Dr Dr. Franz Schaefer is Professor of Pediatrics and Chief of Pediatric Nephrology at Heidelberg University Hospital. He received his M.D. in 1986 at Würzburg University Medical School. He performed research scholarships at Institute of Child Health, London, University of Virginia and Stanford University.

He served on numerous medical society councils and is the current president of the International Pediatric Nephrology Association (IPNA). He won several national and international prizes and awards, including the Recklinghausen Award, the IBM Innovation Award and the Black Pearl Award for Rare Disease Leadership.

His research interests include the genetic basis of hereditary kidney diseases, the physiopathology and prevention of kidney disease progression, the cardiovascular, metabolic and endocrine consequences of kidney disease in children, and the mangement of end-stage kidney disease by renal replacement therapy.

He has a unique track record in clinical and epidemiological research. He conducted numerous multicenter clinical trials and established several international research consortia and registry projects for rare diseases and conditions. These include the International Pediatric Dialysis Network (IPDN), the European Network for Chronic Kidney Disease Research (ESCAPE), the PodoNet network for steroid resistant nephrotic syndrome, the ARegPKD and ADPedKD registries for polycystic kidney diseases, and the IPNA global registry for pediatric kidney replacement therapy. Moreover, he founded and coordinates the European Rare Kidney Disease Reference Network (ERKNet), for which he created the highly successful European Registry for Rare Kidney Diseases (ERKReg).

Dr. Schaefer’s publication record encompasses 750 scientific articles and book chapters with almost 50,000 citations; his H-Index is 98. Dr. Schaefer is Co-editor of the international textbooks ‘Pediatric Kidney Disease’ and ‘Pediatric Dialysis’.