Conference on ARPKD/CHF Features Eminent Speakers from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and NIH

The ARPKD/CHF Alliance (autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease/congenital hepatic fibrosis) held a major conference "Empowering the Patient" on Saturday, November 3, at world-renowned Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). The all-day conference, which was attended by ARPKD/CHF families from around the country, featured lectures by world-class kidney and liver disease experts from CHOP, an update on the clinical drug trial of tesevatinib (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesevatinib), a moving personal story from a mother of a child with ARPKD, and closed with the keynote address by Theo Heller, MD, Chief of the Translational Hepatology Section, Liver Disease Branch, NIDDK, NIH, who provided an update on a 10-year NIH research project on ARPKD/CHF. Dr. Heller noted that this research project would never have taken place if not for the herculean lobbying efforts of Colleen Zak, MSN, CRNP, President & Founder of the ARPKD/CHF Alliance. David Piccoli, MD, Chief, Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, CHOP, and Susan Furth, MD, PhD, Chief, Divison of Nephrology, CHOP, introduce the day's meeting.