As a kidney patient, you most likely know your estimated glomerular filtration rate, or eGFR, and that it’s a way to check how well your kidneys are working. In the past some medical calculations, including a way to measure eGFR, included race in their estimates. In September, NKF and the American Society of Nephrology announced that their joint taskforce recommended a new, race-free approach to measuring eGFR. What does this new equation mean for patients, especially those who identify as Black or African American? In this episode, we sat down with two members of that taskforce to get the facts.

In this episode, you will hear from:

Mallika L. Mendu, MD, MBA

Mallika Mendu, MD, MBA is Executive Medical Director of Clinical Operations for Brigham Health, in the Office of the Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Mendu is also a practicing nephrologist and Associate Medical Director of Mass General Brigham Population Health Management. She received her MD and MBA degrees from the Yale School of Medicine and Yale School of Management. During her internal medicine residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, she was involved in the Medicine Management Leadership Track and developed an interest in addressing system-level deficiencies in quality and care delivery by implementing innovative interventions. She pursued nephrology fellowship at Brigham and Women’s and Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Mendu’s administrative responsibilities are focused on care continuum management and inpatient operations. Her research efforts relate to care delivery innovation, quality and safety and population health. 

Glenda Roberts

Glenda is a passionate activist for kidney research and patients living with kidney disease. She’s involved in myriad patient-centered national and international health care transformation initiatives. All are focused on addressing patient preferences and improving patient-reported outcomes. Glenda brings the patient voice to a number of NIH/NIDDK government and industry research efforts, as well as, the ASN COVID-19 Response Team and the ASN COVID-19 Transplant Subcommittee. She’s a member of the ISN, the Kidney Health Initiative (KHI) Patient and Family Partnership Council (PFPC); Can-SOLVE CKD International Research Advisory Committee; Home Dialyzors United Advisory Board and she’s has been an Ambassador for the American Association of Kidney Patients since 2018.

Learn more about what this means for people living with kidney disease: https://www.kidney.org/newsletter/changes-to-egfr-calculation-and-what-means-people-living-kidney-disease