Council

Roser Torra is a Professor at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the President of the European Renal Association (ERA). She studied Medicine at the Universitat de Barcelona and completed her Nephrology residency at the Hospital Clinic. Since 2001, she has led the Inherited Kidney Diseases Unit at the Puigvert Foundation, where she is also chief of clinical Nephrology.

Her research, with over 200 publications, focuses on hereditary kidney diseases. Roser has received numerous fellowships, competitive grants, and the Iñigo Álvarez de Toledo Nephrology research award twice. She also coordinates the Rare Diseases program at Fundació Puigvert and the ERKnet and XUEC networks.

Dimitrios S. Goumenos, born in 1958, graduated from the University of Athens Medical School in 1982 and trained in Internal Medicine and Nephrology at Laikon General Hospital.

He received a fellowship from the Alexandros Onasis Foundation for advanced training at the Sheffield Kidney Institute, focusing on glomerulonephritis and renal scarring. In 1997, he became Assistant Professor at the University Hospital of Patras, later advancing to Full Professor and Head of Nephrology in 2009. His research spans kidney disease progression, pathogenesis and treatment of glomerular diseases, obesity-related glomerulopathy, and proteomics. He has held leadership roles, including President of the Hellenic Society of Nephrology and Dean of the University of Patras Medical School. He is currently Secretary General of the European Renal Association.

Mustafa ARICI, MD, is a Professor of Medicine (Nephrology) at Hacettepe University, Ankara, and Treasurer of the European Renal Association (ERA). A member of the Turkish Science Academy and former Secretary-General of Turkish Society of Nephrology, he has also served on KDIGO’s Executive Committee. His research focuses on chronic kidney disease (CKD), hypertension, kidney disease progression, albuminuria, fibrosis, cardiovascular risks, and sodium consumption.

He is a theme editor for Nephrology Dialysis and Transplantation and holds editorial roles in several medical journals. He has co-edited two major textbooks on CKD and nephrology.

Danilo Fliser is a Professor of Medicine at Saarland University, where he directs the Department of Internal Medicine IV–Renal and Hypertensive Diseases and serves as Spokesman of the Transplant Centre. He is Vice-Spokesman for a large research grant on “Cardiovascular Disease in CKD,” funded by the German Research Foundation. His research focuses on CKD progression, vascular biology, and cardiovascular complications in CKD.

With over 400 publications and a Hirsch Factor of 101, he serves on editorial boards of nephrology journals and has contributed to KDIGO and ERBP guidelines. He has held key roles in the ERA, including Renal Science Chair (2018-2025).

Alberto Ortiz, MD, PhD, FERA, is the Head of Nephrology and Hypertension at Fundación Jiménez Díaz and Professor of Medicine at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. He serves as Chair of the ERA Registry and is Clinical Science Chair-elect. Ortiz also coordinates Spain’s Kidney Research Network (REDINREN/RICORS2040) and SPACKDc, focusing on CKD genomics.

He received the 2020 ERA Award for Research Excellence and co-chaired the KDIGO Controversies Conference on Kidney Health in 2023. His research focuses on CKD epidemiology, acute kidney injury, and CKD pathogenesis. He was Editor-in-Chief of Clinical Kidney Journal from 2014 to 2022.

Pieter Evenepoel is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Medicine and Adjunct Head of Nephrology at University Hospital (UZ), Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. His research focuses on the pharmacokinetics and toxicity of gut-derived uremic retention solutes and chronic kidney disease-mineral and bone disorder (CKD-MBD).

He serves as an Ordinary Council Member of the European Renal Association (ERA) and holds leadership roles in KDIGO’s CKD-MBD Working Group and the ERA’s EUROD initiative. Pieter Evenepoel (co-)authored over 330 publications and an h-index of 89 (Google index). He is a theme editor for Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation and a member of the editorial board of Kidney International.

Ana Carina Ferreira is a Portuguese nephrologist and Assistant Professor at the Nephrology Department of Hospital Curry Cabral in Lisbon, focusing on the Peritoneal Dialysis Unit, general nephrology and CKD after solid organ transplantation appointments, and Bone Histomorphometry Lab. Outside the hospital, Dr Ferreira is Medical Director of a hemodialysis center in NC Lumiar, Lisbon. She earned her medical degree in 2003 and became a certified Specialist in Nephrology in 2012, obtaining the European Certificate in Nephrology in 2017.

Ferreira completed advanced training in research methods at Harvard Medical School in 2014 and 2015 and received her doctorate in Medicine in 2022. She is a founding member of the ERA Young Nephrologists’ Platform and served as its president from 2015 to 2017. Additionally, she served as treasurer of the Portuguese Society of Nephrology from 2021 to 2024. Currently, she is an Ordinary Council Member of the ERA.

Giovanni Gambaro is a prominent nephrologist and Full Professor at the University Hospital in Verona, Italy, where he directs the Division of Nephrology. He received his MD and specialized training in nephrology and internal medicine, and a PhD at the University of Padua. Previously, he served as Director of the Division of Nephrology at Policlinico Gemelli in Rome and was Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Nephrology.

