Get Well Wednesday: March Is National Kidney Month

Orlando M. Gutiérrez, M.D., M.M.Sc., obtained his medical degree from the University of Toledo College of Medicine in 2002. He then completed internship and residency training at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston from 2002 to 2005, and a clinical and research fellowship in nephrology from the Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Massachusetts General Hospital Joint Nephrology Training Program in 2008.

With the support of an American Kidney Fund Clinical Scientist in Nephrology Fellowship award, he completed a Masters in Medical Science degree in human clinical investigation from Harvard Medical School during his fellowship, graduating as the valedictorian of his class. Dr. Gutiérrez joined the faculty of the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine as an Assistant Professor of Medicine in 2008.

Gutierrez is now an Associate Professor of Medicine in the School of Medicine and the section head for outcomes and epidemiology research in the Division of Nephrology at UAB. His focus on kidney disease making him one of the leading doctors in the field. Here’s what you should know about how to prevent kidney disease and failure:

• Diabetes is the #1 cause of kidney failures among African Americans.
• High blood pressure is the #2 cause of kidney failure among African Americans.
• African Americans with kidney disease are more likely to progress to kidney failure than any other group.
• African Americans are nearly four times more likely to develop kidney failure than Caucasians.
• Even though African Americans comprise only 13% of the U.S. population, they account for almost 1/3 of kidney failure cases.
• There are 195,000 African Americans living with kidney failure. To put this in perspective, if those individuals formed a line, it would be more than 70 miles long.

March is National Kidney Month. For more information on your risks and how to prevent kidney disease, click HERE.

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