John Kellum, MD, Professor of CCM, gave an outstanding lecture on the topic "Why The Kidneys ?" on January 21, 2009. There was standing room only in the auditorium. Based on his personal research as Director of the Molecular Core of the CRISMA (Clinical Research Investigation and Systems Modeling of Acute illness) Laboratory in the Pitt Department of CCM, , including his landmark study on acute kidney injury published in 2004 (with a record breaking 130,000 hits to the on-line journal), as well as his 2008 study in the NEJM, Dr. Kellum stressed the extreme high frequency of Acute Kidney Injury among ICU patients already within the first few days of admission. This superb and fascinating presentation triggered a large number of questions from the spellbound audience.