DaVita® Medical Insights

Celebrating National Doctors’ Day Since 1933

First celebrated on March 30, 1933, in Winder, Georgia, National Doctors’ Day was conceived by Eudora Brown Almond, wife of Charles B. Almond, MD, as a way to honor physicians. This holiday was first observed by mailing greeting cards and placing flowers on graves of deceased doctors. The designation of March 30 as “National Doctors’ Day” was not signed into law, however, until October 30, 1990, after overwhelming approval by the United States Senate and the House of Representatives. Today, National Doctors’ Day is still a national holiday to recognize the contributions of physicians who care for our country’s citizens.

On this year’s National Doctors’ Day, I want to thank my physician colleagues for your work in the field of nephrology and acknowledge the difference you make in patients’ lives. Please take a few minutes to watch this video to hear what inspired our colleagues to go into medicine or nephrology in particular and what we may learn from our patients.

Allen R. Nissenson, MD, FACP, FASN, FNKF

Prolific author and renowned authority on kidney disease, Allen R. Nissenson, MD, is chief medical officer for DaVita Kidney Care and emeritus professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, where he has served as director of the dialysis program and associate dean. Dr. Nissenson is also co-chair of the Kidney Care Partners Quality Initiative. Dr. Nissenson served as a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow of the Institute of Medicine from 1994–1995 and worked in the office of the late Senator Paul Wellstone. He is a former president of the Renal Physicians Association (RPA), served on the RPA Board of Directors as a special advisor to the president and is a former president of the Southern California End-Stage Renal Disease Network. He is the author of more than 700 scientific papers and the editor of two dialysis textbooks, one in its fourth edition and the other just released in its 5th edition. Dr. Nissenson earned his medical degree from Northwestern University Medical School and is the recipient of various awards, including the AAKP Medal of Excellence award, the Lifetime Achievement Award in Hemodialysis and the National Kidney Foundation “Man of the Year” award. Twitter: @DrNissenson