The American Society of Nephrology Kidney Week returns to Philadelphia after nearly a decade and is due to be held from November 1st to 5th. The meeting brings together speakers and attendees from all over the world- even with a hybrid event last year, nearly 10,000 were in person at Orlando.
The 2023 conference has several new additions to its early programs and abstract categories. The usual early programs (held on November 1) are Glomerular Disease, Kidney Transplantation, Maintenance Dialysis, and Fundamentals of Renal Pathology. The new early programs are as follows:
- Nephrocardiology: An Emerging Field in Medicine: the close connection of the heart and kidney gets an increased emphasis with discussion on epidemiology, prevention, prognosis, risk factors, monitoring, and therapy.
- Advances in Research Conference: Multi-Omic Analyses of Tissue Microenvironments in the Kidneys: this course discussed various applications of omics and the burgeoning field of nanotherapeutics in kidney disease.
- Genetics in Clinical Nephrology: an informative session on outpatient diagnosis and management of various hereditary kidney diseases.
The opening plenary on November 2nd will include the State-of-the-Art Lecture by Dr. Bonnie L. Basler on "Tiny Conspiracies: Cell-to-Cell Communication in Bacteria and New Approaches to Antimicrobials." The basic/clinical science sessions will have a session highlighting pertinent high impact articles from the portfolio of ASN journals and the increasingly relevant APOL1 and Kidney Transplantation. Artificial intelligence is increasingly coming to the fore to assist clinicians in many aspects of medicine- a session titled "Artificial Intelligence and Its Promise to Complement AKI Care" will delve into to the use of data science to assess acute kidney injury and improve patient outcomes. Another session on November 3rd, "Future of Data Science in Kidney Medicine and Research," delves into predictive analytics, how AI is aiding discovery in nephrology and the clinician-patient engagement in the era of data-driven medicine.
Addressing health inequities continues to be a major mission for the nephrology community with multiple sessions addressing this:
- Social Determinants of BP and CVD in patients with CKD (Nov 2)
- Health Equity in Education, Clinical Care, and Community Engagement (Nov 2)
- Serving the Underserved: Improving Kidney Health in Underserved Populations (Nov 3)
- Advancing Health Equity for All: Addressing SDoH (social determinants of health) in Access to Kidney Transplant (Nov 3)
Kidney Week continues to cover a vast expanse of topics in nephrology with innovative sessions on dialysis ("Emerging Technologies for Kidney Replacement Therapies"; Nov 3 and "Innovation in Dialysis: Better Together"; Nov 4, "Noninfectious Challenges of Home Dialysis Therapies"; Nov 4) and transplantation ("Innovative Immunosuppression and Monitoring Strategies in Pediatric Kidney Transplantation", "Microvascular Inflammation in Kidney Transplantation: An Unresolved Dilemma", "Xenotransplantation Is on the Horizon"; all on Nov 3). The realm of glomerular disease is seeing multiple advances in understanding of disease process and therapeutics- there are numerous sessions highlighting these:
- Therapeutic Dilemmas in Glomerular Diseases (Nov 2)
- Controversies on C3 Glomerulopathy (Nov 3)
- What’s Complement Got to Do With It? ANCA vasculitis and the Complement System (Nov 3)
- Cytokines and IgA Nephropathy: Pathogenesis and Novel Therapies (Nov 4)
- Advances in the Use of Immunofluorescence and Immunohistochemistry in Kidney Biopsy
Evaluation (Nov 4)
Kidney Week continues to be the foremost international gathering for nephrology professionals. Not only does the meeting aid learning for attendees, but also reinvigorates the mission central to all of us: the patients.
Dr. Kant and Dr. Jaar do not have any conflicts of interest to report.
Illustration by April Brust