He established a Renal Rare Diseases Unit of ERKNet and has led various research initiatives, earning awards like the Alcmeone Prize and the Arturo Borsatti Award. His research focuses on nephrolithiasis, CKD and renal rare diseases, and he has published extensively in these fields.

Giuseppe Grandaliano is a Full Professor of Nephrology and Head of the Nephrology Unit at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome, associated with Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Gemelli IRCCS. He directs the Gemelli Kidney Transplant Program and chairs the Post-graduate Program in Nephrology. Previously, he served as Associate Professor at the University of Bari and the University of Foggia.

His research centers on kidney transplantation, glomerular diseases, and hemodialysis, with 250 peer-reviewed publications and over 9,000 citations, resulting in an H-index of 52. He has received numerous awards and has held key roles in scientific societies, including the Italian Society of Nephrology and the European Renal Association.

Kitty Jager is a Professor of Medical Informatics and Kidney Epidemiology at Amsterdam University Medical Center, Netherlands, and served as the ERA Registry Director for 22 years. After earning her PhD focused on dialysis adequacy, she has led the kidney epidemiology research group, contributing significantly to large-scale registries that monitor kidney disease outcomes across Europe.

Her research explores the prevalence and progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD), the frequency of Kidney Replacement Therapy, and the impact of public health on nephrology practices and patient outcomes. With over 450 scientific publications and numerous book chapters, she is also on the editorial boards of Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation, KI Reports, and the African Journal of Nephrology. Additionally, she has organized over 40 international CME courses in epidemiology for nephrologists and hosted 37 visiting researchers from 20 countries.

Jennifer Lees graduated from the Universities of Cambridge (2006) and Edinburgh (2009) and trained in nephrology and internal medicine in Glasgow (2013). She began her research career with a PhD at the University of Glasgow (2016-2020), studying the role of vitamin K in vascular health, supported by the British Heart Foundation and Kidney Research UK. Appointed as a Clinical Lecturer in Renal Medicine, she completed her clinical training in 2022.

Currently, she is a Wellcome Trust Early Career Fellow in Renal Medicine and Lead for Data Science at the School of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Health, University of Glasgow. Her research focuses on long-term outcomes in chronic kidney disease (CKD), particularly concerning cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Albert Ong is a Professor of Renal Medicine at the University of Sheffield, UK. He studied medicine at the University of Oxford and trained as a physician-scientist at University College London and Oxford, where he held senior research fellowships from Kidney Research UK and the Wellcome Trust. His scientific research focuses on the molecular basis of cyst formation, the biological basis for disease variability and drug discovery in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD).

His work has been recognised through national and international awards, notably the 2022 ISN Lillian Jean Kaplan International Prize. He is Co-Director of the MRC-NIHR UK Renal Ciliopathies National Network (CILIAREN) and leads specialist services for inherited kidney diseases at the Sheffield Kidney Institute. He established academic training in nephrology at Sheffield, training over 30 postgraduate students and fellows, and continues to provide strategic advice and leadership internationally in the ADPKD field. He is a member of the ERA Council and served as the Scientific Program Chair for the 61st ERA Congress in 2024.

Pantelis Sarafidis, MD, MSc, PhD is a Professor in Nephrology in Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and Chair of the Department of Nephrology in Hippokration Hospital, Thessaloniki Greece. He is also the Head of the ESH Hypertension Excellence Center and the Kidney Transplant Multidisciplinary Unit in this hospital.

His research activities are focused on hypertension, diabetic and hypertensive kidney disease, cardiovascular disease in patients with CKD, and others.  He has authored more than 400 articles in peer-reviewed international medical journals and performed more than 250 lectures in national and international meetings, with over 12,200 citations (Scopus) and 18,600 (Google Scholar), and a Hirsch index of 55 and 71, respectively. He has served as a reviewer for more than 60 international medical journals.

Siren Sezer is a Professor of nephrology and internal medicine based in Ankara, Türkiye. She currently serves as the Head of the Kidney Transplantation Unit at Medicana International, Ankara and is a Professor of Nephrology at Atılım University Faculty of Medicine.

She has contributed to 230 international scientific articles, garnering more than 5000 citations, and has been actively involved in various educational and research initiatives in nephrology both nationally and internationally. She has been nominated as FERA since 2012. She has taken active role in the chronic kidney disease prevention programme in Türkiye.

Christoph Wanner is a Senior Professor of Medicine in the Department of Clinical Studies and Epidemiology, Renal Research Unit, University Hospital of Würzburg and a Visiting Professor of Renal Medicine at the Nuffield Department of Population Health, Clinical Trial Service Unit, University of Oxford UK.

His research in the field of diabetic and non-diabetic kidney disease, as well as lipid disorders has been published in more than 1000 pubmed articles. His Hirsch Index – web of science – is 116. Wanners’ two landmark studies in this field have been published in 2005 – The 4D Study – and in 2015 & 2016 – EMPA-REG Outcome. Dr. Wanner is the immediate Past President of the European Renal Association.