Advancing and Personalizing Kidney Disease Care

Franklin W. Maddux oversees the delivery of high-quality, value-based care for the world’s most expansive kidney care organization. His distinguished career encompasses more than three decades of experience as a physician, expert nephrologist, technology entrepreneur, and healthcare executive.

Dr. Maddux joined Fresenius Medical Care’s (FME) North America region in 2009 after the company acquired Health IT Services Group, a leading electronic health record (EHR) software company, which he founded. He developed one of the first laboratory electronic data interchange programs for the U.S. dialysis industry and later created one of the first web-based EHR solutions, now marketed under Acumen Physician Solutions.

He previously served as chief medical officer and senior vice president for Specialty Care Services Group and is the former president of Virginia’s Danville Urologic Clinic, where he was a practicing nephrologist for nearly two decades. His writings have appeared in leading medical journals, and his pioneering healthcare information technology innovations are part of the permanent collection of the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution.

An alumnus of Vanderbilt University, Dr. Maddux earned his medical degree from the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he holds a faculty appointment as clinical associate professor.

Board certified in nephrology, Dr. Dalrymple received her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Duke University, Medical Degree from the University of Colorado, and Master of Public Health from the University of Washington. She completed her Internal Medicine Residency and Nephrology Fellowship at the University of Washington.

Prior to joining Fresenius Medical Care in 2016, she was an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of California Davis. She has undertaken numerous research studies related to kidney disease and the associated complications and is a member of the Kidney Medicine editorial board. She served as a co-chair of the National Quality Forum Renal Standing Committee and co-chaired the Kidney Health Initiative ESKD Data Standards project. In addition, she has served on multiple Technical Expert Panels convened by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Dr. Hippen oversees the global clinical care delivery programs for Fresenius Medical Care, ensuring we deliver exceptional care and support to all patients under our care. Dr. Hippen specializes in ethical, organizational, and public policy issues in nephrology and transplantation. His contributions have advanced patient care initiatives and influenced broader clinical leadership, integrating transplantation into the dialogue among practicing nephrologists and within our Care Delivery framework.

Dr. Hippen received an undergraduate degree from Rice University and completed his medical school and internal medicine residency training at the Baylor College of Medicine. Thereafter, he completed a general nephrology and transplant nephrology fellowship at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. After completing his nephrology and transplant training, Dr. Hippen joined Metrolina Nephrology Associates, P.A. in Charlotte, North Carolina, a 40-nephrologist private practice, where he served as the medical director of two in-center hemodialysis facilities and, for several years, served as the medical director of a home therapies facility. During his time in Charlotte, he became a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the UNC Chapel Hill School of Medicine. Prior to joining Fresenius Medical Care in September 2021, Dr. Hippen served terms on the Ethics Committee and Membership and Professional Standards Committees of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, served on the Board of Directors and was the chair of the Medical Advisory Board of ESRD Network 6, and served on the founding physician practice board of InterWell Health. Consonant with his ongoing research interests in ethical, organizational, and public policy issues in nephrology and transplantation, Dr. Hippen is the author of more than 70 peer-reviewed articles, essays, reviews, and book chapters.

Dr. Hymes joined FME as Associate Chief Medical Officer in 2007 after three decades in nephrology practice and governance. He became Senior Vice President and Associate CMO for FMCNA in 2012, and in 2020, became Chief Medical Officer, Care Delivery, and Executive Vice President, Global Head of Clinical Affairs, serving in this role until 2024.

He co-founded REN Corporation in 1986 and National Nephrology Associates (NNA) in 1998. He served as NNA’s President and Chief Medical Officer from 1998 to 2004. He was President of Nephrology Associates, a 32-physician nephrology practice serving Middle Tennessee, from 1989 to 2012 and is a former member of the Renal Physician Association’s Board of Directors.

He is a graduate of Yale College and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He served his medical internship and residency at Yale New Haven Medical Center and received subspecialty training in nephrology at Boston University. Dr. Hymes is board certified in internal medicine and nephrology and was previously certified in critical care.

