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Congratulations to Albert Ong, Professor of Nephrology at Sheffield University, who has taken over from Jo Adu as chair of the International Committee. Albert has strong links with Asia and the Far East and will bring a new enthusiasm to developing links with international units to promote education, clinical and scientific exchange to the mutual benefit of UK and international nephrology. Saeed Ahmed, Sunderland Royal Hospital also joins the team. Saeed has agreed to take on the role of Assistant Webmaster and will help in the management of the website. He has wide experience in website development, having been involved locally and in national projects. He has lots of exciting new ideas to improve the website so look forward to change and improvement.
Seven individuals want your vote for an executive position with the RA. These individuals will represent you in decision making processes taken by the RA. Voting opens on 2nd July so make your thoughts clear and use your vote. John Reynolds renal scientist at Imperial hospital, as the one nomination for the non clinical position will be elected unopposed.
Ladies, and of course gentlemen, if you have an issue about gender issues read the report on women in medicine and get in touch.
Congratulations must be paid to John Feehally currently our Past President but soon to be future ISN President.
As usual there are lots of other updates, including a report from the Education and Training Committee, to keep you informed of what's happening in UK nephrology.
Enjoy your summer reading!
Best wishes
Lorraine Harper
Honorary Secretary
| Appointments
We are delighted to announce a number of recent appointments to assist with the Association. Albert Ong has been selected to take over the Chair of the International Committee and Saaed Ahmed has accepted the position of Assistant Webmaster.
| Executive Committee Elections
Voting will open shortly for three positions on the Executive Committee, two clinical and one non-clinical. The elections will be carried out electronically and you will receive voting instructions via email shortly.
The candidates are as follows:
Clinical Nominees:
Abraham Abraham
Lindsey Barker
Sunil Bhandari
Jonathan Fox
Mark Harber
Paul Harden
Liz Lightstone
Non Clinical Nominee:
John Reynolds (Elected Unopposed)
The elections will open on Thursday 2nd July 2009 and close at 12pm on Wednesday 12th August.
| International Society of Nephrology
Congratulations to John Feehally, the Association's Past President who was recently appointed as President Elect of the International Society of Nephrology. He will take over from Bernardo Rodríguez Iturbe (Venezuela) in April 2011.
We wish him every success in his tenure.
| Renal Association 60 years - 1950-2010
Your pictures wanted!
The Renal Association is the oldest renal professional organisation in the world.
A small group of RA members chaired by John Feehally is beginning to prepare for our 60th anniversary celebrations next year.
We are hoping to gather as much photographic evidence as possible of our history.
Do you have any interesting photos of:
· past RA meetings or other events
· RA 'senior figures' [no strict definition!]
· anything else relating to RA and the development of nephrology in the UK
With your permission we would like to archive all these images for posterity in a digital format, and perhaps use them as part of our celebration next year.
I will gladly receive any material in any format by any route of transmission.
Please contact John Feehally - jf27@le.ac.uk ; 07843 278459; 0116 258 4132
| "Women in Medicine"
This report just published by Royal College of Physicians shows that women will make up the majority of the medical workforce sometime after 2017. Women are more likely to work part time, and tend to prefer specialites that have more "plannable" working hours.
Although women already account for 47% of UK-trained consultants aged 30 to 34, there are very few women doctors on NHS Trust boards as medical directors, very few chairing professional executive committees on PCTs and, in 2006, none of the six medical schools had female professors and just two of 34 medical school deans were women.
The report discusses the implications of the changing gender balance in medicine for work force design, leadership capacity and also the future of the consultant role.
To view the summary of this report please click here.
Click here to view the full report.
The RA is considering developing a committee interested in gender issues. We would like to hear your thoughts regarding this committee and its remit. If interested in developing this please contact Lorraine Harper, Liz Lightstone or Alison Brown.
| Bursaries and Awards
The Renal Association make a number of awards and bursaries available each year. Applications are now being received for the following awards, please forward these details to any colleagues who you think might be interested in applying. Submissions may be made between May 1st and August 31st. Decisions will usually be made by the end of September. Late applications will NOT be accepted.
