Pride Month 2022: Interview with Drs Warren Fingrut and Murdoch Leeies
June is Pride Month and the CDTRP recognizes all of the 2SLGBTQIA+ members of the donation and transplantation community and the research community. The CDTRP seeks to increase equity, diversity and inclusion in all of its activities, including research, education and career development, patient, family and donor partnerships, and network management. We are are grateful to work with researchers who value these issues and are working to improve the disparities still existing in the donation and transplantation community.
CDTRP’s Communications Manager Stéphanie, recently caught up with Dr. Warren Fingrut, Transplant Hematologist, founder and Director of Stem Cell Club and Dr. Murdoch Leeies, an organ donation, critical care medicine and emergency medicine specialist physician and Director of Research for the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Manitoba. Both researchers are actively working to include equity, diversity and inclusion components in their work and make sure everyone has an equal opportunity for access to organ, cell and tissue donation and transplantation.
Learn more on Dr. Warren Fingrut here.
Learn more on Dr. Murdoch Leeies here.
Part of your work focuses on equity, diversity, and inclusion in donation and transplantation in Canada. What motivated you to develop research in this area?
Dr. Warren Fingrut
When I first started as a volunteer at bone marrow drives in 2009, I was moved by the stories of patients who needed a stem cell transplantation but could not find a donor anywhere in the world. And I learned that patients from diverse ancestral backgrounds faced disparity in access to unrelated stem cell donors. I founded Stem Cell Club in 2011 to address this disparity. I assembled teams at campuses across Canada, developed recruiter training and resources to support efforts to scale up, and, in the decade that followed, oversaw recruitment of greater than 22,000 donors, over half of whom were from non-European backgrounds. I became interested in learning more about the barriers to donation faced by specific racialized/ethnic communities, and working to address them. I led my teams to develop and evaluate multimedia resources to address barriers to donation, including a whiteboard video series, a stem cell donation story library called Why We Swab, and a TikTok channel – all of which feature diverse peoples encouraging their communities to be donors.
I am currently leading efforts to arrange these multimedia into campaigns focused on the recruitment of specific demographic groups, in collaboration with volunteers and partners from these communities (e.g. Black Donors Save Lives, East Asians Save Lives, South Asians Save Lives, Iranian Donors Save Lives). Additionally, Stem Cell Club’s Saving Lives with Pride campaign lets gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (gbMSM) know that they are eligible to donate stem cells– work that concurrently supports a more inclusive donor registry and engages donors from needed demographic groups who may not otherwise have enlisted. Spearheading these campaigns has required a lot of different skills – in addition to conveying complex medical and scientific information in a manner that can be easily understood, the materials also need to be optimized to each group and address specific barriers to donation. This work is meaningful for me, and it has also been rewarding to highlight the lifesaving contributions of racialized and underserved demographic groups through these campaigns.
Dr. Murdoch Leeies
I work clinically as an organ donation specialist physician with the Transplant Manitoba Gift of Life program. Through that work I realized that our health system structurally supports practices and procedures that are racist, homophobic, transphobic, and HIV stigmatizing. These issues also intersect with differences in access to health services based on geography, socioeconomic status as well as levels of education and health literacy. I believe every Canadian (and every person) has the same fundamental right to receive an equal benefit from our health system that helps them achieve their maximum potential for health and wellness.
This was my motivation for developing a program of research focused on exploring and better understanding current inequities in the organ and tissue donation and transplantation system in Canada with an ultimate goal to develop evidence-based strategies to mitigate these inequities.
What are the most significant barriers for 2SLGBTQIA+ members in donation and transplantation, and how could research help overcome them?
Dr. Warren Fingrut
2SLGBTQIA+ people have faced a long history of barriers to donation and transplantation. Over the past ten years we have seen evolving policies in Canada regarding blood donation eligibility for gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (gbMSM), though these policies still deferred the majority of gbMSM from being blood donors. However, since 2009, gbMSM have been eligible to register as stem cell (and organ & tissue) donors, and donate to patients in need – but few from the 2SLGBTQIA+ community (and few Canadians overall) are aware of this. To address this, in 2018 and 2019, Stem Cell Club spearheaded a pilot campaign to recruit donors at Pride events across Canada. Then in 2021, we launched the Saving Lives with Pride campaign which features an array of multimedia resources to raise awareness about stem cell donation for 2SLGBTQIA+ members, especially gbMSM. The campaign also highlights that members of these communities are already saving lives through donation (e.g. William Ashby-Hall, a gay man who donated his stem cells to save the life of Montreal-based patient Susan Doherty; see story on Instagram).
