Professor Juan-Jesus Carrero receives ERA-EDTA award of excellence
The European Renal Association – European Dialysis and Transplant Association has just announced their annual awards and Professor Juan-Jesus Carrero from the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Karolinska Institutet will receive the ERA-EDTA Award for Research Excellence for his work in kidney epidemiology, on June 7, 2021 at the 58th ERA-EDTA Congress.
Why were you rewarded this award of excellence this year?
–The ERA-EDTA is one of the largest associations worldwide devoted to helping people with chronic kidney disease. The ERA-EDTA established these awards in 2010 to honor individuals who have made significant contributions to nephrology. It is a very special honor to be the 2021 awardee, and receiving recognition from this society is particularly meaningful to me both because of the organization's vision as well for me on a personal level as it is thanks to the post-doctoral fellowship programme of the ERA-EDTA that I originally could come to Karolinska Institutet, says Juan-Jesus Carrero.
What does the prize entail?
–The award will be presented in June at the 58th ERA-EDTA annual conference in Berlin. It consists of (if COVID-19 permits) attendance to the conference and a nice diploma that I look forward to hang in my office. I have attended this conference every year since I came to KI. It is my favorite conference to meet colleagues and friends, to learn about the latest research and get ideas and inspiration for my work.
How does it feel?
–I feel privileged and fortunate as this award embodies the ERA-EDTA’s commitment to help people with kidney disease. Most of the time we work isolated, in front of our computers which sometimes makes us feel disconnected. This award connects me to those who read and find our work useful for their research or clinical practice, and it represents a strong incentive for me to continue. I’m honored to join esteemed past awarded colleagues and future recipients as we work together to improve our understanding of kidney diseases.
Since I early on in my academic carrier I was drawn to the potential of clinical epidemiology as a means to improve the care of our patients, I could not have landed in a better place than KI and MEB which has given me access to the amazing Swedish registers. I am deeply grateful to my mentors Bengt Lindholm and Peter Stenvinkel who introduced me to nephrology, and to all the wonderful collaborators, both at KI and around the world, who teach me new things every day. I am super proud of my team, to whom I owe this award, and to my parents, wife and kids, who support me in every step. Sometimes these awards are given to honor a lifetime achievement. I am only 43 years old, and I hope my best is yet to come!
What are you busy with right now or planning on doing?
–At present we have a strong focus on identifying the best therapies and medication strategies for persons with kidney disease using health records from Stockholm region. This is important, because the kidney is responsible for the elimination of most medications, and correct monitoring and dosing is often needed to avoid the occurrence of adverse effects that compromise safety. Because of this drug-elimination problem, most clinical trials have excluded persons with kidney disease, which leads to important knowledge gaps regarding the effectiveness of many common medication regimes. My other research focus involves diet, lifestyle and nutritional disorders in these patients.