Committees

The Best Practices & Standards Committee defines priorities for IPNA guidelines and priorities of standards for specific care in children. The Registry is the co-opted committee.

The Registry initiative establishes a global, population-based registry for children undergoing chronic RRT.

The Communication Committee works to improve the IPNA external presence and gives as much information as possible on the situation of Pediatric Nephrology worldwide by providing links, announcements, articles and forum of exchange for the members of the society. The communication committee covers IPNA social media, website, newsletter and other ad hoc projects.

IPNA has an established fellowship program to provide pediatricians who work far from a pediatric nephrology-training center with training in order to disseminate knowledge of pediatric nephrology to different regions around the world. The Fellowship Committee provides clinical fellowship for physicians coming from emerging countries.

The remit of the Sister Centers Committee is to identify “mentor centres” in well-resourced regions to establish renal units on a 1 to 1 basis (with priority to centres from Emerging Countries and preference to support previously trained IPNA/ISN fellows) and supervise the whole programme.

The aim of this programme is to assist in improving:

Clinical training of staff (medical, nursing and allied health staff) involved in caring for children with kidney disease
Developing and upgrading services for children with kidney diseases
Education into the community for preventative strategies
Clinical research development.

The remit of the Patient Education Committee is to compile existing web information from around the world and make it accessible through the IPNA website as a support services to Patients and their families.

The Professional Education Committee was formed in Venice in 2019 and is an umbrella for all IPNA Educational activities including:

Teaching Courses
Webinars
Junior Master Classes
IPNA Congress
Mission: Provide high quality IPNA pediatric nephrology education for pediatric nephrologists, pediatric nephrology trainees and physicians who care for children with kidney disorders.

In 2023 IPNA established a Global Pediatric Nephrology Curriculum Sub-Committee as part of the IPNA Professional Education Committee, aiming to connect educational programs in Pediatric Nephrology in all continents. The mission of the sub-committee is

Mission: Harmonizing Pediatric Nephrology training around the globe by identifying and disseminating best practice standards in training and assessment, highlighting regional needs and facilitating exchange and networking of new generations of global Pediatric Nephrologists.

The sub-committee is composed by IPNA representatives proposed by each regional society, all having experience with training and education in their regions:

Elena Levtchenko (Chair, The Netherlands – ESPN)
Ana Teixeira (Portugal – ESPN)
Mignon McCulloch (South Africa – AFPNA)
Francis Lalya (Benin – AFPNA)
Chris Esezobor (NIgeria -AFPNA)
Vera Koch (Brazil -ALANEPE)
Natalia Mejía (Colombia – ALANEPE)
Anne Durkan (Australia – ANZPNA)
Rachael Kermond (Australia -ANZPNA)
John Mahan (USA – ASPN)
Christoph Licht (Canada -ASPN)
Rupesh Raina (USA – ASPN
Arvind Bagga (India – AsPNA)
Aditi Sinha (India -AsPNA)
Xuhui Zhong (China – AsPNA)
Sudha Ekambaram (India -AsPNA)
Yohei Ikezumi (Japan -JSPN)
Yaeko Motoyoshi (Japan -JSPN)

The committee aims to define the major needs and barriers for the care of children with renal diseases in low-income countries around the world and develop strategies to improve the pediatric nephrology services in these regions.

The Finance & Fundraising Committee supervises the budget and expenses of IPNA. The Treasurer presents a full report twice a year at each Executive Committee and Council Meeting. The committee is also in charge of seeking sponsorship with pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical companies in order to raise funds to ensure the financial viability of IPNA’s Teaching and Fellowship program.

The objective of the Archives & History Committee is to collect all historical data about IPNA and convert it into electronic archives in order to keep the momentum of Pediatric Nephrology and transmit all achievements and champions to the next generation.

The remit of the Nomination committee is to review and evaluate applications of candidates for the succession of key positions within the IPNA Council being that of President and Treasurer.

Also, the Committee is responsible for suggesting retired colleagues who have made outstanding contributions to Pediatric Nephrology.

Awards are distributed during the IPNA Congress and include:

The Honorary Member Award
The Ira Greiffer Award
The René Habib Young Investigator Award
The Lifetime Achievement Award
The Educational Activity Award
IPNA Humanitarian Award

The International Pediatric Nephrology Association (IPNA) launched the Junior Working Group in 2014 to establish strong links between IPNA and early career nephrologists from different regions around the world. The working group, comprises one representative from each of the seven regional societies (i.e., ALANEPE, ANZPNA, ASPN, AFPNA, ESPN, JSPN, and AsPNA). The group elects one representative from among its members to sit on IPNA council for a maximum of two years.

New Junior Committee Members (2023 – 2025):

Luis Bofill (Chair, ALANEPE)
Fabio Paglialonga (ESPN)
Emmanuella Bouah-Kamon (AFPNA)
Sudha Mannemuddhu (ASPN)
Madiha Aziz (AsPNA)
Rachel Kermond (ANZPNA)
Tomoko Horinouchi (JSPN)

The main task of the Publishing Committee is to help select the editors for the Pediatric Nephrology textbook and monthly Journal.

The Strategic Plan Implementation Committee monitors progression of all IPNA actions and keeps the progress up to date with a presentation at each Executive and Council Meetings.