Renlund was born on November 13, 1952, inSalt Lake City,Utah, to Mats Åke Renlund and Mariana Andersson.[4] Renlund's parents were fromFinland andSweden and immigrated to the United States so they could marry in an LDS Churchtemple.[5] Since his parents did not yet knowEnglish, Renlund's first language wasSwedish.[6][7] For three years while he was a teenager, Renlund lived with his parents in Sweden where his father was a buildingmissionary for the LDS Church.[4] From 1972 to 1974 Renlund returned to Sweden where he served as a full-time missionary for the LDS Church.[8]
In 1986, Renlund became a professor of medicine at the University of Utah. As a cardiologist, he specialized in heart transplants.[8] From 1991 to 2009, he was the medical director of the Utah Transplantation Affiliated Hospitals Cardiac Transplant Program. In 2000, he also became director of the Heart Failure Prevention and Treatment Program at Intermountain Health Center in Salt Lake City.
In addition to his time as a bishop, Renlund has served in many positions in the LDS Church, including wardSunday School president andhigh councilor. In 1992, Renlund succeededH. David Burton aspresident of the Salt Lake University 1stStake.[9] He served as anarea seventy in the church's Utah Salt Lake CityArea from 2000 to 2009.
In April 2009, Renlund became a member of theFirst Quorum of the Seventy, a full-time ecclesiastical position. Later in 2009, Renlund and his wife moved toJohannesburg, South Africa where he served first as a counselor and then from 2011 to 2014 as president of the church's Africa SoutheastArea.[10] In this position he oversaw the church in about 20 countries, making trips to many of them, including a total of nearly 40 trips to theDemocratic Republic of the Congo.[11]
In October 2015, he was sustained as anapostle and member of the Quorum of the Twelve.[12] As an apostle, he is accepted by the church as aprophet, seer and revelator. He was sustained to the Quorum of the Twelve along withRonald A. Rasband andGary E. Stevenson, filling vacancies created by the 2015 deaths ofL. Tom Perry,Boyd K. Packer andRichard G. Scott. This was the first time since 1906 that three new apostles were sustained.[10] They are the 98th, 99th and 100th members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the church's history.[8][13]
In June 2017, Renlund and his wife spoke at an international forum on religious freedom in Costa Rica and advocated, "Religious beliefs, teachings and practices bring needed medicine to a society that would otherwise be aggressive and sick."[14] In June 2018, Renlund was featured in a series of suicide awareness videos published by the church. The series was aimed at understanding suicide and taking measures to prevent it.[15] Renlund also spoke at a medical conference held inVatican City in April 2018, describing the church's views on religion improving the health of individuals.[16] In August 2017, Renlund participated in a "Face-to-Face" online event with youth members of the LDS Church in Africa.[17]
Renlund married Ruth Lybbert in 1977. She is a daughter ofMerlin R. Lybbert, who was a general authority of the LDS Church. The Renlunds are the parents of one daughter. Ruth Renlund was a personal injury trial lawyer and a partner of the law firm of Dewsnup, King & Olsen.[19] Ruth Renlund is an ovarian cancer survivor.[8]
Stehlik, Josef; Islam, Nauman; Hurst, Denise; Kfoury, Abdallah G.; Movsesian, Matthew A.; Fuller, Ann; Delgado, Julio C.; Hammond, M. Elizabeth H.; Gilbert, Edward M.; Renlund, Dale G.; Bader, Feras; Fisher, Patrick W.; Bull, David A.; Singhal, Arun K.; Eckels, David D. (November 2009). "Utility of Virtual Crossmatch in Sensitized Patients Awaiting Heart Transplantation".The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation.28 (11):1129–1134.doi:10.1016/j.healun.2009.05.031.PMID19782589.
