Kidney Stone Collaborative Enhances Patient Support Resources - Justin Ziemba
May 22, 2024
Ruchika Talwar interviews Justin Ziemba about a significant development in kidney stone disease advocacy and research. Dr. Ziemba announces the creation of the Kidney Stone Collaborative (KSC), a new nonprofit organization dedicated to improving research and advocacy for kidney stone patients. He explains that this initiative has been months in the making, involving scientific experts, patient advocates, and patients. The KSC aims to drive policy changes, secure research funding, and connect patients with reliable resources and support networks.
Biographies:
Justin B. Ziemba, MD, MSEd, Urologist, Assistant Professor of Urology in Surgery, Perelman School of Medicine, Penn Medicine, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Ruchika Talwar, MD, Urologic Oncology Fellow, Department of Urology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN
Biographies:
Justin B. Ziemba, MD, MSEd, Urologist, Assistant Professor of Urology in Surgery, Perelman School of Medicine, Penn Medicine, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Ruchika Talwar, MD, Urologic Oncology Fellow, Department of Urology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN
Read the Full Video Transcript
Ruchika Talwar: Hi everyone. My name is Ruchika Talwar, and today I'm joined by Dr. Justin Ziemba, Assistant Professor of Urology at the University of Pennsylvania. He's going to be sharing with us some exciting news in the world of kidney stone disease. The floor is yours.
Justin Ziemba: Thanks for having us. So we have an exciting announcement. We've been working behind the scenes for several months with a bunch of colleagues who are scientific experts in kidney stone disease, patient advocates, and patients as well, and trying to develop a nonprofit patient advocacy and research organization that is going to specifically work towards improving kidney stone research as well as advocacy for these groups. There is no set group that represents kidney stone patients, and so we will be excited to launch this in the next couple of weeks and have everyone learn more about it.
Ruchika Talwar: Absolutely. This is great. So, as you said, right now, there really is no central advocacy organization for kidney stone disease. So I imagine you all will be working on different policy-related initiatives to try to improve the quality of care. But it sounds like there may also be some grant opportunities, research funding, and things like that. Tell us more.
Justin Ziemba: Yes, the name of the organization will be the Kidney Stone Collaborative, KSC for short. And the priorities, yes, are to advocate for policy changes related to kidney stone disease and hopefully get additional research dollars from our partners in that aspect, but also connect patients with viable and validated resources for them to understand their disease and connect with other patients as well. And then finally, as you said, we are working to garner donations so that we can fund kidney stone research and move the field forward.
Ruchika Talwar: This is an amazing step in the right direction and we are so excited for the entire kidney stone community. We look forward to hearing more.
Justin Ziemba: Yes, thank you very much for having us and allowing us to provide you with that announcement.
Ruchika Talwar: Hi everyone. My name is Ruchika Talwar, and today I'm joined by Dr. Justin Ziemba, Assistant Professor of Urology at the University of Pennsylvania. He's going to be sharing with us some exciting news in the world of kidney stone disease. The floor is yours.
Justin Ziemba: Thanks for having us. So we have an exciting announcement. We've been working behind the scenes for several months with a bunch of colleagues who are scientific experts in kidney stone disease, patient advocates, and patients as well, and trying to develop a nonprofit patient advocacy and research organization that is going to specifically work towards improving kidney stone research as well as advocacy for these groups. There is no set group that represents kidney stone patients, and so we will be excited to launch this in the next couple of weeks and have everyone learn more about it.
Ruchika Talwar: Absolutely. This is great. So, as you said, right now, there really is no central advocacy organization for kidney stone disease. So I imagine you all will be working on different policy-related initiatives to try to improve the quality of care. But it sounds like there may also be some grant opportunities, research funding, and things like that. Tell us more.
Justin Ziemba: Yes, the name of the organization will be the Kidney Stone Collaborative, KSC for short. And the priorities, yes, are to advocate for policy changes related to kidney stone disease and hopefully get additional research dollars from our partners in that aspect, but also connect patients with viable and validated resources for them to understand their disease and connect with other patients as well. And then finally, as you said, we are working to garner donations so that we can fund kidney stone research and move the field forward.
Ruchika Talwar: This is an amazing step in the right direction and we are so excited for the entire kidney stone community. We look forward to hearing more.
Justin Ziemba: Yes, thank you very much for having us and allowing us to provide you with that announcement.