The Renal Week 2025 conference was really a leap forward in what it offered compared to the previous two renal weeks. Congratulations to the organizing committee and thank you so much.
2027 ACVNU-IRIS Renal Week & Extracorporeal Therapies Boot Camp
The Bethesdan Hotel, Tapestry Collection by Hilton and Friendship Hospital for Animals – Emergency & Specialty Center,
Bethesda MD, United States
Description
Renal Week 2027 is the premier international conference dedicated to veterinary nephrology, urology, and extracorporeal therapies, bringing together specialists, residents, technicians, researchers, and industry leaders from around the world for an unparalleled week of education, collaboration, and innovation.
Hosted by the American College of Veterinary Nephrology and Urology (ACVNU) in partnership with the International Renal Interest Society (IRIS), Renal Week 2027 will take place April 12–17, 2027, in Bethesda, Maryland, just outside Washington, DC. The conference combines world-class scientific programming with extensive hands-on training opportunities, creating a uniquely immersive educational experience.
Attendees will explore the latest advances in acute kidney injury, glomerular disease, chronic kidney disease, aging kidney health, nutrition, diagnostic innovations, and extracorporeal therapies through expert-led lectures, panel discussions, case-based learning, and interactive workshops. Hands-on laboratories hosted at Friendship Hospital for Animals – Emergency & Specialty Center will provide practical training in advanced diagnostics, urine microscopy, point-of-care ultrasound, dialysis, vascular access, and other specialized procedures.
Beyond the educational program, Renal Week offers exceptional opportunities to connect with colleagues from across the globe through networking events, poster sessions, industry showcases, and social activities designed to foster collaboration and advance the future of veterinary kidney health.
Whether you are a seasoned specialist, resident, technician, researcher, or industry partner, Renal Week 2027 offers a unique opportunity to learn from international leaders, develop practical skills, share discoveries, and help shape the future of veterinary nephrology.
Gallery
Testimonials
I've attended conferences around the world, and Renal Week remains one of the most engaging and impactful.
It was such a great conference! Thank you for all the hard work that went into putting such an incredible week together!
The quality of the speakers and educational content exceeded my expectations. Renal Week is now a must-attend event for me.
The hands-on laboratories at Renal Week were exceptional. Learning directly from experts in a clinical setting provided an experience I couldn't get anywhere else.
Every session I attended delivered practical, evidence-based information that improved how I approach kidney disease and extracorporeal therapies.
Lineup
JD Foster VMD, MS, DACVIM (SAIM), DACVCP, DACVNU, ACVNU Founding member
Dr. Foster completed his VMD at the University of Pennsylvania, earned an MS in Pharmacology & Toxicology, and completed an internal medicine residency at the University of Wisconsin. He currently directs the Nephrology & Urology and Extracorporeal Therapies services at Friendship Hospital for Animals in Washington, DC, where he integrates cutting-edge diagnostics, dialysis, and advanced urinary care. His research interests include nontraditional uses of extracorporeal blood purification, glomerulonephritis, and drug pharmacokinetics in patients with kidney disease. Dr. Foster is an internationally respected expert in veterinary nephrology, urology, and extracorporeal therapies, and has authored numerous manuscripts and book chapters that shape modern renal and urinary medicine. He’s the current President-Elect of the ACVNU and Chair of the Renal Week & Extracorporeal Therapies Boot Camp Conference. He is also a past-president of the American Society of Veterinary Nephrology and Urology and serves key leadership roles in global renal interest communities.
Rebecca Geddes, MA, VetMB, GPCert(FelP), MVetMed, PhD, DipACVIM, DipACVNU, FHEA, MRCVS
Dr. Geddes graduated from Cambridge University in 2007. She completed her PhD in 2014 at the Royal Veterinary College examining "Calcium-phosphate homeostasis in feline chronic kidney disease". Rebecca subsequently completed her internship and internal medicine residency at the Royal Veterinary College and now works there as a Senior Lecturer in Small Animal Internal Medicine. She gained her Diploma in Small Animal Internal Medicine in 2018, and became an RCVS Specialist in 2020. Rebecca was a Founding Member of ACVNU and gained her Diploma in Veterinary Nephrology and Urology in 2025. Her current research interests include CKD, CKD-mineral and bone disorder, hypercalcaemia and nephrolithiasis in cats.