To guide this effort, we conducted focus groups with eligible gbMSM potential donors, and one theme that emerged was the worry that 2SLGBTQIA+ donors would be treated poorly by the healthcare system – as has been and continues to be the case for these communities in many healthcare settings. Based on this learning, we collaborated with transplant hematologists to develop video statements emphasizing that donors from all sexual orientations and gender identities will be treated with dignity and respect, recognizing the heroism of their donation (e.g. YouTube video). Participants in subsequent focus groups noted that this messaging helped reassure them that they will be treated well as donors. Similar work is needed across donation: healthcare providers need to come together to let 2SLGBTQIA+ peoples know they are eligible, wanted, and will be respected as donors. Research can inform how best to address these barriers to donation.
There also significant barriers to inclusion for gbMSM downstream from recruitment. In many jurisdictions including Canada, gbMSM stem cell and organ & tissue donors who match to a patient in need are not allowed to proceed with a donation without explicit acceptance of both the transplant center and collection unit. This unequal treatment is unjust, and further stigmatizes gbMSM donors. More work is needed to revise such policies so they prioritize health equity alongside patient safety.
Additionally, transgender and gender non-binary peoples also face barriers to inclusion. For example, most donor registries are not currently collecting and listing both sex (relevant due to biological considerations including differences in the immune system) and gender identity (important information to ensure that donors are treated with dignity and respect). Research is needed to develop and evaluate approaches to engage and include Trans* and gender non-binary peoples as donors, in partnership with members of these communities.
Dr. Murdoch Leeies
This is a big question! I will start by saying that I have a number of projects underway and in the planning stages to better understand the inequities that 2SLGBTQIA+ populations experience but our preliminary work has already revealed a number of issues.
One major structural inequity is the differential treatment of men who have sex with men (MSM) as potential organ donors. Regulations and processes for MSM in the organ and tissue donation and transplantation system in Canada are based on an outdated understanding of the risk of blood borne infections like HIV, hepatitis C and hepatitis B. Rather than identify potential organ and/or tissue donors at increased risk of transmitting these infections based on behaviors that truly place those persons at increased risk, we have upheld policies that discriminate against individuals based on sexual orientation. A direct example would be that our current system would reject a man who was negative for HIV and hepatitis and in a long-term monogamous relationship with another man who wished to donate his corneas and other tissue after death but would accept the same tissues from a heterosexual man who had unprotected sex with multiple high-risk female partners. The same system would potentially accept the homosexual man’s solid organs for donation but label them as ‘increased risk organs’ (even if he was in a long-term monogamous relationship and with no blood borne infections) without a standardized or transparent informed consent process with respect to the differential treatment of those organs.
Additionally, insufficient planning for privacy may lead to inadvertent outing of 2SLGBTQIA+ potential living donors. Outdated methods of clinical documentation of sociodemographic variables for patients may lead to differential treatment of cis-gender and trans-gender persons with mis-application of criteria that were intended to be based on biological sex. There are also overlapping issues of discrimination against persons with HIV (as well as sero-discordant HIV negative partners of persons with HIV).
Our research program starts with exploratory work to better understand and characterize current inequities and importantly, we are engaging 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals as research partners from the very beginning. This will help inform research questions that are relevant to the populations they are intending to serve and to plan research methods that are culturally sensitive and help us to select outcomes that are relevant to 2SLGBTQIA+ people.
Recently, Canadian Blood Services (CBS) announced that Health Canada approved their request to remove eligibility criteria specific to men who have sex with men and instead focus on sexual behaviors. From your perspective, what work still needs to be done to increase donations from 2SLGBTQIA+ communities?
Dr. Warren Fingrut
This upcoming change to gender neutral (and sexual-behaviour based) blood donor eligibility criteria is an important step towards a more equitable blood system. However, once this change comes into effect, significant efforts will be needed to educate gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (gbMSM) about their eligibility, invite them to participate as blood and plasma donors, and let them know they will be respected as donors. There is also a stigma towards gbMSM donation. Campaigns celebrating these donors and highlighting their lifesaving contributions will help reduce this barrier and increase 2SLGBTQIA+ donations.
