The National Kidney Foundation is revolutionizing the fight to save lives by eliminating preventable kidney disease, accelerating innovation for the dignity of the patient experience, and dismantling structural inequities in kidney care, dialysis, and transplantation.
Fueled by passion and urgency, National Kidney Foundation is a lifeline for all people affected by kidney disease. As pioneers of scientific research and innovation, NKF focuses on the whole patient through the lens of kidney health. Relentless in our work, we enhance lives through action, education, and accelerating change.
On November 15, 1950, Ada DeBold, and her husband Harry called the first meeting of the Committee for Nephrosis Research in a desperate attempt to save their child. Several months earlier, the couple's infant son was stricken with nephrosis, a little-known condition that had no real treatment. DeBold was determined to take positive action as she confronted the challenge of parenting a child with an incurable disease and due to her fortitude, the National Nephrosis Foundation (NNF) was born. The NNF was the inaugural lay group that ultimately became the National Kidney Foundation in 1964.
The DeBolds' son died at age four while nephrosis was still a death sentence but his mother's efforts to connect patients and doctors paid off just a few years later when treatment was discovered that has since saved the lives of thousands.
To learn more about our journey visit https://www.kidney.org/about/history.