Dr. Kossmann served as executive vice president and chief medical officer for FME North America from 2019 to 2021 and chief medical officer for FME’s Renal Therapies Group, the company’s medical equipment and renal pharmaceuticals division, from 2014 to 2019. 

Dr. Kossmann has held a variety of leadership roles where he has provided guidance to the nephrology field, including as former president of the Renal Physicians Association (RPA); a founding member of RPA’s Nephrology Coverage Advocacy Program (now Policy Advocacy Leadership program); a nephrology advisor to the American Medical Association’s Relative Value Scale Update Committee; and founder of the New Mexico Renal Disease Collaborative Group. 

A practicing nephrologist for two decades, Dr. Kossmann trained in nephrology at the University of Washington in Seattle and holds his bachelor’s and Doctor of Medicine degrees from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

Dr. Kotanko is Research Director at the Renal Research Institute (RRI), New York. Prior to joining RRI, from 1997 to 2007 he served as vice chair of a department of internal medicine at an academic teaching hospital in Graz, Austria. Prior to moving to Graz in 1989, he worked from 1982 to 1989 in the Department of Physiology and the University Clinic of Internal Medicine in Innsbruck, Austria. From 1995 to 1996 he trained in nephrology at the Hammersmith Hospital, London, United Kingdom. 

He is Adjunct Professor of Medicine and Nephrology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York and holds a teaching appointment at the Medical University of Innsbruck. He has authored and co-authored more than 350 publications and book chapters, and holds multiple patents in the field of kidney replacement therapy. He is an awardee of the 2019 KidneyX prize for innovations in dialysis and the 2021 KidneyX COVID-19 Kidney Care Challenge.

Dr. Manuela Stauss-Grabo joined Fresenius Medical Care in 2013 and has since made significant contributions to the field of clinical research in nephrology. With over 20 years of experience, she currently serves as the Senior Vice President of Global Clinical Research in the Global Medical Office (GMO), where she leads a dedicated team focused on advancing the understanding and treatment of kidney disease. Dr. Stauss-Grabo’s extensive background in biology and clinical research equips her with a unique perspective on the complexities of kidney health. Her leadership is instrumental in designing and implementing clinical studies that generate robust evidence, ultimately aimed at improving patient outcomes. She is passionate about bridging the gap between scientific research and practical application, ensuring that findings translate into effective therapies for patients suffering from kidneyrelated conditions. Under her guidance, the Fresenius Medical Care Clinical Research team, a global team of researchers, manages a diverse portfolio of national and international clinical studies. The team is responsible for overseeing all phases of research—from strategic concept development to detailed planning and execution—ensuring that each study adheres to the highest standards of quality, safety and compliance.

Dr. Stauss-Grabo received her Diploma in Biology from the Julius-Maximilians-University in Wuerzburg, Germany as a major in Biochemistry and completed her doctoral thesis titled “Investigations on the Pharmacokinetics of the Ivy Saponin Alpha-Hederin” under the supervision of Prof Dr. Manfred Haake at the Institute of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany. This pioneering research provided the first comprehensive description of how alpha-hederin, a key saponin found in Hedera helix (common ivy), is processed in the body. The study’s findings were significant, as they laid the groundwork for understanding the medicinal properties of ivy extracts, which have long been used in traditional medicine for respiratory conditions in many countries worldwide.

Dr. Stauss-Grabo is committed to fostering collaboration among stakeholders in the healthcare community, including researchers, clinicians, and regulatory bodies. Her efforts not only enhance the scientific rigor of clinical trials but also promote innovative approaches to tackling kidney disease on a global scale. Through her work at Fresenius Medical Care, Dr. Stauss-Grabo continues to make a profound impact on the lives of patients by driving forward initiatives that aim to enhance treatment options and improve overall health outcomes in nephrology.

Dr. Stefano Stuard joined Fresenius Medical Care in 2010 as a Medical Director in FME’s NephroCare business in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region. Dr. Stuard’s career includes more than 14 years in clinical governance roles with Fresenius Medical Care’s EMEA and Latin America regions. In his most recent role, he supported NephroCare medical leadership in his role as Chief Clinical Officer for the EMEA countries. Dr. Stuard has long been a champion of online hemodiafiltration as a kidney replacement therapy, overseeing its steady growth in NephroCare clinics. By June 2024, more than 61 percent of patients in our European Union clinics were treated by High-Volume Hemodiafiltration.

In his current role, Dr. Stuard will focus on educating nephrologists in FME’s Care Delivery business segment and will support many of the aspects of our development of a comprehensive plan to make HDF therapy a standard of care. Dr. Stuard previously served as vice president and head of the EMEA Center of Excellence for Clinical and Therapeutic Governance and as a director/consultant for nephrology and dialysis departments in Italian public and private hospitals. He has published over 220 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Stuard received his PhD in nephrology from the University of Bologna (Italy). He received his Doctor of Medicine and surgery as well as a post-graduate specialization in nephrology, magna cum laude, from the University of Chieti (Italy). He received an award from the European Society of Artificial Organs for his contribution in the field of artificial organs. Dr. Stuard is also a member of European Renal Association Kidney Relief in Disasters Task Force.

Len supports advanced analytics and data-driven functions within FME to advance the Global Medical Office agenda and support the Care Delivery and Care Enablement organizations. These functions include real-world evidence generation activities as well as applied data science efforts across various parts of the enterprise. Len’s team supports these functions through data analytics and data engineering, research and publications, as well as project management and administrative efforts. The team integrates advanced analytics into the clinical care of people with kidney disease, supports generation of clinical evidence to meet regulatory requirements and post-market surveillance of the FME products portfolio, uses real-world data to examine the clinical and cost-effectiveness of FME products, and generates insights that can be used in improving care of people with kidney disease worldwide. 

Len chairs FME’s Predictive Analytics Steering Committee, co-leads Global Advanced Analytics Alignment days, serves on the Steering Committee for the Apollo database, and works closely with the global MONitoring Dialysis Outcomes (MONDO) initiative, an international consortium of dialysis providers. 

Len has published more than 100 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals. He holds a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a doctorate from the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands.

Dr. Syuhada Ahmad leads GMO Operations within Population and Health Medicine. She earned her medical degree from Moscow Medical Academy, Russia, and has extensive experience in clinical quality, medical affairs, hospital operations, risk management, health informatics, and accreditations.

Dr. Ahmad oversees and drives a diverse array of medical projects in the Global Medical Office and GMO Enterprise Risk Management. She collaborates with stakeholders and leaders across the organization, providing strategic leadership and fostering essential partnerships for the success of medical risk, compliance, and operations programs.

Dr. Ahmad began her career with Fresenius Medical Care in Malaysia, moved to Hong Kong a few years later, and is now based in Bad Homburg, Germany.

Ryan Jimenez joined FME in 2016 as vice president of Medical Office Relations for North America, where he led the development of the region’s Medical Office communications strategies and capabilities.

With corporate communications, he led the development of the company’s video broadcast network, including the creation of the Medical Office Live series of broadcast events across North America as executive producer.

He previously served as regional communications director for Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, leading global communications campaigns in North America, EMEA, Latin America, and Asia, and is the former senior producer and global communications director for CNN’s Larry King Live.

He was appointed by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as communications director for the office of First Lady Maria Shriver and began his career in hospital communications at Catholic Healthcare West in the United States.

Ryan received his bachelor’s degree from the Annenberg School of Communications and Journalism at the University of Southern California and holds his master’s degree in organizational behavior and ethics from Harvard University.

A double board-certified physician, Shelly Nash is a seasoned physician executive with broad experience in informatics, advanced analytics, population health intelligence, enterprise-level care innovation and digital innovation. She has been part of large health systems, technology companies, in private practice as a physician, as well as a teaching attending at inner city Chicago hospitals. She truly believes that technology can improve the care of patients and the experience of providing care for clinicians if we are able to advance the field of informatics and become more patient and clinician-centric in our design of applications.