dehua gong obtained his bs, ms, and m.d. degrees from the medical school at nanjing university in 1995, 1997, and 2007, respectively. he joined the national clinical research center of kidney diseases, jinling hospital, affiliated hospital of medical school, nanjing university in 1997, and was promoted to professor and chief physician in 2016. from 2007 to 2008, he worked as a visiting scholar at the international renal research institute of vicenza. his research interests lie in clinical nephrology, particularly in the areas of blood purification technique innovations and applications.