Holly Kramer, MD MPH received her Doctorate in Medicine from the Indiana University School of Medicine, and her Master of Public Health degree with emphasis in Clinical Effectiveness from Harvard University School of Public Health.  She completed an internal medicine residency at Emory University School of Medicine, becoming Chief Resident there, and a fellowship in nephrology at Harvard University Medical School.  In 2002, she was jointly appointed to the Department of Medicine, Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, and Department of Preventative Medicine, at Loyola University Medical Center, Chicago.  There, she became co-director of the Clinical Research Methods and Epidemiology Program in 2005, developing several courses for the program, and became Program Director for the MPH Program in 2009. 

Dr. Kramer now serves as Professor of Public Health Sciences and Medicine at Loyola University Chicago, jointly in the Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health, and the Stritch School of Medicine Division of Nephrology and Hypertension.  She is also a Board of Directors member and Past President of the National Kidney Foundation (NKF), which she has also served as a Scientific Advisory Board member and as Vice Chair of the Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (NKF KDOQI) Controversies and Commentaries, and of its Research Program, and in other capacities.  She is currently Editor-in-Chief of Advances in Kidney Disease and Health journal, which is published by NKF, and in 2016, she was the recipient of NKF’s Garabed Eknoyan Award for her key contributions to its KDOQI guidelines and for clinical research in the field of kidney disease.

Dr. Kramer's highly distinguished research career has focused very much on the relationship between chronic kidney disease and nutrition, as well as the impact of obesity on kidney health, genetic variants for kidney disease and connections to cardiovascular disease risk.  She is a co-investigator for the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, the principal author of "Kidney Disease in the Elderly:  A Case-Based Guide", Springer Publishers, 2025, and has been the author or co-author of 165 research journal articles and 6 book chapters.  She is also Associate Director of Research and a staff nephrologist for the Medicine Service Line, Hines Veterans Administration Medical Center.  Over the years, she has served multiple high-level committees for various kidney disease organizations, such as currently as a Clinical Scientist in the Nephrology Research Committee of the American Kidney Fund, and as an Executive Committee member for Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO).