Abstracts

Ahsas Nagee is a second-year undergraduate student completing a Bachelor of Medical Sciences at the University of Western Ontario. He has keen interest in clinical research of physiological diseases and neurological disorders, including how they impact the lives of patients. He is currently working with the team as a clinical research student at Toronto General Hospital and hopes to pursue a career in medicine.

Lydia is entering her second year of studies at the University of Toronto. She is going to be pursuing a double major in Physiology and Global Health, with a minor in Psychology. By studying the social aspects of health and illness, Lydia hopes to pursue careers in medicine and public health, with the goal of giving back to her community.

I have completed a BMSc in IMS at Western University and have always taken an interest in kidney health and the functioning of the human body. I hope to better understand the barriers to Kidney Transplant and to help improve healthcare and public health education. I am also fascinated in learning how to enhance access to kidney transplant and to improve the overall patient experience while gaining research experience in a clinical setting. In the future I hope to pursue a career in medicine.

Min Rong (Erin) Li is a fourth-year undergraduate student specializing in Pharmaceutical Chemistry. She joined the group due to her passion for educating Chinese-Canadian communities the risk and benefits associated with kidney donation. She is currently working with the group as a clinical research assistant at the Toronto General Hospital.

I am a student at the University of Toronto studying Neuroscience, Psychology and Physiology. I have always wanted to be a part of the healthcare industry, with a particular interest in the underlying connections between the physiological and psychosocial wellbeing of patients. I believe a lot can be done to improve patients’ quality of life and healthcare accessibility.

This is Dan(Jessica) Li from the data team. I am currently a fourth year undergraduate from University of Toronto. My majors are Statistics and Cognitive Science. I am interested in data management. I love fitness, cooking and reading. And I own a cat.

I am pursuing my bachelors with a Health Science honours specialization and Rehabilitation Science minor at the University of Western Ontario. I am interested in the impacts of health social determinants on health behaviours and access to healthcare. I aim to further my understanding of cultural barriers to transplantation, their effects on patient outcomes, and how to improve patient outcomes and quality of life.

I am both a recent medical graduate who studied in Anguilla and Certified Surgical Assistant. I received my HBSc in Biology from York University. My research interests include chronic kidney disease and renal transplantation. I am passionate about developing methods for targeted pharmacotherapy in complex multi-system diseases. My future plans include clinical research in Rheumatological diseases in hopes of enhancing current treatments and being at the forefront of preventative medicine.

I am currently pursuing my BSc at the University of Toronto, with a double major in Human Biology and Neuroscience. I am interested in understanding and eliminating the psychosocial and ethnocultural barriers to living donor kidney transplantation, and I would like to develop my clinical research skills. In the future, I hope to further a career in Medicine.

Ankur Chhabra is an economist and public health professional. He is a Master of Public Health student at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. He is involved in multiple projects of Kidney Health Education and Research Group at The Toronto General Hospital, part of the UHN. He is engaged with the Provincial ETO Project (ENAKT-LKD), Core Transplant Working Group and Quality Improvement.

I am pursuing an H.BSc at the University of Toronto, with a double major in neuroscience and physiology. My research interests include clinical research in physiological diseases, psychosocial research, and research into neurological disorders. In the future, I plan to pursue a medical career and study the relationship between mental health and neurological disorders, their effects on physiological diseases, and how these two factors reciprocally impact one another.

With an H.BSc specializing in Comparative Physiology, I am in the University of Toronto Master of Public Health program, focusing on Epidemiology. My research interests center on disease management and access to quality healthcare and services. I hope to better understand barriers to living donor kidney transplantations and patient-reported outcome measures for dialysis, Chronic Kidney Disease and kidney transplants.

I am a student in the University of Toronto Scarborough Neuroscience Specialist program. My interests stem from my time in the UK observing the renal department and learning haemodialysis from professionals of the field. Having enrolled in a Neuroscience program, I would like to integrate my knowledge of the brain and anatomical functions to understand the onset of biological diseases in a greater depth.

