He was also the principal investigator of more than 40 studies (e.g., Canadian- Cyclosporin Trial; Diapep277 Study; IDNT; IRMA 2; QUARTET; PROactive; GUIDE; ORIGIN; LEAD-6; DIRECT; EUREXA; DURATION; GENERATION). Professor Schernthaner was awarded the Bertram Award of the German Diabetes Association in 1982 and the Albert Renold Medal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in 1997. He is currently the Liaison Editor for Diabetology for Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation. Dr Schernthaner reported no relevant financial relationships Charles R V Tomson, DM, FRCP, completed his under- graduate studies at Cambridge University and attended medical school at University of Oxford. Dr Tomson has worked as a Consultant Nephrologist at Southmead Hospital since April 1991. Between 1997 and 2004 he was course director for the Renal Association s Advanced Nephrology Course, and between 1998 and 2002 he was Secretary of the Renal Association s Audit and Standards Subcommittee, developing the 3rd edition of the Association s Standards document. In 2001 he set up and chaired the group that developed the first UK guidelines on identification, manage- ment and referral of patients with CKD. In 2004 5 he was a Health Foundation Quality Improvement Fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in Boston, USA. From 2006 2010 he was Chairman of the UK Renal Registry, which measures and reports on the quality of care achieved by all renal centers in the UK. He became President of the Renal Association in May 2010. Dr Tomson reported no relevant financial relationships Carmine Zoccali, MD, is Director of the Division of Nephrology, Hypertension and Renal Transplantation and Chief of the Clinical Epidemiology of Renal Diseases and Hypertension Unit of the National Research Council-IBIM at Riuniti Hospital, Calabria. 