🌍 Join us for our upcoming Kidney Care Susnet event! For a calendar invitation reminder, please email Furat.Al-Murani@sustainablehealthcare.org.uk
📌 Caring for Patients, Protecting the Planet: Integrated Solutions for Sustainable Haemodialysis
Hear from Julia Audije Gil and Rodrigo Martínez Cadenas on integrated, evidence-based approaches to sustainable haemodialysis, spanning clinical practice, service design, and prevention.
🎤 Speakers:
Julia Audije Gil – Researcher, Fundación Renal Española
Rodrigo Martínez Cadenas – Bioinformatician, IIS-FJD & PhD candidate, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Julia Audije Gil is a researcher at Fundación Renal Española, focusing on kidney disease prevention, clinical research, and the environmental sustainability of renal care. She holds a PhD from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), specializing in Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity, and a Master’s in Biological Anthropology. Her background bridges ecology, human biology, and environmental change, bringing a multidisciplinary perspective that integrates human and planetary health.
Before joining Fundación Renal Española, she developed her career across academic research and scientific communication, collaborating with national and international institutions. In her current role, she is involved in the design and analysis of research on sustainable models of kidney care, including green haemodialysis and prevention strategies, with a focus on identifying evidence-based solutions to reduce environmental impact while maintaining high-quality patient care.
Rodrigo Martínez Cadenas is a bioinformatician at IIS-FJD (Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria, Fundación Jiménez Díaz) and a PhD candidate at UAM. He investigates how preventing kidney disease can reduce both clinical burden and environmental impact. Through the PREVERENAL project, he models patient pathways from early detection to treatment, exploring how screening and proactive pharmacotherapy can reduce reliance on carbon-intensive renal therapies. With a background in data science and sustainability, and as a contributor to the EU-funded KitNewCare project, he brings a systems-level perspective on sustainable nephrology.
💬 About the talk
Haemodialysis saves lives, but it involves a high consumption of resources. In a world where the health of the planet and the health of people are interconnected, the question is clear: can we provide better care without causing more harm?
This presentation addresses this challenge from a central, clear idea: sustainability in dialysis is not only necessary but possible. Based on the experience of the Spanish Renal Foundation and the Jiménez Díaz Foundation, concrete, measurable, and applicable solutions are presented, based on scientific evidence, which allow for the reduction of environmental impact without compromising the quality of care.
The approach is structured across three fundamental lines. Firstly, the optimization of processes through the measurement and monitoring of environmental indicators, together with the improvement of key technologies such as water treatment systems, climate control, or concentrate supply models. These interventions, often simple, demonstrate that small actions can generate big changes in resource consumption and waste generation.
Secondly, innovative organizational models such as proximity dialysis are explored, which not only improve the quality of life of patients but also significantly reduce emissions associated with transport.
Finally, the focus is placed on the most transformative element: the prevention of kidney disease, capable of reducing both the clinical burden and the environmental footprint of the healthcare system.
Altogether, these strategies point toward a paradigm shift in nephrology: moving from a medicine focused solely on treatment to a more efficient, responsible, and innovative model. Because, ultimately, sustainability in haemodialysis is not just an environmental challenge, but an opportunity to practice better medicine: a medicine that cares for kidneys, for people, and for the planet.
📅 Thursday 24 September 2026
⏰ 1400–1450 London time
📍 Online
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Looking forward to having you join us 🙂
If you would like to receive a calendar invitation reminder, please email Furat.Al-Murani@sustainablehealthcare.org.uk
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