YNP Mentorship Programme

Miha Arnol, M.D., Ph.D., is Director of the Department of Nephrology and Head of the Centre for Kidney Transplantation at the University Medical Centre Ljubljana, as well as Professor of Internal Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana. He completed postgraduate training in Internal Medicine and Nephrology and has served as Clinical Transplant Coordinator and Assistant Director for Clinical Research. His international experience includes fellowships at Oregon Health & Science University and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. His clinical and research expertise focuses on nephrology, kidney transplantation, and translational research. He is actively involved in European and international transplant and nephrology societies, contributing to clinical innovation, research, and mentorship.

Clinical interests and expertise: Nephrology, Kidney Transplantation.

Research interests and expertise: Transplant Medicine.

Career level of mentee preferred: Fellow trainee, Junior faculty.

Martin de Borst, M.D., Ph.D., is consultant nephrologist at the University Medical Center Groningen and adjunct professor of medicine at the University of Groningen. He was trained at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, and received post-doctoral training at the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research in Bergamo, Italy from 2006-2007. Prof. De Borst’s research focuses on the interaction between chronic kidney disease and cardiovascular complications. His main scientific aim is to identify targetable factors and innovative treatments to prevent progressive kidney function loss and the development of cardiovascular disease. So far, he has published >330 peer-reviewed articles that have been cited >13000 times. His work is embedded in several national and international research consortia, and is supported by national and European funding. He supervises a team of twelve PhD students, three post-docs, two research analysts and many students. He is (co-)Principal Investigator of several multicenter clinical trials and cohort studies. In 2020, he received the Stanley Shaldon award for young investigators from the European Renal Association (ERA). He is a former Associate Editor and current Theme Editor of Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation. He is also Past President of the Young Nephrologists’ Platform, an ERA committee dedicated to promoting the development of young kidney specialists in Europe, and current board member of the ERA CKD-MBD working group.

Clinical interests and expertise: Kidney transplantation, bone and mineral disorder.

Research interests and expertise: Chronic kidney disease, Transplantation, Cardiovascular disease, Bone and mineral disorder.

Career level of mentee preferred: Fellow trainee /Post-doctoral fellow /Junior faculty.

Ana Farinha studied medicine at the Medical Faculty in Coimbra and completed postgraduate training in Nephrology, Geriatrics and Palliative Care. She works as a consultant nephrologist with competence in geriatrics and palliative care to follow elderly patients with CKD. She works with general practitioners to prevent CKD. She is the founder of Supportive and Conservative Care in Portugal. She is a board member of the Portuguese Society of Nephrology (SPN) and a board member of the Anemia Working Group Portugal. She is an editorial board member of the SPN journal and reviewer for several journals. She is the author and co-author of numerous articles and book chapters. She has been clinical investigator and/or PI in several clinical trials related to progression of CKD, anemia or diabetic nephropathy. She has participated in a couple of COST networking actions: PROGRAMMING (geriatric field) and CONNECT (renal insufficiency and cognitive disfunction).

Clinical interests and expertise: Clinical Nephrology, CKD, Geriatrics, Pre-dialysis management, Palliative Care, Anemia.

Research interests and expertise: Clinical research in elderly CKD management, Prevention in CKD.

Career level of mentee preferred: Resident trainee/ Fellow trainee / Medical student / Junior faculty.

Rebecca Herzog is a translational researcher aiming to link omics-driven basic science and patient-centred clinical research in peritoneal dialysis. She received her PhD at the Medical University of Vienna in 2017 and her Venia Docendi in 2023. As research fellow of the Paediatric Nephrology, in collaboration with a start-up company, she and her colleagues developed a novel PD-fluid from experimental discovery to clinical application. As Senior PostDoc she investigates molecular interventions to modulate pathomechanism in the peritoneum. She discovered the role of a specific PTM in PD, developed an immunecompetence assay, and revealed the PD effluent proteome. She received 26 inter/national awards (additionally 10 to directly supervised students), an ERA research fellowship, and in 2019 the Stanley Sheldon Young Investigator Award. She was a PI in IMPROVE-PD, an EU-H2020 project.

