IRRIVIANS Are Forever

environment for adequate medical care and edge technology. The mission of the Department is summarized by three words: patient care, teaching and research. The last two components are mostly carried out on the third floor of the Nephrology building defined International Renal Research Institute of Vicenza (IRRIV). This is a modern multidisciplinary structure where physicians, biologists, pharmacologists, engineers and economists work together in an advanced research environment. Several areas of investigation represent the core activity of IRRIV and multiple disciplines are The San Bortolo Hospital of Vicenza was originally born in the year 1002 as a monastery and subsequently became a religious infirmary. Over the years, the cloisters were transformed into a university and then a community hospital for the city of Vicenza ( fig. 1 a, b). Born in 1969, the Department of Nephrology Dialysis and Renal Transplantation of the San Bortolo Hospital in Vicenza has a long-lasting tradition of excellence in patient care. The renal ward, together with the modern dialysis center, the peritoneal dialysis center and the transplantation unit represent a complex structure in which patients with kidney disease may find a perfect Published online: May 27, 2015