University of Otago kidney specialist Prof Rob Walker has been elected to a position on the International Society of Nephrology Council.
Prof Walker, an Otago medical graduate, is the first New Zealander to sit on the International Society of Nephrology Council since his mentor and fellow Otago graduate, Dr Ross Bailey, served in 1996.
The council is the international governing body for research, teaching and qualifications on the kidney.
A fellow kidney researcher recently commented that Prof Walker's election was a ''very prestigious honour for him, for the university and for the country''.
Prof Walker has been elected by the society's membership to represent Australia, New Zealand and Polynesia on the council for a six-year term, ending in 2021.
The society seeks to eliminate kidney disease worldwide and is ''dedicated to advancing the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of kidney diseases in the developing and developed world''.
The organisation's stated goals include raising public awareness of the importance of early recognition and treatment of kidney diseases.
Prof Walker, who heads the medicine department at Otago's Dunedin School of Medicine, said his council role would involve hard work, but he was honoured to be elected and looking forward to the challenge.
Kidney disease was a ''huge world-wide problem'' and its incidence was growing.
About one person in 11 in New Zealand or Australia had kidney disease and about half did not know they had it.
The problem was worse in developing countries, including in Polynesia, and there was scope for more international support to be provided there, he said.