Dr. Murdoch Leeies
This landmark change was a huge step towards an equitable risk assessment strategy for potential blood donors in Canada. I partner with CBS in much of my research on organ donation and they have been strong supporters of research focused on improving access and outcomes for equity-deserving populations. This shift from a group membership-based discriminatory policy to a behavioral risk-based approach is the result of a targeted investment of resources into research in this field. This investment has led to this landmark policy change that promotes equity for Canadians while maintaining the safety of the blood supply.
A result of this step forward in the blood donation realm is a widening gap between 2SLGBTQIA+ organ and tissue donors and transplant recipients and 2SLGBTQIA+ blood donors and recipients in terms of evidence-based equitable treatment within our health system. There is an enormous amount of overlap in the risk-assessment for blood donors and organ/tissue donors and the lessons learned from investments in the assessment of risk for blood borne infections in 2SLGBTQIA+ blood donors will directly inform that same assessment for potential organ and tissue donors. A similar investment in research on the impact of 2SLGBTQIA+ membership on organ and tissue donation and transplantation is needed now to ensure we are providing these health services equitably.
Organ and tissue donation is truly the gift of life and I believe whole-heartedly that it benefits not only the recipient but the donor and their families as well. The exclusive focus of our work in this area, however, should not be on increasing donations from 2SLGBTQIA+ communities. We should partner with 2SLGBTQIA+ persons on a path of discovery and reconciliation. We must acknowledge the harms of the past and the current structural discrimination that these persons face. Only then can we honestly and collaboratively move forward in reforming our organ and tissue donation and transplantation system into one that is equitable for all Canadians. This will be a system that increases donations from 2SLGBTQIA+ donors who wish to donate but also addresses inequities in access and enhances the safety of 2SLGBTQIA+ persons.
How could the CDTRP support the future directions of your work?
Dr. Warren Fingrut
Patients from racialized/ethnic communities face disparities in their representation across donor pools for blood, stem cells, and organs & tissues. One approach to address these disparities will be to develop campaigns which address specific barriers to donation relevant across donation products – for example, extending Stem Cell Club’s Black Donors Save Lives campaign to discuss donation of blood and organs & tissues alongside stem cells. There is also a need to expand Stem Cell Club’s Saving Lives with Pride campaign to highlight the lifesaving contributions of 2SLGBTQIA+ peoples who donate blood, plasma, and organs & tissues as well as stem cells. I am now pursuing both of these avenues, and I look forward to collaborating with the CDTRP and its members on this work.
Dr. Murdoch Leeies
I welcome communication and collaboration with other health-equity and social justice-minded investigators in the CDTRP network. As we embark on our patient and community engagement process I hope the CDTRP can connect our Manitoba group with other jurisdictions. I would be grateful for the CDTRP to amplify our results through their own communications and social networks. I would also ask the CDTRP grants program to keep us in mind through future applications to support research on 2SLGBTQIA+ and other populations who currently experience inequities and deserve structural health system changes in order for us to provide optimal, equitable care.
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Patient Engagement
Do not miss Drs Fingrut and Leeies at the CDTRP Patient, Family and Donor Research Forum on Wednesday, June 22, 2022 during the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Patient Engagement block from 11 am to 1 pm EDT.
ity of Alberta and has received training in patient-oriented research through the University of Calgary’s PACER (Patient and Community Engagement Research) Program. He is the Patient, Family, and Donor Partnerships & Education Manager with the Canadian Donation and Transplantation Research Program. In this role, Manuel builds relationships patient partners with investigators and strengthens capacity among CDTRP patient partners.
Anders Billström 
Gareth Wiltshire
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Sherrie Logan 
born and raised in Edmonton, AB. With a degree in Music Performance (saxophone performance) and Education, Lindsey has taught for over a decade in the Edmonton Public School system. When she is not teaching, she is very involved in the music community, performing in the Edmonton Winds, conducting her own community ensemble (The Beer League Band) and on numerous musical boards across the province. For the past 5 years, Lindsey has had to take a break from teaching after having her amazing son, George. Maternity leave did not goes as expected as George was diagnosed with Dilated Cardiomyopathy at 5 months old and required 2 heart transplants before the age of 4. During this time, Lindsey has also began to dedicate her time building and expanding her charity: Big Gifts for Little Lives, where they raise money to fund Pediatric Heart Transplant research at the Stollery.
