“Chicago ” “Chicago ”

My kind of town! So, now that I’ve captured your attention, and you’ll be humming this song for awhile, I want to extend a warm invitation to all of you to make plans for attending the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) Clinical Meetings (CM 2004) being held April 29 through May 2, 2004, at the downtown Hyatt Regency Hotel in Chicago, Illinois. Please take a few moments and read the remainder of this message to discover what CM 2004 has in store for you. This is an exciting time for the NKF, nephrologists, physicians, and the three NKF Advisory Councils: CRN, CNNT, and CNSW. The CM program planning committee chairs and their committees have an outstanding program under construction and are committed to making this the best CM conference on record.

Before I tell you more about the sessions that will be offered, I would like to recognize this year’s planning committee for CRN. First is Cathi Martin, RD, CSR, LDN, who was my past Co-Chair for Chicago CNM 2002. She is the CRN-CM Chair for 2004 and has been instrumental in planning and mapping out the CRN portion for these upcoming meetings. Cathi is a renal dietitian for Nashville Nephrology Associates and enjoys her free time with her 13-year-old son, Garrett. They are both diehard Alabama Crimson Tide fans and enjoy cheering on the NFL team, the Tennessee Titans. Cathi’s co-Chair is Andrea Bickford, RD, LD. Andrea works for Abbott Renal Care, plus she is the CRN Region III Representative and CRN Renalink Editor. In her spare time, Andrea enjoys a power game of volleyball, and trying out new restaurants.

Next is Donna Root, RD, LD. She is also a renal dietitian for Nashville Nephrology Associates and lives in Antioch, Tennessee. Her outside enjoyment involves being a professional cake decorator. Sara Colman, RD, CSR, CDE, is a renal dietitian with DaVita in Huntington Beach, California. Sara’s notch on her belt is being the author of the book Cooking for David.

The next committee member is Patricia Weber, MS, RD, CDE, CSR, LD. Pat is a renal dietitian for the Renal Care Group in Anniston, Alabama. She is also the current Renal Nutrition Forum Editor of the American Dietetic Association - Renal Practice Group. The sixth committee member is Susan Knapp, MS, RD, CSR, LD. Susan is a renal dietitian for the DaVita Broken Arrow Dialysis Center in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. She is the immediate past CRN Secretary/Treasurer and is an avid bike rider.

Last, but not least is Marcy Bushman, MPH, RD, CSR. Marcy is a Territory Manager for Sigma Tau Pharmaceuticals and lives in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. She also enjoys being the CRN Region I Alternate Representative and is quite active with her family and her home synagogue.

In order to encompass all levels of renal dietitians for enhanced opportunities to network together, the dietitian track will no longer be divided into two separate programs. The restructuring of these two tracks into one will provide all areas of information for every dietitian in attendance.

There will be more joint sessions with CNNT and CNSW this year. Some of the topics include: “Taking Care of the Healthcare Professional,” with specifics on time management, stress management, and assertiveness techniques being addressed. Other multidisciplinary sessions will include: “Principles of Adult Education” and “I’m Just a Bill,” which will take you through the steps of how a government bill is written, submitting it to Congress, the role of the lobbyists, and pairing it with other bills in order to get it passed. In addition, we will have a Social Worker and Dietitian discuss some of the specifics behind the recently passed Texas law for Patient:Staff ratios.

Pre-conference workshops will include a newly revised and streamlined version to the popular, “Strategies for New Renal Dietitian’s” course. Also, Jill Goode, MS, RD, and Julie Barboza, MS, RD, RN, CRNP, CNSD, will offer the two-part Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) course again with general billing guidelines, Medicare (CMS), and reimbursement issues in the morning. The MNT clinical issues and national protocols for CKD will take place in the afternoon. Judy Beto, PhD, RD, FADA, will be leading a workshop on how to do “Outcomes Research,” which is a vital and important skill for dietitians to update themselves.

“Increasing the Role of the RD” will have a three-member dietitian panel representing an anemia manager, bone disease manager, and a kinetics manager. It will focus mainly on a “best practices” format highlighting these dietitians and offering their time as role models and mentors to the audience who would like to learn more about their job duties.

Donna De Souza, MPH, RD, LD, will lead a “Creative Approaches” workshop. Donna enjoys leading small groups in a large meeting room for brainstorming and developing strategies for dietitians, social workers, and nurses to teach their clients and find influential methods to increase adherence to the ESRD medical regimen. Additionally, Dr. Geoffrey Block will be speaking on “Advances in Renal Bone Management.” There will also be a session on “Oxidative Stress and Inflammatory Factors” by Jonathan Himmelfarb, MD. This presentation will certainly interest all of us as we learn more about the devastating effects it has on our CKD patient’s nutrition status.

Back by popular demand from Dallas CM-2003, Marion Franz, MS, RD, CDE, will be returning to provide her clinical expertise in diabetes management for the dialysis patient. Her presentation will be followed by computer interactive case studies led by Patricia Weber, MS, RD, CDE, CSR.

“Presentations with Pizzazz,” a tag team program, will be presented by Bruce Smith, RD, LD, and Maria Karalis, MBA, RD, CSR, LD. Maria will concentrate on tips for successful presentations and the elements of making things interesting and exciting for audiences. Bruce will be speaking on and demonstrating the use of Powerpoint slides and highlights of the “do’s and don’ts.” It will most certainly be an enjoyable talk to attend.

The epidemic of obesity will be presented as “Challenges of Obesity” by Pamela Kent, MS, RD, CSR, and it will deal with the comorbid issues of weight management in all phases of CKD including the post-transplant phase. Linda McCann, RD, CSR, LD, Judy Beto, PhD, RD, FADA, and Jordi Goldstein-Fuchs, DSc, RD, will take us through their K/DOQI work group experiences and highlight the recommendations that are impacting dietitians in the areas of renal bone disease, hypertension, and dyslipidemia. They will explain to us how the research is graded and how evidence-based versus opinion-based research is decided upon.

I mustn’t forget the returning special feature of “Lunch with the Experts.” CM 2004 participants will have the golden opportunity to network with many dynamic leaders and researchers in the field of nephrology and renal nutrition at a nominal cost.

In closing, and on behalf of the CRN, CNNT, and CNSW program planning committees and the CRN Executive Committee, I extend another cordial invitation to all of the JREN readers to consider attending the 2004 NKF-Clinical Meetings this coming spring. Together, let’s break the 2002 record of 468 dietitians with 469! You may register for these 2004 Clinical Meetings online at www.kidney.org or you may want to contact the NKF office directly at 1-800-622-9010.

With My Best Wishes!