WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Michael Rocco, M.D., of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center has been named vice chair of a National Kidney Foundation committee that will direct the foundation’s Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative, which is aimed at improving outcomes for kidney patients.
Rocco, professor of medicine (nephrology), said the committee’s purpose was to develop new clinical practice guidelines as well as update existing guidelines that determine the adequacy of hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis – the two standard forms of kidney dialysis.
The group is also developing a new guideline on the impact of anemia on patients at all stages of chronic kidney disease.
He also is co-chairing a second work group that is preparing clinical practice guidelines for patients with high blood pressure, especially focused on the use of anti-hypertensive drugs in patients with chronic kidney disease.
Rocco has served as principal investigator for several national trials sponsored by the National Institutes of Health.
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Media Contacts: Robert Conn (rconn@wfubmc.edu); Shannon Koontz, shkoontz@wfubmc.edu, or Karen Richardson, krchrdsn@wfubmc.edu, at 336-716-4587.