Maria Casas is a kidney and liver transplant patient who was diagnosed with ADPKD and required hemodialysis before becoming an organ recipient. She is a wife, a mother of two girls, and a grandmother of a four-year-old boy.

Ms. Casas is a subject matter expert and the Chairperson for the Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC) for Quality Insights Renal Network 3. She has been a member of the National Patient and Family Engagement Learning and Action Network (NPFE LAN) and the National Kidney Community Emergency Response (KCER) Patient and Family Engagement LAN. She is also a member of the Kidney Patient Advisory Council (KPAC). Ms. Casas participates as the patient voice representative on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Contracting Officer’s Representative meetings for Network 3 and on the Puerto Rico Emergency Preparedness and Response Activities Coalition (PREPARAR-C). She also served on a Transplant Patient Panel at the CMS Quality Conference and on the KCER Summit Meeting in 2020.  

One of her main goals is to help other patients with kidney disease. Ms. Casas has volunteered with non-profit kidney organizations, such Life Link of Puerto Rico, Renal Council of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico Kidney Foundation, and the PKD Foundation. She enjoys learning through webinars given by the End Stage Renal Disease National Coordinating Center, the American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP), and the National Kidney Foundation (NKF).

Ms. Casas earned Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) and Master of Business Administration (MBA) degrees from the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico. She has worked as a supervisor and a project manager in several industries.