Advisors

George Bakris, M.D. is the Professor of Medicine and Director of the American Heart Association Comprehensive Hypertension Center at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Dr. Bakris was previously Vice-Chairman of Preventive Medicine and Director of the Rush University Hypertension Center in Chicago. He has published over 800 articles and more than 100 book chapters in the areas of hypertension, diabetic kidney disease and progression of nephropathy. He also served as an expert member on the Cardio-Renal Advisory Board of the FDA and was a special government expert to the FDA and CMS. He has served on many national guideline committees including: the Joint National Committee (“JNC”) Writing Groups VI & 7, the JNC 7 executive committee, the American Diabetes Association Clinical Practice Guideline Committee, the National Kidney Foundation's Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (“KDOQI”) Blood Pressure Guideline committee and the KDOQI Diabetes Guideline committee. Dr. Bakris is also the past president of the American College of Clinical Pharmacology and the American Society of Hypertension (“ASH”).

Rajiv Agarwal M.D., MBBS, FASN is a tenured Professor of Medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine at Indianapolis, IN. Dr. Agarwal is an internationally recognized leader in the area of clinical and translational research in nephrology. He was amongst the first to demonstrate the effect of add-on angiotensin receptor blockade on cytokine production and oxidative stress, but none on proteinuria in patients with chronic kidney disease. He currently serves on Board of Directors of Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (“KDIGO”), the Editorial Board of Kidney International, Clinical Journal of American Society of Nephrology (“CJASN”), Hypertension and Seminars in Dialysis, and serves as an Editor for Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation, American Journal of Nephrology and the Journal of the American Society of Hypertension.

Glenn Chertow  M.D. is Chief, Division of Nephrology at Stanford University School of Medicine, Norman S. Coplon Satellite Healthcare Professor of Medicine and (by courtesy) of Health Research and Policy. Dr. Chertow completed his undergraduate education at University of Pennsylvania and medical education at Harvard.  He completed residency in internal medicine and fellowship in nephrology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital before joining the Harvard faculty, where he remained until 1998.  He then joined the faculty at University of California San Francisco, where he served as Director of Clinical Services in the Division of Nephrology and was promoted through the academic ranks to full Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Epidemiology and Biostatistics until joining the Stanford faculty in 2007.  In addition to an active clinical practice, administrative responsibilities, teaching and mentoring, Dr. Chertow has developed and maintained a robust clinical research program.  He has served or is currently serving in leadership roles for multiple NIDDK-, NHLBI-, and VA-sponsored clinical trials, including HEMO, DAC, ATN, FHN, SPRINT, PRESERVE, ISCHEMIA, CURE-GN and TiME, and for several industry-sponsored clinical trials including TREAT, EVOLVE, BEACON, SYMPLICITY, and REPRISE.  He has served in an advisory capacity to the Medicare Payment Advisory Committee and the National Quality Forum on issues related to the ESRD program, on NIH study sections and in multiple roles with the American Society of Nephrology (ASN), including the Public Policy Board, Quality Metrics Taskforce, and as JASN Associate Editor.  He is Co-Editor of Brenner and Rector’s The Kidney.  Dr. Chertow was honored by the American Kidney Fund in 2007 with the National Torchbearer Award and in 2011 with the Nephrologist of the Year Award, in recognition of his contributions to the care of persons with kidney disease.  Dr. Chertow was elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation in 2004, and in 2015, received the Belding H. Scribner Award from ASN and was elected to the Association of American Physicians and the National Academy of Medicine.  In 2018, Dr. Chertow received the David M. Hume Memorial Award, the highest honor highest honor given by the National Kidney Foundation to a distinguished scientist-clinician in the field of kidney and urologic diseases.

Aldo Peixoto M.D. is a Professor of Medicine in the Section of Nephrology at the Yale University School of Medicine. He is also Associate Chair for Ambulatory Services Operations and Quality (Department of Internal Medicine) and Clinical Chief of the Section of Nephrology. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters in nephrology and hypertension, and is the author of a book on bedside diagnosis. He is an associate editor of Blood Pressure Monitoring and is on the editorial board of the American Journal of Nephrology and the Brazilian Journal of Nephrology. Dr. Peixoto also serves as reviewer for many internal medicine, nephrology and hypertension journals.

Charles Herzog M.D. is a professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota, and cardiologist at Hennepin County Medical Center (“HCMC”) for 34 years. He founded the program in interventional cardiology at HCMC and served as cardiac catheterization laboratory director from 1985-1991, and cardiac ultrasound laboratory director from 1997-2012. He was director of the United States Renal Data System (“USRDS”) Cardiovascular Special Studies Center from 1999-2014. He participated in the development of the KDOQI Guidelines for Cardiovascular Disease in Dialysis Patients andKDIGO Clinical Practice Guidelines on Acute Kidney Injury, and the KDIGO 2017 Clinical Practice Guidelines Update for CKD-Mineral and Bone Disorder. He co-chaired the 2010 KDIGO Controversies Conference, “Cardiovascular Disease in CKD: What is it and What Can We Do About It?” and is a co-chair of the KDIGO Kidney, Heart, and Vascular Conference Series. He was an Executive Committee member of the EVOLVE Trial. He chairs the Renal Committee of the ISCHEMIA-CKD Trial and Critical Event Committee of the CARSK Trial, and was Co-PI of the WED-HED (Wearable Cardioverter Defibrillator in Hemodialysis Patients) Study. He currently co-chairs the workgroup, “Understanding and Overcoming the Exclusion of Patients with Kidney Disease from Cardiovascular Trials”, for the Kidney Health Initiative (“KHI”). Dr. Herzog has over 250 published papers. His special interests include cardiac disease and CKD, and echocardiography.

