Dr Rupert Major

I am a Honorary Associate Professor in the Renal group of Cardiovascular Sciences and a Consultant Nephrologist at University Hospitals of Leicester.

I graduated from my MBChB at University of Leicester in 2009 and have post-graduate qualifications of MRes MRCP(UK) ESENeph and a PhD. My PhD was completed in 2019 and investigated cardiovascular risk prediction in chronic kidney disease. It was funded through a named fellowship by Kidney Research UK.

My main current research focus is in relation to endstage kidney disease risk prediction (the need for dialysis or a kidney transplant). This has focused on the Kidney Failure Risk Equation (KFRE) and has recently been recommended for use in the NICE Chronic Kidney Disease guidelines (https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng203). I am working on further improvements to risk prediction in chronic kidney disease and implementing the KFRE into clinical practice.

My main international collaboration is with the Chronic Kidney Disease Prognosis Consortium (https://www.ckdpc.org/).

Extensive publication history with over forty publications in nephrology and general medicine journals.

Five highest impact publications:

1. de Jong VM, Rousset RZ….Major RW….Karel GM Moons, Thomas PA Debray. Clinical prediction models for mortality in patients with covid-19: external validation and individual participant data meta-analysis. BMJ. 2022 Jul 12;378.
2. Major R, Selvaskandan H, Makkeyah YM, Hull K, Kuverji A, Graham-Brown M. The Exclusion of Patients with CKD in Prospectively Registered Interventional Trials for COVID-19—a Rapid Review of International Registry Data. Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. 2020 Oct 1;31(10):2250-2.
3. Sumida K, Nadkarni GN….Major RW….Polkinghorne KR, Heerspink HJL. The Chronic Kidney Disease Prognosis Consortium. Conversion of Urine Protein–Creatinine Ratio or Urine Dipstick Protein to Urine Albumin–Creatinine Ratio for Use in Chronic Kidney Disease Screening and Prognosis: An Individual Participant–Based Meta-analysis. Annals of Internal Medicine. July 2020.
4. Major RW, Shepherd D, Medcalf JF, Xu G, Gray LJ, Brunskill NJ. The Kidney Failure Risk Equation for prediction of end stage renal disease in UK primary care: An external validation and clinical impact projection cohort study. PLoS Medicine. November 2019, 16 (11), e1002955
5. Major RW, Brown C, Shepherd D, Rogers S, Pickering W, Warwick GL, Barber S, Ashra NB, Morris T, Brunskill NJ. The Primary-Secondary Care Partnership to Improve Outcomes in Chronic Kidney Disease (PSP-CKD) Study: A Cluster Randomized Trial in Primary Care. Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. July 2019, 30 (7) 1261-1270.

2020 University of Leicester - Shortlisted for “Annual College of Life Sciences Prize for Excellent PhD Performance”

2019 European Renal Association Congress - “Outstanding Scientific Presentation”

2018 Canadian Society of Nephrology - “Top Honor Abstract”

2016 University of Leicester - MRes Distinction

2016 NIHR CLAHRC East Midlands - Travel Grant

2014 European Society of Cardiology Congress - “Best Moderated Oral Poster Presentation Cardio-Renal Interaction”

2011 National Foundation Doctors Presentation Day - “Audit Runner-up”

• Johns Hopkins University - Welch Center 2021 (Invited Grand Round Presentation) - “Kidney Health Inequalities - A UK Perspective”

• European Society of Cardiology - Prevention Cardiology 2021 (Supervision of Oral Presentation) - “Aspirin in the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease in individuals with chronic kidney disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.”

• European Renal Association Congress 2019 (Supervision of Oral Presentation) - “Blood pressure variability measures and their association with cardiovascular and renal outcomes in primary care Chronic Kidney Disease.”

• Canadian Society of Nephrology 2018 (Oral Poster Presentation) - “An Independent External Validation of The Kidney Failure Risk Equation in A Primary Care CKD Population.”

• UK Kidney Week 2018 (Oral Presentation) - “Fatal Haemodialysis Access Haemorrhage - A 20 Year Case Series from One Network.”

• European Renal Association Congress 2016 (Oral Presentation) - “Assessment and Management of Risk Factors in People with Chronic Kidney Disease and Diabetes Mellitus Multimorbidity.”