In Memory of Dr. James Burnell

The Seattle health care community lost a compassionate physician leader with the death of Dr. James Burnell Sept. 8.

One of the world’s first kidney specialists, Dr. Burnell helped develop many of the hemodialysis advances that emerged from Seattle in the 1960s. A researcher and private nephrologist for more than 45 years, he was a member of the King County Medical Society that established Northwest Kidney Centers in 1962, known then as the Seattle Artificial Kidney Center. He served on the Northwest Kidney Centers board of trustees for more than three decades, and his compassion for patients and devotion to the community, even in retirement, will be missed.