Dr. Caigan Du is a scientist at the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute and an assistant professor in the Department of Urologic Sciences at the University of British Columbia. He received a Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry in UK and postdoctoral training in Immunology in USA. He is interested in the pathogenesis of kidney ischemia-reperfusion injury and transplant rejection, and molecular control of urinary malignancies. He has been studying the impact of kidney donor-derived factors on renal allograft rejection, and the molecular pathways of kidney injury and regeneration in experimental models. He is also interested in developing medical solution including drugs made from natural compounds for all kinds of health problems, including immune disorders, organ preservation, kidney failure and urinary cancer. He is the PI of many grant supports from the Kidney Foundation of Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
Heather Badenoch is a non-directed living liver donor and communications strategist. As the president of Village PR, she provides strategic communications direction and training to not-for-profit clients in community and health. An active transplant volunteer, Heather helps transplant candidates find living donors by running their public appeals, small and large, pro-bono. She also mentors potential living donors on the path to living donation. Heather is a volunteer with the UHN Centre for Living Organ Donation and the Canadian Donation and Transplant Research Program. She and her spouse adopt rescue dogs and volunteer together with Community Veterinary Outreach, a group providing free veterinary care to the pets of people who are homeless.
Sean Dicks is a clinical psychologist who has 20 years’ experience supporting both families of organ donors and transplant recipients. While it is rare for him to have contact with a donor family and recipient linked to the same organ donation-transplantation event, his contact with families who have lived experience with organ donation on the one hand, and patients who have received transplants on the other hand has provided opportunities to explore how their journeys become linked when they attempt to make sense of and find meaning in their respective crises.
Terri Hansen-Gardiner is a Cree speaking Metis woman from Northern Saskatchewan as well as a 10 year Breast Cancer Survivor. Her tireless spirit and dedication to her community is undeniable. Terri is a cancer survivor who travels around the province to provide assistance, information, and support to Indigenous patients who are trying to access and navigate the cancer care system.
Dr. Golnaz Karoubi is Assistant Scientist at the Toronto General HospitalResearch Institute and principal investigator in the Latner Thoracic Research Labs. She currently holds an Assistant Professor appointment in the department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology and a cross-appointment in the department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Toronto. Dr. Karoubi received her PhD in Applied Science and Engineering at the University of Toronto and joined the Lung Regenerative Medicine Program in the Department of Clinical Research in Berne University, Switzerland for a post-doctoral research fellowship. She stayed on as a Group Leader in 2008 to direct the basic and transitional science as related to Cancer Stem Cell and Lung Regenerative Medicine in the Department of Biomedical Research at the University of Berne until 2012. In early 2012, she joined the team of Dr. Tom Waddell at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute as a Senior Scientific Associate and was appointed to Assistant Scientist at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute (University Health Network) in November 2019 and to Assistant Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology in July 2020.
Dr. Haykal graduated from the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine in2007 as class valedictorian and silver medalist, and subsequently completed her residency training in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the University of Toronto in 2016. During her residency, she completed a four-year Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) in tissue engineering, regenerative medicine and immunology with a focus on tracheal reconstruction. She obtained numerous grants and awards including a CIHR Vanier Scholarship. Dr. Haykal then pursued fellowship training in microsurgical reconstruction at the Albany Medical Centre in New York. Dr. Haykal joined the University Health Network and the Toronto General Hospital in 2018. Her clinical focus is on complex oncological reconstruction and microsurgical reconstruction of the breast, head and neck and extremity. She started a lymphedema program in 2019 where she offers microsurgical techniques for the treatment of lymphedema.
Dr. Ahmed is a Professor in the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary. The recipient of the 2022 Hypertension Canada Senior Investigator Award, she is a nephrologist and clinician-scientist with a focus on sex and gender differences in human cardiovascular/kidney physiology and clinical outcomes. Dr. Ahmed is the Vice Chair (Research) for the Department of Medicine, Lead of the Libin Institute Women’s Cardiovascular Health Research Initiative at the University of Calgary and Lead of the Alberta Strategy for Patient Oriented Research Capacity Development Platform. Dr. Ahmed is an Advisory Board member for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Institute of Gender and Health, a member of the Canadian Medical Association Journal Governing Council and the President-Elect for the Organization for the Study of Sex Differences.
r. Christopher Nguan is an Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia in the Department of Urological Sciences, Surgical Head of Kidney Transplantation at Vancouver General Hospital and the Director of the Surgical Technologies Experimental Laboratory & Advanced Robotics (STELLAR) facility at Vancouver General Hospital.
r Caroline Lamarche is a clinician scientist and transplant nephrologist at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital. She is an assistant clinical professor at the Université de Montréal. After her nephrology training at the Université de Montréal (2015), she completed a Master degree on the use of adoptive immunotherapy to treat/prevent BK nephropathy in kidney transplant recipients. She then pursued a post-doctoral fellowship with Dr. Megan Levings at the University of British Columbia on the use of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) regulatory T cells (Tregs) to induce transplant tolerance. Her lab is working on the development of adoptive immunotherapy in nephrology and understanding Treg dysfunction.
