Legacy Good Samaritan Kidney Transplant Doctor Hosts MIKE Program Talk

William Bennett, MD, a leading authority on kidney transplantation, hosted a talk on the current state of transplantation in Oregon for MIKE Program in February. Bennett, who is the director of Legacy Good Samaritan, Solid Organ and Cellular Transplantation, also directs renal research at Legacy. Bennett offered to host the talk for MIKE Program supporters in response to the annual Autumn Evening Benefit Dinner and Auction for MIKE Program paddle donations last October.

Bennett detailed the effects of diabetes and hypertension on the population in Oregon during the last several decades. He said that about 1200 people in Oregon face chronic kidney disease (CKD) each year. “This is chronic kidney disease,” he said. “This is severe enough to require dialysis or transplantation.” Bennett added, “there is a whole host of people with chronic kidney disease that isn’t yet severe enough to require dialysis or transplantation.

CKD affects 20-30 million Americans. While about 600,000 are currently on dialysis, 500,000 have undergone kidney transplants. The numbers for both are increasing. Bennett said that transplantation is a better option for most people, but financial limitations and a lack of sufficient donors in the regions where patients reside continue to have a profound effect on the lives of those with CKD. In some regions, like California, approved recipients can wait up to 10 years for a matching kidney.

Sifting through the funding requirements of Medicare and private insurance often leads many individuals to opt for dialysis, even though the overall cost is much greater than having a transplant. Bennett pointed to the changes in Medicare guidelines in 1972 that continue to affect how people are treated for CKD.

Bennett warned that without effective treatment and lifestyle changes, CKD numbers will continue to increase. Diabetes is the greatest contributor to CKD. “This has totally changed from 30 to 40 years ago,” said Bennett. He said that when he first began to work in the field, chronic nephritis, then hypertension and polycystic kidney disease (an inherited disease) topped the list of factors contributing most to CKD. Today, diabetes accounts for some 40 percent of CKD cases. Hypertension, otherwise known as high blood pressure, accounts for 30 percent.

Those two factors alone contribute to 70 percent of today’s current CKD. And, it is that 70 percent which is preventable. MIKE Program was founded to help guide the next generation toward healthier lifestyles that would help counter those numbers.

MIKE Program was founded as a legacy of the work of Michael Hartnett, MD. Harnett was the first nephrology fellow at the now Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) to receive training from Bennett as a board-certified nephrologist. Bennett completed his fellowship in nephrology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He also holds certifications in internal medicine, clinical pharmacology and is considered a specialist in clinical hypertension.

Although Bennett retired from OHSU, where he served as chief resident in internal medicine, he maintains an active schedule as a clinician, researcher and educator. He is the current Editor-in- Chief Emeritus at the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology and continues to be ranked as a top physician by Portland’s Top Doctors, America’s Top Doctors and Best Doctors in America.