Dear IPNA members,

2022 is a special year for IPNA as we will once again meet for our triennial Congress in Calgary. Over the past 2 years, although the pandemic has resulted in travel uncertainties, it has also brought out the best in our committees with the development of virtual teaching courses and workshops. In fact, last year we had 3 Master for Junior classes held in conjunction with the Regional Society meetings. Therefore this year we will be having a hybrid Congress with both in-person and virtual components to enable more of our members and colleagues to attend this important meeting where our IPNA guidelines and other exciting new breakthroughs will be presented.
 
Our membership in 2022 has hit 1,950 compared to 1,500 just 5 years ago, with members coming from over 118 countries. This expanding community of pediatric nephrologists will certainly be able to embody our goal of providing “Great Care for Little Kidneys Everywhere”. In fact, many of our members are now active in the various IPNA committees including the guideline committees. And it is indeed heartening to see the increased participation of the Juniors in IPNA activities!
 
So please mark your calendar for September 7-11 and we hope to see as many of you as possible in Calgary!
 
With Warm Regards,

Hui Kim Yap
IPNA President

Dr. Nasser Abdellahi, the first trained pediatric nephrologist in Mauretania! 

Dr. Abdellahi successfully finished six months of training under the IPNA Fellowship Program in Sousse, Tunisia, supervised by Prof. Samah Mabrouk. 

"I have already come to an agreement with the director of my hospital and certain officials of our health ministry to open a pediatric nephrology unit," says Dr. Abdellahi.

Dr. Ganesan about her IPNA Teaching Course virtual experience

Unlike routine virtual CMEs which runs for few hours back-to-back for 2 days, keeping this teaching course as a series of webinars helped improve the overall knowledge as every topic chosen was done in depth. However, the budget was so huge as Virtual platform had become the only mode of teaching. I had to work almost every day for 4 months. I had trial runs to get rid of the technical glitches. Though multiple trial sessions were conducted it was a big challenge to assess the stability of the network which is also affected by natural calamities.

We had almost 20 sessions and each session required individual invitations with standardized designing team to harmonise the presentations and all invites needed to be circulated well in advance for better reach and to improve participant numbers.

IPNA-ESPN Junior Master Classes: Apply Now

Dear friends and colleagues, IPNA members,
 
We are proud to announce our Third IPNA-ESPN Junior Master Classes (Third Cycle)!
This year, it will be held in hybrid format, in Ljubljana (Slovenia) on 20-21 June 2022, before the 54^th Annual Scientific Meeting of the European Society for Paediatric Nephrology.
 
For this Third Class, we are planning a 2-day course. ESPN and IPNA teachers will review latest updates on Hypertension, Acute Kidney Injury, Chronic Kidney Disease, Dialysis and Transplantation. Additionally, an Interactive Clinico-Pathology session is being planned.
This IPNA-ESPN educational program is especially dedicated to Pediatrics residents, Pediatricians with special interest in Pediatric Nephrology, fellows in Pediatric Nephrology and young Pediatric Nephrologists. The whole program includes three meetings in three consecutive years, the full attendance will allow the achievement of the IPNA-ESPN Master.

IPNA Congress in Calgary goes hybrid

The IPNA 2022 Congress in Calgary will be a hybrid event. For those who can travel to Calgary there will be a Western Canadian welcome with Opening Ceremonies and a Networking event at Studio Bell home of the National Music Centre in downtown Calgary a short walk from the Calgary TELUS Convention Centre. For those unable to travel the Pre-Congress and Congress will be accessible to delegates virtually either synchronously or with access to recordings of the sessions.

The pre-Congress sessions on 7 and 8 Sep 2022 will include a mixture of hands on courses such as PD catheter insertion, POCUS and Simulation sessions (not available virtually) and workshops including hypertension, nephrotic syndrome, nephrology in lower income countries. There will also be a pre-Congress workshop for nurses and allied health workers including pharmacists, dieticians, psychologists and social workers.

The main Congress is a smorgasbord of scientific symposia to satisfy all interests. Each of the three days (9, 10 and 11 Sep 2022) start with “Ask the Expert sessions” to promote interaction between delegates and Experts in their field. There are many State of the Art presentations and a choice of Breakout sessions.

Pediatric Nephrology Journal: The Ongoing Impact of COVID-19 

The Journal continued to have a high number of submissions in 2021, with 898 articles of all types submitted. The number of submitted articles was down slightly from 2020 (1,006 submitted in 2020) but was significantly higher than in previous years.

Due to the challenges posed by COVID-19, the Journal continues to offer flexibility regarding author revision deadlines and reviewer deadlines. We include the following in our editorial decision letters to authors asking for revisions, and in our invitation letters to reviewers: ‘Our flexible approach during the COVID-19 pandemic – If you need more time at any stage of the peer-review process, please do let us know. While our systems will continue to remind you of the original timelines, we aim to be as flexible as possible during the current pandemic.’ We have done our best to accommodate requests to extend deadlines accordingly.
In light of the higher number of submissions in 2020 and 2021, it seems

The IPNA Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the International Pediatric Nephology Association. Monies raised by the Foundation go straight to work supporting our programs and partnerships. Consider setting up a special fund to support Teaching Courses, Fellowships, Sister Centers, or one of the other important programs IPNA organizes. A “named” fund can be set up for as low as $5000. One donor, or several donors can collaborate to name a fund in honor of, or in memory of someone special to you. There are different options for structuring a fund for a specific program. A “named” Endowment will provide support in perpetuity. A Donor Advised Fund is structured to allow the donor to designate annually how the monies will be allocated.

2022 World Kidney Day

The 2022 World Kidney Day campaign calls on all of us to work to bridge the knowledge gaps for better kidney care. It will focus on efforts to increase education about kidney care awareness and reduce the high CKD knowledge gap at all levels of kidney care.

IPNA Teaching Courses Questions & Answers Session

March 2, 4pm CET
Free registration
 

This session aims to encourage and educate new IPNA Teaching Course Organisers around the world.