Two new special studies were also awarded in 2014. The first is a study of palliative and end-of-life care related to kidney disease at the University of Wash-ington, in collaboration with Stanford University. The second is a study to examine the critical transition period from advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) at UCI, in collabora-tion with the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and Kaiser Permanente of Southern California.