I completed my BSc at McMaster University, and am a medical student at the University of Toronto. My research interests lie in psychosocial wellness and health-related quality of life in patients with ESKD, with a particular interest in diabetes. I am passionate about learning and teaching, and am excited to continue to learn from Drs. Mucsi and Novak, and patients. In my future practice, I hope to incorporate what I’ve learned with this team to become a more empathetic and effective clinician.

I am majoring in medical sciences at Brock University. My interests lie in reducing psychosocial and ethnocultural barriers to chronic kidney disease and transplantation. I look forward to integrating my experiences working with cultural and religious groups with the expertise and knowledge of my peers. I aspire to be a clinician scientist, integrating the social determinants of health with current standards of care in hopes of reducing health disparities in a culturally sensitive manner.

I am an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto, pursuing an HBSc. with a major in Human Biology, and minors in Psychology and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). I am interested in understanding how the views and beliefs of individuals towards medical care- particularly organ transplantation, are influenced by their cultural, religious and psychosocial backgrounds. I hope to advance my GIS skills such that I can effectively map and analyze data from health and medical phenomena.

Highly interested in data analytics and predictive modelling, I completed my studies at the University of Toronto with honors, majoring in Actuarial Science and Statistics in 2017. I believe that these paths can assist professionals make informed decisions based on historic data and I am passionate on applying my knowledge in these fields to real world applications. My academic and professional interests are geared towards statistical analyses, programming and scientific research.

I am a Registered Nurse with the Multi-Organ Transplant Program and Ryerson University Nursing graduate. I am passionate about the intersection of healthcare, informatics, psychopathology, and medicine in remote contexts. Working in the team, I’ve gained valuable research experience, such as protocol development, data management and patient recruitment. I hope to pursue graduate studies and expand my scope of practice in clinical and research capacities.

I received my HBSc. from the University of Toronto in June 2016 and joined the team as a research trainee in September 2014. Here I completed my undergraduate thesis on the topic of health-related quality of life of kidney transplant recipients. My interests focus on investigating the impact of psychosocial factors on access to kidney transplantation and quality of life. In the future I plan to integrate my passion for health research with a career in medicine.

Graduating with an H.BSc from the University of Waterloo, I am interested in exploring the various barriers that exist in pursuing living donor kidney transplantation at the Kidney Health Education and Research Group. I hope to develop my clinical research skills with the team, as well as learn more about knowledge translation.

As a graduate from University of Toronto specializing in Neuroscience and majoring in Psychology, my interests lie predominantly in delineating psychosocial determinants on mental health and physiological wellbeing. To this end, I hope to help contribute towards a tangible and lasting change improving healthcare and public health education.

As a recent graduate from University of Toronto specializing in Neuroscience and majoring in Psychology, my interests lie predominantly in delineating psychosocial determinants on mental health and physiological wellbeing. To this end, I hope to help contribute towards a tangible and lasting change improving healthcare and public health education.

My name is Betty and I’ve been working part-time on the team for 2 years. I graduated from University of Toronto, double major in Statistic and Economics. My responsibilities include preforming statistical analysis for abstract paper and managing the master data dictionary and DADOS platform. Feel free to contact me if you have any statistical related questions or if you need assistant on statistical analysis.

I am a Registered Nurse with the Transplant Program. My research focuses on the validation and clinical implementation of patient reported outcome measures and its use in clinical prognostication. I want to understand how to quickly identify lapses in quality of life so that the appropriate interventions can be implemented.

Ani is the Information Specialist for nephrology and transplantation at the University Health Network’s Health Sciences Libraries. With a Master of Information Studies from the University of Toronto and over 20 years of experience in Health Sciences librarianship, she provides expert literature searching for regular and systematic reviews and training on informatics, evidence-based literature searching, and the effective use of library resources. Ani supports research students in the Multi-Organ Transplant program through training, one-on-one consultations and mentoring.