Expertscape.com, a medical search and content service that enables healthcare consumers to easily identify and research medical experts by condition, expertise,
and location, recently named the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system number one worldwide in Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) research. Csaba P. Kovesdy, MD, FASN, director of the Clinical Outcomes and Clinical Trials Program in Nephrology at UTHSC and chief of Nephrology Section at the Memphis VA Medical Center (VAMC) was also listed as number 3 of 74,300 published authors worldwide on chronic kidney disease. Expertscape categorizes individuals and institutions objectively based on their expertise in over 26,000 different biomedical topics. The experts chosen by Expertscape have proven proficiency in their respective fields by putting their knowledge on paper and getting it through the rigorous review process that characterizes scientific publication.
According to the National Kidney Foundation, 26 million American adults have CKD and millions of others are at increased risk. Experts say that due to the high numbers of people in the Southern US living with diabetes and high blood pressure, the leading causes of chronic kidney disease, that these people are at an increased risk of developing CKD. African Americans are also at increased risk. In Shelby County alone, over 1,200 residents rely on lifesaving dialysis, often three times per week. The VA provides healthcare services to veterans with CKD, whether or not they have a service-connected or non-service connected status.
Since 2006, Dr. Kovesdy has published over 113 articles on chronic kidney failure. His major interest in CKD is focused on cardiovascular outcomes and racial disparities in patients with pre-dialysis stages of CKD. Dr. Kovesdy joined the UTHSC faculty in July of 2012 as the Fred Hatch Professor of Medicine in Nephrology. He also works as a clinical researcher mainly conducting clinical and observational trials, administered at UTHSC and the Memphis VAMC. Dr. Kovesdy is one of nine doctors at UTHSC (and five at the Memphis VA) who specialize in Nephrology. He is the recipient of an NIH United States Renal Data System (USRDS) Special Study Center (U01) Grant where he is researching the transition of patients from the pre-dialysis period to the dialysis period.
Dr. Kovesdy notes that both UTHSC and the Memphis VA Medical Center are well-positioned for continued success in the Mid-South for treating patients with CKD and many other illnesses. The Clinical Outcomes and Clinical Trials Program in Nephrology at UTHSC has several national and international partnerships including affiliations with the University of California-Irvine, Johns Hopkins University, Vanderbilt University, the University of Michigan and researchers in Sweden. The newly established DaVita hemodialysis biorepository at UTHSC (which contains over 100,000 biological samples collected from over 1,000 hemodialysis patients) gives researchers access to a wealth of genetic and proteomic information, and is a resource only available to three other major centers in the US. Through a partnership with the Nashville VAMC and Vanderbilt, Nephrologists at the Memphis VAMC are also participating in the ongoing Million Veteran Program, which is one of largest genetic studies in the world. Moreover, he adds that the relationship between researchers at UTHSC and the Memphis VAMC provides a unique opportunity for collaboration and discovery that can benefit both the health of our veterans as well as the general population in Shelby County and surrounding areas.