PKD Care Team Grant Awardees
Overview of program
Welcome to the esteemed Care Team Grant awardees of the PKD Centers of Excellence program, showcasing a dedication to patient-centric care. These institutions have secured grants to bolster their care teams, fostering patient navigation and supporting comprehensive PKD-centered care. Aligned with the program’s pillars of research, enhanced care, and community education, their designation as a Center of Excellence, Partner Clinic, Pediatric Center of Excellence, or Pediatric Clinic signifies a crucial advancement in PKD healthcare. This three-year funding highlights their commitment to raising PKD care standards.
2025-2027 Care Team Grant Awardee
University of California San Francisco
The UCSF Center of Excellence is managing staffing transitions, while handling 5-10 monthly patient referrals, maintaining sub-two-week wait times, and addressing a fourfold rise in MyChart communications. A new care navigator will enhance patient self-management and education using
Dept. of Medicine data resources, supporting those with new diagnoses or geographic barriers. The
center remains committed to quality improvement and sharing its strategies with peers.
2024-2026 Care Team Grant Awardees
Emory University
Emory Clinic has seen a wonderful surge in patients seeking top-notch care in nephrology and PKD. However, this success has prompted the need for extra hands to ensure smooth scheduling, quicker test results, and smoother authorization processes. Changes in the transplant center’s policy have brought more patients our way, though it’s led to some delays that we’re eager to fix. To tackle this, we’re excited
to introduce a patient navigator and support Dr. Saad’s training. We’re gearing up for more patients, shorter wait times, and an even more efficient and satisfying experience for everyone we care for.
Tufts Medical Center
At the PKD COE at Tufts Medical Center, we’re dedicated to providing top-tier, personalized care to our patients, serving as a cornerstone in New England for PKD treatment. With a robust team experienced in managing all facets of PKD and a strong commitment to clinical research, our addition of a Patient Navigator promises to elevate care quality, improve research participation, and expand our educational outreach efforts both locally and nationally. This dedicated support will ensure our patients receive the highest level of care and satisfaction as they navigate their journey with PKD. University of Colorado Denver
The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus has seen remarkable results by funding a nurse navigator dedicated solely to patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), experiencing a 50% increase in new patient numbers in just one year. Expanding this support throughthe proposed Care Team Grant will enable us to offer comprehensive nursing care, facilitate clinical trials, provide education, coordinate treatments, and ensure seamless support for ADPKD patients across Colorado. This investment will elevate our ability to deliver exceptional care and enhance the overall
patient experience within our PKD Center of Excellence.
Children’s National Hospital
Children’s National’s Inherited and Polycystic Kidney Diseases (IPKD) Program offers comprehensive, multidisciplinary care to children with cystic kidney conditions, including a specialized focus on young patients with ADPKD. With a dedicated team of specialists and a commitment to proactive care, we aimto enhance the well-being of our young patients by fostering preventive cardiology alliances,
streamlining multidisciplinary care, empowering patient education, ensuring seamless transitions to
adult care, and actively contributing to program development and research, ultimately delivering exceptional care and support tailored to children and adolescents with ADPKD.
Columbia University Medical Center
Columbia University Irving Medical Center’s Polycystic Kidney Diseases Center is poised for transformative improvements in patient care with the introduction of a dedicated patient navigator for PKD patients. Anticipating enhanced access, streamlined referrals, and proactive community engagement, this patient-centric initiative aims to expedite care, foster multidisciplinary collaboration, and pave the way for impactful advancements in PKD research, ensuring a holistic and patient-focused approach to PKD management. University of California San Diego
The Care Team Grant at UCSD’s PKD Center of Excellence aims to revolutionize PKD care delivery by addressing key areas of improvement identified through collaboration with clinical experts and patient stakeholders. With dedicated resources, this initiative promises enhanced patient-reported outcomes understanding, streamlined transplant listings, tailored health coaching, and the establishment of arobust biorepository, all geared towards improving patient experiences and outcomes within a concise timeframe. This grant’s support will be pivotal in driving these transformative changes forward.
2023-2025 Care Team Grant Awardees
Mayo Clinic Jacksonville
Mayo Clinic Florida’s PKD Center envisions a groundbreaking health coach PKD program, intending to ease the burden of ADPKD on patients and families, enhancing their quality of life. With the support of the PKD Foundation grant, this program will empower patients, create personalized tools for managing ADPKD, and revolutionize care delivery. Additionally, bolstering the PKD patient navigator role willelevate patient experiences, streamline care coordination, and enhance translational capabilities,
marking a pivotal step forward for the center’s growth and commitment to comprehensive ADPKD care.
Swedish Medical Center
The Swedish Polycystic Kidney Disease Center serves as a vital referral hub for Washington state and beyond, caring for over 230 ADPKD patients with a growing number of referrals. With the essential role of the nurse patient navigator, we’re dedicated to enhancing care quality, reducing patient burdens, and ensuring personalized support for every individual navigating the complexities of ADPKD management. This grant support will empower our navigator, allowing focused and dedicated time to ensure comprehensive care and support for our expanding patient panel, marking a significant step forward in our commitment to exceptional patient care. The Rogosin Institute
Funding from the Care Team Grant will empower multiple staff members to efficiently manage PKD patient needs, relieving administrative burdens and enabling our PKD administrative assistant to concentrate on delivering exceptional patient facing PKD navigation services. By distributing responsibilities across the team, this support will streamline processes, ensuring prompt and effectivecare for our growing roster of PKD patients, marking a significant step towards enhancing our patient focused PKD program.
University of Kansas Medical Center
The University of Kansas Health System is dedicated to optimizing care for ADPKD patients by addressing obstacles they face in accessing and coordinating their treatment. A patient navigator will streamline care, support patients through treatment complexities, assist with transitions in care, and ensure access to resources and clinical trials, enhancing patient support and maximizing the health system’s resources for comprehensive care delivery. University of Maryland
The University of Maryland’s Division of Nephrology, a leading referral center in the Mid-Atlantic region for polycystic kidney disease (PKD), aims to significantly enhance patient care. By seeking funding for a patient coordinator/navigator with medical expertise, they intend to proactively monitor treatment compliance, improve patient education, streamline referrals to specialists, enhance researchopportunities, and better support their growing population of ADPKD patients on Jynarque, ensuring a substantial positive impact on the care experience.
University of Wisconsin-Madison
The PKD Clinic at the University of Wisconsin has experienced significant growth, doubling unique patient numbers and tripling total patient visits. However, with fragmented care and increasing workload, the clinic will use funding for a dedicated patient navigator to ensure smoother, more coordinated care, offering patients a reliable point of contact and freeing up providers to expand the clinic’s reach and provide state-of-the-art care to more PKD patients in Wisconsin and neighboring areas. This support will have a substantial impact on patient experience and the clinic’s ability to reach and benefit a larger population of PKD patients.Yale University
The Yale Nephrology program spans multiple hospitals and clinics across Southern Connecticut and aims to enhance care for ADPKD patients. Their proposed navigator will serve as a dedicated liaison, facilitating personalized prescreening, ensuring uniform delivery of specialized services, promoting equity in care access, coordinating clinical trials, transitioning care between pediatric and adult nephrology, andfostering strong partnerships with private practices. This navigator role will streamline patient
experiences and collaborations, ensuring comprehensive care and support for ADPKD patients across
the region.
Page last updated January 2025