Dr. Bath is Stroke Association Professor of Stroke Medicine, and Chair and Head of the Division of Clinical Neuroscience at the University of Nottingham. He is also convener for the Neuroscience@Nottingham and Vascular Research multidisciplinary groups, and National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Associate Director for Industry and Prevention in the Stroke Research Network. With 339 publications, he was the Stroke Association Keynote Lecturer in March 2015.

Clinically, he contributes to the NUH Stroke Service (in-patient and out-patient stroke care) and Hypertension Clinic. As an NIHR Senior Investigator, his main research interests cover the treatment of acute stroke (blood pressure lowering), prevention of stroke recurrence and cognitive impairment (antiplatelets, blood pressure, and lipid lowering), and enhancement of recovery using stem cells. He uses preclinical studies, clinical trials (phase I to IV), and systematic reviews to help address these questions.

Dr. Bath received his MD from King’s College London, University of London and his DSc from the University of Nottingham.

Dr. Madeddu is Chair of Experimental Cardiovascular Medicine and Head of the Section of Regenerative Medicine, School of Medicine at the University of Bristol. With 250 peer-reviewed publications in PubMed, his is a worldwide expert in regenerative cardiovascular medicine with significant research interest in the role of kallikrein-kinin system in angiogenesis and vascular biology. He serves as Chief Editor of Frontiers in Cardiovascular Science (Regenerative Medicine) and is Associate Editor at Circulation Research, ATVB, and Scientific Reports. 

Dr. Madeddu received his MD from the University of Sassari.

Dr. Volpi is the Co-Director of the Eddy Scurlock Stroke Center at Houston Methodist and Associate Professor of Clinical Neurology at the Institute for Academic Medicine. His research interests are in the management and prevention of ischemic stroke, and the critical care of patients with neurological illnesses such as intracerebral hemorrhage, epilepsy, and nervous system infections. His studies also involve the use of ultrasound in the evaluation of blood flow to the brain and development of novel therapies for improving patient outcomes in stroke.

Dr. Volpi received his MD from Baylor College of Medicine

Dr. Chang is currently serving as the CEO and President of Apex Enterprises, Inc., an investment management company focused on investments in healthcare, education and socially responsible ventures. From 2007 to 2012, she was the Chairperson and Senior Managing Director of Caduceus Asia Partners at OrbiMed Advisors L.L.C., one of the largest healthcare focused investment management firms in the world. Prior to that Dr. Chang was the Co-Founder, President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Tanox (1986-2006). Tanox focused its effort on the development of therapeutics to address major unmet medical needs in the areas of asthma, allergy, inflammation, aged macular degeneration and other diseases affecting the human immune system. In 2000, the company raised 250M and went public on Nasdaq making it the second largest Biotech IPO in the biotech industry. Tanox’s first product, Xolair, launched in 2003 and was a breakthrough drug that has changed the lives of many asthma sufferers in the world. In 2007 Tanox was sold to Genetech for 919M. From 1980-1986 Dr. Chang held several leadership positions at Centocor, now a division of Johnson and Johnson. During 1986-1992 she was also an Associate Professor at Baylor College of Medicine. Her pharmaceutical development experience stemmed from her tenure at the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology from 1979-1980. Dr. Chang graduated from National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan and received her Ph. D. from the Division of Medical Sciences at Harvard Medical School in 1979.

In over her 30 year tenure in the biotechnology industry, she has developed and commercialized a number of highly successful diagnostic and therapeutic products. Even today, there are breakthrough drugs which are coming to the market due to Dr. Chang’s work. Dr. Chang has served on the boards of a number of companies, including Charles River Laboratory International, Inc., Eddingpharm (Cayman) Inc., Crown Bioscience Inc., Applied Optoelectronics, SciClone Pharmaceuticals, Steamtrax, and many other private companies. In addition, Dr. Chang was a member of the board of directors at BIO (the Biotech Industry Organization in the U.S.) and BioHouston (the biotech industry organization in Houston, Texas). Recently Dr. Chang was elected to be on the board of Asia Society in Texas. She was also a Director at the Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas Houston Branch from 2005 to 2009 and a Director for Project Hope.

Separately, Dr. Chang has received numerous awards including Junior Achievement’s Hall of Achievement (2014), Greater Houston Women’s Hall of Fame (2013), The Biotechnology Heritage Award – Co-sponsored by the Biotechnology Industry Organization and Chemical Heritage Foundation (2013), Chemical Heritage Foundation’s Woman in Chemistry (2012), Woman in Science Award in Houston (2012), American Biographical Institute’s Woman of the Year in Medicine & Healthcare (2010), BayHelix Lifetime Achievement Award (2010), Houston Technology Center’s Lifetime Achievement Award in Life Sciences (2009), Texas A&M University Center for New Ventures & Entrepreneurship’s Conn Family Entrepreneurial Leadership Award (2009), 150 Most Influential Business Leaders in Houston (2009), Forbes 25 Notable Chinese Americans (2008), Society of Chinese Bioscientists in America (SCBA) Life Time Pioneering Achievement in Biotech (2006), BioHouston Life Science Award – Tanox (2005), Harvard University Crimson Award for Leadership and Community Service (2005), MedAd News Magazine’s Most respected Woman in Biotechnology (2005), Global Federation of Chinese Business Women in Southern USA’s Global Business Achievement Hall of Fame Governor’s Award (2005), in addition to many others.