Addressing Low Detection of Chronic Kidney Disease in At-Risk Patients

Barbara S. Gillespie, MD, MMS, FASN, Vice President & Therapeutic Head of Nephrology, Labcorp Drug Development; Adjunct Professor, University of North Carolina

Dr. Gillespie is a board-certified nephrologist and supports sponsors on renal drug and device development at Labcorp. She also cares for kidney patients as an Adjunct Professor at the University of North Carolina, Division of Nephrology and serves on the Board of Directors at the Kidney Health Initiative (KHI), a public-private partnership between the FDA and American Society of Nephrology. KHI’s mission is to catalyze innovative and patient-centered therapies for kidney patients. She is an invited member of several advisory boards, stakeholder panels, and faculty speaker at several global renal conferences and workgroups.

Prior to joining Labcorp Drug Development, Dr. Gillespie worked at Quintiles for 11 years in several leadership roles, and worked on over 15 indications across both CKD and end-stage kidney disease serving as a consultant to sponsors for clinical development plans, due diligence, regulatory submissions, commercialization plans, health economics outcomes research and patient-reported outcomes. She completed her internal medicine residency at UNC, and her nephrology fellowship at Duke University. Until recently she was an associate medical director at a local hemodialysis unit.

Jennifer Ennis, MD, Medical Director, Labcorp

Dr. Ennis joined Litholink, a Labcorp subsidiary, as a Medical Director in 2009. In this role she led the development of Labcorp’s suite of laboratory-based clinical decision support offerings, including chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. Dr. Ennis was promoted to Associate Vice President in 2019 and assumed the role of Medical Director for Value-Based Care Programs and Products. In 2020, she became Medical Director of Clinical and Digital Solutions, overseeing clinical content development for Labcorp’s portfolio of customer-facing technology solutions.

Dr. Ennis is also a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine in the Section of Nephrology at the University of Illinois at Chicago where she provides patient care, teaches, and supervises medical trainees. In addition to these responsibilities, she performs clinical research in chronic kidney disease and has authored several abstracts and peer-reviewed publications.

Dr. Ennis earned her MD from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and completed an internal medicine residency and nephrology fellowship training at the University of Chicago Medical Center. She is board certified in internal medicine and nephrology, and is a fellow of the American College of Physicians.

Joe Vassalotti, MD, Chief Medical Officer, National Kidney Foundation; Clinical Professor of Medicine, Division of Nephrology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Dr. Vassalotti is the Chief Medical Officer of the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) and Clinical Professor of Medicine in the Division of Nephrology, at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He received his medical degree with Distinction in Research from the SUNY Stony Brook School of Medicine and completed an Internal Medicine Residency and Nephrology Fellowship at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.

At NKF, his major focus is implementation of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines in chronic kidney disease (CKD), including the NKF’s Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (KDOQI), particularly through guidance of the NKF’s primary care initiative, called CKDintercept.

He has served as co-PI for the CDC Demonstration Project “CKD Health Evaluation and Risk Information Sharing (CHERISH)”, which aimed to identify individuals at high risk for CKD in the U.S. and as an investigator for the NIH-sponsored clustered practice randomized trial entitled, evidenced-based primary care for CKD. Leadership also includes multiple roles over the last decade with the CMS Fistula First national quality improvement initiative for hemodialysis, including as Lead Physician Consultant from 2013 through 2015.

He has served on numerous committees that shape innovation and health policy in kidney disease for the CDC, the NIH and CMS. Currently, he serves as Principal Investigator for the Kidney Score Platform an NKF educational project funded by the Veterans Administration Center for Innovation to improve awareness and education among Veterans with and at risk for CKD in the primary care setting. He is the Chair of NKF’s Technical Expert Panel on the Kidney Health Evaluation for Patients with Diabetes. He also serves as PI for an AARP-funded OptumLabs investigation that evaluates disparities in the Kidney Health Evaluation Measure for CKD testing of Americans with diabetes as well as analyzes evidenced-based therapies driven by the measure.

Dr. Vassalotti typically sees approximately 40 patients per week and has over 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals. He has been featured in Castle Connolly’s Top Doctors and Best Doctors in America.

Derek Forfang

Derek Forfang has been a Type 1 diabetic since age 10 and an end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patient since 1999, utilizing various treatment modalities, including transplantation, peritoneal dialysis, and in-center hemodialysis. Both his mother and grandfather were type 2 diabetic and experienced kidney failure as well.

He is the Co-Chair of the National Forum of ESRD Networks’ Kidney Patient Advisory Council (KPAC), and Member on the Forum Board of Directors. He is the Chair of Health Services Advisory Group (HSAG) ESRD Networks, as well as the chair of ESRD Network #17’s Patient Advisory Committee (PAC). He serves as Chair of the National Kidney Foundation’s (NKF) Kidney Advocacy Committee (KAC) and Chairs the NKF Public Policy Committee. He also is a member of the Kidney Health Initiative (KHI) Patient and Family Partnership Council working with the FDA and serves as a member of the CDC Making Dialysis Safer for Patients Coalition.

Derek is the first recipient of the National Kidney Foundation’s Celeste Castillo Lee Patient Engagement Award and was presented with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Quality Improvement & Innovation Group (CMS QIIG) Results Coin in 2018.