DaVita® Medical Insights

Podcast: Innovations in Kidney Transplantation

Preemptive transplant is the best option for the vast majority of patients with ESKD; however, innovation is needed to keep up with the demand for kidneys. Listen to this podcast, in which Allen Nissenson, MD, chief medical officer for DaVita and emeritus professor of Medicine at UCLA along with Gabriel Danovitch, MD, medical director of the Kidney Transplant Program and professor of medicine at UCLA discuss the current state of kidney transplantation and how that state can be improved through innovation. Drs. Nissenson and Danovitch also describe how nephrologists and providers can help patients be transplant ready through education and waitlist support. Finally, they discuss current developments in transplantation that may help the transplanted kidneys function better in the future, as well as the need for innovations in kidney disease prevention.

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