Val A. and Edith D. Green Presidential Endowed Chair in Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences
Moran Eye Center, University of Utah

Paul S. Bernstein, MD, PhD, joined the faculty of the Moran Eye Center of the University of Utah in 1995 where he currently divides his time equally between clinical and basic science retina research and a clinical practice devoted to medical and surgical treatment of diseases of the retina and vitreous, with special emphasis on macular and retinal degenerations. Dr. Bernstein did his undergraduate, MD, and PhD training at Harvard University; his ophthalmology residency at Jules Stein Eye Institute of UCLA; and his vitreoretinal fellowship at Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary. Dr. Bernstein’s current research interests focus on the biochemistry and biophysics of nutritional interventions against inherited and acquired ocular disorders. He has authored over 200 peer-reviewed research articles and reviews and has served as a reviewer for numerous journals, foundations, and institutes. Dr. Bernstein currently serves as the Vice-Chair for Research at the Moran Eye Center and was vice-president of ARVO from 2016-2017.

Associate Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President of Research for US Renal Care, Inc.

Dr. Block currently serves as the Associate Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President of Research for US Renal Care, Inc where he focuses on improving the quality of care delivered to nearly 27,000 patients on dialysis. 

He primarily cares for patients in the outpatient setting maintaining an office-based practice and seeing patients who require dialysis (hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis). He has served as the Medical Director of a Dialysis Unit for more than 20 years and truly considers it a privilege to care for patients with kidney disease. 

Dr. Block loves spending time with his wife, Martha, and their four children and two dogs. He enjoys biking and hiking and walking the dogs.

Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, University of California San Diego School of Medicine
Clinical Director of the Division of Nephrology, Rady Children’s Hospital, San Diego

Caitlin Carter is board certified in adult and pediatric nephrology and an active clinician caring for adults and children with kidney disease.  She completed her internal medicine and pediatrics residency and combined adult and pediatric nephrology fellowship at UC San Diego.  Her current clinical practice focuses primarily on pediatric patients, and she has an interest in the impact of kidney disease across the lifespan. She is currently the clinical director of pediatric nephrology at Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego, overseeing the clinical operations and is actively involved in medical education at UC San Diego. Dr. Carter is also a member of Alport Syndrome Foundation’s (ASF) Medical Advisory Committee.

Assistant Professor, Pediatrics, Division of Nephrology, Washington University in St. Louis

Dr. Halabi treats congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract, chronic kidney disease, hypertension, kidney stones, urinary tract infections, glomerular diseases including nephrotic and nephritic syndromes, and electrolyte disorders.

Her research interests include extracellular matrix proteins, particularly those that make up the elastic fibers of blood vessels. Elastic fibers convey elasticity to blood vessels and abnormalities in elastic fiber components lead to various complications including hypertension, stiff vessels, and aneurysms.

Clinical Dietitian, AdventHealth, Transplant Institute

Megan received her Bachelor’s degree in Dietetics from Western Kentucky University. She attended Fontbonne University in St. Louis, Missouri for her Master’s and Dietetic Internship. Transplant sparked her interest while working at St. Louis University Hospital and when the opportunity arose, she made the trek to Colorado to work with the transplant team at AdventHealth Porter. Megan became a Certified Clinical Transplant Dietitian in 2024. She loves fishing in Kentucky with her dad, hiking and camping in Colorado with her husband and dog, and is excited to welcome her first child later this year.

Genetic counselor, Cleveland Clinic

Mary-Beth Roberts is a general/pediatric genetic counselor specializing in renal genetics at Cleveland Clinic. She also co-founded the Renal Genetics special interest group at the National Society of Genetic Counselors, and is involved in various initiatives promoting this growing specialty. Additionally, Ms. Roberts volunteered with ASF to help guide the efforts of the Emerging Leadership Council in crafting a digital toolkit developed by patients for patients related to genetics and family planning. She also serves on ASF’s Scientific Advisory Research Network (SARN).

Program Director, Nephrology Fellowship
Assistant Professor, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine Medical Staff, Cleveland Clinic

Dr. James Simon is board certified in nephrology and internal medicine. He is currently a medical director in Medical Operations and is the medical director for Enterprise Analytics. His clinical interests include adult-diagnosed Alport syndrome and atypical hemolytic syndrome. He is a member of ASF’s Medical Advisory Committee and has participated in clinical trials studying Alport syndrome. He has focused on identifying and treating Alport syndrome in previously undiagnosed adults.

Pediatric audiologist,  Rocky Mountain Pediatric ENT Associates at Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children 

Dr. Brittany Slaff is a pediatric Audiologist with Rocky Mountain Pediatric ENT Associates at Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children and manages their Cochlear Implant program. Brittany specializes in pediatric diagnostic evaluations, hearing aids, and cochlear implants. In her free time, Brittany is an avid flower gardener, baker, and pet parent to two corgis.

Chief of Pediatric Nephrology and Director of Dialysis and Kidney Transplantation
Senior Associate Chair and Professor, Department of Pediatrics
Children‘s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics
University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine

In addition to his clinical pediatric practice, Dr. Bradley Warady currently serves as Co-Principal Investigator of the International Pediatric Peritoneal Dialysis Network and the multicenter, National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded Chronic Kidney Disease in Children (CKiD) Study. He is also a Council Member for the International Pediatric Nephrology Association (IPNA). He has published more than 300 articles and book chapters and he has co-edited the books CAPD/CCPD in Children and Pediatric Dialysis. Dr. Warady has been a member of several clinical practice guideline writing committees for the National Kidney Foundation (NKF), and he recently co-chaired the NKF workgroup which published guidelines for the Nutritional Management of Children with chronic kidney disease. Dr. Warady serves as Associate Editor for Peritoneal Dialysis International and he sits on the editorial board of Pediatric Nephrology. Dr. Warady is also on ASF’s Medical Advisory Committee.

Nephrologist specializing in transplant medicine, AdventHealth Transplant Institute Porter

Dr. Alexander Wiseman enjoys building relationships with his patients and working together with their other care providers in a team approach to provide the most personalized care possible. His clinical and professional interests include transplant therapies for diabetes, organ allocation and utilization, novel immunosuppressive strategies and emerging therapies, as well as population health for chronic kidney disease patients.

When he’s not treating patients, Dr. Wiseman enjoys hiking, traveling, nonfiction reading, cooking, and Denver area sports.