Alexander Kula, MD, MHS, an attending physician in nephrology at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and an assistant professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, received the Young Investigator Research Grant from the National Kidney Foundation of Illinois. The grant, with a total funding of $120,000 (award period July 2024–July 2026), will support work to expand an emerging collaboration to improve the understanding of cardiorenal complications associated with kidney disease.
Kidney disease leads to cardiac dysfunction over time, and many children with kidney disease will develop heart disease early in life. Dr. Kula will collaborate with Jarrett Linder, MD, an attending physician in cardiology at Lurie Children’s and an assistant professor of pediatrics at Feinberg School of Medicine, to use advanced echocardiography to identify changes in heart function at the earliest and hopefully most reversible stages. Lurie Children’s is one of the few pediatric centers nationwide with the expertise to undertake such studies, says Dr. Kula. The overall goal is to improve cardiac and kidney outcomes for all children who receive care at Lurie Children’s.
Pediatric research at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago is conducted through Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute.
