EPC Leadership

Dr. Kliger is a Clinical Professor of Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine. He is a member of the Standing Renal Committee for the National Quality Forum, and chairs the Nephrologists Transforming Dialysis Safety initiative, a national partnership between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Society of Nephrology (ASN). He served formerly as Senior Vice President Medical Affairs, Chief Quality Officer, Yale New Haven Health System and Senior Vice President, Chief Medical Officer, Hospital of Saint Raphael, New Haven Connecticut. He is a past president of the Renal Physicians Association, and serves on its Quality, Safety and Accountability Committee. He is a past president of the Forum of ESRD Networks. He served as chair of the steering committee for the NIH Frequent Hemodialysis Study, a national prospective randomized study of in-center daily and home nocturnal hemodialysis, and currently chairs the steering committee for an NIH/NIDDK Consortium on Novel Therapies for Hemodialysis Patients.

Alp Ikizler, MD is the Director of Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Catherine MacLaughlin-Hakim Chair in Vascular Biology and Professor of Medicine at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee. His clinical and research activities are focused on improving the clinical outcomes and quality of life in patients with acute and chronic kidney disease.

Dr. Jorge Cerdá earned his MD at the University of the Republic School of Medicine, in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1976, completed Internal Medicine training and became certified in the Specialty of Nephrology in 1982. Between 1974 and 1991 he was successively Instructor, Assistant Professor and Associate Professor of Physiology at the University of the Republic School of Medicine.

In 1979 he was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship in the United States and completed a Master of Science in Physiology at the Albany Medical College. Subsequently, he completed a Nephrology Fellowship at the Albany Medical Center and became Assistant Professor and later Associate Professor of Medicine. He is currently Clinical Professor of Medicine at the Albany Medical College, where he actively participates in the teaching and research program, and is currently Chief of Medicine, St Peter’s Health Partners in Albany, New York.

Dr. Cerdá has co-authored more than 100 papers in peer reviewed journals, books and international meetings, and is in the editorial board of the American Board of Internal Medicine, The Lancet, American Society of Nephrology NephSAP, Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, is Associate Editor of the American Journal of Kidney Disease and Blood Purification, and a reviewer of Kidney International,  Nephrology Dialysis & Transplantation, Kidney360, Critical Care, Critical Care Medicine, and the Revista Panamericana de Salud Publica.

He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, and a Fellow of the American Society of Nephrology, where he is a member of the Advisory Committee of ASN Excellence in Patient Care, and Chairs the AKI!NOW Initiative of the ASN. He has held leadership positions in the National Kidney Foundation and the International Society of Nephrology where he was Associate Director of the ISN 0by25 Initiative and is the current Chair of the Advocacy Working group of the ISN, with a main focus in the promotion of renal care in disadvantaged countries.

Dr. Cerda’s main research interests have been in the field of Critical Care Nephrology and Chronic Kidney Disease focusing on acute kidney injury (AKI), continuous renal replacement therapies in AKI, and AKI epidemiology in high- and low-income regions. He has extensive experience as a speaker in multiple national and international meetings and is a member of the Organizing Committee of the International Conference on Continuous Renal Replacement Therapies, the Acute Kidney Injury Network (AKIN), and the Acute Dialysis Quality Initiative (ADQI).

Dr. Garrick is a practicing nephrologist with over 30 years’ experience. She is the Executive Medical Director of Westchester Medical Center, a public benefit hospital, and Chief Medical Officer of Westchester Health Network, a 1,700 bed academic health system with hospitals and offices in the Westchester and the Hudson Valley. As CMO of Westchester Health Network, she oversees quality, safety, and regulatory initiatives for the Health Network, and has extensive experience with quality initiatives as they relate to patients with kidney disease. She currently serves as the medical director of a non-profit dialysis facility and previously chaired the NY State’s taskforce on dialysis care. She serves on the Quality Steering Committee of Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS), and on the New York State Department of Health Quality Advisory Committee for Office Based Surgery .She currently serves on NQF Renal Standing Committee and has served on NQF Technical expert panels. She has participated in the creation of Patient Related Outcome Measures for patients with kidney disease. Additionally, she has served on the Divisional Board of IPRO- ESRD Network of New York, and is a past board member of the Renal Physicians Association, where she currently serves on the Quality, Safety and Accountability Committee. She is a member of the ASN Nephrologist Transforming Dialysis Safety Workgroup and serves on a Data and Safety Monitoring Board of the NIH/NIDDK.

