Annonce : Aurevoir Mel
Nous partageons la nouvelle que Mélanie Dieudé occupera le poste de Directrice des opérations de recherche chez Héma-Québec à compter de début janvier. Nous sommes ravis pour Mel et cette étape dans sa carrière qui lui permettra de poursuivre le leadership en recherche qu’elle a démontré durant son mandat de directrice générale du PRDTC. Bien que ses compétences et ses talents au sein de l’équipe du PRDTC nous manqueront, nous nous réjouissons de travailler avec elle dans son nouveau rôle, en tant que partenaire et en tant que chercheuse active et membre du Thème 4.
Comme vous le savez tous, Mel est directrice générale du PRDTC depuis janvier 2020 et a joué un rôle déterminant dans l’évolution de notre réseau de recherche unique vers l’organisation qu’elle est aujourd’hui. Nous sommes profondément reconnaissants pour ses contributions de longue date et son engagement sans réserve depuis la création du réseau. Ses talents pour rassembler les gens à tous les niveaux, combler les lacunes et mobiliser l’énergie et les voix de notre réseau ont permis au PRDTC d’accomplir beaucoup de choses au cours des deux dernières années, et elle continuera à servir la communauté dans ses prochains projets.
Mel, nous te souhaitons le plus grand succès dans tes nouvelles fonctions et te remercions pour tout ce que tu as fait pour améliorer la qualité et l’impact de la recherche sur le don et la transplantation au Canada et dans le monde.
Mélanie continuera à assumer son rôle au sein du PRDTC jusqu’à la fin du mois de décembre alors que nous nous concentrons sur la transition. Nous sommes heureux d’annoncer que Patricia Gongal, actuellement directrice des communications stratégiques du PRDTC, assumera le rôle de directrice générale par intérim. Comme vous le savez peut-être, Patricia a obtenu un doctorat et fait du travail postdoctoral en neurobiologie du développement. Basée à Edmonton, elle a travaillé pendant près de dix ans dans des rôles de développement de la recherche au Canada, en France et au Royaume-Uni, soutenant les équipes de recherche par le biais du développement de stratégies, de la coordination, de l’obtention de financements et de partenariats.
Nous encourageons tout le monde à se joindre à nous pour féliciter Mel et accueillir chaleureusement Patricia dans ses nouvelles fonctions.
« Ce fut un véritable privilège de travailler avec la communauté du PRDTC depuis 2013. Je suis profondément reconnaissante pour toutes les opportunités qui m’ont été données pour développer de solides relations professionnelles et personnelles avec des chercheurs, des cliniciens, des travailleurs de la santé, des partenaires étonnants et passionnés et, bien sûr, des patients, familles et donneurs partenaires inspirants. Ce fantastique voyage a confirmé mon profond attachement à la recherche collaborative, et je suis certaine que cela façonnera et influencera mes futurs projets. C’est n’est qu’un au revoir, car je resterai une chercheuse et une fière contributrice du PRDTC. Je suis reconnaissante envers le comité exécutif du PRDTC pour leur confiance et leur soutien et envers mon équipe de gestion incroyablement talentueuse, vous êtes tout simplement les meilleurs ! Le PRDTC est entre de bonnes mains pour accomplir de grandes choses dans le futur, et j’ai hâte de voir les succès du PRDTC dans les années à venir. »
– Mélanie Dieudé
« Ce fut un privilège de travailler avec Mel et de voir l’évolution et la maturation du PRDTC en tant qu’organisation sous sa direction. Elle laisse de très grands souliers à remplir ! Je suis enthousiaste à l’idée d’assumer ce nouveau rôle et de soutenir l’excellent travail que la communauté de recherche du PRDTC accomplit pour faire avancer la mission « Une transplantation pour la vie ». »
– Patricia Gongal
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.