Dr. Tandon is an Associate Professor of Medicine, Co-Director of the Cirrhosis Care Clinic, Transplant Hepatologist and lead of the Cirrhosis Care Alberta quality improvement program. She obtained her training at the University of Alberta, the Hospital Clinic in Barcelona and Yale University. Her clinical practice and research are focused on cirrhosis with research interests including cirrhosis related complications, malnutrition, frailty, exercise therapy, palliative care, integrative health approaches such as meditation and knowledge translation. It is her career goal to provide wholistic, interdisciplinary, evidence based, patient-centered care through education, empowerment, engagement and team-work.
Emily is a PhD student at the University of Alberta, where she completed her Master of Science (MSc) degree in medicine. With a passion for patient-oriented research and a commitment to improving health outcomes, Emily’s doctoral project focuses on EMPOWER, a 12-week online mind-body wellness program designed for adults living with chronic health conditions.
Dr Basil S. Nasir, M.B.B.Ch
Dr. Victor Ferreira is an Assistant Scientist in the Ajmera Transplant Centre at the University Health Network (UHN) and the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute (TGHRI). He is also an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology (LMP). He completed his PhD in Medical Sciences – Infection and Immunity Specialization at McMaster University in 2014 and post-doctoral training at UHN. His research program is focused on three pillars: I) using systems vaccinology to reveal insights into vaccine responses in immunocompromised individuals like transplant recipients; II) characterizing the impact of chronic viral infection on host immune responses; and III) developing novel methods for eliminating latent viruses in human organs. His work has been cited >2,500 times and is published in journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, Nature Immunology, the Lancet Infectious Diseases, Clinical Infectious Diseases, the American Journal of Transplantation and Journal of Infectious Diseases.
Chemical Engineering as an Assistant Professor in August 2014. She is a biochemical engineer with expertise in bioprocess development, high‑throughput screening and stem cell culture optimization. Her research aims to develop bioprocesses to produce and transplant therapeutic cells to treat diabetes and cardiovascular disease. She notably developed new methods to encapsulate pancreatic islets, as well as vascular biomaterials surface modification strategies which are now applied by other researchers around the world. Her emerging leadership in bioengineering was recognized through the 2014 Martin Sinacore Outstanding Young Investigator Award from Engineering Conferences International & Biogen Idec, as well as the “Étoiles effervescence” award from Montreal InVivo.
Chantal Bémeur is a nutrition specialist in relation to liver disease and its many complications. Professor Bémeur trained as a dietitian/nutritionist and completed her graduate studies and two post-doctoral fellowships in nutrition, focusing on conditions affecting the hepatic and nervous systems, such as hepatic encephalopathy and Leigh Syndrome French Canadian. Professor Bémeur’s research activities are generally of a fundamental and clinical nature, including a collaboration with CHUM’s Department of Hepatology and Gastroenterology. As an expert member of the International Society on Hepatic Encephalopathy and Nitrogen Metabolism, Dr. Bémeur has participated in the development of guidelines on nutrition and liver disease. She is also part of a team of Canadian experts who developed an evidence-based nutritional education guide collaborating with people with chronic liver disease and their caregivers. She received an award from the Ordre professionnel des diététistes du Québec in 2018 for her work on this guide. Dr. Bémeur has published several book chapters, 30 scientific articles and over 100 scientific abstracts. Dr. Bémeur’s co-directs the HepatoNeuro Laboratory in the Cardiometabolic Axis of the Centre de recherche du Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CRCHUM). Several organizations, including the Donation and Transplantation Research Program of Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research fund Dr. Bémeur’s research.