Nikhita Gadi, MD, MScBR received her medical degree from St. George’s University school of medicine with a dual master’s degree in biomedical research, affiliated with Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. I completed my training in internal medicine at Hackensack University Medical Center. She is currently completing her fellowship in nephrology at Harbor – UCLA in Los Angeles, CA. Her research interests include understanding socioeconomic factors that impact patient care amongst the underserved community.

Jay L. Koyner, MD, is a Professor of Medicine in the Section of Nephrology at the University of Chicago. He completed his undergraduate degree in Biophysics at Johns Hopkins University. He then went on to complete medical school at the State University of New York at Stony Brook where he awarded a degree with distinction in research following completion of an additional year for a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Fellowship. Dr. Koyner completed his internal medicine and nephrology training at the University of Chicago, where he currently serves as the Medical Director of the Inpatient Dialysis Unit and Director of ICU Nephrology. His critical care nephrology research interests have focused on the utilization of plasma and urine biomarkers to improve patient risk stratification and outcomes in the setting of AKI. Additionally, Dr. Koyner has contributed to several multicenter facilities investigating the biomarkers of AKI, including the TRIBE-AKI study and the Furosemide Stress Test. Other research interests have included AKI following cardiac surgery, CRRT, and AKI therapeutics. Currently, he is working on using the electronic health record to develop AKI risk scores to improve the care of patients with early AKI. Dr. Koyner has published over 120 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on AKI and the care of patients with kidney injury in the ICU.

Dr Levin is a Professor of Medicine, Head Division of Nephrology at the University of British Columbia, and Consultant nephrologist at Providence Health Care/ St Paul’s Hospital, in Vancouver Canada. She is Sr Medical Lead, Integration Clinical and Academic Networks at PHC.

She is the Executive Director of BC Renal, which oversees the care, planning and budgets for Kidney services in the province of British Columbia. She has recently established and led a province wide Post Covid-19 Interdisciplinary Clinical Network PC-ICCN), embedding research and clinical care in a learning health care network. She is Lead of the PC ICCN, housed at Provincial Health Services Authority. She is a founding member of the KRESCENT program (Kidney Research Scientist Education National Training program), and continues as a senior advisor.

She is active in international activities across the spectrum of kidney education, research and administrative activities, and was past President of International Society of Nephrology (ISN), from 2015-17), and a founding member of the Declaration of Istanbul Custodian Group (DICG). She advocates for patient rights to equitable access to care, and in the prevention of exploitation of vulnerable populations. Her major research interests include cardiovascular disease and comorbidities in CKD patients, variability in the progression of CKD and optimal models of care. She has over 600 peer reviewed publications, and numerous book chapters. Her H-index is 102.  She is the Principal Investigator on a CIHR SPOR network grant CAN SOLVE CKD, worth $40million. This is the first pan-Canadian grant of this size ever awarded to study kidney disease.

She actively mentors medical students, residents, nephrology fellows, health administration fellows, PHD candidates. These include physicians, pharmacists, nurses and other allied health professionals. The mentoring includes clinical and research activities.

Her teaching and research awards include :Canadian Society of Nephrology Outstanding Contributions to Canadian Nephrology(2013), Kidney Foundation Research Medal of Excellence (2014),  and is a fellow of Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (2014), and the Aubrey J Tingle Research Award for contributions to the province of BC (2015). In 2015, she was awarded The Order of Canada.