For details on the AEG Raine Award, Walls Bursaries and Lockwood Award please click here.
| NSF Headlines June 2009 : Working for better kidney care
1 End of Life Care in Advanced Kidney Disease framework launched Click here
2 Patient Transport survey results Click here
3 NCEPOD report "Adding Insult to Injury" Click here
4 NSF update June 2009 Click here
5 Kidney Care Matters online Click here
6 Payment by Results final report launched Click here
If you have comments, suggestions or would like to be involved contact Donal on donal.o'donoghue@srft.nhs.uk
| Renal Scientist Newsletter
This month is the last in our series of articles on future proofing your sample collections, this time looking at DNA preservation. Next month we are going to start a series of guest articles that highlight the work of our many renal scientist members around the country.
| Educational and Training Committee Report
I am pleased to report that the Education and Training Committee has had a productive year and has many plans for next year.
Successful CPD sessions were held at the conference in Liverpool on Bone and Mineral Disorders (arranged by Phil Kalra and supported by the DGH Nephrology Society), and Science for Clinicians (organised by John Reynolds and David Game). The Committee are now planning 3 sessions for next year's Annual congress.
Click here fore more.
| Advanced Nephrology Course
Advanced Nephrology Course Part 1 28 September - 1 October 2009 Covering the most clinically important, recently advanced and challenging areas in nephrology, this course is specifically aimed at consultants and senior SpRs wishing for updates on difficult or developing clinical issues. | ESPN European Society for Paediatric Nephrology
02-05 September 2009
University of Birmingham
Deadline for registration
26 August 2009
| | European Society for Paediatric Nephrology 2009
The Young Nephrologists' Symposium
Wednesday 2nd September 2009, University of Birmingham, UK.
This one day educational satellite meeting will have two main topics: Renal Transplantation and Adolescent Transition.
The symposium is aimed to attract Paediatric and Adult nephrology trainees and recently appointed Consultant Nephrologists from around Europe. Delegates are invited to submit case studies which, if successful, will be presented orally at the meeting. Small bursaries will also be available to delegates from Lower Income economy countries.
To see a copy of the programme click here
For more information on the course click here
| Cystic Kidney Disease and the Role of the
Primary Cilium
Renal Association/European Society for Paediatric Nephrology Joint Meeting 3rd Sept 2009
University of Birmingham, UK
Primary cilia are evolutionarily conserved organelles of uncertain function which were first described in 1898. Almost every cell in the body carries a primary cilium. In the past ten years, abnormalities of the primary cilium have been associated with several important diseases affecting the kidney including polycystic kidney disease, nephronopthisis, Meckel's syndrome and Bardet-Biedl Syndrome. These ciliopathies have in turn led to new insights into the functions of the primary cilium and its related organelle, the centrosome or basal body.
This one-day meeting will highlight and summarise for the practising clinician the major scientific advances in this rapidly changing field as well as the exciting therapeutic and diagnostic advances in the management of cystic kidney diseases. Click here
Early bird registration is now closed.
Click here to visit the ESPN 2009 website
The meeting has been approved for CPD accreditation.
| | Optimising care at the Cardio-Renal interface
Joint conference with the British Cardiovascular Society and Renal Association in association with the Cardiorenal Forum. Click here for details | BMUS and The Renal Association Ultrasound for Nephrologists Study Day
Tuesday 29 September 2009
Venue: Postgraduate Education Centre, Kings College Hospital, London
Organisers: Emma Vaux & Colin Deane
This is a one day course aimed at training nephrologists.
The meeting will be interactive with lots of hands-on practice
For further information please Click here
| Recent advances in Vasculitis - Monday 9 November 2009.
Please click here for more information.
| Supportive Care for the Renal Patient 2009
6-7 July 2009
This annual multiprofessional renal palliative care course uses a mixture of lectures and small group case discussions to explore end of life care for patients with renal disease. A second day has been added to enable more detailed coverage of advance care planning. The meeting is aimed at consultants and trainees. Numbers are limited, so please apply early. To view the programme and to register please click here
| | Care of the renal patient towards the end of life: Emerging evidence, including patient and professional perspectives.
Wednesday 14 October 2009
Venue: The Royal Society of Medicine, 1 Wimpole Street, London,
W1G 0AE
A joint meeting with the Nephrology Section
To view the programme and to register please click here.
| Member Suggestion Box If you have any ideas or would like to include an article or event in eNews, please contact the Renal Association Secretariat on 0845 1800 484 or renalenews@mci-group.com. | | | | | | |