NEW YORK, NY (October 8, 2007) -- Dr. Gerald B. Appel, one of the world’s most prominent kidney disease physicians and NBA star Alonzo Mourning’s personal doctor, has been named to the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) of the NephCure Foundation.

The NephCure Foundation is a non-profit organization committed to seeking a cure for two debilitating kidney conditions, Nephrotic Syndrome and Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). FSGS is the disease that interrupted the career of Mourning, who is now playing again in the NBA following a kidney transplant.

Appel, a Professor of Clinical Medicine and Director of Clinical Nephrology at Columbia University, is one of 11 SAB members who review research progress and funding priorities of the NephCure Foundation. 

Appel joins Dr. Peter Mundel of The Samuel Bronfman Department of Medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine as a new appointee to the SAB.Appel will be honored on November 13 at “Countdown to a Cure 2007,” the foundation’s third annual awards presentation at Terrace on the Park in Flushing Meadow Park, NY.  He will be receive the 2007 NephCure Service Award for his leadership in furthering kidney disease research.

“The board features an impressive group of experts and I hope to make an impact,” said Appel.  “The NephCure Foundation has made tremendous progress in just the past few years and I am privileged to be involved.”

“The addition of Dr. Appel to the Nephcure SAB broadens the clinical science expertise available to Nephcure,” offered Dr. Lawrence B. Holzman, Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan.  “He is an influential and widely recognized expert in the care of patients with glomerular disease, and we look forward to utilizing his talents and expertise.” Holzman is Chairman of the SAB.

Appel went to Cornell University and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in three years before attending Albert Einstein College of Medicine.  He completed three years of residency training in internal medicine at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center and then fellowships in Nephrology at Columbia University and at Yale New Haven Medical Center.  He has served as president of the New York Society of Nephrology and on Medical Advisory Boards of the New York-New Jersey branch of the National Kidney Foundation.

He is a director of the Glomerular Disease Center at Columbia University and spends his time pursuing clinical research, patient care and teaching.

About the NephCure Foundation: The NephCure Foundation, established as a non-profit organization in 1999, is the only organization solely committed to seeking a cause and cure for devastating kidney conditions that result in Nephritic Syndrome or Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). The NephCure Foundation is made up of patients, their families and friends, researchers, physicians and other healthcare professionals joining forces to create awareness and generate funding for research. Further information can be obtained at www.nephcure.org or by calling 610-540-0184.