Advisory Panel

Education Advisory Panel

Announcing the new Education Advisory Panel

At the PKD Foundation, we believe education is the key to identifying new practices and learning how to implement changes to create better outcomes. In the world of polycystic kidney disease (PKD), it is imperative that patients, caregivers, physicians, and healthcare providers who support individuals with ADPKD and ARPKD share a common language and learning process.

To ensure the education provided by the Foundation is robust, designed with the voice of the patient, and focused on the most appropriate areas for individuals with PKD, we launched an Education Advisory Panel (EAP).

The EAP will act as a body of PKD experts who contribute to the Foundation’s education program with their unique inter-professional and multidisciplinary perspectives, informing and helping guide program and curriculum developments in accordance with the mission and vision of the Foundation.

Read the announcement.

The deadline for 2021 has passed. The applications for the next cycle will open in fall 2022.

Questions?

Please email education@pkdcure.org.

EAP members

The EAP is comprised of inter-professional and multidisciplinary members to reflect a whole person, team-based approach to managing PKD.

The group will contain nine members:

• Two nephrologists
  — One nephrologist with ADPKD experience and one pediatric nephrologist
  — One of the above nephrologists will serve as the Chair of the panel
• Family physician or internal medicine physician
• Patient with PKD
• Caregiver
• Renal nurse
• Renal dietician
• Pain specialist
• Radiologist

The EAP will work with sub-specialists as required by individual educational topics to ensure a robust, patient-centered curriculum is outlined. Sub-specialists will include, but are not limited to: cardiologists, certified hypertension specialists, geneticists, hepatologists, maternal fetal medicine specialists, neurologists, obstetricians, pharmacists, mental health professionals, social workers, PKD non-clinical researchers, and transplant surgeons.

EAP Chair role qualifications
The EAP Chair role will be filled by a nephrologist. Qualifications for the Chair role will include:

1. Ability to utilize best practices from adult learning theory in the design of patient and certified education.
2. Demonstrate a history of leading multidisciplinary teams to create education.
3. Facilitate discussion around interactive educational components.
4. Be familiar with the ACCME Standards of Commercial Support.
5. Abstain from relevant conflicts of interest with commercial interests.
6. Be active in the area of PKD, either through a patient panel, research, or equivalent work.

EAP Chair role responsibilities

1. Preside at all scheduled EAP meetings
2. Attend in-person meetings and conference calls (typically up to four total meetings per year). If the EAP Chair cannot be present at a meeting, it will be rescheduled
3. Collaborate closely with the PKDF Senior Director of Education and Education department staff to:
   1. Develop and prioritize agenda items for EAP meetings
   2. Facilitate professional and productive discussion
4. Ensure all EAP members have a current Conflict of Interest form on file with the PKDF and are disclosing all relationships prior to each meeting.
5. Provide leadership to the EAP members by:
   1. Leading/facilitating discussions and gaining general agreement within the group setting
   2. Providing leadership development, coaching, and feedback to all EAP members when addressing problems and deficiencies
   3. Delegating responsibilities to other EAP members as needed
6. Work with PKDF Senior Director of Education to develop and maintain a PKDF curricular framework, to serve as the foundation for patient and certified education content development.
7. Review eligible submissions by potential faculty candidates on educational topics.
8. Oversee the recommendation process of the EAP on faculty candidates.
9. Provide a recommendation to the Senior Director of Education for faculty selection by educational topic. PKDF will make the final selection(s).
10. Review eligible EAP member candidate finalists and collaborate on selection with the Senior Director of Education; PKDF will make the final selection(s).
11. After PKDF has notified the finalist of his or her selection, contact and welcome each newly selected EAP member, answer questions, and review role responsibilities.
12. Serve a two-year term
    1. EAP Chairs may serve up to two consecutive 2-year terms
    2. Former chairs may be considered for an open position after they have spent a total of two full terms (four years) off of the EAP

Selecting the EAP Chair

1. PKDF will announce the position opening, necessary qualifications and application process.
2. Following review of submitted applications, the Senior Director of Education will contact eligible candidates for a phone interview.
3. The PKDF will select the final candidate, who will be notified by the Senior Director of Education.