Dr Thozama Siyotula is a distinguished paediatric surgeon at Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. With a profound interest in hepatobiliary, transplant, thoracic and neonatal surgical outcomes. She completed her undergraduate training in 2011 at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. Furthering her studies she went on to specialise in paediatric surgery through the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa, completing her FCPaedSurg (SA) in 2021 and a master’s in medicine (Paediatric Surgery) in 2021 at the University of Cape Town. She currently works as a paediatric surgeon and transplant surgeon. A senior lecture at the University of Cape Town and course convenor for the 5th year undergraduate paediatric surgery program at the University of Cape Town.
David Thomson is a critical care subspecialist and abdominal transplant surgeon at Groote Schuur Hospital and the University of Cape Town. His interests are deceased donation, ECMO, medical education and system improvement. He created the massive open online course Organ Donation: From Death to Life hosted on Coursera.org to improve education around organ donation and transplantation. He is the immediate past President of the Southern African Transplantation Society and led development on a report on Organ and Tissue Donation in South Africa: Creating a National Strategic Roadmap in collaboration with the International Society for Organ Donation and Procurement. He worked on the World Brain Death Project and is the lead author on the South African Guidelines for Determination of Death published in 2021.
About Dr. Julie Ho
Dr. Tom Blydt-Hansen completed his MD at McGill University, and his Pediatric and Nephrology specialization at the Montreal Children’s Hospital, followed by further specialization in transplantation at the University of California, Los Angeles. He began his Nephrology career at the University of Manitoba in 2001, where he was Division Head of Nephrology from 2005-2014.
Monica Bronowski completed an undergraduate degree in neuroscience at Dalhousie University, with a focus on innovative neurotechnology. Before starting her PhD, she worked in hematology, oncology, and bone marrow transplant (BMT), conducting clinical trials across various study phases for multiple myeloma, bone marrow transplant, and CAR-T therapies. This experience exposed her to both early and late-phase clinical trials, deepening her interest in translational research.
Angela Hamie has just graduated from the University of Alberta and holds a Bachelor of Science with Honors in Immunology and Infection. Her presentation will summarize her research conducted throughout her fourth year undergraduate thesis project, which focuses on the Age, Thymus Excision, Organ Type, and Immunosuppression on Lymphocyte Subpopulations in pediatric transplantation.
Mitchell Wagner is currently a first year medical student at the University of Alberta. He graduated from the U of A in 2022 with an Honors degree in Immunology and Infection with a certificate in biomedical research. He recently defended a Master of Science in Experimental Surgery, focusing on the optimization of out-of-body heart perfusion. Mitchell’s main research interest is on strategies that improve donated organs through ex-situ heart perfusion apparati, however has also been involved in clinical research within the areas of radiology, respiratory medicine, and cardiology. Mitchell is the recipient of multiple prestigious awards such as the Canada Graduate Scholarship – Masters and the Cote Biomedical Research Studentship. As an aspiring surgeon-scientist, he intends on completing an MD/PhD program focusing to further improve out of body heart perfusion protocols.
Sarjana Alam is an undergraduate science student at the University of Alberta, where she is a research trainee under the supervision of Dr. Esme Dijke in the Department of Laboratory Medicine & Pathology. She is involved in a project investigating the cryopreservation of T regulatory cells for tolerogenic cell therapy.
Marie-Pier joined Dre. Marie-Josée Hébert’s lab in the nephrology, transplantation and renal regeneration research unit at the CRCHUM in 2024. She obtained her BSc degree in biology at McGill university and is now pursuing a Masters degree in the Molecular Biology program at l’Université de Montréal. She is currently working on evaluating the pro-angiogenic potential of RNAs enriched in apoptotic exosomes and whether these RNAs cooperate to modulate endothelial function. Marie-Pier is also a trainee in the Canadian Donation and Transplantation Research program (CDTRP).Outside of the lab, Marie-Pier loves to read, go to spin classes and play word games like Scattegories and Bananagrams.
Dr. Andreas Kramer is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Departments of Critical Care Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences. He graduated from medical school at the University of Manitoba in 1997 and received specialty training in internal medicine and critical care at the University of Calgary in 2002. After working for three years as a community internist and intensivist in Manitoba, he obtained fellowship training in neurocritical care at the University of Virginia 2005-2007. During this time, he also completed a Master of Science degree in Health Evaluation Sciences. Dr. Kramer joined the Department of Critical Care Medicine in Calgary in 2007. He has a particular research and clinical interest in neuro-monitoring and prevention of secondary brain injury in neurocritical care patients. Dr. Kramer is on the Editorial Boards of the journals Neurocritical Care and Critical Care Medicine. He has over 90 peer-reviewed publications, with about half of these as first or senior author. He is a co-investigator in a number of CIHR-sponsored clinical trials. Dr. Kramer has written multiple textbook chapters on a variety of neurocritical care topics, and was the co-editor of two 2017 neurocritical care editions of the Handbook in Clinical Neurology. Since 2011, he has been the Medical Director of the Southern Alberta Organ and Tissue Donation Program, and serves on numerous Canadian Blood Services advisory committees. Dr. Kramer is married with four very energetic children between the ages of 9 and 17.
