The 11th edition of NephMadness officially starts today, March 1, 2023.
The month-long event, hosted by AJKD Blog, is an online, interactive, educational activity modeled on March Madness, the annual US college basketball tournament, except with nephrology concepts. Social media tools are used to encourage a good-natured, robust discussion about the latest news and breakthroughs in the field of nephrology.
The competition starts with eight main topics (regions), each of which is divided into two competing subtopics (teams). Each region is introduced by an in-depth review of the subject, with each competing team summarized by an author and overseen by an expert in the field. Both individuals and groups are encouraged to fill out their own brackets by choosing the topic likely to have the most practice change in nephrology over the next five years. Official winners for each matchup are determined by nine Blue Ribbon Panel members. The bracket listing all 16 topics was kept secret until today.
WashU Nephrology is proud to have a special involvement in this year’s tournament. Two of our second-year renal fellows, Scott Stockholm, DO, and Morgan Schoer, MD, wrote the summaries of two competing subtopics for the Onconephrology region, accompanied by a commentary by our Division Chief, Dr. Ben Humphreys, MD, PhD; Anuja Java, MD, was the expert for the Thrombotic Microangiopathy (TMA) region; and Dr. Timothy Yau is on the NephMadness 2023 Executive Team.
Dr. Schoer, the author for team “AKI in ICIs” (immune checkpoint inhibitors), says, “This was a fun way to take a deep dive into a very interesting and evolving topic. I’m looking forward to seeing how these topics compete!”
Dr. Stockholm is the author for team “HypoMg in EGFRi” (hypomagnesemia in epidermal growth factor inhibitors). “Magnesium is always an underdog electrolyte; it was enjoyable to bring attention to it in this complex issue! I’m looking forward to seeing hypomagnesemia beat out the rest of the stiff competition!”
Stockholm also participated as a guest on the podcast “Fellow on Call,” which will release this month to promote the event.
A healthy amount of competition is expected in the tournament. “TMAs are always challenging to diagnose, and we have come up with some creative visuals to help the readers,” says Dr. Java. “Rooting for it to win this year!”
Visit AJKD Blog to register, read about the topics, and make your choices. CME/CE credit and MOC points are available for players. The brackets are to be submitted by March 31, 2023. During the month, groups are encouraged to organize a #NephMadnessParty to post on social media.
Here is the official list of the eight nephrology regions. The name of the expert for each region is listed first, followed by the names of the authors of the two competing team summaries:
- Access to Kidney Transplantation: Vineeta Kumar @VineetaKumar8 | Margaret DeOliveira @MargaretD128 | Jeffrey Kott @jrkott27
- Heart Failure Devices: Nisha Bansal @NishaKidneyDoc | Jen Bergeron @DrJennyBee | Jefferson Triozzi @nepherson
- Thrombotic Microangiopathy: Anuja Java @anuja_java | Viralkumar Amrutiya @viral_nephro | Nouman Akbar @AkbarNouman
- IGA Nephropathy: Dana Rizk @DanaRizk1 | Dana Larsen @dana_m_larsen
- Mineralocorticoid Receptor Antagonists: Matt Luther @DrJMLuther | Micah Schub @AcidBassMD
- Onconephrology: Matthew Abramson @M_Abramson | Morgan Schoer | Scott Stockholm
- Transgender Health: Mitchell R. Lunn @MitchellLunn | Sehrish Ali @sehrish_alii
- Transitions of Care: Rasheeda Hall @Rasheeda_HallMD | Alissar El Chediak @alissar_chediak
On Twitter, please follow @HumphreysLab, @anuja_java and @WUNephrology, as well as the NephMadness 2023 Executive Team:Matt Sparks @Nephro_Sparks, Tim Yau @Maximal_Change, Anna Burgner @anna_burgner, Samira Farouk @ssfarouk, Pascale Khairallah @Khairallah_P, and Anna Vinnikova @KidneyWars.
Also see the NephMadness 2023 Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram sites for to join in on the conversation about the topics. Use #NephMadness when posting and let yourselves be heard!
To learn more about NephMadness, check out @KidneyCathy‘s short video explainer: