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Susan L. Furth, MD, PhD
Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer
Dr. Furth's research focuses on defining risk factors for kidney disease progression in children; characterizing the effect of kidney function decline on neurodevelopment, cognitive abilities and behavior; identifying the prevalence and evolution of cardiovascular disease risk factors, and examining the effects of declining glomerular filtration rate on children’s growth.
Bio
Dr. Furth is the principal investigator of the East Coast Coordinating Center for the Chronic Kidney Disease in Children study (CKiD), a role she has held since 2003. In that role she leads a multidisciplinary team in protocol design, and the coordination of recruitment and retention of study participants. She also oversees the quality of data collection at the sites, data analyses reviews, and manuscript writing for the study.
Dr. Furth has held multiple leadership roles on other projects as well. She serves as the PI representing CKiD in the NIH-supported BioCon consortium studying biomarkers of chronic kidney disease progression across multiple adult and pediatric CKD cohort studies. She is the PI for the NIDDK-funded Pediatric Center of Excellence in Nephrology. This study promotes and develops clinical trial research with a focus on pediatric nephrology. The study’s goals include strengthening research, accelerating implementation of clinical trials, and serving as a resource to all clinicians, researchers and investigators working in pediatric nephrology. Dr. Furth oversees the operations of the center, leads meetings of the scientific advisory core, and oversees the use of each of the biomedical cores the pilot and feasibility program, the enrichment core, and the progress of the research projects.
Additionally, she has been the PI of several patient outcomes research projects focusing on the effectiveness of treatment for children with CKD and end-stage renal disease and has studied behavioral determinants and quality of life outcomes.
Among Dr. Furth’s notable career accomplishments are the:
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Documentation of the rates of kidney disease progression, development of comorbid conditions, and underlying genetic factors contributing to CKD in children
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Development of accurate and precise estimating formulas to assess kidney function in chronic kidney disease
Education and Training
BA, University of Pennsylvania (English), 1984
MD, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, 1988
PhD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (Clinical Investigations), 1999
Titles and Academic Titles
Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer
Professor of Pediatrics
Professional Memberships
Society for Pediatric Research, 2002-
American Society of Pediatric Nephrology (Councilor), 2005-2009
Society of Pediatric Research, (Vice President, President-Elect, President), 2005-
Academic Pediatric Society, 2015-
Professional Awards
Johns Hopkins University Clinician Scientist Award, 1998-1999
American Society of Transplantation Young Investigator Award, 1999
Pediatric Leaders for the 21st Century - American Society of Pediatric Nephrology, 2000
Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine Fellowship, 2015
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Faculty Mentor Award, 2016
Johns Hopkins University Society of Scholars, 2017
SPR’s Maureen Andrew Mentor Award, 2020
FOCUS Award for the Advancement of Women in Medicine, Penn Medicine 2020
Publication Highlights
PubMed:
Furth SL, Pierce C, Hui WF, White CA, Wong CS, Schaefer F, Wühl E, Abraham AG, Warady BA. Estimating Time to ESRD in Children With CKD. Am J Kidney Dis. 2018 Jun; 71(6):783-792. PMID: 29653769
Verbitsky M, Kogon AJ, Matheson M, Hooper SR, Wong CS, Warady BA, Furth SL, Gharavi AG. Genomic Disorders and Neurocognitive Impairment in Pediatric CKD. J Am Soc Nephrol. 2017 Aug; 28(8):2303-2309. PMID: 28348065
Lopez-Rivera E, Liu YP, Verbitsky M, Anderson BR, Capone VP, Otto EA, Yan Z, Mitrotti A, Martino J, Steers NJ, Fasel DA, Vukojevic K, Deng R, Racedo SE, Liu Q, Werth M, Westland R, Vivante A, Makar GS, Bodria M, Sampson MG, Gillies CE, Vega-Warner V, Maiorana M, Petrey DS, Honig B, Lozanovski VJ, Salomon R, Heidet L, Carpentier W, Gaillard D, Carrea A, Gesualdo L, Cusi D, Izzi C, Scolari F, van Wijk JA, Arapovic A, Saraga-Babic M, Saraga M, Kunac N, Samii A, McDonald-McGinn DM, Crowley TB, Zackai EH, Drozdz D, Miklaszewska M, Tkaczyk M, Sikora P, Szczepanska M, Mizerska-Wasiak M, Krzemien G, Szmigielska A, Zaniew M, Darlow JM, Puri P, Barton D, Casolari E, Furth SL, Warady BA, Gucev Z, Hakonarson H, Flogelova H, Tasic V, Latos-Bielenska A, Materna-Kiryluk A, Allegri L, Wong CS, Drummond IA, D'Agati V, Imamoto A, Barasch JM, Hildebrandt F, Kiryluk K, Lifton RP, Morrow BE, Jeanpierre C, Papaioannou VE, Ghiggeri GM, Gharavi AG, Katsanis N, Sanna-Cherchi S. Genetic Drivers of Kidney Defects in the DiGeorge Syndrome. Eng J Med. 2017 Feb; 23;376(8):742-754. PMID:28121514
Furth SL, Cole SR, Moxey-Mims M, Kaskel F, Mak R, Schwartz G, Wong C, Muñoz A, Warady BA. Design and Methods of the Chronic Kidney Disease in Children (CKiD) Prospective Cohort Study. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol. 2006 Sep; 1(5):1006-15.; PMID: 17699320