The CKC Working Group brings together over 30 researchers across nephrology, neuroscience, epidemiology, pharmacology, climate science, immunology, the gut microbiome and translational medicine, based in the UK, Ireland, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Portugal, Sweden, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, China, Colombia, Nigeria and the USA.
Members are based at institutions including University College Cork, King's College London, the University of Oxford, Columbia University, Amsterdam UMC, Utrecht University, the UK Met Office, Peking University and Sun Yat-sen University. The group is chaired and was founded by Dr Shazia Adalat.
Evelina London Children's Hospital, Guy's and St Thomas' Foundation NHS Trust, UK
King's College London, London, UK
Consultant Paediatric Nephrologist specialising in climate impacts on children's kidney health and brain development. Chair and Founder of the CKC working group.
University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
University of Winchester, Winchester, UK
Clinical Academic Paediatric Dietitian and holder of a Research Leaders Programme (RLP) award. Her research interests focus on the growth, nutrition and wellbeing of babies, children and young people with kidney disease. She leads the paediatric renal dietetics service at UHS and is dissemination lead for the International Paediatric Renal Nutrition Taskforce.
Colombo North Teaching Hospital, Sri Lanka
Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka
Consultant Paediatric Nephrologist and Lecturer with a special interest in chronic kidney disease of unknown aetiology (CKDu). Council member of the Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA), and a member of the Sri Lanka College of Paediatricians (SLCP), the Sri Lanka Society of Nephrology (SLSON), and the International Paediatric Nephrology Association (IPNA).
Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Kazakhstan
Nephrologist and researcher with focus on CKD in children, mineral and bone disorders, and the oligonephronia theory. Completed an ERA Short-Term Clinical Fellowship in the UK in August 2025. Research interests include IgA nephropathy, chronic kidney disease, impact on public health, omics technologies, and biomarkers.
Centre for Transplantation, Urology & Kidney Disease (CTUK), School of Immunology & Microbial Sciences, King's College London, UK
King's College Hospital, London, UK
Consultant Nephrologist and academic clinician leading the Centre for Transplantation, Urology & Kidney Disease (CTUK) within the School of Immunology & Microbial Sciences at King's College London, the home for academic scholarship in basic and translational research, teaching, education, and clinical innovation in diseases of the kidneys and urinary tract. UK Deputy Lead for the Rare Renal Diseases Registry, lead of the UK CKD Africa Genetics group, and member of the London Kidney Network Health Inequalities scoping committee.
Department of Translational Medical Sciences, University of Campania 'Luigi Vanvitelli', Naples, Italy
Biogem, Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Ariano Irpino, Italy
Full Professor of Nephrology at the School of Medicine of the University of Campania 'Luigi Vanvitelli' in Naples, where he directs the Department of Translational Medical Sciences and heads the Clinical Department of Nephrology, and Scientific Director of Biogem, the Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics in Ariano Irpino. He established a laboratory of renal pathophysiology in Naples and has published on renal acid-base and electrolyte regulation, hormonal control of renal function and drug nephrotoxicity. He is Associate Editor of Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation and the Journal of Nephrology and Chief Editor of Kidney and Blood Pressure Research. A former President of the Italian Society of Nephrology and Council member of ERA-EDTA, he chaired the CONNECT COST Action on cognitive decline in kidney disease; his current research centres on rare kidney diseases, onco-nephrology and the brain-kidney interaction.
Subred Integrada de Servicios de Salud Sur Occidente, Bogotá, Colombia
Science, Technology, and Innovation Research Group of the Colombian Association of Pediatric Nephrology
Dr. Juan Guillermo Cárdenas Aguilera is a pediatric nephrologist based at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, Colombia. He teaches paediatric nephrology at several Colombian universities, including Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, and Universidad del Bosque. He has also taught at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) at their Center for Research and Development of Psychonephrology in México City. Dr. Cárdenas leads the Research Group on Science, Technology, and Innovation for the Colombian Association of Pediatric Nephrology. He is a recognised researcher by MinCiencias, Colombia's Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. He is a member of the Asociación Colombiana de Nefrología Pediátrica (ACONEPE), the Asociación Latinoamericana de Nefrología Pediátrica (ALANEPE), and the International Pediatric Nephrology Association (IPNA).
APC Microbiome Ireland, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioural Science, Department of Physiology, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
Professor & Chair of the Department of Anatomy & Neuroscience at University College Cork, and Vice President for Research & Innovation (appointed 2021). Principal Investigator in the APC Microbiome Institute, leading research on the microbiome-gut-brain axis.
Whipps Cross Hospital, Barts Health NHS Trust, London, UK
King's College London, London, UK
Consultant Nephrologist and Physician at Whipps Cross Hospital, Barts Health NHS Trust. His work spans health equity across the renal care pathway, cardio-renal research priorities using routinely collected data, optimising remote kidney care for underserved groups, and international collaborative studies on acute and chronic kidney disease, including severe malaria-associated AKI in children in sub-Saharan Africa. He contributes to the International Society of Nephrology Young Nephrologists Committee.
Division of Pharmacology, Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
Postdoctoral researcher in the Division of Pharmacology at the Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, Utrecht University, and a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) postdoctoral fellow. His work centres on membrane transporters and chronic kidney disease, using human proximal tubule and kidney-on-chip models to study drug and cation transport. His MSCA project (BBB-UT) investigates how uraemic toxins perturb the blood-brain barrier to drive kidney disease-associated neuropathies, bridging renal and brain health.
Department of Health Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus
Assistant Professor in Epidemiology & Biostatistics at the European University Cyprus. Research interests focus on chronic disease epidemiology, multimorbidity, and lifestyle-related health determinants, with a strong emphasis on oncology, metabolic, and kidney disease outcomes. Also investigates vaccination behaviours, health inequalities, and cognitive impairment, aiming to generate real-world evidence that informs clinical practice, health policy, and patient-centred care.
Université Paris-Saclay, UVSQ, INSERM UMRS 1018, Clinical Epidemiology Team, Centre de Recherche en Epidémiologie et Santé des Populations (CESP), Villejuif, Paris, France
Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Altinbas University, Istanbul, Turkey
Pharmacologist with a research focus on clinical epidemiological studies of cognitive dysfunction and depression in patients with CKD. She has worked on several interdisciplinary projects and has published in peer-reviewed journals on CKD, cognitive decline, dementia, medication adherence, and digital health. Her main research interests lie at the intersection of neurology, nephrology, and pharmacoepidemiology.
Department of Pediatric Nephrology and Rheumatology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
Paediatric nephrologist with interest in impacts of chronic kidney disease.
Birmingham Children's Hospital, Birmingham, UK
Clinical Fellow in Paediatric Nephrology at Birmingham Children's Hospital.
Chair, Neuro Climate Working Group, Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA
EcoNeuro, Los Angeles, California, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA
Neuroscientist and global health adviser whose work explores how climate change, environmental degradation, and broader ecological crises affect brain health across the lifespan. Her research focuses on identifying the neurobiological and psychosocial impacts of climate-related stressors, such as air pollution, heat, displacement, and food insecurity, and translating these insights into public policy, prevention, community-based adaptation strategies, and planetary health solutions.
Royal Manchester Children's Hospital, Manchester, UK
Paediatric Nephrologist at Royal Manchester Children's Hospital.
Sri Lanka
Paediatric Nephrologist based in Sri Lanka.
Wolfson Centre for the Prevention of Stroke and Dementia, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, UK
Division of Critical Care, Department of Anesthesiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, USA
Academic nephrologist currently working as a critical care fellow in the Brigham and Women's Hospital.
TNO Healthy Living & Work, Leiden, The Netherlands
Ariane van Koppen holds a PhD and works as a senior scientist (comparable to university degree of associate professor) in the Healthy Living & Work unit within the Metabolic Health Research team at TNO since April 2017. Specialisations include in vivo physiology related to cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic syndrome including metabolically associated steatohepatitis (MASH), diabetic and chronic kidney diseases (DKD and CKD), heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). Another specialisation is focusing on the unexplored area of Women's health.
Intellaif, Sweden
Dr. Parvin Kumar is Co-founder and CEO of Intellaif, a techbio and AI startup developing a first-in-class Human Similarity Index™ to quantify and improve the human relevance of preclinical disease models. He has a background in translational medicine, with a PhD from Karolinska Institutet and postdoctoral research at Nanyang Technological University as a Wallenberg Postdoctoral Fellow. He has experience in deep tech business development through roles at A*STAR and as an independent consultant. Within the CKC Working Group, Intellaif provides data-driven assessment and optimisation of preclinical models to improve translational relevance in kidney research.
Department of Epidemiology and Data Science, Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute (APH); Upstream Team
Associate Professor at Amsterdam UMC, Department of Epidemiology and Data Science, and Vice-Director of the Amsterdam Public Health research institute (APH). Leads the Upstream Team, a research group dedicated to understanding how environments shape lifestyle behaviours and chronic disease risk. His work focuses on how environments influence lifestyle behaviours and related health outcomes, and how these can be changed through upstream, system-level approaches such as policy interventions, using rich individual- and environmental-level (exposome) data from the Netherlands and across Europe.
Institute of Child and Adolescent Health, School of Public Health, Peking University, National Health Commission Key Laboratory of Reproductive Health, Beijing, China
Epidemiologist studying environmental health and chronic disease prevention in Asian populations.
Centre Hospitalier Universitaire (CHU) d'Amiens-Picardie, Amiens, France
MP3CV Laboratory, Jules Verne University of Picardie (UPJV)
Prof. Sophie Liabeuf is a Professor of Clinical Pharmacoepidemiology and Head of the Department of Clinical Pharmacology at Amiens University Hospital (CHU Amiens-Picardie) in France. She is also a researcher at the Jules Verne University of Picardie (UPJV) within the MP3CV Laboratory (Mechanisms of Physiopathology of Cardiovascular Calcification and Remodeling). Her research focuses on the impact of uremic toxins on cardiovascular mortality, vascular calcification, and drug safety in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). She is actively involved in the CKD-REIN cohort study, investigating medication management and adverse drug reactions in renal populations.
Department of Epidemiology and Data Science, Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Upstream Team; Exposome-NL
Postdoctoral researcher in the Upstream Team at the Department of Epidemiology and Data Science, Amsterdam UMC, and a registered epidemiologist with a PhD in cardiovascular epidemiology. Working within the national Exposome-NL consortium, he investigates how the living and built environment shapes lifestyle behaviours, cardiometabolic risk factors and cardiovascular disease in adults.
Department of Pharmacology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Assistant Professor of in vitro models of disease at the Department of Pharmacology, Utrecht University (since March 2021). Her work develops humanised in vitro models to replicate pathological complications associated with kidney injury and failure in pursuit of unraveling mechanisms of disease and potential therapeutic targets.
School of Immunology & Microbial Sciences, King's College London, London, UK
Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Innate Immunity and Regenerative Medicine within the School of Immunology & Microbial Sciences at King's College London. His research covers broad areas of innate immunity, inflammation biology, and host-pathogen interactions, with a specific focus on macrophage immunobiology and macrophage activation.
Division of Nephrology, Department of Internal Medicine, Cerrahpaşa Medical Faculty, Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa, Istanbul, Turkey
Associate Professor and nephrologist in the Division of Nephrology, Department of Internal Medicine, Cerrahpaşa Medical Faculty, Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa. An MD-nephrologist with an MSc in Clinical Education and a PhD in Immunology, his research spans haemodialysis and vascular access, chronic kidney disease-related mineral and bone disorders, uraemic toxins and inflammation, and outcomes in kidney replacement therapy.
Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria
Delta State Teaching Hospital
Prof. Ogochukwu Chinedum Okoye is the Lead Nephrologist at Delta State University and its Teaching Hospital (DELSUTH) in Nigeria. An expert in kidney disease epidemiology, her research focuses on the impact of environmental exposures on kidney health, particularly the emerging global threat of air pollution-associated chronic kidney disease (CKD) and health disparities in vulnerable communities. Her current research focus is on ambient air pollution and the risk for CKD and NCDs. She is one of the site Principal Investigators in the NIH/NDDK sponsored H3Africa Kidney Disease Research Consortium.
Department of Internal Medicine, Section of Nephrology, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
PhD Candidate in Nephrology and Renal Transplantation, specialising in kidney organoid development and renal disease modelling.
IRCCS Burlo Garofolo, Trieste, Italy
Researcher at IRCCS Burlo Garofolo in Trieste. Her research focuses on microplastics, fertility, placental contamination, and environmental exposures in early life and pregnancy, including endometriosis.
University of Thessaly, Greece
University of Nicosia, Cyprus
Giorgos K. Sakkas, PhD, is a Professor of Exercise in Clinical Populations at the School of Physical Education, Sports Science and Dietetics, University of Thessaly, Greece, and Visiting Associate Professor at the University of Nicosia, Cyprus. A clinical exercise physiologist and lifestyle medicine researcher, he focuses on therapeutic exercise and non-pharmacological interventions in chronic kidney disease, sleep and fatigue disorders, and other chronic conditions. He directs the Lifestyle Medicine Laboratory and the International MSc in Lifestyle Medicine, co-directs the Therapeutic Exercise specialisation, and contributes to several MSc programs in exercise and health. He is Associate Editor for Nutrients, Frontiers in Physiology, Frontiers in Medicine, and BMC Nephrology, and acts as an expert or committee member for international bodies such as the European Brain Council, the American Society of Nephrology, the Global Renal Exercise Group, and the European Restless Legs Syndrome Group.
Upstand, Portugal
Dr. Cláudia Santos is a researcher and practitioner working across climate change adaptation, human (im)mobility, development, and disaster risk reduction. Her expertise stems from extensive experience engaging with local communities in Guinea-Bissau and working for local governments, NGOs and INGOs. She is the co-founder of Upstand, a social enterprise connecting communities, institutions, and knowledge systems through action-based research, participatory methods, and shared dialogue. She serves as a focal point to the Municipality of Hargeisa (Somaliland) under ICLEI's Race to Resilience Culture Initiative (2024–2026) and the Covenant of Mayors in Sub-Saharan Africa. She is also part of the Global Climate Resilience and Brain Health Project, coordinated by the International Neuro Climate Working Group at Columbia University.
Met Office, Exeter, UK
Senior science consultant, supporting the health research activities of the Met Office to achieve its targets and deliver high quality research into the links between weather and health. From 2013 Dr Sarran has been responsible for the extraction, formatting and delivery of large environmental datasets to support research in the areas of climate, environment and human health, and for the analysis of meteorological, environmental and epidemiological data using data linkage techniques of computer science.
III. Department of Medicine (Nephrology, Rheumatology and Endocrinology), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Hamburg, Germany
Hamburg Center for Kidney Health (HCKH), Hamburg, Germany
Nephrologist and clinical epidemiologist at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), where he is a senior physician in the III. Department of Medicine and a principal investigator at the Hamburg Center for Kidney Health. He leads a research group on the epidemiology and clinical course of progressive kidney disease, drawing on large population cohorts including the Hamburg City Health Study and the Hamburg Acute Kidney Injury Study to characterise the prevalence, risk factors and systemic burden of chronic kidney disease and acute kidney injury. His recent work spans kidney outcomes after COVID-19 and the population prevalence of chronic kidney disease.
Division of Renal Medicine, Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology (CLINTEC), Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
Karolinska University Hospital, Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden
Professor of Renal Medicine at Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, and among the most highly cited researchers in nephrology, with over 730 papers and reviews on inflammation, protein-energy wasting and the metabolic, cardiovascular and nutritional complications of chronic kidney disease. His group studies CKD as a model of premature ageing and runs a biomimetic research programme that looks to hibernating and long-lived species for strategies against inflammation, oxidative stress and vascular calcification. He is an editor of the Journal of Internal Medicine, a former Editor-in-Chief of NDT-Educational, and a long-standing council member of the International Society of Nephrology.
Department of Pathology, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Department of Pathology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands
With a strong background in renal ageing and diseases, Alessandra studies the metabolic changes and the impact of environmental toxins in these conditions. Recent work focuses on understanding the biological mechanisms of premature renal ageing, particularly the role of senescent kidney epithelial cells. She investigates NAD+ metabolism, complex lipid metabolism, and immunometabolism in senescent cells during ageing and disease to discover new therapeutic strategies for healthy renal ageing and to slow chronic kidney disease progression. Dr Tammaro studies how fine and ultrafine particles from air pollution contribute to premature renal ageing from early life onwards. Her research utilises patient-derived kidney tissue, animal models, in vitro models of senescence, senescence assays, metabolic assays, iPSCs-derived kidney organoids, exposome chambers, various omics techniques, and histology.
APC Microbiome Ireland, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
Computational biologist developing and applying computational methods to better understand the microbiome-gut-brain axis.
Intellaif, Sweden
Dr. Katri Vaparanta is Co-founder, CSO and CTO of Intellaif, a techbio and AI startup developing a first-in-class Human Similarity Index™ to quantify and improve the human relevance of preclinical disease models. She brings over 10 years of combined academic and industry experience in biomedicine and bioinformatics. She completed her PhD at the University of Turku and holds a Master's degree in AI and Drug Development from Aalto University, with over 12 scientific publications and more than 20 research grants. Within the CKC Working Group, Intellaif provides data-driven assessment and optimisation of preclinical models to improve translational relevance in kidney research.
veMico Ltd., Reading, United Kingdom
A microbiologist with 25+ years of experience in developing and commercialising microbiota therapies for gut, immune, and brain health.
First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, China
Associate Professor at the First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University. She established her independent research group following postdoctoral research at the Cleveland Clinic. Her research focuses on microbial metabolic pathways, investigating how the gut microbiota responds to environmental stimuli (diet in particular), and how these interactions influence human health and disease.
