(Copenhagen, Denmark) – – – Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) is pleased to introduce its new Co-Chair Elect, Professor Michel Jadoul of Brussels, Belgium. Prof. Jadoul was elected by the KDIGO Executive Committee and will assume his post on January 1, 2019.
Prof. Jadoul will join other KDIGO volunteer leaders for planning meetings at the European Renal Association-European Dialysis and Transplant Association (ERA-EDTA) Congress. He will step into the role held by Dr. David Wheeler of London for the past seven years. Both Prof. Jadoul and Dr. Wheeler will continue to work with Dr. Wolfgang Winkelmayer of Houston, Texas, United States, continuing KDIGO Co-Chair over a 1-year handover period.
Prof. Jadoul is Head of Nephrology at Cliniques Universitaires Saint Luc, and Professor of Medicine at Université Catholique de Louvain. He has previously served on the KDIGO Executive Committee and co-chaired both the 2008 KDIGO guideline on Hepatitis C and Chronic Kidney Disease and its 2018 recent update. He has been a Council Member of ERA-EDTA and is a well-known lecturer and visiting professor, with a high profile in many African countries. He has authored more than 200 scientific papers and is a Country Co-Investigator for the DOPPS program in Belgium.
I am very excited and honored by the perspective to be even more involved in KDIGO activities, now as the incoming Co-Chair. Improving KDIGO further from its current high level appears as a definite challenge. I am however convinced that the challenge can be met, as part of the teamwork with Wolfgang, (and David during the transition phase), the KDIGO Executive Committee, the KDIGO staff, and all experts involved in multiple KDIGO activities worldwide. This expert support is indeed the main asset of KDIGO. I am more than happy to help KDIGO in coming years to fulfill its mission to improve the care and outcomes of kidney disease patients worldwide.
Prof. Jadoul explains, “I am very excited and honored by the perspective to be even more involved in KDIGO activities, now as the incoming Co-Chair. Improving KDIGO further from its current high level appears as a definite challenge. I am however convinced that the challenge can be met, as part of the teamwork with Wolfgang, (and David during the transition phase), the KDIGO Executive Committee, the KDIGO staff, and all experts involved in multiple KDIGO activities worldwide. This expert support is indeed the main asset of KDIGO. I am more than happy to help KDIGO in coming years to fulfill its mission to improve the care and outcomes of kidney disease patients worldwide.”
Co-Chairs are KDIGO’s highest elected volunteers. They lead the organization and represent it to the global kidney community while overseeing and planning its agenda of guidelines, guideline updates, conferences and implementation programs. The Co-Chairs communicate with clinicians and researchers around the world to convey information on KDIGO’s work and to solicit advice and participation from them.
David Wheeler said of Prof. Jadoul, “Michel is an outstanding choice for KDIGO leadership. He has worked closely with us since the inception of the organisation and has taken a leading role in developing and updating our Hepatitis C guideline. He is a tireless volunteer who will bring new ideas and energy.”
Dr. Wheeler added, “We are changing the methods we use to create and update our guidelines. Michel will help us bring these new developments to fruition. In doing so, he will make our processes more streamlined and cost efficient, shortening the time it takes to develop a guideline.”
“I am extremely pleased and honored to have this opportunity to work closely with Michel on the important work of KDIGO,” said Wolfgang Winkelmayer. “Starting with many meetings in Copenhagen, we are already planning for the future and aligning the work of our volunteers around the world with the emerging science in all aspects of kidney disease.”
KDIGO’s agenda for 2019 includes publishing two guideline updates, on Blood Pressure and Glomerular Diseases, as well as a new Guideline on management of patients with diabetes and chronic kidney disease. There also will be Controversies Conferences in our Dialysis and Cardiovascular Series, and on other topics including Acute Kidney Injury, and Kidney Nomenclature. KDIGO will also expand its new conference format of Implementation Summits in various countries and regions to augment more traditional implementation programs.
The entire KDIGO organization welcomes Professor Michel Jadoul to its leadership team and looks forward to growing strength and value as a major part of global nephrology.
KDIGO is a Belgian foundation committed to developing and implementing nephrology guidelines that improve patient outcomes on a global basis.
For further information please contact KDIGO at KDIGOcommunications@kdigo.org.
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