Annual Global Summit on Kidney Disease Innovations

7th annual Global Summit on Kidney Innovations
“The Decade of the Kidney™ at Midpoint: Opportunities and Barriers to Greater Innovation and Freedom from Disease and Disability”

presented by the partnership of

 American Association of Kidney Patients &

George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences

May 22 – 23, 2025 

* Virtual Event *

Since 2019, the Global Summit has served the global kidney community as the largest patient-led kidney disease innovations summit in the world. Each year, the event highlights key advancements being made during the Decade of the Kidney™ aimed at reducing human suffering, saving more lives and protecting livelihoods. From an initial audience of just over 20 countries, the Global Summit has grown its reach to more than 100 countries and engaged tens of thousands. This virtual event features two days of networking opportunities and presentations featuring international kidney experts including patient advocates, researchers, academia, healthcare professionals, industry leaders, investors and entrepreneurs, as well as government leaders and regulators.

#GLOBALKIDNEY2025

The 2025 Global Summit marks a critical milestone for the global kidney community because it is the midpoint of the AAKP-led Decade of the Kidney™ (2020-2030). This global initiative has been mirrored across the world by kidney advocates, medical allies, and government officials. Among people of goodwill committed to a return of true, patient-centered medicine, the Decade of the Kidney™ has raised awareness about the increasing burdens of kidney diseases worldwide among people, communities, workforces, and governments. It has also accelerated the determination to transcend status quo downstream treatments of kidney care, including brick and mortar dialysis. There is a rapid and growing consensus that high-mortality kidney care as we know it must end and, along with it, practices and institutions that fail to include the voices of patients.

The future of kidney care will be determined by expansions in patient consumer care choice; targeted therapies that stop kidney disease and prevent kidney failure; greater access to donated organs, new devices, and alternatives to human organs - including artificial wearable and implantable kidneys and xenotransplantation. By reflecting on the midpoint in the Decade of the Kidney™ we will refocus our attention on opportunities and barriers that stand between us today and a future marked by “Greater Innovation and Freedom from Disease and Disability” for all people who are at-risk for, or living with, kidney disease.

About Global Summit Partners:

American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP) is the oldest and largest fully independent kidney patient organization in the United States. AAKP patients led the effort in the U.S. Congress and with senior White House officials to establish the End Stage Renal Disease Program in 1973, which has saved over a million lives through dialysis coverage. With a patient-majority led Board of Directors, AAKP works globally with patients and drug and device development companies on treatment design, clinical trials and patient education and mobilization. AAKP fights for early detection; increased kidney transplantation and pre-emptive transplantation; full patient choice either at-home or in-center dialysis; protection of the patient/physician relationship; promotion of research and innovation; and the elimination of barriers for patient access to available treatment options.

George Washington School of Medicine Founded in 1824, the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS) is the 11th oldest medical school in the country and the first in the nation’s capital. Since its establishment, the school has been at the forefront of medical education, and has grown to include highly-ranked programs in the health and biomedical sciences. With dozens of top-tier residency programs, SMHS is a competitive and esteemed destination for medical school graduates across the country. Today, students and residents are exposed to some of the most innovative educational techniques, taught by world-renowned faculty members, in state-of-the-art facilities.