Medical Advisory Board

Renal Advantage Inc. (RAI) is committed to advancing the quality of patient care. The Medical Advisory Board oversees patient care and ensures best practices for all RAI Care Centers. The six members of the board, some of the nation's best practitioners, are committed to delivering fresh approaches for dialysis care.

Juha Kokko

Dr. Juha Kokko is RAI's Chief Medical Officer and an advisory board member. For more than 30 years, Dr. Kokko has been a pioneer and leader in research, teaching and the practice of medicine. Early in his career, he developed a technique whereby isolated kidney tubules are perfused in vitro; published groundbreaking work leading to the understanding of salt, acid-base and volume homeostasis in health and disease; trained more than 100 postdoctoral fellows, many of whom became directors of nephrology divisions at prestigious universities; and developed a renal transplant program and a large clinical dialysis facility. Since 1986, he has been with Emory School of Medicine, first as chairman of medicine and then as associate dean of clinical research. Recently, he received the Robert. W. Berliner Award recognizing his life-long contributions to renal research.

Peter Friend

Dr. Peter Friend serves as the Medical Director for San Diego RAI Care Centers. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, his career in nephrology has spanned more than 30 years with extensive experience in academic, HMO and private practice settings. A past recipient of the National Institutes of Health Clinical Investigator Award, Dr. Friend has authored more than 20 articles and chapters on kidney disease and teaches nephrology to medical residents in training.

Todd Gehr

Dr. Todd Gehr is the Chief of the Nephrology Division at Virginia Commonwealth University and the Medical College of Virginia Hospital. He serves as Medical Director for the RAI Care Center in Mechanicsville, Virginia. A graduate of West Virginia University Medical School, Dr. Gehr has authored more than 60 medical articles and has been published in nearly 20 medical journals and text books. He currently serves on the medication measures for CKD/ESRD expert panel for Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and as the physician director of peritoneal dialysis for the Medical College of Virginia Hospitals at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Gerald Groggel

Dr. Gerald Groggel currently acts as the Chief of Nephrology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and as Medical Director for the RAI Care Centers in Omaha, Nebraska. For more than 20 years, Dr. Groggel has forged new paths in nephrology by securing more than $1.3 million dollars in research grants. His work has appeared in the American Journal of Kidney Disease, Kidney International and the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. In addition, Dr. Groggel has received the Clinical Investigator Award from the National Institutes of Health and the Sir William Osler Teaching Award from the University of Nebraska. Dr. Groggel shares his seat on the board with fellow Medical Advisory Board Member, Dr. Troy Plumb.

Troy Plumb

Dr. Troy Plumb serves as Medical Director for the RAI Care Centers in Omaha, Nebraska and shares a seat on the board with fellow Medical Advisory Board Member, Dr. Gerald Groggel. Dr. Plumb serves as assistant professor, Section of Nephrology-Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Dr. Plumb completed his internal medicine residency at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in 2000 and performed his Nephrology Fellowship at Duke University Medical Center. He completed his fellowship in 2004 and returned to the University of Nebraska where he is an active clinician, clinical researcher and clinical educator. His research interests focus on improving treatment and outcomes in patients with chronic kidney disease. Dr. Plumb currently serves on the National Kidney Foundation of Nebraska Medical & Scientific Advisory Committee, as well as the Graduate Medical Education Committee and the Council of Subspecialty Fellowship Directors at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Rodney Omachi

Dr. Rodney Omachi has taught nephrology fellows for more than 30 years as a clinical professor of medicine at the University of California in San Francisco. A graduate of Harvard Medical School, Dr. Omachi has served as national peritoneal dialysis consultant and member of the National Physician Council for Total Renal Care, Inc. and then Davita, Inc. His nephrology group provides medical directorship for three dialysis centers, one of which was the first free-standing hemodialysis center in California. Another of these centers has provided home peritoneal dialysis for more than 20 years and was the only dialysis center in Northern and Central California to achieve better than expected patient survival - by 20% or more - as reported by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.