It is with profound sadness that the Medical Education Institute (MEI) shares the passing of our Executive Director, Dori Schatell, on October 8, 2026.
For nearly four decades, Dori dedicated her career and compassion to improving the lives of people with kidney disease. As MEI’s longtime leader, she was a beloved and influential force within the kidney community. Dori began her career at MEI as a freelance medical writer and later became an employee and quickly rose to Senior Project Manager. She succeeded MEI co-founder Edith Oberley as Executive Director, going on to lead the organization for nearly three decades. An exceptionally gifted writer, editor, educator, and visionary, Dori had a remarkable ability to connect with people and make complex medical information understandable, accessible, and useful to those who needed it most.
Dori contributed as a writer, editor, and collaborator to numerous influential projects including the original DOQI anemia guidelines, every edition of the Core Curriculum for the Dialysis Technician, and the Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Patterns (DOPPS) Patient Quality of Life Task Force, just to name a few. Under her leadership, MEI developed and expanded educational programs and resources that have reached countless patients, families, and kidney professionals at all levels. Her work helped shape Life Options, Kidney School, Home Dialysis Central, and My Kidney Life Plan. Through these programs, Dori’s influence extended far beyond MEI, helping people learn about kidney disease, understand their choices, and take active roles in their care.
Dori was instrumental in advancing patient education and empowerment. She believed fiercely that people with kidney disease needed and deserved more than education alone. She intuitively understood that fear and uncertainty always accompany a life-changing diagnosis, and that acknowledging these emotions and offering hope were essential to helping people move forward. She believed every person deserved to feel seen, have choices, and make informed decisions that reflected their personal goals, values, and lives.
Dori was every bit as unique and memorable as the work she accomplished. Many in the kidney community could recognize her from across the room by her signature red leather jacket at conferences. She brought an unmistakable energy and authenticity to every room and every encounter. Dori was creative, tenacious, vivacious, and wonderfully eclectic. She was never afraid to challenge the status quo or stand up for what she believed was right.
Those of us who had the privilege of working closely with Dori knew her intelligence, humor, kindness, sincerity, and unwavering devotion to the kidney community. She was a mentor, colleague, friend, confidant, and inspiration to many. Her passion was contagious, her determination remarkable, and her genuine care for others evident in everything she did.
Though her passing came as a shock to many, Dori had been privately battling breast cancer for several years. She did not want to be defined by her illness or allow her diagnosis to overshadow her life’s work. She remained steadfast in that conviction, choosing to keep her illness private while continuing to devote herself to the mission she cared so deeply about. We are honoring her wishes, by sharing this part of her story now.
We are all heartbroken, but also deeply grateful for the extraordinary legacy she leaves behind. Dori’s influence lives on through the resources she helped create, the people she inspired, and the countless patients and families whose lives have been changed for the better by her work. Her vision, commitment, and memory will continue to guide MEI for years to come.
Our thoughts are with her beloved husband, Jim, their daughters, Caitlin and Kellen, and all of Dori’s family, many friends, colleagues, and collaborators.
Kristi Klicko and Jennifer Ravert, Interim Co-Executive Directors and the MEI team
Carrying on MEI’s Mission
Dori’s compassion and commitment will continue to guide MEI. The MEI team is dedicated to our mission and prepared to work as hard as Dori did for patients, choice, education, support, and a better future with kidney disease.
Memories of Dori
I am in shock to see that Dori has passed and won’t get to bump into her at her booth during local and national kidney meetings. I had the privilege to meet and work with Dori through years on Life Options advisory board. So many great conversations, her passion was contagious and so knowledgeable.
Will miss you and just so grateful to have gotten to know and work with such a talented, inspiring, intelligent and passionate person.
Miriam Godwin (Administrator)
I was gutted to hear this. Thank you for sharing, Beth. Dori’s friends at NKF are making a donation to MEI in her honor. I wish I had had the chance to tell Dori that I put a link to “My Kidney Life Plan” in all the talks I give on home dialysis, including to CMS. Dori had a huge impact on how I think about education. Her remarks about how challenging it is to be educated and activated when terrified and traumatized by a kidney failure diagnosis are foundational to how I think about NKF’s policy work. I’ve repeated her point many times. I also laugh now thinking of when I first met Dori and she pointed out in a certain kind of way how MEI had written the US guidelines before NKF did. I carry that reminder with me: that none of us or our organizations “own” any of this. We stand on the shoulders of those who came before and created legacies that last. One last memory of Dori: she came to a KDOQI workshop and sat there watching the room overcomplicate quality. At some point, she said something like, you’re trying to solve for poverty and you can’t. Of course she was right. She almost always was. I will carry her with me always. Again, I wish I could have told her what an impact she had on the work I do.
Dori, my good friend, & muse. My light at the end of a dark tunnel. I met Dori in 2015, as an Admin on our Pre-Diabetes Facebook Group, called “Stay Strong”. She was a huge resource with her knowledge & gentle manner, helping countless members with their pre-diabetes & Type2 D diagnoses. She would stay at my home in San Diego, CA when she had a business conference, & we would take a day or 2 to play, go to the beach & have fun. I recall taking her hiking at Mission Gorge, & she huffed & puffed but made it through. Her optimism was so healing! Her love of her 2 daughters & Jim was outstanding & sincere. We got along so well, & I could always depend on her for the truth.
Spending time with Dori was precious & I will miss her.
This is a stunner! The one person in the whole kidney patient world that I could always trust to “tell it like it is.” A true crusader for sensible, intelligent kidney patient education. And also one of the nicest, friendly and lovable people you will ever know.
It was a honor blogging for her for almost 20 years.
No one can replace her. She was a wonderful, dear friend and mentor.
My heart goes out to her husband Jim and her daughters. She will be sorely missed.
I had the opportunity to work with Dori on and off over the better part of 15 years during my time at HSAG. She was always such a joy to work with, to talk with, and to just be around. Her energy was infinitely positive, and her attitude was infectious and inspiring – especially to a novice writer/trainer starting over in an entirely new field. I’m glad I had the chance to know her – she will be missed.