NephroPath platform

Jesper Kers, MD, PhD, is a consultant pathologist specialized in kidney, immuno- and transplant pathology at the Amsterdam University Medical Centers locations AMC and VUmc, and the Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands. His consultation practice covers a large part of the Dutch Randstad conurbation as well as the Caribbean Islands. He studied medicine at the University of Amsterdam, postgraduate training at the French National Institute for Medical Research INSERM in Paris (France) and ULB’s Institute for Medical Immunology in Brussels (Belgium) and extended residency training (computational immunology) at the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard University in Cambridge (US). Currently, Jesper leads a research group that investigates the use of decision support systems to improve the management of nephrological diseases with a focus on kidney transplant pathology. This includes the use of computer vision deep learning technologies to assess digitized whole slide kidney biopsy images. In 2023 he joined Aiosyn as a consultant to guide the implementation of computational renal pathology software in daily clinical practice. 

Maarten Naesens is a nephrologist at the University Hospitals Leuven, with specific interest in kidney transplantation. Next to the clinical duties, he performs translational research at the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Transplantation at the KU Leuven, focusing on risk factors, diagnosis, and impact of kidney transplant rejection. He is Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Transplant International, the official journal of the European Society of Organ Transplantation and is involved in the organization of the ESOT and Banff congresses. He has published more than 240 peer-reviewed articles in the field of kidney transplantation.

Dr. Stegall is a transplant surgeon and researcher at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, USA.  He has more than 30 years of experience.

Mayo Clinic has 3 transplant sites (Minnesota, Arizona and Florida) that collectively perform more than 1000 kidney transplants each year.  Dr. Stegall conducts research involving all 3 Mayo sites and has been the Principal Investigator on numerous multicenter trials enrolling more than 1500 patients over the past 8 years. His large research group maintains a biorepository that includes more than 15,000 digitized renal transplant biopsies. 

Dr. Stegall’s research aims to improve the outcomes of kidney transplant recipients.  A major thrust of this recent research has been in developing more quantitative, objective methods for evaluating renal transplant biopsies to better predict graft failure from early histologic changes.  His group has had a long-standing collaboration with Dr. Jeroen van der Laak at Radboud University in using Deep Learning Algorithms to automate the scoring of histologic changes in renal transplant biopsies.  Dr. Stegall also has extensive experience in investigator-initiated clinical trials and in regulatory issues regarding new drug and device development. 

Dr. Stegall is the James C. Masson Professor of Surgery Research.  The author of more than 300 publications, he has received several awards including the 2023 Medal of Excellence from the American Association of Kidney Patients and the 2011 Paul Terasaki Clinical Science Award from the American Society of Histocompatability.  He is currently the Co-Chair of the Transplant Therapeutics Consortium, a public-private partnership between the US Food and Drug Administration and the transplant community with the goal of developing new pathways for drug approval in transplantation.