Timothy Yau, MD
Dr. Timothy Yau is a professor of medicine and clinician educator in the Division of Nephrology at WashU in St. Louis. He completed his medical school at St. Louis University, and then completed internal medicine residency, chief residency, and nephrology fellowship at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. At WashU, he also serves as the co-director of clinical skills for the medical school Gateway curriculum and has won numerous teaching awards for education and leadership. He is also on the editorial board of the American Journal of Kidney Diseases as their interview editor.
Allyson Berent, DVM, DACVIM (SAIM)
Dr. Berent graduated from Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine in 2002. She completed a one year rotating small animal internship at the University of Minnesota. She then completed her internal medicine residency at the Matthew J. Ryan Veterinary Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Following her residency she did a fellowship in interventional radiology and interventional endoscopy. Her research interests are in minimally invasive diagnostics and therapeutics including: endourology, laser lithotripsy, hepatic and biliary interventions, and intrahepatic portosystemic shunting.
John Kellum, MD
Dr. Kellum is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Critical Care Medicine, Medicine, Bioengineering and Clinical and Translational Science at the University of Pittsburgh. He the Chief Medical Officer for Spectral Medical, a late-stage medical device company developing diagnostics and therapeutics for sepsis. Dr. Kellum received his medical degree from the Medical College of Ohio in 1988. His postgraduate training includes an internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Rochester, NY, and a Fellowship in Critical Care Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. His research interests span various aspects of Critical Care Medicine, but center in critical care nephrology, sepsis and acute kidney injury. He has authored more than 800 publications and has won several awards for teaching. He lectures widely and has given more than 500 seminars and invited lectures worldwide.
Helen Philp, BVMS, DACVECC, DACVNU
Dr. Helen Philp graduated from the University of Glasgow, Scotland, and worked in small animal practice before completing an internship in Small Animal Emergency and Critical Care at the University of Edinburgh. She moved to the University of California, Davis in 2018 to complete a residency in Small Animal Emergency and Critical Care, followed by a fellowship in Nephrology and Extracorporeal Medicine. She currently serves as faculty in the UC Davis Small Animal Emergency and Critical Care and Extracorporeal Medicine services and completed an American College of Veterinary Nephrology and Urology residency program in 2025. Her clinical and academic interests include critical care nephrology, renal physiology, mechanical ventilation, extracorporeal therapies, and advanced organ support in critically ill patients.
Prof Gilad Segev, DVM, Dip. ECVIM-CA (Internal Medicine), ACVNU Founding member
Dr. Segev is Lecturer of Veterinary Medicine and Head, Department of Small Animal Internal Medicine; Koret School of Veterinary Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. Dr. Segev has actively focused his clinical interests and research in nephrology and has established a hemodialysis program at the Koret School of Veterinary Medicine in Israel. He established a novel scoring system which effectively predicts the probability for survival in dogs treated with renal replacement therapy for the management of acute kidney failure. He has also described some of the challenges and complications faced with the long-term management of dogs with advanced chronic kidney disease including the hyperkalemia associated with the use of therapeutic renal diets and aluminum toxicity in the management of the hyperphosphatemia of CKD.
Stephanie Skinner, DVM, DACVIM (SAIM), DACVNU
Dr. Skinner is a board-certified veterinary nephrologist, urologist, and small animal internal medicine specialist at Friendship Hospital for Animals in Washington, D.C., where she practices on the Dialysis, Nephrology & Urology Service. Dr. Skinner earned both her B.S. in Animal Science and DVM from Kansas State University, completed rotating and specialty medicine internships at Friendship Hospital for Animals, and went on to complete a Small Animal Internal Medicine Residency at the University of Florida. Her clinical and research interests include kidney disease, urinary tract disorders, extracorporeal therapies, endourology, and diagnostic imaging. Dr. Skinner has authored and collaborated on several research projects involving nephrology, gastroenterology, and diagnostic ultrasound in companion animals.
