Jared James Grantham Obituary (2025 - 2025)

Born Mar 05, 2025, Jared James Grantham attended Stanton County High School in Johnson, KS. View the obituary, post a memory, or share a photo about Jared James Grantham.

Graduation Year	Class of 1954
Date of Birth	Mar 05, 2025
Date of Passing	Mar 05, 2025
About	https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/175647836/jared_james-grantham
Events	Dr. Jared J. Grantham, husband, father, physician and life-long member of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center, where he was a University Distinguished Professor. He was a world reknowned kidney researcher who, along with Joseph Bruening, cofounded the PKD Foundation (Polycystic Kidney Disease). He was a founding member and first Director of the Kidney Institute at the University of Kansas Medical Center, and the first recipient of the Harry Statland endowed chair in Nephrology. Dr. Grantham graduated from high school in 1954. He received a B.S. degree in biology from Baker U. in 1958 and entered the University of Kansas School of Medicine, where he began a life-long collaboration with Dr. Paul R. Schloerb, a surgeon who introduced him to the wonders of kidney research. He moved his family to Bethesda, Md., in 1964 where he collaborated with Dr. Maurice Burg to develop a new method for studying the inner components of the kidneys; work that is considered seminal. He returned to the University of Kansas in 1969 where he served as Director of the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension in the Department of Medicine for 25 years. He was a founding member and first Director of the Kidney Institute at the University of Kansas Medical Center and the first recipient of the Harry Statland endowed chair in Nephrology. He received the highest professorial rank for faculty members at the University of Kansas, University Distinguished Professor. A chance observation in his laboratory in 1970 led him to remember his childhood friend, Ronnie Wilkerson, who had polycystic kidney disease. Little was known about PKD at the time and Jared decided to put a major portion of his research effort into discovering the cause and finding treatments for the disease. A chance meeting with Joseph Bruening, whose wife had the disease, led them to establish in Kansas City, Mo., the Polycystic Kidney Disease Foundation, currently an international organization working on behalf of patients around the world. The story of how PKD research came to be enriched by hundreds of scientists working on the problem is told in Jared's autobiography, "Why I think about urine - and a treatment for Polycystic Kidney Disease", written after a broken neck in 2006 left him tetraplegic; "Just another divinely inspired 'shaping experience.'" He authored two children's stories, "Ashley and the Mooncorn People" and "Ashley and the Dollmaker", and authored or co-authored more than 200 research publications. He is one of three who have received from the American Society of Nephrology the Homer Smith and John Peters Awards for research and clinical achievement; he was the founding editor of the society's journal. Jared's list of trainees includes six graduate students he mentored to Ph.D.s, 16 post-doctoral research fellows and 14 clinical fellows in practice. Around KU Med he is considered one of the best "carpet bag researchers", a physician-scientist who prowls the basic science buildings looking for willing researchers who have a method or knowledge that would benefit his research in return for financial assistance or a supporting letter for the next grant application or promotion. He counted among his treasured Kansas research colleagues Paul Schloerb, Michael Linshaw, Benjamin Cowley, James Calvet, Lawrence Sullivan, Darren Wallace, Dennis Diederich, Arnold Chonko, Virginia Savin, Franz Winklhofer and Larry Cook; from other universities Maurice Burg, Vicente Torres, Saulo Klahr, Tom Andreoli, William Bennett, and Jerome Lowenstein. A family visitation will be 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 27, at Indian Heights United Methodist Church at 103rd and Nall. A memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, at the same location. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that remembrances be directed to the Memorial Fund at the Church, to the PKD Foundation, to Baker University or to the Kidney Institute/University c/o the Kansas University Endowment Association. Condolences may be left at www.kccremation.com Excerpted from the Kansas City Star, Jan. 24, 2017