Dr. Mypinder Sekhon is an intensivist and clinician-scientist in the intensive care unit at Vancouver General Hospital. He completed his medical school training, internal medicine residency and critical care medicine subspecialty fellowship at the University of British Columbia prior to completing a neurocritical care fellowship at Addenbrooke’s Hospital at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom under the guidance of Professors David Menon and Arun Gupta. Subsequently, he completed is PhD in neurovascular sciences under Professor Philip Ainslie, a Canada Research Chair in cerebrovascular physiology. His clinical and research interests include multimodal neuromonitoring, cerebral autoregulation disturbance after brain injury and critical care management of severe acute brain injury patients.
My name is Matthew Kolisnyk. I am a third-year PhD Candidate in Neuroscience at Western University. My undergraduate training was in Psychology and Statistics, where I spent time applying neuroimaging techniques to memory and mindfulness research. In my current lab, I use neuroimaging to measure residual cognitive function in patients who have sustained an acute brain injury and use that neural measure in combination with machine learning to try and predict which patients will survive their injury. I currently am a research associate at the London Health Science Centre, where we measure physiological and neural changes that occur when patients undergo planned withdrawal of life-sustaining measures.
Jordan is a PhD student at UBC working in the Vancouver General Hospital ICU. His current work focuses on donation after circulatory death by looking at how the brain responds during the dying process after withdrawal of life-sustaining measures. During Jordan’s undergraduate degree in Health Sciences and Physics, he got his start in research focusing on whole body hypoxia in the context of high altitude physiology. This led to working in industry since 2020 using medical imaging to evaluate hypoxia and ischemia in wound care, vascular surgery, and plastic and reconstructive surgery. Jordan returned to school in 2021 to pursue a MSc with Dr. Glen Foster at UBCO focusing on developing and validating a new medical imaging approach to quantify diaphragm blood flow in humans. In 2023, Jordan joined the ICU Research Group to continue looking at oxygenation and blood flow in critically ill patients. As such, the unifying theme of Jordan’s work involves investigating low oxygen and blood flow in both healthy and clinical populations. This focus on physiology underpins the organ procurement process in donation after circulatory death as warm ischemic times may render organs ineligible for transplantation. Outside of research, Jordan can be found playing hockey, biking, running, reading, or trying to spend as much time outdoors in Alberta or British Columbia.
Hayden John is a student researcher passionate about addressing health inequities through patient and community-centred research. He has recently completed the Queen’s Accelerated Route to Medical School (QuARMS) pathway and is a first-year medical student at Queen’s University. Currently, he is a research student with the Kidney Health Education Research Group (KHERG) focusing on the A.C.TI.O.N Project: Improving Access to Living Donor Kidney Transplantation (LDKT) in Ethno-racial Minority Communities in Canada. Under the supervision of Principal Investigator Dr. Istvan Mucsi, Hayden explored the perceived risks and benefits of kidney donation among African, Caribbean and Black Canadians.
Meghan He is a UBC medical student who studied Comparative Literature and Psychobiology at UCLA. Her research focuses on grounding medicine in the humanity of patient stories. She is co-President of the UBC Surgical Club, where she co-founded the EDI advocacy group, UpSurge, in alliance in the UBC Department of Surgery. In her free time, she teaches kids’ yoga with the Vancouver School Board and volunteers for community dance events.
Dr. David Nicholas is a Professor and Associate Dean, Research and Partnerships in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Calgary. He is the author of over 200 peer-reviewed research publications addressing topics such as wellbeing and transition to adulthood in chronic health conditions, including kidney disease. Dr. Nicholas’ research further focuses on capacity development in service delivery as well as navigation support for individuals with chronic health issues and disability, and their families. Dr. Nicholas has been the principal investigator on multiple grants from provincial, federal and international sources. He also brings clinical experience as a former nephrology social worker.
