UAB National Coordinating Center for the George M. O'Brien Kidney National Resource Centers

For over 30 years, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) has funded the O’Brien Kidney Center program to advance kidney-related research. To expand the breadth and impact of these centers, NIDDK has modified this program by establishing the O’Brien Kidney Consortium. This consortium includes 7 theme-based National Resource Centers (NRCs) tasked with developing and sharing specialized resources, tools, technologies, services, and expertise and a National Coordinating Center (NCC) to lead, manage, and harmonize all aspects of the Consortium. The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) serves as the NCC for the O’Brien Kidney Consortium. Led by an epidemiologist (Dr. Amanda Anderson) and nephrologist (Dr. Orlando Gutiérrez) and supported by nephrologists, data scientists, kidney physiologists, health behaviorists, and strong research mentors, the NCC investigator team is interdisciplinary with experience participating in NIDDK-sponsored consortia. UAB has the infrastructure to lead the NCC and support a central website and web-based data portal, committees and working groups, a comprehensive set of training and outreach activities, a robust Opportunity Pool Program, and patient engagement. Additionally, the UAB investigators have implemented and administered competitive pilot grant programs that have nurtured the development of numerous early career researchers and supported high-impact research ideas with a substantial return on investment. The UAB NCC has five aims including (1) Providing administrative support and coordination to the O’Brien consortium by implementing standard operating procedures and consortium-wide committees; (2) Creating a centralized website and intake portal to facilitate and track all requests for O’Brien Kidney Consortium resources from the NRCs; (3) Developing and implementing an outreach and training plan to engage researchers in collaboration with the O’Brien NRCs; (4) Engaging patient viewpoints, priorities and preferences through feedback on the NRCs’ scientific aims and activities to inform the O’Brien Kidney Consortium; and (5) Administering a national pilot program with high impact to support early-stage investigators, investigators new to kidney research and collaborations with the broader kidney community. The UAB NCC will support NIDDK and the O’Brien Kidney Consortium to advance kidney research nationwide maximizing the impact on improving kidney health.