Incoming Chief Executive Officer, National Kidney Foundation

Marc has dedicated his career to improving the lives of patients and families by advancing efforts to reduce suffering and death caused by disease.

Dr. Marc Hurlbert is the incoming Chief Executive Officer of the National Kidney Foundation. He most recently served as the Chief Executive Officer at the Melanoma Research Alliance. 

A pharmacologist by training, Marc has dedicated his career to improving the lives of patients and families by advancing efforts to reduce suffering and death caused by disease. Throughout his career, he has led initiatives focused on education and prevention, expanding access to high-quality healthcare, reducing health disparities, and accelerating research and innovation.

Marc has contributed to advances in multiple disease areas, including breast cancer, melanoma, lymphoma, multiple myeloma, autoimmune Type 1 diabetes, and neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease. He has authored or co-authored more than 40 peer-reviewed publications in public health and biomedical journals. Under his leadership, Marc and his teams have overseen more than $750 million in funding through over 4,000 awards supporting community-based organizations, safety-net hospitals, universities, and medical centers addressing some of the world’s most pressing public health challenges.

Marc is widely respected for his leadership across patient advocacy organizations, academic institutions, government and regulatory agencies, and the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and technology sectors. He believes that no single organization can solve major public health challenges alone, and that meaningful progress depends on collaboration to advance education, technology, and innovation that improve and save lives.

Reflecting this commitment to partnership and collective impact, Marc has served as chair or co-founder of several major coalitions and alliances, including the Health Research Alliance, the International Cancer Research Partnership, the Metastatic Breast Cancer Alliance, the Collaborative Summits and Global Breast Cancer Congresses, the Rare Melanoma Consortium, and the Uveal Melanoma Task Force.

He earned his PhD in pharmacology from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and completed a fellowship at New York University Medical Center. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Kansas.

Marc and his family reside in rural Ulster County in the Catskill Mountains, where they enjoy cooking, hiking, gardening, and traveling together.