Clinical interests and expertise: Peritoneal dialysis.

Research interests and expertise: Basic and translational research in experimental nephrology and omics techniques (proteomics, metabolomics).

Career level of mentee preferred: Medical student / Resident trainee.

Ivica Horvatić graduated from Medical School Zagreb, University of Zagreb. He is a specialist in internal medicine and in Nephrology. He finished his PhD in 2011 at University of Zagreb. He currently works as a Head of the Department of Nephrology and Dialysis of the University Hospital Dubrava in Zagreb, Croatia treating chronic kidney disease, acute kidney injury and resistant arterial hypertension. His narrow specialty and interest are biopsy proven renal disease as well as chronic kidney disease. He has a vast experience in teaching at the Medical School and also School of Pharmacy and biochemistry of the University of Zagreb. He has participated in 5 international multicentric phase 3 clinical trials as sub-investigator and in 1 study as a Principal Investigator. In addition, he has been involved as a researcher in 2 scientific projects of Croatian Ministry of education and science and Croatian science foundation.

Clinical interests and expertise: Glomerular disease, Tubulointerstitial disease, Vasculitis, Hypertension, Chronic kidney disease.

Research interests and expertise: Prognostication in chronic kidney disease, Validation of Glomerular disease and Chronic kidney disease scores.

Career level of mentee preferred: Medical student / Resident trainee / Fellow trainee / Non MD students/ Trainees / Fellows.

She graduated from Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine in 1991, and completed her Internal Medicine Residency and Nephrology fellowship at the same faculty until 2001. She also worked for six months at Vanderbilt University Medical Center Transplantation Unit in the United States as a fellow of the “International Society of Nephrology”. She became an associate professor in 2003 after she started to work at the Ministry of Health Haseki Training and Research Hospital. She served as the Founder and Chief of the Nephrology Clinic between 2005-2010. Prof. Kazancıoğlu was the Vice Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Bezmiâlem Vakif University between 2010 and 2014. Since 2015, Prof. Kazancıoğlu has been serving as the Rector of Bezmiâlem Vakif University and a faculty member of the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Nephrology. Prof. Kazancıoğlu has published many national and international articles, books and book chapters. Her main interest is in CKD, ESKD, PD and disaster nephrology.

Clinical interests and expertise: ESKD and Kidney replacement therapies especially peritoneal dialysis, disaster nephrology.

Research interests and expertise: Clinical nephrology research including GN, ADPKD, PD.

Career level of mentee preferred: Medical student/ Fellow trainee /Junior faculty

Andreas Kronbichler, M.D., Ph.D., is a consultant nephrologist and a professor of nephrology at the Medical University of Innsbruck. He is an expert in the management of glomerular diseases and has been recognized by the German Society of Nephrology (Nils-Alwall award 2023) and the ERA (Eberhard Ritz award 2024) for his contributions to the field of ANCA-associated vasculitis. He received training in three different countries, Austria, Germany and the United Kingdom. Andreas Kronbichler serves as an academic editor for Nephrol Dial Transplant and is an associated editor of the journal Glom Dis.

Clinical interests and expertise: Glomerulonephritis, Immunology.

Research interests and expertise: Glomerulonephritis.

Career level of mentee preferred: Medical student, Resident trainee, Fellow trainee, Postdoctoral fellow.

Luísa Lobato is a senior nephrologist at Centro Hospitalar Universitário de Santo António in Porto, and a full invited professor at the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (ICBAS) of the University of Porto. She is Director of the Department of Nephrology and a member of the Coordination Committee of the Erasmus+ Programme at ICBAS.

She graduated in Medicine at ICBAS and completed her Nephrology residency and fellowship at the Centro Hospitalar Universitário de Santo António. After her PhD, she has dedicated her research to systemic amyloidosis, especially focusing on ATTR (transthyretin) and AFib (fibrinogen) amyloidosis. Her work in the field of amyloid comprises histopathology, real life effects of targeted therapies, dialysis and the treatment of ATTR cardiorenal syndrome. She also converged skills in clinical nephrology, genetics and kidney and kidney-liver transplantation. She is an ERKNet senior clinician expert and also headed the Hospital Clinical Trials Unit for ten years.
In addition, she is the President of the Scientific Committee of the Portuguese Society of Nephrology (SPN), the vice coordinator of the Unit for Multidisciplinary Research in Biomedicine and researcher at the Laboratory for Integrative and Translational Research in Population Health, University of Porto.

Clinical interests and expertise: Clinical Nephrology, Systemic Amyloidosis, Inherited Kidney Diseases, CKD, clinical trials.

Research interests and expertise: Hereditary and Wild-Type ATTR Amyloidosis, Genetic Epidemiology, Transplantation.

Career level of mentee preferred: Resident trainee/ Fellow trainee/ Junior faculty.

Francesco Locatelli is Past President of European Renal Association – European Dialysis and Transplant Association (ERA-EDTA), International Society of Blood Purification (ISBP) and of the Italian Society of Nephrology (SIN). He also served as chairman of the board of European Best Practice Guidelines (EBPG) and on the board of National Kidney Foundation, Dialysis Outcome Quality Improvement, NKFDOQITM, and on the executive board of directors of Global Guidelines and Kidney Disease Improvement Outcome KDIGO.

Clinical interests and expertise: Anemia, Hemodialysis, Glomerulonephrithis, CKD.

Research interests and expertise: Mineral Metabolism, Anemia,CKD, Hemodialysis.

Career level of mentee preferred: Junior faculty.

President of the Italian Society of Nephrology (2019-2022). Past Full professor of Nephrology at the Università Statale di Medicina , Milan Italy. Past Director of the Division of Nephrology, Dialysis and Renal Transplant (Policlinico Milan). Director of the postgraduate School of specialization in Nephrology (University of Milan , Milan Italy, 2017-2020). President of the ERA Congress (Milan 2023). Scientific President of the national Congress of the Italian Society of Nephrology (Rome 2006). Secretary of the World Nephrology Congress (Milan 2009). 403 indexed publications (HI 52 Scopus). Editorial bord in (NDT, JN, Nutrients, Frontiers in Nephrology, Blood Purification), referee for more than 30 international journals (KI, AJT, NDT, AJKD, CJASN, Nature Nephrology, Curr Op Drug Metab Endocrinology, etc.).

Clinical interests and expertise: Renal Transplantation, Clinical Nephrology, Mineral Metabolism.

Research interests and expertise: Mineral and Electrolyte Metabolism.

Career level of mentee preferred: Medical student / Resident trainee / Post-doctoral fellow / Junior faculty.

Tiago Assis Pereira is a consultant nephrologist with expertise in interventional nephrology and vascular access. During his five-year fellowship in Lisbon, he completed a specialized rotation in vascular access ultrasound at Parc Tauli Hospital, in Sabadell. Since 2016, he has been working at the Nephrology Department of Centro Hospitalar Universitario de Lisboa Central/NOVA Medical School, where he established a  dedicated inpatient and outpatient service for ultrasound evaluation of patients requiring vascular access. He has developed a structured training programme in vascular access, through which he has organized numerous workshops and hands-on courses, hosting residents from both Portugal and abroad. He currently coordinates the Interventional Nephrology Working Group of the Portuguese Society of Nephrology.

Beyond his specialized work, vascular access care, he manages the nephrology inpatient department and outpatient clinic, with particular interest on the interaction between nephrology and primary care, as well as in chronic kidney disease progression.

He is a teaching assistant at NOVA Medical School and has served as a principal investigator in clinical trials focusing on CKD progression.

Clinical interests and expertise: Vascular access ultrasound, hemodialysis, clinical nephrology and interaction between Nephrology and primary care.

Research interests and expertise: Vascular access ultrasound.

Career level of mentee preferred: Resident trainee / Fellow trainee.

Luis F. Quintana is the Head of the Clinical Nephrology Section in the Nephrology and Renal Transplantation Department at the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona. This section is a member of the European Rare Kidney Disease Reference Network and is endorsed by the national health system as a Reference Center for Complex Glomerular Diseases (CSUR). He is Full Professor of the Department of Medicine at the University of Barcelona, where he coordinates the subject of kidney diseases in the Master in Autoimmune diseases. He is also the coordinator of the Nephropathology Committee of the Hospital Clinic. He has also given more than 100 invited lectures and published more than 100 scientific articles. Dr. Quintana has extensive experience in research projects with competitive funding as principal investigator of La Marató Foundation projects, European projects such as 3TR (Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) European Union) and others funded by the Carlos III Health Institute. Currently his group has obtained funding to develop the project: Identifying the map of progression to chronic kidney disease in glomerular pathology during the period 2024-2026.

Clinical interests and expertise: Glomerular diseases, Autoimmunity, Onconephrology.
He is currently a board member of the Onconephrology Working Group.

Research interests and expertise: Biomarkers and Histological subgrouping.

Career level of mentee preferred: Medical student / Resident trainee/ Fellow trainne/ Post-doctoral fellow / Junior faculty.

Turgay Saritas studied medicine at the Charité University Berlin. In 2012, he joined the Division of Nephrology at the University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Germany, where he is working as a scientist, consultant nephrologist, intensive care specialist and educator. His particular interest in renal sodium & potassium handling, tubule remodelling, and AKI-CKD transition developed during research stays at Charité Berlin, University Aachen, and Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, USA. His own team of researchers within the lab of Prof. Kramann is currently aiming to target the progression of AKI into CKD and reno-cardiac syndrome. Further, as German CKD study investigator he is also involved in clinical studies. His work has been awarded with several prestigious prizes of the ERA, Germany Society of Nephrology and others, and he has been supported by several foundations including the German Research Foundation. He is a board member of the European Renal Acute Kidney Injury ERAKI working group.

Clinical interests and expertise: AKI, CKD, Intensive Care Medicine, Tubulopathies.

Research interests and expertise: Tubule Physiology and Pathology, AKI-CKD Transition, Tubule Remodelling, Salt Handling.

Career level of mentee preferred: Medical student /Resident trainee/Fellow trainee /Post-doctoral fellow /Junior faculty.

Goce Spasovski is postgraduated in nephrology at the University of Antwerp, Katowice and “Laiko” University Hospital in Athens through COMGAN project. He is a PhD at the Universities of Skopje and Antwerp. He was clinical investigator and/or PI in more than 20 clinical trials related to progression of CKD, anaemia, CKD-MBD and bone biopsy – based studies, immunotolerance in kidney transplant recipients, and participant in a couple of COST networking actions and FP programs. He had also participated actively in the ERBP Committee and DESCaRTES group. He is subject editor of NDT 2017 – ongoing, and serves as a member of the editorial board of many other European and world journals.

Clinical & Research interests and expertise: CKD-MBD, Kidney Transplantation, CKD Progression.

Career level of mentee preferred: Medical student /Resident trainee/Fellow trainee.

Serhan Tuglular is graduated from University Istanbul School of Medicine in 1986. She completed her residency in Internal Medicine in 1996 and her Nephrology Fellowship in 2000 at Marmara University School of Medicine in Istanbul, Turkey. From 1986-1988 she completed a compulsory governmental medical service which is a regulation in Turkey. During her fellowship in Nephrology, she was awarded ISN scholarship and worked at CHU St Etienne as a research fellow with the late M. Francois Berthoux. Since Turkey is one of the ‘earthquake countries’, following the Marmara earthquake in 1999 a Renal Disaster Task Force was started by the Turkish Society of Nephrology, she has been chairing the Task Force since 2018. She was an ordinary Council Member for ERA for the term 2020-2024. She chaired the Ukraine Renal Disaster Task Force from 2022 to 2024. Currently, she is chair-elect for ISN’s RDPWG and has been appointed to serve as the Chair of Scientific Committee for ERA Congress 2026.

Clinical interests and expertise: Renal Transplantation, Vasculitis-Renal involvement
SLE, Rheumatologic Disease with kidney involvement.

Research interests and expertise: Renal Transplantation, SLE, ANCA Associated Vasculitis.

Career level of mentee preferred: Medical student/ Fellow trainee.

Arzu Velioğlu obtained her MD from Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa Medical School, Istanbul, in 2000. She completed postgraduate training in Internal Medicine at Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa Medical School in 2005 and Nephrology at Marmara University School of Medicine, Istanbul, in 2011. She currently holds an academic position at Marmara University, where she directs the Kidney Transplantation Unit in the Department of Nephrology. In 2016, she was awarded a fellowship by the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) and joined the Transplant Research Center at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA. Her research focuses mainly on kidney transplantation and post-transplant complications, vasculitis, lupus nephritis, and peritoneal dialysis. She is a board member of the DESCARTES (Developing Education Science and Care for Renal Transplantation in European States) Working Group of the ERA and an active member of the Turkish Society of Nephrology, contributing to the Transplantation Working Group and supporting national initiatives to advance clinical practice and research in transplantation.

Clinical interests and expertise: Kidney transplantation, Peritoneal Dialysis, Vasculitis/Lupus Nephritis.

Research interests and expertise: Post-transplant complications, frailty.

Career level of mentee preferred: Medical student, Resident trainee, Fellow trainee, Postdoctoral fellow, Junior faculty.

Marc Vervloet studied Medicine at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. He earned his PhD there with research on the disrupted metabolism of minerals in chronic kidney diseases (thesis: Managing disorder of bone and mineral metabolism in chronic kidney disease). After working as an internist for a few years, he specialized in nephrology and later became a professor of Experimental Nephrology. In November 2023, he made the switch from Amsterdam UMC to Radboud university medical center, where he became head of the department of Nephrology. He is one of the founders of the European working group focusing on the bone and mineral metabolism of patients with chronic kidney disease. He is also involved in the development and oversight of international nephrology guidelines as a member of KDIGO. His appointment as a professor of Nephrology is effective from December 1, 2023, for a period of five years.

Clinical interests and expertise: Clinical nephrology in the broadest sense.

Research interests and expertise: CKD-MBD, heart failure, arterial calcification.

Career level of mentee preferred: Fellow trainee /Post-doctoral fellow/Junior faculty/Non-MD students/trainees/fellows.

Andrzej Wiecek graduated from the Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland in 1980. From 1985 to 1986 he held scientific scholarships in nephrology at the University of Heidelberg, Germany.

Since 2000, Prof. Wiecek is the Head of the Chair and Department of Nephrology, Transplantation and Internal Medicine at Medical University of Silesia in Katowice.

He obtained the title Full Professor in Nephrology and Internal Medicine in 1996. During recent years Prof. Wiecek has served as President and Council member of several prestigious Societies and organizations, including European Renal Association.

Additionally, Prof. Wiecek is a Distinguished Fellow of the ERA (FERA, 2011) and Fellow of the American Society of Nephrology (FASN, 2018).

Clinical interests and expertise: Clinical Nephrology, Hypertension, Cardiovascular complication in CKD and transplanted patients (kidney, liver) patients.

Research interests and expertise: Pathogenesis and treatment of primary and secondary forms of hypertension, Hormonal abnormalities in CKD and kidney transplant patients.

Career level of mentee preferred: Resident trainee / Fellow trainee.