Denver Brown, MD, awarded prestigious KidneyCure grant to advance pediatric CKD research
Denver Brown, MD, a pediatric nephrologist at Children’s National Hospital, has been named a 2025 KidneyCure Research Scholar Grant recipient. Her project, titled Metabolic Acidosis and Growth in a Heterogeneous Pediatric CKD Population: A Target Trial Emulation Study, addresses a critical gap in managing chronic kidney disease (CKD) in children.
KidneyCure, established by the American Society of Nephrology, is the largest private funder of kidney-focused research, awarding $3.2 million this year to support 45 investigators. Dr. Brown’s award falls under the Transition to Independence Grants Program, which supports early-career researchers in establishing independent research careers.
Dr. Brown’s study will examine how treating metabolic acidosis affects linear growth in children with CKD, a population in which up to 35% experience growth impairment. “My research focuses on adding to, and increasing, evidence-based approaches to managing chronic kidney disease in children, with a particular focus on metabolic acidosis,” she said.
Instead of a traditional clinical trial, she will use target trial emulation, a method that applies advanced statistical techniques to real-world data from 11 institutions. “Target trial emulation is especially valuable in pediatric nephrology, where the rarity of CKD makes large-scale trials difficult to conduct,” she explained.
Dr. Brown hopes her findings will help reduce morbidity in pediatric CKD patients by identifying effective treatment strategies. “Poor linear growth affects up to 35% of the pediatric CKD population and has been associated with poor health and quality of life outcomes,” she noted.
Looking ahead, she aims to become a leader in pediatric clinical trials. “With the support of this award, I hope to gain skills in advanced statistical approaches that can be leveraged to conduct novel pediatric CKD-focused trials and studies.”
She also brings a personal connection to her work: “My oldest brother is a living-donor kidney transplant recipient. He and my younger brother, the donor, are thriving 15 years post-transplant.”
Her work reflects KidneyCure’s mission to support the next generation of nephrology leaders and drive research that improves patient care.
