National Kidney Foundation to Award Dietitian Lois Hill with Top Nutrition Award

NEW YORK, March 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) will present the 2023 Joel D. Kopple Award to Kentucky renal dietitian Lois Hill, MS, RDN, LD, LDE, for her significant contributions to the field of renal nutrition. The award is in the name of the "father of renal nutrition" and will be presented at the 2023 NKF Spring Clinical Meetings (SCM) in Austin, TX, in April.

"Receiving the Joel D. Kopple Award is a career highlight for me," Hill said. "I am honored to have had the opportunity to practice in renal nutrition and to follow in the footsteps of earlier Joel D. Kopple Award honorees whom I have held in the highest esteem."

Hill is a registered dietitian nutritionist, licensed dietitian, and a licensed diabetes educator in Kentucky. She is in private practice in Lexington and focuses on chronic kidney disease (CKD) nutrition counseling. Over her career, she has worked as a nutrition service supervisor and as a renal dietitian at Dialysis Clinic, Inc. and at the University of Kentucky. She has various experiences in clinical practice among stages 1 through 5 CKD and post-transplant patients and has participated in research in CKD nutrition.

"Hill's work and continual advocacy for increased use of medical nutrition therapy in treating people with kidney disease is so important for millions of Americans," said NKF President Sylvia Rosas, MD, MSCE. "She is passionate about renal nutrition and is paving a path much like Dr. Kopple did a generation ago. She has been a longtime advocate of the NKF and we are grateful for her leadership roles at the NKF Council on Renal Nutrition."

She holds both an MS and BS degree from the University of Kentucky with her dietetic internship completed at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, Ohio. She counsels patients with CKD stages 3 and 4 on Medical Nutrition Therapy covered by Medicare and other insurance. She acts as a nutrition interpreter to sort out evidence-based facts from internet information about renal nutrition and conducts grocery store tours for patients.

"I am a longtime member of the National Kidney Foundation Council on Renal Nutrition," she said. "The NKF is the go-to national organization for kidney-related advocacy, education, outreach, and research."

Hill will give a lecture titled, "Nephrology Nutrition: Past, Present, and Future Possibilities" on Thursday, April 13, at 8:15 a.m. in Austin, TX at the 2023 NKF SCM.

Each year NKF considers the work of hundreds of specialists in the field of Nephrology and selects among them those who most exemplify the relentless efforts of NKF to enhance the lives of patients through action, education, and accelerating change. The prestigious awards are presented to the recipients during the annual gathering of clinicians and kidney health professionals at the NKF 2023 Spring Clinical Meetings, which will be held from April 11-15 in Austin, TX.

NKF Spring Clinical Meetings

For the past 31 years, nephrology healthcare professionals from across the country have come to NKF's Spring Clinical Meetings to learn about the newest developments related to all aspects of nephrology practice; network with colleagues; and present their research findings. The NKF Spring Clinical Meetings are designed for meaningful change in the multidisciplinary healthcare teams' skills, performance, and patient health outcomes. It is the only conference of its kind that focuses on translating science into practice for the entire healthcare team. 

About Kidney Disease

In the United States, more than 37 million adults are estimated to have kidney disease, also known as chronic kidney disease (CKD)—and approximately 90 percent don't know they have it. About 1 in 3 adults in the U.S. are at risk for kidney disease. Risk factors for kidney disease include: diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, and family history. People of Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian American, or Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander descent are at increased risk for developing the disease. Black or African American people are about four times as likely as White people to have kidney failure. Hispanics experience kidney failure at about double the rate of White people.

NKF Professional Membership

Healthcare professionals can join NKF to receive access to tools and resources for both patients and professionals, discounts on professional education, and access to a network of thousands of individuals who treat patients with kidney disease. 

About the National Kidney Foundation

The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) is the largest, most comprehensive, and longstanding patient-centric organization dedicated to the awareness, prevention, and treatment of kidney disease in the U.S. For more information about NKF, visit www.kidney.org.

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SOURCE The National Kidney Foundation