Susan Furth

Principal Investigator CKiDs, Steering Committee Member

Susan L. Furth, MD, PhD, is a pediatric nephrologist and the Division Chief of Nephrology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia as well as a Professor of Pediatrics and Epidemiology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.  She is the Associate Chair for Academic Affairs in the Department of Pediatrics at CHOP, and is chair of their Committee on Advancements and Promotions.  She is currently serving as a Co-editor of the American Journal of Kidney Diseases.

 

Furth is the Principal Investigator of a NIH multicenter observational cohort study in progressive Chronic Kidney Disease in Children (CKiD). This study, now in its 14th year, is the largest multicenter prospective cohort study of children with chronic kidney disease ever conducted in North America. Approximately 900 children have been enrolled in this study, roughly 70% with underlying urologic disease, and 30% with glomerular or underlying inherited causes of kidney disease.  This study is tasked to define risk factors for kidney disease progression in children. It was also designed to characterize the effect of kidney function decline on neurodevelopment, cognitive abilities and behavior as well as to identify the prevalence and evolution of cardiovascular disease risk factors and examine the effects of declining GFR on children’s growth.  She is partnering with PEPR to assess patient reported outcomes in this longitudinal study.

 

Dr. Furth was the co-Principal Investigator in an NIH funded Teen Adherence in Kidney Transplant Effectiveness Intervention Trial (TAKE-IT), a behavioral intervention to promote medication adherence after kidney transplants in adolescents.  Dr. Furth recently completed a 10-year mid-career K24 award in mentoring patient-oriented research.   She has mentored multiple junior faculty who have progressed to successful research-oriented careers in nephrology, urology and rheumatology and in 2016 was awarded The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Faculty Mentor Award.