Launch of lecture commemorating Verici Dx co-founder and former Board member with American Society of Nephrology supported by Verici Dx Plc, Renalytix plc and in conjunction with the American Society of Transplantation, starting at ASN Kidney Week 2022
Verici Dx plc (AIM: VRCI), a developer of advanced clinical diagnostics for organ transplant, announces that it has signed an agreement with Renalytix plc (NASDAQ: RLNX AIM: RENX) and the American Society of Transplantation (“AST”), to establish and sponsor collectively the Barbara T. Murphy Endowed Lectureship (“The Murphy Lectureship”), commemorating Dr. Barbara T. Murphy, Verici Dx’s late co-founder and Board member. Under the Murphy Lectureship, a lecture will be given each year in perpetuity during the American Society of Nephrology (“ASN”) Kidney Week. Dr. Murphy was also a co-founder and Board member of Renalytix plc and a long serving member of the ASN, on whose Council she served and of which she was President-Elect; she was also a former president of the AST and former co-chair of its Public Policy committee.
The lectureship, which will begin at ASN Kidney Week being held in November 2022, will honour Dr. Murphy’s legacy as a renowned leader in transplant immunology and medicine by recognising advances in kidney transplantation.
Each lecture will feature a significant figure in kidney transplant immunology and medicine, focusing on kidney risk pre-transplant and transplant care. The lecturers may be physicians, scientists, or represent any other discipline provided they meet the award criteria. During her career, Dr. Murphy catalysed considerable activity across multiple centers of excellence and this collaborative approach generated a significant body of insights into the immunological mechanisms involved in transplant rejection and the scope for improving transplant care. The Murphy Lectureship in her honour is intended to foster continuing co-operation across different fields of expertise in support of further patient gains in transplant medicine and care.
Sara Barrington, CEO of Verici Dx, said: “We are proud and honoured to be able to sponsor and establish The Murphy Lectureship alongside ASN, Renalytix and the AST at ASN Kidney Week. It is a fitting tribute to Barbara as a former friend, colleague and inspirational leading nephrologist and specialist in kidney transplant immunology.
“Verici Dx is committed to following Barbara’s vision of improving patient outcomes and is on track to complete the clinical validation trial for the assessment of pre-transplant risk and the measurement of post-transplant rejection tests at the end of 2021.”
While attending medical school at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dr. Murphy was inspired to pursue a career in treating and researching kidney diseases and transplant immunology by a young dialysis patient who received a second chance at life after a successful kidney transplant. This passion led Dr. Murphy to the United States, where she completed a nephrology fellowship at Harvard Medical School’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.
Dr. Murphy served as the Chair of the Department of Medicine from 2012 – 2021 at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, was the first female Chair of a Department of Medicine at an academic medical center in New York City and, at the time, was only the second female Chair of any Department at a top 20 medical school in the United States. She was the Dean for Strategy and Innovation and the Murray M. Rosenberg Professor of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and held a variety of leadership roles in national and international organisations, including AST President and ASN President-Elect at the time of her passing earlier this year.
Among Dr. Murphy’s many honours, she was named Nephrologist of the Year in 2011 by the American Kidney Fund, included in the Irish American “Healthcare and Life Science 50” in 2016, and identified as one of Crain’s New York’s “Notable Women in Health Care” in 2018. She received numerous honorary doctoral degrees from universities and medical schools.
Dr. Murphy was also the inaugural recipient of ASN’s new lifetime achievement Trailblazer Award. ASN launched the award in 2021 to honour leaders who strengthen the foundation of nephrology while advancing the field through innovation, creativity, inspiration, and tenacity.
Sara Barrington, CEO
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www.patientjourney.vericidx.com
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Verici Dx is an immuno-diagnostics company developing and commercialising tests to understand how a patient will respond and is responding to organ transplant, with an initial focus on kidney transplants. The body's own immune system poses a threat to a successful transplant or graft. Patients' immune systems differ in how they respond to the presence of the transplanted organ. Characterising this response and those of other biological pathways enables the development of RNA signatures for prognostic and diagnostic tests. Our products and solutions are underpinned by extensive scientific research into the recipient's RNA signatures and how that impacts on acute rejection, chronic injury and ultimately failure of the transplant. These RNA signatures may also inform clinicians as to the optimal strategy for immunosuppressive and other therapies for the most successful treatment to ensure graft acceptance with the least amount of side effects.
The foundational research was driven by a deep understanding of cell-mediated immunity and is enabled by access to expertly curated collaborative studies in highly informative cohorts in kidney transplant.
The organ transplant diagnostics described above are based on technology developed by Mount Sinai faculty and licensed to Verici Dx. Mount Sinai has a financial interest in Verici Dx. Mount Sinai also has representation on the Verici Dx Board of Director
Since 1966, ASN has been creating a world without kidney diseases by educating and informing, driving breakthroughs and innovation, and advocating for policies that create transformative changes in kidney medicine throughout the world. ASN has more than 21,000 members representing 131 countries. For more information, visit www.asn-online.org.