Jethro Forbes, DVM, DACVECC, ACVNU Legacy Diplomate Candidate
Dr. Jethro Forbes, DVM, DACVECC is a member of the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine Emergency and Critical Care faculty team. He also directs the Cornell Extracorporeal Therapies and Blood Purification Unit. Professional interests include wellness coaching, veterinary extracorporeal therapies, acute kidney injury, fluid stewardship, training first responders in veterinary CPR, and educating veterinarians, students, and technicians in emergency and critical care topics. Outside of the hospital, Dr. Forbes enjoys spending time with his wife and two kids, maintaining a 20 acre horse farm, playing hockey, making maple syrup, scuba diving, and serving his community as an Assistant Chief in the Danby Fire Company.
Mary Nabity, DVM, PhD, DACVP (Clinical pathology), ACVNU Founding member
Dr. Nabity completed her undergraduate degree from the University of Nebraska and received her DVM from Cornell University, followed by an internship and residency at Texas A&M University. She is board-certified in clinical pathology and completed a PhD in veterinary pathology, with a focus on urinary proteins as biomarkers of chronic kidney disease in dogs. She is currently a professor at Texas A&M and serves as Associate Department Head for Clinical Services and Clinical Pathology Laboratory Director. With urine being a test that is often neglected, Dr. Nabity, upon joining the faculty, strived to provide more opportunities for veterinary students to learn urinalysis, introducing urinalysis wet labs into the veterinary professional curriculum. She has a particular interest in dysmorphic RBCs. She is also continuing to explore biomarkers of renal disease and mechanisms for renal disease progression in dogs with the International Veterinary Renal Pathology Service.
Jonathan Elliott, MA, VetMB, PhD, CertSAC, DipECVPT, FRCVS, FBPS, FHEA
Jonathan Elliott is Professor in Veterinary Clinical Pharmacology at the Royal Veterinary College. A Cambridge Veterinary Graduate, his PhD was in vascular biology at the Department of Pharmacology in Cambridge and post-graduate clinical training was undertaken at the University of Pennsylvania. He joined the RVC in 1990 as a lecturer in Veterinary Pharmacology and developed research interests in feline kidney disease and hypertension and equine laminitis. His research has resulted in a number of awards recognising the impact of his work on clinical practice, including the Pfizer Academic Award (1998), BSAVA Amoroso Award (2001), Petplan Charitable Trust Award (2005), ESVNU Scientific Award (2007) and BSAVA Woodrow Award (2019). In 2023, he was made an honorary member of the Amercian College of Veterinary Internal Medicine and awarded his Fellowship of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons for meritorious contributions to the profession. In 2025 he was elected as a Fellow of the British Pharmacological Society. He is a board member of the International Renal Interest Society and a founding member of the American College of Veterinary Nephrology and Urology.
Emmanuelle Butty, med.vet., DACVIM (SAIM), DACVNU
Emmanuelle Butty is the Anne Engen and Belle Assistant Clinical Professor at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University and head of the Extracorporeal Therapies and Endourology Service. She received her veterinary degree from the VetSuisse Faculty in Bern, Switzerland, in 2014 and completed a Small Animal Internal Medicine Residency in 2020. She is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Nephrology and Urology and a Fellow, ACVNU in Extracorporeal Therapies and Endourology.
Cedric Dufayet, DVM, ACVNU Legacy Diplomate Candidate
Dr. Cedric Dufayet earned his veterinary degree from the Alfort School of Veterinary Medicine in France and has dedicated his career to the diagnosis and treatment of kidney and urinary tract diseases. Following advanced training in human hemodialysis, he graduated from the inaugural class of the UC Davis Hemodialysis Academy in 2016 and later completed a Fellowship in Renal Medicine and Extracorporeal Therapies at the University of California Veterinary Medical Center–San Diego. He currently serves as Senior Clinician and Service Coordinator and Chief of the Nephrology Service at the University of California Veterinary Medical Center–San Diego. Dr. Dufayet is a frequent lecturer and author in the fields of nephrology, urology, and extracorporeal therapies. His professional interests include chronic kidney disease, minimally invasive management of urinary stones, hemodialysis, and therapeutic apheresis. He is currently an ACVNU Legacy Diplomate Candidate and is recognized internationally for his contributions to veterinary kidney medicine and extracorporeal therapies.
