• KIDNEY
  • EQUITY
  • for
  • All
Please Wait
KIDNEY EQUITY FOR ALL is a patient-focused, community-minded movement dedicated to ensuring that ALL kidney patients have access to high-quality, patient-centered kidney care from the moment of diagnosis to transplantation.

Kidney Equity

is Health Equity


About KIDNEY EQUITY FOR ALL

Health disparities continue to plague the most underserved populations and impact the entire kidney patient journey. To address these disparities, industry and community leaders must advocate for equitable access to high-quality healthcare for ALL kidney patients.

At the National Kidney Foundation we are championing the fight KIDNEY EQUITY FOR ALL - a commitment to making a tangible difference in the lives of ALL kidney patients, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual identity, and socio-economic status.

Why Kidney Equity?


Disparities in Kidney Care

In the past, kidney health has not been fair for everyone. KIDNEY EQUITY FOR ALL is a movement led by the National Kidney Foundation and partner organizations to integrate kidney care and the needs of ALL kidney patients into the public consciousness. We will do this by dismantling structural racism in the healthcare system, accelerating innovation, and ensuring access to high-quality healthcare. KIDNEY EQUITY FOR ALL binds us together as a community – patients, healthcare organizations, and industry – singularly focused on making lasting, positive change for every community.

Image Title
Image Title

Join us in championing the fight for ALL people affected by kidney disease, especially the most vulnerable communities.


Because Kidney Equity is Health Equity.

Equity Spotlight


Did You Know?

There is a federal formula that “scores” kidneys from Black deceased kidney donors less favorably than kidneys from non-Black individuals? It’s called the Kidney Donor Risk Index (KDRI), and it includes African-American ethnicity as a donor characteristic to determine the risk of kidney failure after it is transplanted. Race is a social construct and does not belong in clinical care. Kidneys from black donors perform the same functions as kidneys from white donors and the federal government should treat them equitably.

Sign our Petition

Take Race Out of the Kidney Transplant Equation The National Kidney Foundation believes using race and ethnicity in clinical calculations harms patients and perpetuates racism in kidney care. Join us in our mission to advance health equity in organ donation and kidney transplantation by signing our petition calling on the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) to remove ethnicity from the KDRI immediately.


About the National Kidney Foundation
National Kidney Foundation Logo


The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) is revolutionizing the fight to save lives by eliminating preventable kidney disease, accelerating innovation for the dignity of the patient experience, and dismantling structural inequities in kidney care, dialysis, and transplantation.

As impassioned stewards and leaders in kidney care, we are devoted to bringing fair, equitable, and innovative treatment for kidney health to ALL patients by driving public action, advancing education and awareness, and accelearating change.

Our brand promise of KIDNEY EQUITY FOR ALL serves as a testament to our unwavering dedication in championing the fight for every individual affected by kidney disease.


Initiatives Putting Equity in Action

By collaborating and remaining steadfast in our mission, we can achieve KIDNEY EQUITY FOR ALL. We are asking public and private organizations of all size and across all industries to join our fight. Explore some of our multifaceted initiatives as living proof of our commitment and join us in advancing our cause.

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) intercept®

A groundbreaking initiative to improve chronic kidney disease through testing, recognition, and management in primary care.

Transplants for All

Everyone who needs a kidney should get a kidney. This initiative advances transplantation and living donation through education, research, innovation, and policy change.

Project Echo®

A 60-minute case-based learning series with a goal of increasing clinicians' confidence levels in early testing, diagnosis, management, and patient support.

NKF Peers®

A peer mentoring program, where kidney patients are connected via phone with trained mentors who have been there themselves.


Our Supporters


Kidney Equity Champions

We, the Kidney Equity Champions, are boldly committed to KIDNEY EQUITY FOR ALL. We are confidently leading the charge to dismantle structural racism in the healthcare system and ensure all patients have access to quality kidney care.


If your organization is interested in joining our fight as a corporate Kidney Equity Champion, please contact info@kidneyequityforall.org

Downloads + Links

Press Materials
NATIONAL KIDNEY FOUNDATION LAUNCHES KIDNEY EQUITY FOR ALL INITIATIVE AT DC EVENTS

In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month and in recognition of the burden of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in Black/African American populations, Latino/Hispanic populations, and other marginalized communities, the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) is proud to announce several activities it is undertaking as part of its KIDNEY EQUITY FOR ALL initiative. READ MORE

Press Contact:
Paul McGee

paul.mcgee@kidney.org



Speakers Bureau

Our KIDNEY EQUITY FOR ALL Speaker’s Bureau consists of kidney healthcare professionals, transplant recipients, top executives in the community, and thought leaders in health equity. If you are interested in booking one of our Kidney Equity leaders for a speaking engagement or media interview, please contact Paul McGee at: paul.mcgee@kidney.org

Kevin LonginoChief Executive Officer, NKF
Kevin Longino Headshot
Since 2015, Kevin Longino has been Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Kidney Foundation. He first became involved with the organization in 2008 as a volunteer advocate, four years after receiving a life-saving kidney transplant. He readily shares his story and uses his experience to help other kidney disease patients. As CEO, he leads NKF in its mission to support kidney health and ALL kidney patients.
Sylvia E. Rosas, MD, MSCEBoard President, NKF
Sylvia E. Rosas Headshot
Sylvia E. Rosas, MD, MSCE is a nephrologist and epidemiologist at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, Ma. She is the Director of the Latino Kidney Clinic and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She also is a nephrologist at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Joseph A. Vassalotti, MDChief Medical Officer, NKF
Joseph Vassalotti Headshot
Dr. Joseph A. Vassalotti is the Chief Medical Officer of the National Kidney Foundation and Clinical Professor of Medicine in the Division of Nephrology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Primary care and population health for Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) are his major academic interests.
Kirk Campbell, MDBoard Chair, NKF
Kevin Campbell Headshot
As a principal investigator (PI) for multiple clinical trials in the rare kidney disease space, Dr. Campbell understands all too well the challenges faced by patients, as he has seen close friends affected by it as well.

Health equity initiatives in kidney care are extremely important particularly from a public health perspective. A central goal is identifying individuals and communities at the highest risk for poor kidney-related outcomes and designing and implementing successful multidisciplinary interventions to ameliorate that risk.
Glenda V. RobertsMember, NKF Health Equity Advisory Committee
Glenda Roberts Headshot
Glenda V. Roberts is the director of patient relations at the Kidney Research Institute at the University of Washington and a kidney transplant recipient. Based upon her personal experience with kidney disease, Glenda is a passionate activist for kidney research and patients living with kidney disease. She’s involved in myriad patient-centered national and international health care transformation initiatives.
Dinushika Mohottige, MD, MPHMember, NKF Health Equity Advisory Committee
Dinushika Mohottige Headshot
Dr. Dinushika Mohottige is Assistant Professor in Institute of Health Equity Research at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Barbara T. Murphy Division of Nephrology. She engages in patient and community-centered, inequity-focused research around the impact of socio-structural factors/racialized medicine on kidney health and kidney transplantation.

Inequalities in the burden of kidney disease and in kidney care drew me to Medicine, Nephrology, and research. It is a great privilege to care for people living with kidney disease and I consider it part of my responsibility as a clinician and researcher to work toward a future where we no longer describe multi-decade disparities. My hope is that we can build a future in which kidney health justice is realized for all people and communities, and inequitable conditions which produce kidney health disparities are repaired.