History

Center’s History

Historically, the USC Kidney Research Center (KRC) began as USC/UKRO Kidney Research Center in Sept. 2012 with a gift pledge from the University Kidney Research Organization (UKRO), a Los Angeles based philanthropic group.

UKRO’s Founding Director

UKRO’s founding director is Ken Kleinberg, a grateful kidney patient. When Ken’s kidneys failed in the year 2000, his physician, Dr. Vito Campese, then the head of Nephrology and Hypertension at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, recognized the malady, but acknowledged that its cause was not known to medical science.

Ken Kleinberg (left) and Dr. Vito Campese (right)

At the time, Dr. Campese described chronic kidney disease as a growing health crisis with no end in sight. Yet, very little kidney disease research was underway.

Together they created a nonprofit organization solely devoted to funding kidney disease research. They formed a board of directors and built a relationship with the Keck School of Medicine. In 2012, as a result of the partnership, the USC/UKRO Kidney Research Center was established on USC’s Health Sciences Campus. In 2024, the center was renamed the Vito M Campese, MD/UKRO Kidney Research Center of USC to honor Dr. Campese’s 50 years of service at the Keck School of Medicine. A new Director was also named: Janos Peti-Peterdi, MD PhD. Now in its second decade, the KRC continues to be the home of innovative kidney research across multiple disciplines across USC and in collaboration with many other institutions.