Abstract
Stimulated by a mother's desire to find a cure for her child's disease, the National Kidney Foundation has grown from a small local group of interested lay persons and medical professionals into a major national organization with affiliates around the country and national and international programming in renal research funding, patient and family services, public and professional education, and public policy advocacy. (C) 2000 by the National Kidney Foundation, Inc.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | S3-S18 |
| Journal | American Journal of Kidney Diseases |
| Volume | 35 |
| Issue number | 4 SUPPL. 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2000 |
Funding
In 1948, Dr Jack Metcoff and Dr Henry L. Barnett convened the First Annual Conference on the Nephrotic Syndrome in Boston. Twenty-five to 30 individuals, primarily pediatricians who were interested in the study of nephrosis, were invited to attend. In 1951, Dr Charles Janeway asked the NNF for financial support for this meeting. The Foundation donated $1,000 for the Third Annual Conference, which was held at New York Hospital in December, 1951, and provided financial support for each subsequent conference. These annual meetings, which were held until 1965, became known in 1961 as the Annual Conference on the Kidney. Some of the topics discussed and the presenters are listed in Table 1. Even a cursory review reveals the cutting-edge professional and scientific quality of the conferences and the names of many investigators who have become giants in nephrology research. Between 1964 and 1965, working with the US Public Health Service, the NKF helped establish new dialysis centers throughout the United States. In 1966, the NKF established a Legislative Liaison Committee, chaired by George E. Schreiner, MD. In March, Drs Clenn, Bluemle, Maxwell, Merrill, Schreiner, and Scribner testified before Congress to the subcommittee on the 1967 budgets of the US Public Health Service, Division of Chronic Diseases, and before the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases. On behalf of the NSAB of the NKF, they proposed an additional allocation of $8 million for kidney programs. At the request of the Renal Section of the US Public Health Service, and funded by a government grant, the NSAB created a Task Force to develop plans for a University Nephrology Program. A Dialysis and Transplantation Committee, chaired by Donald W. Seldin, MD, was charged with developing the NKF's present and future policies regarding dialysis and transplantation. The Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (UAGA) was passed in 1968 with the vigorous legislative advocacy of the NKF and its affiliates. The NKF developed a Uniform Donor Card, and the members of the Detroit Lions professional football team set a trend by carrying the donor cards in their wallets next to their drivers' licenses. By 1970, the UAGA had been approved in all states and the District of Columbia, and the NKF had distributed 2.5 million donor cards through affiliates and drug stores and by mail. The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 authorized a “program for end-stage renal disease research” and provided Medicare and Medicaid eligibility for dialysis and transplant patients. In 1973, the NKF published a White paper on implementation of the ESRD Program. During 1974, the NKF testified before the Ways and Means Committee of the House of Representatives and the House Labor, Health, Education, and Welfare Appropriation Subcommittee, making recommendations regarding the Medicare ESRD program and advocating for expansion of NNF programs for renal research and training, National Health Insurance coverage, and establishment of the American Blood Commission. The NKF was also instrumental in stimulating improvements of Public Law 92-603. In the 1978 Annual Report of the Foundation, President Arvin B. Weinstein, MD, stated that “this continuing and dynamic interaction of a voluntary health organization with the legislative and administrative branches of the Federal Government is an important model for the future.” He wrote of the NKF's impressive record of advising Congressional appropriation committees about the needs for research funding and training program support by the NIH.
Keywords
- Education
- History
- Medicare ESRD Program
- National Kidney Foundation
- Patient services
- Renal research
- Research funding
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Nephrology