Article en vedette dans le Journal of Liver Transplantation : Chloe Wong-Mersereau
Le Programme de recherche en don et transplantation du Canada (PRDTC) tient à féliciter Chloe Wong-Mersereau, stagiaire de recherche au PRDTC et assistante de recherche dans le cadre du projet Frictions of Futurity and Cure in Transplant Medicine, pour son article intitulé Layered Methodologies : Innovating Multimodal Qualitative Research in Liver Transplantation, publié dans le Journal of Liver Transplantation. Fraser Allan Best (patient partenaire du PRDTC) et Alexandra Frankel (stagiaire de recherche au PRDTC) sont également coauteurs avec leurs collègues et cochercheuses principales, la Dre Suze Berkhout et Kelly Fritsch.
Ces efforts collaboratifs découlent d’une subvention pour l’innovation en recherche 2022 du PRTDC pour le projet Temporalities of Cure : A qualitative study of psychosocial support needs and long-term survivorship in liver transplantation (en savoir plus).
Les compétences exceptionnelles de Chloé et son dévouement à l’avancement de la recherche sur la transplantation hépatique sont évidents dans son exploration des méthodes de recherche qualitative innovantes et sa capacité à intégrer diverses méthodologies. Ses contributions au domaine sont inestimables et nous sommes fiers de la compter parmi les membres du PRDTC.
Nous avons posé quelques questions à Chloé, que vous pouvez lire ci-dessous.
Comment l’article aborde-t-il la complexité de la transplantation hépatique et la nécessité d’une approche multidisciplinaire ?
L’article « Layered Methodologies » attire l’attention sur les aspects de la transplantation hépatique qui sont difficiles à exprimer en s’engageant dans de multiples façons de comprendre l’expérience d’un receveur de greffe. Une approche multidisciplinaire et multimodale, dans ce cas, reliant la narration, la réalisation de films, le discours et la recherche en sciences sociales, est devenue le moyen nécessaire d’explorer les complexités non articulées de la transplantation hépatique.
Y a-t-il des idées ou des résultats spécifiques mentionnés dans l’article qui pourraient potentiellement avoir un impact sur le domaine de la transplantation hépatique ?
Ces réflexions invitent la recherche qualitative dans le domaine de la transplantation à s’engager de manière critique dans les dynamiques de pouvoir qui impliquent les receveurs de greffes de foie, tant dans les espaces cliniques que dans les espaces de recherche. Les professionnels de la santé qui ont visionné les films se sont vus rappeler que leurs patients sont des personnes qui mènent des vies complexes et bien remplies. Bien que ce rappel ne soit pas révolutionnaire, le poids de la transformation des personnes en patients par le biais des interactions cliniques est puissant.
Quelles sont certaines des applications ou implications potentielles des méthodologies en couches discutées dans l’article ?
Les méthodologies de superposition permettent d’élargir l’éventail des expériences d’exploration en faisant appel aux multiples sens et moyens d’expression des personnes. La co-création donne aux receveurs de greffe le pouvoir de reprendre le contrôle et l’agence de la création et de la relecture de leurs histoires.
Quelles sont les prochaines étapes pour l’équipe du projet Frictions of Futurity in Transplant Medicine et comment le PRDTC pourrait-il apporter sa contribution ?
L’équipe de Frictions of Futurity entre dans une nouvelle phase d’analyse, de dialogue et de partage des créations de la recherche. Le PRDTC nous a généreusement offert la possibilité de partager les films par le biais de projections et d’engager des discussions fructueuses avec les patients, les familles et les donneurs.
Résumé (en anglais)
Qualitative liver transplantation studies frequently explore quality of life and offer insights for integrating patient-oriented outcomes into conventional research strategies. The scope of qualitative research in liver transplantation tends to be limited, however, with respect to engagement with critical theories, leaving certain aspects of lived experience unexamined. We describe the process of layering multiple modes of critical qualitative research in liver transplantation, exploring how experiences in liver transplantation are structured through power and words, and what aspects of recipients’ stories are not easily spoken or shared. This study pairs a critical discourse analysis of patient manuals from a Canadian liver transplant program with the digital storytelling of liver transplant recipients. A common narrative emerges from patient manuals that does not adequately capture the complexity of lived experience of liver transplant survivors. Digital storytelling opens new narrative possibilities by layering sensory aspects of the transplant experience, which are often difficult to articulate through words. This complicates common ideas of survivorship, who is considered a “good” patient, and the cultural tropes that transplant stories frequently engage.
Article spécial dans le journal Ars Medica : Frictions de l’avenir, tensions curatives et réimaginations artistiques de la transplantation
Chloe, Kelly et Suze ont également codirigé un numéro spécial du journal des arts et de la santé, Ars Medica, qui est un numéro spécial sur la transplantation. Leur éditorial, intitulé Frictions of Futurity, Curative Tensions, and Artistic Re-imaginings of Transplantation, présente des œuvres créatives de personnes ayant vécu une transplantation et de familles de transplantés, ainsi que de donneurs et de professionnels de la santé, qui travaillent dans le domaine des arts et de la santé.
À propos du Journal
Ars Medica est l’une des premières revues de sciences humaines au Canada. Lancée en 2004, elle est passée en 2014 à un format exclusivement web. Ars Medica offre un espace en ligne pour le dialogue, la création de sens et la représentation des expériences du corps, de la santé, du bien-être et des rencontres au sein du système médical. Le contenu comprend des récits de patients et de professionnels de la santé, y compris de la fiction, de la non-fiction créative, de la poésie et de l’art visuel. Nous incluons également des sections sur les écrits d’enfants et sur les enfants, sur la santé internationale et sur d’autres voix régulièrement réduites au silence dans le système de soins de santé.
À propos de Chloe Wong-Mersereau
Chloe Wong-Mersereau a obtenu sa maîtrise en anthropologie sociale et culturelle à l’Université de Toronto. Elle est actuellement stagiaire de recherche au sein du Programme de recherche en don et transplantation et assistante de recherche dans le cadre du projet Frictions of Futurity and Cure in Transplant Medicine. Ses recherches portent sur l’engagement des patients dans la recherche, le vieillissement et la temporalité, les études sur la diaspora, la santé mentale et les défis psychosociaux chez les peuples marginalisés. Sur le plan méthodologique, Mme Wong-Mersereau adopte une approche stratifiée de l’analyse critique du discours, de l’ethnographie sensorielle multimodale et de la narration numérique. Pendant la pandémie, elle a travaillé avec la Croix-Rouge canadienne dans des maisons de soins de longue durée, des cliniques de test COVID, des refuges pour sans-abri et dans le cadre du projet de crise du logement.
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.