Associate Clinical Professor Kathy Nicholls MBBS, MD, FRACP, Grad Cert University teaching is a kidney specialist at The Royal Melbourne Hospital. She coordinates Fabry-related clinical care for over 100 Victorian patients, working with Elizabeth Centra, Donna North and other colleagues. The Royal Melbourne Hospital unit has treated Fabry patients with enzyme replacement therapy since 2000, and more recently has actively participated in trials of chaperone molecule and substrate reduction therapies.

Linked with clinical care is an ongoing clinical and basic science research interests in Fabry disease. Current research interests include using stem cells to study the effects of Fabry mutations on the function of kidney and heart cells, access programs for gene therapies, effects of enzyme replacement of different types, and oral therapies for Fabry disease.

Megan Rees is the Head of Unit for Respiratory Medicine and Sleep Disorders at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. She is a consultant physician in Respiratory, Sleep and General Medicine with an interest in Respiratory Infectious Diseases.

She completed her medical degree at the University of Melbourne.

After internship she moved to London, England to undertake general physician training at the Royal Free Hospital where she obtained her MRCP. Whilst in the UK she pursued her interest in infectious diseases completing a DTM&H from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She returned to Australia in 2003 to compete her FRACP qualifications specialising in Respiratory Medicine and Sleep Disorders with training at the Royal Melbourne, Alfred and Western Hospitals.

Megan received a Norman Beischer Medical Research Foundation Innovation Grant to conduct a study of Sleep Apnea in Pregnancy.

Prof. Alberto Ortiz

 Chief of Nephrology and Hypertension at the Health Research Institute of the Jiménez Díaz Foundation and University Hospital (IIS-FJD-UAM), Madrid, Spain and Professor of Medicine at the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM). He studied Medicine at UAM, specialized in Nephrology at FJD and was a post-doctoral research fellow at the Renal-Electrolyte Section of the University of Pennsylvania. He is European Renal Association (ERA) Clinical Nephrology Governance Chair/Chair of the Registry, Editor-in-Chief for Clinical Kidney Journal (up to May 2022), J Am Soc Nephrol Editorial Board member, member of European Renal Best Practice (ERBP), coordinator of the Spanish Renal Research Network (REDINREN), RICORS2040 and SPACKDc (ISCIII Precision Medicine initiative), Distinguished Fellow of the ERA (FERA), Board member of SOMANE, and Corresponding member of the Spanish Royal National Academy of Medicine. He received the 2020 ERA-EDTA Award for Research Excellence.

His current h-index is 90/109 (ISI-WOK/Google Scholar), his published work has >108000 citations (Google Scholar). His research interests include the pathogenesis and treatment of acute kidney injury, diabetic nephropathy and other forms of chronic kidney disease, vascular injury in kidney disease, inherited kidney disease, biocompatibility and systems medicine. Specific focus of research are cell and molecular mechanisms of kidney injury and interaction of environment with genetic background. He is ranked 8 among global experts on the kidney by https://expertscape.com/ex/kidney