Northwest Kidney Centers recently added new members to its board of trustees. The Northwest’s largest nonprofit kidney dialysis provider welcomes the following individuals to help advise the organization’s leaders and set policy going forward.
Butch de Castro, PhD, MSN-MPH, RN, FAAN, is the Dean of the College of Nursing at Seattle University, where he holds the Robert J. and Mary H. Bertch Endowed Professorship in Nursing Leadership. A nationally recognized scholar and educator, his research focuses on the impacts of job conditions on the health of immigrant and minority workers. He brings extensive experience in community health, nursing education, and occupational health policy, having held leadership roles at the University of Washington, U.S. Department of Labor, and the American Nurses Association. Dr. De Castro is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and has been honored with multiple awards for excellence in research, education, and public service.
Claire Verity is an accomplished healthcare executive with a strong record of strategic leadership and innovation.
As former Market President of Regence BlueShield and a 2021 Woman of Influence, she led growth initiatives, improved operations, and built high-performing teams. Her earlier roles at UnitedHealthcare included CEO and National Vice President, where she advanced national sales strategies and strengthened provider networks. Claire is known for her ability to foster collaboration, drive business development, and mentor emerging leaders in the healthcare space.
Michele Saegesser is a seasoned leader in the global travel and tourism industry, with over 45 years of experience spanning some of the sector’s most iconic brands. She recently retired as Vice President of Sales and National Accounts at Viking, where she played a pivotal role in the company’s international growth and success. Saegesser’s career includes early leadership roles at Disneyland Resort and Princess Cruises, as well as entrepreneurial ventures in luxury train and small-ship travel. Her industry leadership has been recognized with numerous accolades, including Travel Weekly’s 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award and the American Society of Travel Advisors’ 2024 President’s Award for her commitment to advancing the travel advisor community.
Paramita Mukherjee, MD, is the medical director of Northwest Kidney Center in Auburn and the chair of the Medical Executive Committee. She is board certified in Internal Medicine and Nephrology, and her clinical interests include acute kidney injury, diabetic kidney disease hypertension, chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease. Dr. Mukherjee received her MD from K.J. Somaiya Medical College in Mumbai, India. She completed her PhD in Immunology at Wayne State University in Michigan and pursued her post-doctoral research training at Harvard Medical School. She did both her internal medicine residency and nephrology fellowship at the University of Washington. Prior to her nephrology fellowship, she was Acting Instructor in the Division of Internal Medicine at Harborview Medical Center.
Board members whose terms came to an end on June 25 include Dr. Michael Sutters and Jenn Brenner. Northwest Kidney Centers extends its gratitude for their generosity, dedication, and passion.
Northwest Kidney Centers is a not-for-profit, community-based provider of kidney dialysis, public health education and research into the causes and treatments of chronic kidney disease. Founded in Seattle in 1962, it was the world’s first outpatient dialysis organization and today is the eighth-largest dialysis provider in the United States, serving nearly 2,000 patients a year in 20 dialysis centers and eight hospitals in the Puget Sound region.
Northwest Kidney Centers’ mission is to promote the optimal health, quality of life and independence of people with kidney disease. Its patients have access to the first-in-the-nation kidney palliative care program, as well as an outpatient pharmacy staffed by kidney specialists. Through its long-standing partnership with the University of Washington, Northwest Kidney Centers helped establish the Kidney Research Institute and the Center for Dialysis Innovation in support of new treatments and discoveries to better patients’ lives. For more information, visit www.nwkidney.org.