Sarah Pol is a Clinical Research Project Manager in the Anthony Lab at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids). She completed her undergraduate training in Health Sciences, Anthropology and Community Development at Western University, received a Master of Science in Global Health from McMaster University and pursued further training in Project Management at the University of Toronto. She is the User Experience and Implementation Lead for Voxe, an innovative, child- and healthcare provider-friendly, electronic patient-reported outcome measures (ePROM) platform for data capture and visualization. She is intricately involved in the SickKids Mental Health Measurement-Based Care (MBC) initiative’s clinical implementation of Voxe. Sarah is passionate about equity-oriented health research, the use of qualitative methods to amplify patients’ voices, artificial intelligence, and the meaningful integration of ePROMs into clinical practice to support MBC.
Jia Lin, MPH, is a Clinical Research Project Coordinator working alongside Dr. Samantha Anthony, a Health Clinician Scientist, in the Child Health Evaluative Sciences program at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. The Anthony Lab examines the biopsychosocial impact of pediatric chronic illness on patients and families, with a focus on patient engagement, patient-reported outcome measures, implementation science, and mixed methods. In her role, Jia leads multiple clinical research studies across the research pipeline, including a current multi-phase, cross-Canada study exploring the experiences of Indigenous children and families who have received a solid organ transplantation. Rooted in patient and community engagement, this research employs storytelling to consider the multiplicity of knowledge, including Indigenous Knowledge, to advance child health equity. Jia recently began her PhD at McGill University with research interests at the nexus of equity-oriented, patient-engaged health research and applying critical qualitative approaches to amplify patients’ voices.
I obtained my PharmD from the University of Montreal, where I developed a strong foundation in pharmacotherapy. Eager to deepen my expertise, I completed a master’s in advanced pharmacotherapy, which enabled me to become a hospital pharmacist. For several years, I specialized as a cardiology and heart failure pharmacist, gaining invaluable experience in managing complex patient needs. Driven by a desire to expand my clinical skills, I pursued a medical degree, graduating with my MD from the University of Montreal in 2021 and earning a place on the Dean’s List. Following this achievement, I completed my training in internal medicine, and as of July 2024, I am currently in a cardiology residency at the University of Montreal. My primary interests lie in advanced heart failure and heart transplantation, areas in which I am actively involved in research with the advanced heart failure and heart transplant team at the Montreal Heart Institute. My background in pharmacy and medicine uniquely positions me to contribute to the evolving field of heart transplantation.
Ikram Abow-Mohamed is a PGY-3 Internal Medicine resident at McGill University, set to begin a Gastroenterology fellowship at McGill in the upcoming year.
Eva Amzallag holds a master’s degree in anthropology (2018) and a master’s degree in epidemiology (2024), both from Université de Montréal. Currently pursuing a PhD in epidemiology, her research interests include liver transplantation, transfusional medicine, and postoperative complications. Under the supervision of Dr. François Martin Carrier, anesthesiologist at the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal and CDTRP Investigator, her work explores the relationship between blood transfusions and postoperative pulmonary complications in liver transplant recipients.
Vanessa is a PhD-nurse, and a former Organ Donation Coordinator who has been devoted to research and active involvement in Organ Donation and Transplantation activities for over 10 years. Her research expertise is focused in quality improvement of organ donation programs and structures worldwide. She was a Kidney Research Scientist Core Education Program (KRESCENT) fellow and a Canadian Donation and Transplantation Research Program (CDTRP) trainee. She currently co-leads two groups within the CDTRP structure: Theme 1 “Improve the Culture of Donation” and the Allied Research in Donation and Transplantation (ARDOT) working group. She is currently an Assistant Professor at Brock University, and lead the investigation of burnout among donation coordinators, with the support and collaboration of Canadian Blood Services and key organ donation researchers nationally and internationally.
Dr. Somaya Zahran is currently a Nephrology fellow at McGill University and serves as a Chief fellow in the program. She earned her medical degree from Egypt and completed her PhD at the University of Alberta before pursuing internal medicine residency and nephrology fellowship at McGill University. Dr. Zahran is an AJKD editorial intern and a trainee member of the Canadian Society of Nephrology Clinical Practice Guideline Committee. She is looking forward to starting her Transplant fellowship at Mayo Clinic, Rochester in Jul 2025. Outside of her academic pursuits, Somaya loves spending time with her family and getting creative in the kitchen—she’s on a mission to find the perfect balance between kidney health and decadent desserts!