Nicole Lurie, M.D., M.S.P.H. is Director of CEPI-US and Strategic Advisor to the CEO at the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). She is also a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Medical School, a member of the research faculty at Massachusetts General Hospital and Professor of Medicine at George Washington University School of Medicine.  She served an 8-year term as Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the US Department of Health and Human Services.  In that role she led the HHS response to numerous public health emergencies, ranging from infectious disease to natural and man-made disasters and is responsible for many innovations in emergency preparedness and response.  She also chaired the Public Health Emergency Medical Countermeasures Enterprise, a government wide organization ultimately responsible for the development of medical countermeasures, including vaccines against pandemics and emerging threats.    Dr. Lurie has a long history in health services research.  Prior to federal service, she was the Paul O’Neill Professor of Policy Analysis at RAND, where she started and led the public health preparedness program and RAND’s Center for Population Health and Health Disparities.  She has had leadership roles in academia, as Professor of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Minnesota, as Medical Advisor to the Commissioner, Minnesota Department of Health, and as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health at the US Department of Health and Human Services.  Dr. Lurie received her BA and MD degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, and completed her residency and public health training at UCLA.  Her work has focused on access to and quality of care, health system redesign, equity, mental health, public health and preparedness.  She is recipient of numerous awards and is a member of the National Academy of Medicine.  She continues to practice clinical medicine in a community clinic in Washington DC.

Ryan McDevitt is a Visiting Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business while on leave from Duke University and is a Research Associate in the Health Care Program of the National Bureau of Economic Research. Prior to joining Duke, he held faculty positions at the University of Rochester’s Simon School of Business and Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, and was an investment banking analyst at Morgan Stanley. He earned his B.A from Williams College and Ph.D. from Northwestern University, both in economics.

McDevitt’s research focuses on applied microeconomics, specifically on how health care providers respond to financial incentives, and has been published in the American Economic Review, the Journal of Political Economy, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the Review of Economic Studies, and JAMA. His work has been funded by the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, the National Science Foundation, and the National Bureau of Economic Research, and the National Institute for Health Care Management. He has won teaching awards for his courses in economics, strategy, and econometrics.

Dana Mitchell MD, FACP, FASN is the CEO of Global Kidney Center, in Houston, Texas, with extensive experience in care and treatment of kidney diseases as well as a background in emergency care. In addition to practicing clinical medicine, she currently serves as an adviser to nephrology groups given her experience with managing small and large nephrology practices.

She currently serves as the Medicine Program Director and chairs the Nephrology Clinical Performance Committee for the Memorial Hermann Physician Network. She has chaired and served on a variety of professional panels focused on clinical performance, quality and medical ethics.

Dr. Mitchell received the Exemplary Nephrology Practice Award from the Renal Physicians Association, is listed as one of Houston’s top doctors, was selected by the International Association of Healthcare Professionals as a Top Nephrologist in Texas, and has received numerous other awards for her contributions to advancing treatment and care of people with kidney diseases. She is a highly sought-after speaker addressing a wide range of complex issues in nephrology care, including medication management, patient safety, and quality assessment.

Dr. Mitchell received her medical degree from Louisiana State University. She completed her internship and residency at Louisiana State University and her fellowship at the University of Alabama, Birmingham.

Patrick H. Nachman, MD, FASN, is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine, Director of the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Director of the Minnesota Multidisciplinary Vasculitis Program, and Medical Director of the Nephrology Service Line at M Health Fairview.

Dr. Nachman received his MD from Boston University School of Medicine, and completed an internal medicine residency, nephrology fellowship and postdoctoral research training at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill,w here he became Professor of Medicine and Deputy Director of the University of North Carolina Kidney Center.

His research efforts include the study of immune dysregulation leading to Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic Autoantibodies formation. Over the years his investigations have shifted from bench to the clinical and translational aspects of research in ANCA vasculitis and glomerular diseases, focusing on the clinical course, outcomes, and complications of disease.

Dr. Jeffrey Silberzweig is a nephrologist in New York, NY, and is affiliated with multiple hospitals in the area, including New York – Presbyterian/Weill Cornell and New York-Presbyterian/Lower Manhattan Hospital. He received his medical degree from the University of Buffalo, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and completed his residency at Beth Israel Medical Center, Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Dr. Silberzweig has been in practice for 28 years. He has extensive experience in general nephrology and dialysis. His research interests include use of Biomarkers in patients requiring maintenance hemodialysis. Dr. Silberzweig is currently the Chief Medical Officer of The Rogosin Institute. He is also Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine, and Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine in Surgery, Weill Cornell Medical College. Dr. Silberzweig co-chair’s ASN’s COVID-19 Response Team and Emergency Partnership Initiative (EPI).

