DaVita Executive Gets On His Bike to Fight Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD)

When the day begins in Greenville, Michigan on Sunday, September 20, DaVita V.P. Bryan Parker will climb on his bike, along with 400 colleagues and friends, to begin Tour DaVita™ – a four-day, 250-mile bike ride that will raise funds for The Kidney TRUST’s kidney disease awareness and prevention programs.

Bryan Parker takes a break during the Bay Area training ride called the Paradise Loop.

For Bryan, who joined DaVita Inc. in February 2009 as Vice President of Special Projects, this is his first cycling event of this distance.  A regular, but casual cycler in the past, Bryan put aside his mountain bike and purchased a new road bike when he heard about the ride this Spring, and has been attempting to train regularly in the months leading up to the Tour.

“It’s so inspiring to me to see so many of my teammates come together for such a worthy cause,” said Bryan.  “As soon as I heard about the Tour, I knew I had to do it.  Kidney disease is eminently preventable and education of the community is key to keeping people healthy and out of dialysis.  This is a very personal issue to me because my grandmother died of renal failure and, as an African American, I am disheartened to see our community so disproportionately hit by CKD.”

Bryan is a member of Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland, California, where the Kidney TRUST recently did CKD screening during the church’s annual community health fair.  Prior to joining DaVita, Bryan served for nine months as a volunteer with the Obama presidential campaign.  Before that, he was the COO of a $100 million digital media company.

Bryan’s current job puts him in a role of strategically supporting the DaVita teammates who are on the front lines of the battle against kidney disease.  As the new leader of DaVita’s “Team Genesis,” he and his team are charged with building and maintaining DaVita dialysis clinics around the country.  During the Tour, riders will visit DaVita clinics along the route.  Bryan, like many other DaVita teammates,  is looking forward to speaking with patients and caregivers in Michigan.

“I feel fortunate to be able to do the ride and raise funds to help the TRUST raise the profile of kidney disease through screening and education.  The physical challenge offered by the Tour allows me in a small way to identify with the daily challenges of our patients who are  on dialysis.  My goal in riding is, together with my other teammates, to help raise the awareness of people around the country as to the threat of kidney disease and the fact that if identified early, there is a great chance to prevent it.”

Bryan invites anyone interested in following along on his ride to join him on Twitter.  You may follow him at www.twitter.com, ID parkerb19. For more information about Tour DaVita™ visit www.tourdavita.com.