World Kidney Day (WKD) is observed annually on the second Thursday of March and in 2026 falls on March 12, under the theme “Kidney Health for All: Caring for People, Protecting the Planet”. Read more about WKD 2026 here.

In this episode, WKD Joint Steering Committee member Dr. Manjusha Yadla is joined by fellow committee members Dr. Natarajan Gopalakrishnan and Bill Wang to examine the growing connection between kidney health, climate change, and planetary well-being. The discussion explores climate change as an emerging risk factor for kidney disease and highlights the importance of prevention through education, awareness, and sustainable healthcare practices, underscoring the shared responsibility of clinicians, patients, and policymakers to protect kidney health, promote environmentally responsible care, and translate public-health frameworks into meaningful, long-term global action.

The International Society of Nephrology Education Working Group has undertaken the development of a comprehensive online program to advance understanding and education in this rapidly evolving field. The new curriculum ‘Genetics in Kidney Disease’ led by Drs. Becky Ma and Anuja Java, features a series of 11 recorded lectures covering key topics in nephrogenetics, together with roundtable-style panel discussions featuring leading experts on each topic for open conversations and deeper insights.

This first episode of season six of the Global Kidney Care Podcast is a sneak peek at the first roundtable discussion on Genetics for the Nephrologist (monogenic, polygenic; testing methodology) with Drs. Amali Mallawaarachchi, Ali Gharavi, and Christie Thomas. To continue your education in Genetics in Kidney Disease, view the rest of the first module and the full curriculum here.

Jay L. Koyner, MD, is a Professor of Medicine in the Section of Nephrology at the University of Chicago where he also serves as the Medical Director of the Inpatient Dialysis Unit, Director of ICU Nephrology and the Associate Program Director of the Nephrology-Critical Care Fellowship. He hosted by Dr. Sola Aoun Bahous, Dean and Professor of the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Nephrology at the Lebanese American University. Sola is also the Chair-Elect of the ISN Education Working Group. In this episode, Jay and Sola discuss the Acute Kidney Injury and the impact of Artificial Intelligence on detection. They will discuss Jay’s research in multi-modal deep learning models and his building of practical AKI Alerts, and how these innovations could change kidney care worldwide.

Clinical trial design in nephrology is evolving. In this episode, leading experts explore why a paradigm shift is needed from traditional biomarkers to patient-centered outcomes and practical strategies for advancing trial implementation. This conversation draws on insights from the ISN Consensus Meeting on Changing Paradigms of Studies in CKD (Vancouver, Nov 22-23, 2024) where clinicians, trialists, patient partners, regulators and industry scientists came together to rethink trial endpoints, outcomes and designs. Together, they discuss how reimagining kidney trials can generate more relevant, equitable, and actionable evidence for better kidney care worldwide.

Participants

Adeera Levin
Professor of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Canada, and Past-President of the International Society of Nephrology (ISN). Dr. Levin is a global leader in kidney health research, with extensive experience in chronic kidney disease (CKD) management, clinical trials, and international health system strengthening.

Jennifer Lees
Senior Clinical Lecturer and Honorary Consultant Nephrologist at the University of Glasgow, UK. Dr. Lees’ research focuses on improving patient outcomes in kidney disease through better trial design, biomarker evaluation, and translational approaches linking research to clinical care.

Kevin Weinfurt
Professor and Vice Chair of Faculty, Department of Population Health Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, USA. Dr. Weinfurt is a behavioural scientist specializing in patient-reported outcomes (PROMs), ethical aspects of research participation, and improving the relevance of clinical trials to patients lived experiences.

Hiddo J. Lambers Heerspink
Professor of Clinical Trials and Personalized Medicine, University Medical Center Groningen, The Netherlands. Dr. Heerspink’s work bridges pharmacology, nephrology, and precision medicine, focusing on optimizing kidney and cardiovascular outcomes through innovative clinical trial design and biomarker discovery.

To read more, explore the related paper Changing Paradigms of Studies in Kidney Diseases published in Kidney International.

In the latest Episode of the Global Kidney Care podcast Augusto Cesar Soares dos Santos Junior interviews Rolando Claure-Del Granado, a Clinical Research Investigator at the Biomedical Research Institute (IIBISMED) at Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Mayor de San Simon (Cochabamba, Bolivia) and a visiting professor of the UNESP - São Paulo State University (Brazil).

This podcast is part of an ongoing series of resources for the ISN Academy dedicated to the topic of AI and Nephrology. Augusto and Rolando discuss how AI is changing the outlook for patients with AKI and how it can be utilized by nephrologists to treat those with AKI.

Winston Fung, an Associate Consultant at Prince of Wales Hospital and an Honorary Clinical Assistant Professor for the Chinese University of Hong Kong, hosts the second conversation on climate change and its impacts on kidney health. Winston is joined by Vivekanand Jha, The George Institute for Global Health, India, Professor of Nephrology at the University of Oxford, and the former President of the ISN. Also joining the conversation is Letizia De Chiara, junior PI at the University of Florence, Italy, and Maryvonne Hourmant, former president of the SFNDT.

In the latest episode of the Global Kidney Care Podcast, host Winston Fung speaks to Luis Gustavo Modelli de Andrade, a Nephrologist at the Kidney Transplant Program, Hospital das Clínicas da UNESP – Botucatu in Brazil.

They discuss the frontiers of artificial intelligence and its applications in medicine. Dr. Gustavo discusses artificial intelligence, machine learning, and advanced modeling techniques such as deep learning. His work is focused on applying these technologies to nephrology and organ transplantation, helping to shape the future of patient care and medical innovation.

The latest episode of the Kidney Care Podcast is a Conversation with Peter Kotanko, a leading expert on artificial intelligence applications for kidney care and the Emeritus Director of the Renal Research Institute in New York, USA. This conversation on the intersection of AI and Nephrology is the first installment in a series of conversations on AI and is part of the new ISN Academy AI resource section on the ISN Academy. This resource page will be updated regularly, providing the latest original and curated material on AI and Nephrology.