Advancing the scientific understanding of kidney disease to inform healthcare practice and policy is at the core of Arbor Research’s history.  Founded in 1996 in Ann Arbor, Michigan by three leaders in chronic kidney disease care and research, we were originally named the University Renal Research and Education Association (URREA). Arbor Research’s first project was the international Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Patterns Study (DOPPS), which has prospectively followed over 200,000 dialysis patients from more than 1,000 dialysis facilities across 24 countries worldwide during the past 28 years, resulting in over 325 publications. These DOPPS studies have informed the development, validation, and refining of clinical practice guidelines for millions of persons living with chronic kidney disease.

Arbor Research quickly expanded to include federally funded projects with a broad focus to improve patient health and health care delivery. This portfolio includes an enduring strength in tackling the issues of chronic kidney disease, including:

• A mix of federal contracts and grants to operate registries of chronic kidney disease and registries of organ transplant recipients, and assist living organ donors;
• A series of federal contracts to develop, maintain, implement, monitor, and evaluate Medicare quality measures and Medicare’s End-Stage Renal Disease Quality Incentive Program (the first Medicare value-based purchasing program to be implemented nationwide); and
• Federal grants to improve the scientific understanding of chronic kidney disease, including glomerulonephropathy and nephrotic syndrome, and better understand the current state and evolution of health care disparities.

Improving the lives of people with chronic kidney disease remains an important part of our mission. Arbor Research continues to contribute scientific discovery and the modernization of health care delivery, with recent innovations to slowing the progression of chronic kidney disease and increase patient-centered treatment options including home dialysis and increasing kidney transplantation.

Arbor Research is proud to celebrate World Kidney Day and join many in the collection goal of advancing equitable access to care and optimal medication practice.