EAP member qualifications
The EAP chair role will be filled by a nephrologist. Qualifications for the chair role will include:

1. Terms may be staggered to ensure continuity through onboarding of new Members.
2. EAP members may serve up to two consecutive 2-year terms
3. Former members may be considered for an open position after they have spent a total of two full terms (four years) off of the EAP

Selecting EAP members

Current EAP roster

Chair ADPKD-focused nephrologist
Dr. Fouad T. Chebib, MD, FASN

Dr. Fouad T. Chebib, MD, FASN is a nephrologist and assistant professor of Medicine at Mayo Clinic. He finished his undergraduate studies at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon then his medical school at the University of Balamand, Lebanon. He joined Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, MA for a postdoctoral research fellowship in molecular nephrology and ion channels at Alper Lab, Harvard University. Afterwards, he trained at Saint Elizabeth Medical Center (Tufts University) for internal medicine then Mayo Clinic for a 3-year nephrology fellowship followed by two years as a Mayo Clinic Scholar to develop his research program under the mentorship of Dr. Vicente Torres. His clinical and research focus is advancing the medical care and preventing kidney failure in patients with Polycystic Kidney Disease. His research examines molecular mechanisms that lead to cyst formation on ADPKD patients and explores targeted treatment options. He established the tolvaptan clinic at Mayo Clinic to ensure a safe and effective administration of the first FDA drug to slow ADPKD. He is currently studying novel targets and molecules with promising therapeutic potential in ADPKD treatment. He is also leading innovative projects in delivering medical care to ADPKD patients globally.

Renal Dietician
Haewook Han, PhD, RD, LDN, FNKF

Haewook Han, PhD, RD, LDN, FNKF is a renal nutrition specialist at Atrius Health’s (Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates) Department of Nephrology as well as at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. She has various experiences in clinical practice among stage 1-5 CKD, post-transplant, and dialysis patients and has participated in research including the Hemodialysis Study. She also has expertise in kidney stones and has published the textbook “Nutritional and Medical Management of Kidney stones” as a co-editor in 2019. She is the program director of the Master of Science/Dietetic Internship program at the Friedman School of Nutrition at Tufts University and is involved in several renal research projects with students. She works with the renal teams at both Atrius and Tufts Medical Center to provide appropriate diet education for all renal patients and teach young dietitians and graduate students. Recently, she has collaborated with Dr. Perrone at Tufts Medical Center to provide appropriate diet recommendations for polycystic kidney disease. She has also been involved in CKD quality assurance projects at Atrius Health. Dr. Han has been a member of the Journal of Renal Nutrition and Nutrition Today editorial boards and has served as a Renalink editor at the NKF CRN Executive Committee and has presented multiple lectures in nutritional management of CKD and kidney stones at U.S and international conferences.

ARPKD Nephrologist
Cynthia Pan, MD

Dr. Cynthia Pan is Professor of Pediatrics with the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and a practicing pediatric nephrologist at the Children’s Wisconsin hospital. Dr. Pan is currently the Division Chief of Nephrology and Associate Chair of Pediatrics. She graduated from the Medical College of Wisconsin and went on to complete her pediatric residency at the Buffalo Children’s Hospital, Buffalo, NY. She then completed her subspecialty training at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in Pediatric Nephrology. She has had the opportunity to provide care of patients with PKD and collaborated with scientists whose career is devoted to research in PKD and chronic kidney disease. Her clinical practice and research have given her insight on families and patients affected by PKD, including those with autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease. Patients with this rare disease, along with those affected by ADPKD, have shown her the life altering effects on young patients that has inspired her to join the PKD Foundation’s Educational Advisory panel. Her work also involves the training and education of the next generation of clinicians and researchers. Through these efforts, she believes that by collaboration with the community, the goal of prevention of the life-threatening kidney disease in patients with PKD can be achieved.

Radiologist
Pardeep Mittal, MD

Dr. Mittal is a Professor of Radiology at the Medical College of Georgia. Prior to MCG, he spent 18 years at Emory University School of Medicine, where he developed his passion for abdominal MRI. He has been recognized by the Radiological Society of North America as an Honorary Educator three times, and received the Hidden Gem award for excellence from Emory University School of Medicine in 2017. His involvement in the HART and CRISP studies as a radiologist helped to instill a significant interest in PKD and its ongoing research.

Pain Specialist
Christine Hunt, MD