UofL professor elected president of national nephrology group

University of Louisville Professor of Medicine Eleanor D. Lederer, MD, has been elected president of the American Society of Nephrology for 2017. She assumed her new role at ASN Kidney Week, the society’s annual meeting held Nov. 15-20 in Chicago.

Lederer also is chief of the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, associate training program director and associate ombudsman for the UofL School of Medicine. Additionally, she serves as director of the UofL Physicians Metabolic Stone Clinic as well as the associate chief of staff for research and development at the Robley Rex VA Medical Center. Board certified in internal medicine and nephrology, Lederer is an UNOS-certified transplant physician.

Her research focuses on divalent ion metabolism, the minerals important for bone health. She oversees a basic science research laboratory funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs Merit Review Board, studying the mechanisms of regulation of the sodium phosphate transporter in a part of the kidney’s nephron known as the proximal renal tubule. She also has clinical interests in stone disease, and since starting the Metabolic Stone Clinic at UofL, has initiated research into the protein components of stones and their potential role in the pathogenesis of stone formation.

Lederer has a history of close involvement with ASN. She is a Fellow of the ASN and has served the organization in numerous roles including membership on the Communications Committee, Program Committee, Nominating Committee, Abstract Selection Committee, Training Program Directors Executive Committee, Women in Nephrology Professional Development Seminar Organizing Committee and In-Training Examination Writing Committee. She is a section editor for Clinical Nephrology and eMedicine Nephrology.

“Being on the ASN Council for the past few years has given me significant insight into the many different challenges and tasks facing medical societies – policy and advocacy issues, development of quality educational tools, promotion of research – for an extraordinarily diverse group of individuals,” Lederer said. “As president, I will be in a position to respond to the voice of the membership and the voice of the patients, our charges.”

Although Lederer sees several substantive nephrology-related issues to be addressed within the following year, she said the most challenging are the implications of the exploding population of patients with kidney failure worldwide.

"Kidney diseases are a global issue, and the challenges of developing and developed nations are similar – too many patients, too few resources," she said.

Lederer said she hopes that by working with other national and international societies, kidney care can be improved on a global scale.