Russo, Mark J.; Gelijns, Annetine C.; Stevenson, Lynne W.; Sampat, Bhaven; Aaronson, Keith D.; Renlund, Dale G.; Ascheim, Deborah D.; Hong, Kimberly N.; Oz, Mehmet C.; Moskowitz, Alan J.; Rose, Eric A.; Miller, Leslie W. (October 2008). "The Cost of Medical Management in Advanced Heart Failure During the Final Two Years of Life".Journal of Cardiac Failure.14 (8):651–658.doi:10.1016/j.cardfail.2008.06.005.PMID18926436.
Kfoury, Abdallah G.; Hammond, M. Elizabeth H.; Snow, Gregory L.; Drakos, Stavros G.; Stehlik, Josef; Fisher, Patrick W.; Reid, Bruce B.; Everitt, Melanie D.; Bader, Feras M.; Renlund, Dale G. (August 2009). "Cardiovascular Mortality Among Heart Transplant Recipients With Asymptomatic Antibody-Mediated or Stable Mixed Cellular and Antibody-Mediated Rejection".The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation.28 (8):781–784.doi:10.1016/j.healun.2009.04.035.PMID19632573.
Horne, Benjamin D.; May, Heidi T.; Muhlestein, Joseph B.; Ronnow, Brianna S.; Lappé, Donald L.; Renlund, Dale G.; Kfoury, Abdallah G.; Carlquist, John F.; Fisher, Patrick W.; Pearson, Robert R.; Bair, Tami L.; Anderson, Jeffrey L. (June 2009). "Exceptional Mortality Prediction by Risk Scores from Common Laboratory Tests".The American Journal of Medicine.122 (6):550–558.doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2008.10.043.PMID19486718.
May, Heidi T.; Horne, Benjamin D.; Ronnow, Brianna S.; Renlund, Dale G.; Muhlestein, Joseph B.; Lappé, Donald L.; Pearson, Robert R.; Carlquist, John F.; Kfoury, Abdallah G.; Bair, Tami L.; Rasmusson, Kismet D.; Anderson, Jeffrey L. (May 2009). "Superior predictive ability for death of a basic metabolic profile risk score".American Heart Journal.157 (5):946–954.doi:10.1016/j.ahj.2008.12.021.PMID19376326.
Horne, Benjamin D.; May, Heidi T.; Anderson, Jeffrey L.; Kfoury, Abdallah G.; Bailey, Beau M.; McClure, Brian S.; Renlund, Dale G.; Lappé, Donald L.; Carlquist, John F.; Fisher, Patrick W.; Pearson, Robert R.; Bair, Tami L.; Adams, Ted D.; Muhlestein, Joseph B. (April 2009). "Fasting and Other Health Influences".The American Journal of Cardiology.103 (7): 1042.doi:10.1016/j.amjcard.2009.01.032.PMID19327441.
Stehlik, Josef; Nelson, Devin M.; Kfoury, Abdallah G.; Reid, Bruce B.; Clayson, Stephen E.; Nelson, Karl E.; Christensen, Brent J.; Renlund, Dale G.; Movsesian, Matthew A.; Cowley, Cris G.; Smith, Hildegard K.; Rasmusson, Brad Y.; Long, James W. (March 2009). "Outcome of Noncardiac Surgery in Patients With Ventricular Assist Devices".The American Journal of Cardiology.103 (5):709–712.doi:10.1016/j.amjcard.2008.11.021.PMID19231338.
Kfoury, Abdallah G.; Renlund, Dale G.; Snow, Gregory L.; Stehlik, Josef; Folsom, Jan W.; Fisher, Patrick W.; Reid, Bruce B.; Clayson, Stephen E.; Gilbert, Edward M.; Everitt, Melanie D.; Bader, Feras M.; Singhal, Arun K.; Hammond, M. Elizabeth H. (January 2009). "A Clinical Correlation Study of Severity of Antibody-mediated Rejection and Cardiovascular Mortality in Heart Transplantation".The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation.28 (1):51–57.doi:10.1016/j.healun.2008.09.012.PMID19134531.
