When Ken Kleinberg’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. 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 (KRC) was established on USC’s Health Sciences Campus. In 2024, the center was renamed the Vito M. Campese, M.D./UKRO Kidney Research Center of USC to honor Dr. Campese’s 50 years of service at the Keck School of Medicine.
Ken was a dialysis patient for six years and was fortunate to receive a cadaver kidney transplant in 2007. Today he is healthy and active as a practicing entertainment attorney and UKRO President.