Quin is a kidney disease survivor and a Board Certified Patient Advocate.  She was on in-center hemodialysis at the University of Chicago, training for home dialysis, when she received the call to receive a kidney transplant.  Quin is a patient advocate, using her voice to improve the care and safety of kidney patients.  She has started a company, Tayloring Gratitude to share her message of hope with others.

Katherine R. Tuttle, MD, FASN, FACP, FNKF, is Executive Director for Research at Providence Health Care, Co-Principal Investigator of the Institute of Translational Health Sciences and Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington. Dr. Tuttle earned her medical degree and completed her residency in Internal Medicine at Northwestern University School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois. She was a fellow in Metabolism and Endocrinology at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Her Nephrology fellowship training was performed at University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, Texas. Dr. Tuttle’s major research interests are in clinical and translational science for diabetes and chronic kidney disease. She has published over 250 original research contributions and has been Associate Editor for the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology and the American Journal of Kidney Disease.

Dr. Tuttle has received many honors and awards including the Medal of Excellence from the American Association of Kidney Patients, Garabed Eknoyan Award from the National Kidney Foundation, the YWCA Woman of Achievement Award in Science, and two Outstanding Clinical Faculty Awards at the University of Washington. Dr. Tuttle is Chair of the Diabetic Kidney Disease Collaborative Task Force for the American Society of Nephrology. She previously served on the Board of Directors for the Kidney Health Initiative and has chaired numerous kidney and diabetes related working groups and committees for organizations including the NIDDK/NIH, the National Kidney Foundation, the American Society of Nephrology, the International Society of Nephrology, and the American Diabetes Association.

Bradley A. Warady, MD is Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine; Director, Division of Nephrology and Director, Dialysis and Transplantation at Children’s Mercy Kansas City. Dr. Warady serves as Co-Principal Investigator of the NIH-funded Chronic Kidney Disease in Children (CKiD) Study and the International Pediatric Dialysis Network (IPDN). He is Vice President, Board of Directors of the North American Pediatric Renal Trials and Collaborative Studies (NAPRTCS), Member, Nephrologists Transforming Dialysis Safety (NTDS) committee, Governing Board Member of the Midwest Transplant Network (MTN), National Board Member for the National Kidney Foundation, and Treasurer of the International Pediatric Nephrology Association (IPNA).

Dr. Leslie Wong is Intermountain Healthcare’s Senior Medical Director of Kidney Services and Nephrology and Chief Kidney Health Officer. In this capacity, Dr. Wong leads Intermountain’s efforts to deliver nationally-recognized, value-based care, with an emphasis on reducing the incidence of kidney failure and improving the kidney health of communities across the Mountain West region of the U.S. 

Dr. Wong comes to Intermountain from his dual roles as Chief Medical Officer of Nephrology Care Alliance, a division of DaVita Inc., and Associate Medical Director of Cleveland Clinic’s Medicare Accountable Care Organization. He is a seasoned nephrologist who served as Cleveland Clinic’s Vice-Chairman of Nephrology and Hypertension with emphasis on Clinical Transformation, Director of the Center for Dialysis, and Associate Professor of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University.

Dr. Wong is a graduate of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School.  He completed his residency and fellowship training at the University of North Carolina, where he was chief resident.  He started his career in in Seattle, where he was Medical Director of Peritoneal Dialysis at Northwest Kidney Centers, followed by becoming Satellite Healthcare’s Vice President of Clinical Affairs, leading quality, medical director education, and serving on faculty at Stanford.

Professionally, he is a nationally recognized nephrology educator and speaker.  He is a past member of the ASN Dialysis Advisory Group and Chair of Quality Assessment, Improvement, and Education for Nephrologists Transforming Dialysis Safety (NTDS).  Dr. Wong currently participates in the ASN Diabetic Kidney Disease Collaborative and serves on the Excellence in Patient Care (EPC) Committee, helping guide ASN’s clinical initiatives.