Lisa Simpson

Lisa was born at UCSF 67 years ago and grew up in the East Bay where she still lives. She graduated from Holy Names College in Oakland with a BA in Human Services and from CSUEB with an MS in Educational Psychology. She worked as a Legal Assistant/Paralegal for 35 years mostly on the plaintiff side, civil rights law firms. She was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease (PKD) fairly late in life and it finally caught up with her at the age of 60. She was unable to keep working at that point. A while after she stopped working, she needed to start dialysis. She learned how to do hemodialysis at home (HHD), which was quite challenging in the beginning with a steep learning curve. But she eventually mastered it and she is now an advocate for HHD. She truly believe it keeps one in better health doing it at home. After four years of HHD, she was fortunate enough to receive the gift of life, a kidney transplant, at UCSF on June 24, 2019. She has been married to a very supportive husband, Lincoln, for 36 years. She has a wonderful daughter and an almost 4-year-old grandson, who is the apple of my eye, with a second grandson due in June. She helps take care of her grandson every week, as well as her 93-year-old dad, none of which she would probably be able to do had it not been for her kidney transplant at UCSF. She am honored to be asked to be part of The Kidney Project Patient Advisory Council. Thank you.


Go To: Patient Advisory Council (PAC)