‘Massive renaissance’ in nephrology

The Irish Nephrology Society (INS) Annual Scientific Meeting 2026 saw a packed auditorium enjoy presentations from expert speakers from Ireland and abroad. Each presenter brought their own perspective on patient care, and the conference also featured a live recording of the Freely Filtered podcast. Freely Filtered is an entertaining and informative podcast hosted by Dr Joel Topf, Associate Clinical Professor,  Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, Michigan, US.

Recorded in the plenary session of the conference, this episode included special guests Dr Samir Parikh, President of the American Society of Nephrology; Prof Donal Reddan, INS President; and Prof Catherine Godson, Full Professor of Molecular Medicine and Director of the University College Dublin (UCD) Diabetes Complications Research Centre at the UCD Conway Institute. Freely Filtered is a twice-monthly endeavour of the NephJC journal club. The NephJC reviews some of the most important research advancing patient care in nephrology.

The meeting was opened by Dr Sam Kant, INS Secretary, who commented: “Between them, the speakers we have here have travelled more than 12,000 miles to be here, between Dallas, Michigan, Belfast, and London, and we are a very welcoming Society.” 

“I think we have seen a massive renaissance in nephrology,” he continued.

“When I was in Fellowship, I noticed that trainees in other specialties, like oncology or cardiology, were always celebrating something new in their area of medicine… but now, we can see that every second or third week, there is a new nephrology trial – I believe there is massive cause for optimism in nephrology.”

He continued: “We talk about revolution versus evolution, but in nephrology, I think we have really seen a revolution in the sense of a massive change in the specialty.”

Dr Kant introduced Prof Stephen McAdoo, who delivered a talk titled, ‘Towards steroid avoidance in AAV [ANCA-associated vasculitis]’. Prof McAdoo summarised recommendations from British Society for Rheumatology guidelines to show that steroids are still overused in AAV.

“Reduced-dose steroid regimens should by now be standard in nearly all patients,” he told the conference.

“There should be caution and monitoring in patients with severe disease treated with rituximab, including adaptive versus protocolised tapers where possible. Combination induction regimens are now undergoing prospective evaluation.”