Kamyar Kalantar-Zadeh is an Investigator at the Lundquist Institute, a Professor of Medicine, Pediatrics, and Public Health and the Chief of Nephrology at the UCI School of Medicine, and an Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. He received his MD in Medicine at the University of Bonn in 1991, and he earned his MPH in Public Health and Ph.D. in Epidemiology at the University of California, Berkeley in 1999 and 2004, respectively. He has conducted research on kidney disease outcomes and epidemiology, cardiovascular risks in CKD, malnutrition and wasting in chronic diseases, inflammation and cachexia, diabetes and obesity, renal osteodystrophy and mineral disorders, sodium and potassium disarrays, anemia and iron deficiencies, disparities and quality of life in CKD, and acid–base disorders.
Dr. Connie M. Rhee is a Professor in Residence in the Department of Medicine of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. She completed her undergraduate tenure at Northwestern University and her medical school training at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. She subsequently completed her residency and chief residency at the Oregon Health and Science University and Portland VA Medical Center. She pursued her clinical nephrology fellowship and postdoctoral research training at the combined Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Massachusetts General Hospital Nephrology Fellowship Program. She completed her Master of Science degree in Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. Before joining UCLA and the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, she served as a faculty member and in multiple leadership positions at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). She also served as the Department of Medicine’s Vice-Chair of Clinical Research at UCI. She has mentored a wide range of trainees in the areas of nephrology, nutrition science, endocrinology/metabolism, public health, biostatistics, and related disciplines. Her contributions to the field have been recognized with several major professional society awards, including the National Kidney Foundation—Council of Renal Nutrition Dr. Joel D. Kopple Award (2020) and the American Society of Nephrology Midcareer Distinguished Mentor Award (2023).