Rachel Cianciolo, VMD, PhD, DACVP (Anatomic Pathology), ACVNU Founding member
Dr. Cianciolo has expertise in nephropathology with > 15 years of experience. She received her VMD and training in anatomic pathiology at UPenn. She completed her PhD training through a combined program at NCSU and GlaxoSmithKline. Her thesis research investigated renal tubulointerstitial response to chronic proteinuria in a rat model of Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis. She then completed a 1.5 year Fellowship in Nephropathology at UNC School of Medicine, where she learned the diagnostic algorithms of glomerular disease in humans and evaluated > 1000 human renal biopsies, using transmission electron microscopy and immunofluorescence. She helped optimize these modalities for veterinary nephropathology as co-director of IVRPS. She was an assistant and then associate professor at the Ohio State University. She has since joined Zoetis Reference Labs as a diagnostic pathologist, focusing on urinary system specimens. She remains a nephropathologist with the IVRPS, evaluating >300 samples a year. As a Founding Member of the ACVNU, she teaches in the curriculum to train future veterinary nephrologists and urologists. She continues to publish in nephrology and pathology journals with >90 peer reviewed papers.
Leonel Londono, DVM, DACVECC, DACVNU, ACVNU Founding member
Dr. Leo Londoño is a board-certified specialist in Emergency and Critical Care and Veterinary Nephrology and Urology, as well as co-owner of ECoVets Veterinary Specialists & Emergency in Florida. A founding member of the American College of Veterinary Nephrology and Urology (ACVNU), Dr. Londoño earned his DVM from the University of Florida, where he also completed his Emergency and Critical Care residency. He subsequently completed advanced certification in veterinary extracorporeal blood purification through the UC Davis Hemodialysis Academy. Prior to entering private practice, Dr. Londoño served as Clinical Assistant Professor of Emergency and Critical Care and Director of the Hemodialysis Unit at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine. His clinical and research interests focus on acute kidney injury, extracorporeal blood purification therapies, hemodialysis, and endothelial and glycocalyx dysfunction in critically ill patients. An internationally recognized lecturer and researcher, Dr. Londoño has played a significant role in advancing veterinary nephrology, dialysis medicine, and critical care worldwide.
Elyshia Hankin, BVSc, MS (Hons), DACVR
Dr. Elyshia Hankin, BVSc, MS, DACVR, is a board-certified veterinary radiologist at Friendship Hospital for Animals in Washington, D.C., and one of the few board-certified veterinary radiologists practicing in the District. She earned her veterinary degree from Massey University School of Veterinary Medicine in New Zealand and completed a Master’s Degree in Anatomy and Radiology at the Auckland School of Medicine. Following a rotating internship at Veterinary Specialist Group in Auckland, she completed a three-year diagnostic imaging residency at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University and became a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Radiology. Dr. Hankin specializes in advanced diagnostic imaging, including digital radiography, ultrasonography, and computed tomography (CT), helping clinicians achieve accurate diagnoses and optimize patient care. In addition to her clinical practice, she serves as faculty for the Antech Imaging Academy and is the co-founder of Friendship Radiology, a privately owned veterinary teleradiology service.
Jeff Barnes
Jeff Barnes is Vice President of Business Development at Aimalojic and brings more than two decades of experience in medical device sales, marketing, product development, and commercialization. Beginning his career as a Certified Ophthalmic Technician and Surgical Assistant, he worked extensively in clinical trials involving emerging laser technologies before advancing into leadership roles with industry leaders including Bausch & Lomb and Abbott. Mr. Barnes currently serves as President of Intrinsic Materials Corp., where he oversees product development, business strategy, manufacturing operations, and regulatory compliance, while leading the advancement of innovative therapeutic technologies through its ImmutriX Therapeutics subsidiary.
Deborah Linder, DVM, MS, DACVIM (Nutrition)
Dr. Linder is a board-certified veterinary nutritionist and Clinical Associate Professor at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, where she also earned her DVM. Dr. Linder’s interests include talking about evidence-based nutrition everywhere from classrooms to exam rooms. She loves engaging the entire veterinary team to make nutrition information fun, helpful, and easily accessible to all. Her recent research has focused on safe and effective weight loss strategies for pets as well as developing and evaluating nutrition curriculum in veterinary schools. She is also Co-Director of the Tufts Initiative for Human-Animal Interaction and co-founder of the pet nutrition website www.petfoodology.org
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The Bethesdan Hotel, Tapestry Collection by Hilton and Friendship Hospital for Animals – Emergency & Specialty Center,
Bethesda MD, United States
Hosted by ACVNU and IRIS