Approximately 14% of people in the U.S. suffer from chronic kidney disease, with nearly half a million people on dialysis, according to the National Institutes of Health. To improve patient care and continue the search for a cure to the disease, the Charles and Hilda Anderson family has made a $2 million gift to the UAB Division of Nephrology.
The gift established an endowed professorship, will fund important investments, such as the recruitment and retention of top renal scientists, and creates a Research Acceleration Fund to provide resources for the advancement of promising kidney-related research.
Gaurav Jain, M.D., a nephrologist who cares for Mrs. Anderson, is now the Anderson Family Endowed Professor of Nephrology.
“When we began dialysis, I did not realize that our nephrologist, in this case Dr. Jain, would become a doctor in every field for us. Anything that happens to my wife medically, we call Dr. Jain first,” says Charles Anderson. “He either gives us an answer or points us in the right direction to get an answer. I have learned that, contrary to other disciplines, a nephrologist has to be a doctor of all types of medicine. He has been remarkable in that regard. He is not only one of the smartest physicians we’ve encountered, but also the most caring.”
“The Anderson family, especially Charles and Hilda Anderson, have been generous supporters of UAB Medicine for a long time,” Jain says. “This gift creates exciting opportunities for our division to expand on our academic mission, with specific goals to advance research and improve kidney health.”
Gaurav Jain is now the Anderson Family Endowed Professor of Nephrology.
“The funding for an endowed professorship allows us to recognize a faculty member who is an outstanding clinician and has helped improve the quality of care that we deliver to our patients,” says Anupam Agarwal, M.D., director of the Division of Nephrology and the executive vice dean of the UAB School of Medicine. “The funds for strategic recruitment are also key as it helps us bring the best nephrologists and researchers to Birmingham.”
Agarwal says the gift will benefit patients facing life-threatening kidney disease by generating novel research ideas that hold the potential for new, disease-modifying treatments and improved patient outcomes.
“We wanted part of the gift to go toward research because we want to help fund anything that may make life easier for patients who live with kidney failure,” Anderson says. “We are proud of the fact that UAB, one of the nation’s finest teaching and research hospitals, is located in Alabama, and we want to help continue its tradition of excellent care and innovation.”
To make a gift to UAB Nephrology, contact Megann Bates Cain at 205-934-7408 or meganncain@uabmc.edu.
By Holly Gainer