During this year’s AAKP Medal of Excellence Award Dinner, the American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP) honored Willem J. Kolff, MD, and Belding H. Scribner, MD, with the Medal of Excellence. AAKP also unveiled its newest award, the Congressional Leadership Medal, and presented it to Senator Charles Grassley. The physicians and senator were recognized for their vast achievements on Sunday, March 23, 2003 at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel, in Washington D.C.

The Medal of Excellence Award was created to honor a renal physician who has dedicated his or her career to mproving the lives of kidney patients. A panel of renal community peers reviewed the nominations and selected Drs. Kolff and Scribner as this year’s recipients of one of AAKP’s most prestigious award.

AAKP was also pleased to unveil the new Congressional Leadership Medal during the Award Dinner. The AAKP Congressional Leadership Medal was created to honor a member of Congress who has been a consistent leader in advocating public policies to improve the lives of kidney patients and their families. The recipient of this new award was U.S. Senator Charles Grassley, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

During the ceremony, AAKP celebrated the pioneering efforts of Drs. Kolff and Scribner. By developing the artificial kidney and devising a system for repeating hemodialysis over a longer period of time, Drs. Kolff and Scribner changed the once fatal outcome of kidney failure to a treatable disease. These two scientists’ inventions provided life-support for patients with kidney failure.

In the 1940’s, Dr. Kolff developed the first clinically useful hemodialyzer, a machine that removes toxins by sending the patient’s blood through a cleansing machine and then returning the blood back to the patient. This treatment tremendously reduced the number of deaths from acute renal failure. Hemodialysis has become the universal standard of care for individuals with acute and chronic kidney failure.

The second major advancement that brought dramatic new hope to kidney patients occurred fifteen years later. Dr. Scribner built on Dr. Kolff’s invention to extend the life-saving benefits to kidney patients. The original procedure called for insertion of needles into access veins that would send the blood to the dialyzer and then receive it back into the body. These operations destroyed the circulatory veins so badly that they could not be reused. To alleviate this problem, Dr. Scribner developed a U-shaped device, or shunt, that connected into an artery and vein and could remain there indefinitely.

Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA), Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, was named the first recipient of the AAKP Congressional Leadership Medal. In awarding this Medal, AAKP expressed deep appreciation for Senator Grassley’s efforts to improve the quality of kidney patient care under Medicare and his longstanding commitment to healthcare for all Americans.

“The evening was a wonderful way to thank these fine individuals for their commitment to all kidney patients,” said Brenda Dyson, president of AAKP. Close to 200 people attended the Eighth Annual Medal of Excellence Award Dinner, which was held in conjunction with the Renal Physician Association’s Annual Meeting. 

Past Awards recipients include: George E. Schreiner, M.D., of Georgetown University (2002); Garabed Eknoyan, M.D., of Baylor College of Medicine, Houston & Nathan Levin, M.D., of Renal Research Institute, New York (2001); Christopher Blagg, M.D., of Northwest Kidney Center (2000); John Bower, M.D., of University of Mississippi Medical Center and the Renal Physicians Association (1999); A. Peter Lundin, M.D., of State University of New York, Health Science Center at Brooklyn (1998); Clive O. Callender, M.D., of Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C. (1997); and Eli Friedman, M.D., of State University of New York, Health Science Center at Brooklyn (1996).

AAKP would like to thank its Medal of Excellence sponsors:

• Platinum- Amgen, Inc.

• Gold- Abbott Renal Care

• Silver- Sigma-Tau Pharmaceuticals; Watson Pharma, Inc.

• Bronze- American Regent Laboratories; Gambro Healthcare, Inc.; GAMBRO Renal Products-USA; Fresenius Medical Care, North America

• Patron- Dialysis Clinic, Inc.  

This article originally appeared in the March 2003 issue of aakpRENALIFE, Vol. 18, No. 5.

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