March 21, 2022, New York, NY – Each year the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) highlights the work of a kidney health professional for their community service and educational activities in promoting NKF’s mission on a local level and presents that person with the Medical Advisory Board Distinguished Service Award.
This year, NKF presents this award to Amy Wilson, MD, of Indiana University School of Medicine and Riley Children’s Hospital. Dr. Wilson is a pediatric nephrologist, a National Kidney Foundation of Indiana (NKFI) medical advisory board member, a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and a member of the AAP Section of Nephrology Executive Committee. The honor will be presented on April 8 during the President’s Dinner at NKF’s 2022 Spring Clinical Meetings in Boston.
“I am honored to watch so many doctors support and give of themselves to NKF’s mission to advance kidney health, education, and awareness, but it is particularly rewarding to see the accomplishments of Dr. Wilson during very difficult and demanding times,” said NKF President Paul Palevsky, MD. “Not even a pandemic could stop Dr. Wilson from serving our cause.”
Dr. Wilson joined the faculty at Indiana University in the division of Pediatric Nephrology and Hypertension in 2010, after completing pediatrics residency and pediatric nephrology fellowship training at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. She earned her medical degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She earned her Master of Science degree in clinical research at the University of Cincinnati.
“I was surprised and flattered to receive this award,” Dr. Wilson said. “Very often in medicine, we volunteer time and our intellectual resources with no expectation of recognition or reward for it. During this tough year, a year I often had to share with NKFI disheartening information related to the pandemic, it’s really lovely to be recognized for the effort.”
Dr. Wilson serves on the NKFI Board of Directors and is the NKFI Medical Advisory Board Chair. For more than six years, she has served as the NKFI Kidney Camp Medical Director. Dr. Wilson also serves on the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Council of Pediatric Subspecialties and is a member of the American Society of Pediatric Nephrology and the American Society of Nephrology.
“Pediatric nephrology is a small and highly specialized community, thankfully because kidney disease is rare in children, so working with NKFI has been a wonderful opportunity for me to connect in a broad way with others in this effort to raise awareness about prevention and early detection,” Dr. Wilson said. “As a pediatric nephrologist, I think I have a unique window into the impact kidney health has on multiple systems of the body. The complexities of those interactions are endlessly fascinating to me, and it is so good to share what I know in this way.”
Dr. Wilson’s clinical interests all revolve around children with kidney disease, and in the optimization of high blood pressure evaluation and treatment in children and adolescents. She is the director of Riley Hospital’s ambulatory blood pressure monitoring program.
“I would like to thank Margie Evans Fort, CEO of NKFI, for being willing to think outside of the box with me about new and different ways in which the NKFI could continue to work and benefit our community throughout the pandemic, and of course all of the staff there who bring those ideas to fruition.”
Awards will be presented on April 8 during the President’s Dinner at NKF’s 2022 Spring Clinical Meetings in Boston.
NKF Spring Clinical Meetings
For the past 30 years, nephrology healthcare professionals from across the country have come to NKF’s Spring Clinical Meetings to learn about the newest developments related to all aspects of nephrology practice; network with colleagues; and present their research findings. The NKF Spring Clinical Meetings are designed for meaningful change in the multidisciplinary healthcare teams’ skills, performance, and patient health outcomes. It is the only conference of its kind that focuses on translating science into practice for the entire healthcare team. This year’s event will be held in Boston, April 6-10.
About Kidney Disease
In the United States, 37 million adults are estimated to have kidney disease, also known as chronic kidney disease (CKD)—and approximately 90 percent don’t know they have it. 1 in 3 adults in the U.S. are at risk for kidney disease. Risk factors for kidney disease include: diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, and family history. People of Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian American, or Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander descent are at increased risk for developing the disease. Black/African American people are more than 3 times as likely as White people to have kidney failure. Hispanics/Latinos are 1.3 times more likely than non-Hispanics to have kidney failure.
NKF Professional Membership
Healthcare professionals can join NKF to receive access to tools and resources for both patients and professionals, discounts on professional education, and access to a network of thousands of individuals who treat patients with kidney disease.
About the National Kidney Foundation
The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) is the largest, most comprehensive, and longstanding patient-centric organization dedicated to the awareness, prevention, and treatment of kidney disease in the U.S. For more information about NKF, visit www.kidney.org.