern California for over 20 years, he entered the medical device industry, leading device development projects and providing expert consultative services to numerous device development firms. Dr. Sheldon joined the FDA in 2013 as the Associate Director for Technology and Innovation overseeing the Center’s initiative to proactively facilitate medical device innovation to address unmet public health needs and to align what is traditionally done at FDA with what is required to support the US medical device ecosystem. His primary focus is working with FDA staff, the medical device industry, the clinical community and other stakeholders on ways to facilitate bringing innovative medical devices to the patients in the US first in the world. Dr. Sheldon currently leads the Medical Device Payer Communication Task Force, identifying methods to streamline the path from FDA approval to reimbursement.

John T. Watson is Professor of Bioengineering (BE) and a Founder of the William von Liebig Center for Entrepeneurism and Technology Advancement at the University of California, San Diego. For the BE Department he Directs the Master of Engineering Program, Co-Directs the professional degree Masters of Advanced Studies for Medical Device Engineering Program and Directs the Whitaker Center for Biomedical Engineering. As Professor, his research interests include: 1) engineering design principles that improve outcomes for combined assisted circulation and adjunct agents; and 2) innovations in existing public policy that decrease the timeline for clinical use of new medical technologies. He also oversees the BE student outreach activities for community service and developing leadership opportunities and experience.

Dr. Watson attended the University of Cincinnati (M.E. ‘62) and later received his M.S.M.E from Southern Methodist University while working as a Systems Engineer on the Ling-Temco-Vought XC-142 Vertical Takeoff Transport. He contributed to the design of the hydraulic system that controlled vertical and horizontal flight. To his surprise the XC-142 was mentioned as a key advance in history celebrating the Wright Brothers and worldwide aviation.

He received his Ph.D. in Physiology from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in1972. At Southwestern, Dr. Watson served as an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Surgery and Physiology and Chairman of the Graduate Studies Program in Biomedical Engineering. In 1976, he was appointed Chief of the Devices and Technology Branch of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health. There, he oversaw research and development of cardiovascular imaging systems such as MRI, ultra-fast CT, and Ultrasound; implantable materials used in cardiovascular implants and devices; ventricular assist systems and the total artificial heart. He then served as Acting NHLBI Deputy Director and Director of Clinical and Molecular Medicine until 2003, with oversight of 60 major clinical trials, genomics and proteomics, tissue engineering and regeneration, computational biology and informatics, and adult and pediatric circulatory support programs. Dr. Watson played a major role in introducing the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program at the NIH.

Dr. Watson was the first NIH scientist/engineer elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and was an invited member of the nominating committee for the Japanese Kyoto Prize and the NAE Draper Prize. He was also a member of the NAE Committee selecting the greatest engineering achievements of the twentieth century.

Dr. Marshall was named one of 40 Under 40 influential leaders and innovators shaping the MedTech industry by MD+DI magazine in 2012. As a co-inventor of Healionics’ STAR Biomaterial technology, he has over 15 years of experience working directly with this technology for improving biointegration and performance of implantable medical devices. He holds 25 issued and pending patents in the fields of porous biomaterials and tissue engineering. At the 3rd TERMIS World Congress 2012 in Vienna, Dr. Marshall was awarded the Innovation/Commercialization Award for “the application of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine in the production of a product or technology that will ultimately benefit patients.” He designed the microporous biomaterial for the STARflo and MINIject glaucoma drainage device products currently in clinical use and serves on the Scientific Advisory Board for Healionics’ Belgium-based ophthalmic device focused subsidiary, iSTAR Medical. He holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Washington and a BSE in Biomechanical Engineering from Stanford University.

Dr. Ash is a practicing nephrologist at Indiana University Health Arnett in Lafayette, Indiana. He is CEO of HemoCleanse Technologies, Chairman of the Board of Ash Access Technology and co-founder of a number of spin-off biotechnology firms. He has a long history of research and product development in the field of sorbents, resulting in devices for treatment of kidney failure (Allient™ by Renal Solutions) and for liver failure (Liver Dialysis by HemoTherapies). For hyperkalemia, he was instrumental in development of an orally ingested sorbent (ZS-9 by ZS Pharma, now part of Astra Zeneca). Dr. Ash has also invented a number of new catheters for dialysis access, including the Ash Split Cath®, CentrosFLO® and Advantage™ PD Catheter.

Dr. Ash is a co-founder and Past President of the American Society for Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology (ASDIN). He is Past President of ASAIO and currently serves as Secretary-Treasurer of IFAO. He is recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from ASDIN, the Celebration of Life Honor by NKF of Indiana, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Annual Dialysis Conference.

William H. Fissell, MD is the medical lead on The Kidney Project, a multicenter and multiyear NIH-funded project and interdisciplinary effort involving doctors, scientists, and engineers from a dozen universities and companies around the United States to create the first implantable artificial kidney.

Dr. Fissell graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with dual degrees in Physics and Electrical Engineering. As an undergraduate, he worked in MIT’s Center for Space Research developing the spectrometers that are the core of NASA’s Chandra Observatory.
Years later, in his Internal Medicine Residency after medical school at Case Western Reserve University, Dr. Fissell was struck by the similarity between the filtration structures of the kidney and the structures that form Chandra’s High Energy Transmission Grating and wondered if nanotechnology could be harnessed to build a biomimetic filtration membrane to improve kidney dialysis.

Dr. Fissell went on to complete his nephrology fellowship at University of Michigan under Dr. H. David Humes, inventor of the Renal Assist Device, the world’s first true bioartificial kidney. Before joining Vanderbilt University in 2012, Dr. Fissell directed the Renal Nanotechnology Laboratory at Cleveland Clinic.

Dr. Fissell is now Associate Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Engineering at Vanderbilt University, where he directs research in artificial organs, tissue engineering, pharmacokinetics, and dialysis in acute kidney injury. He also teaches nephrology in acute and chronic care settings at Vanderbilt University Hospital.