Josef

Coresh

,

MD

I study risk factors for vascular disease across different organs including the heart, kidney and brain with the goal of improving health and training leaders in research. By collaborating with outstanding individuals across multiple disciplines, I have co-authored over 800 articles cited over 100,000 times. Much of my work has focused on factors mediating excess risk among patients with various stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD), from pre-clinical to end-stage.  Rigorously defining the burden of CKD in the population is an area I have contributed to since co-chairing the guidelines workgroup which standardized CKD staging (chair, Andrew Levey).

 I have enjoyed looking at genetic and biologic risk factors as well as innovative epidemiologic methods and statistical analysis in the conduct of this research. The ultimate objective of my work is to decrease the enormous burden of vascular disease through developing the scientific basis for behavioral and pharmacologic interventions.

Epidemiology and clinical research is most productive when done collaboratively.  I am fortunate to play a leadership role in a number of large collaborations.  The Epidemiology Department, Welch Center and Johns Hopkins University (through funding from Comstock Professorship) produced short videos which partly feature my work and thinking about training future leaders.


Program Leadership at Johns Hopkins:


Director, Cardiovascular Epidemiology Training Program (T32HL07024) and co-director area of concentration.
Director, George W. Comstock Center for Public Health Research and Prevention (GWCC) with over 30 staff members involved in data collection based in Hagerstown, MD.


Research Project Leadership:


Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study (ARIC) - A prospective study of 15,792 individuals recruited between 1986-1988 and followed for 30+ years for cardiovascular disease and to monitor for a wide range of other conditions. This NHLBI funded multi-center contract provides the basis for a wide range of ancillary studies which now average over 150 publications annually. Visit 7 is underway (2017-2018) and future visits are being planned.

Kidney Disease Collaborative Studies - Co-chairing the National Kidney Foundation guidelines on the definition and classification of kidney disease led to an ongoing line of research.

Chronic Kidney Disease Prognosis Consortium (CKD-PC) - Analyzing data from ~80 cohorts across >40 countries including over 10 million individuals.

CKD-EPI Collaboration - The 2009 CKD-EPI Creatinine Equation is replacing the MDRD Study equation as the most widely used equation to estimate GFR globally. Additional studies focus on discovery and validation of novel markers for CKD staging and progression. Recent efforts are focused on novel methods for improved GFR estimation (provisional patent submitted 2014).

CKD Biomarkers Consortium - Explores a wide range of markers by multiple groups in a NIDDK U01 grant. Hopkins is now focusing on metabolomics in CKD. 

NHANES Kidney Disease Studies - Ongoing efforts to provide the most valid estimates of kidney disease prevalence in the U.S. as well as examine concurrent complications and consequences.  

Aging, Cognition, and Hearing Evaluation in Elders (ACHIEVE) Randomized Trial -- co-led with Dr. Frank Lin (ENT), the trial randomized >900 participants to assess whether hearing rehabilitation vs. healthy aging intervention may prevent cognitive decline in older adults. Recruitment exceeded targets and the 3-year follow-up for the primary results will be in 2022.

National committees: My role as vice-chair of the National Kidney Foundation Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (KDOQI) workgroup for the Clinical Practice Guideline “Chronic Kidney Disease: Evaluation, Classification and Stratification” has led to ongoing involvement in the international effort to address the public health burden of chronic kidney disease. This has included contributing to Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes(KDIGO) initiative planning controversies meetings in 2004 and 2009 and new guidelines in 2013. Likewise, the NKF-FDA-EMA joint initiatives for improving intermediate outcomes of CKD progression in clinical trials was informed by our work in 2013 and 2018.