Category : News & Events

On July 21, 2017, the Kidney Health Education and Research Group was pleased to take part in an interview at OMNI Television Ontario for an upcoming feature on OMNI’s Focus Cantonese program, hosted by anchor Kenneth Li and to be televised over the course of two episodes.   First to speak was pediatric nephrologist Dr. Keith Lau, Professor at the University of Hong Kong and Medical Director of Shenzen Hospital’s International Medical Center. Dr. Lau discussed the benefits of kidney […]

At the 2017 Scientific Conference of the European Association of Psychosomatic Medicine in vibrant Barcelona, Spain, the Kidney Health Education and Research Group was proudly represented by three team members. Sarah Cao, Franz Marie Gumabay, and Dr. Istvan Mucsi attended the conference, and on June 29 and 30 our group presented the following five abstract posters: Ethnicity and Transplant Knowledge among Canadian ESKD Patients Mucsi E., Wong D., Ford H., Gupta V., Lok C., Nesrallah G., Peipert J., Richardson C., […]

For patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD), kidney transplantation (KT) and particularly living-donor kidney transplantation (LDKT) is considered the best available treatment. Even so, not all ethnocultural groups in North America are pursuing transplant at equal rates, and these differences are especially notable in regard to LDKT. American studies have found that visible minority groups such as African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans have lower rates of KT and LDKT than white Americans. Since no similar studies had been done […]

In June 2017, our team completed a pilot study using the Explore Transplant Ontario (ETO) transplant education package at UHN Toronto General Hospital and Humber River Hospital. Our study aimed to assess the feasibility and impact of using this transplant education package to improve transplant-related knowledge and transplant readiness among patients who have end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) and are receiving dialysis.   The study was designed by Drs. Mucsi and Novak of UHN and Dr. Amy Waterman, a psychologist and […]

The provincial Explore Transplant Ontario (ETO) project is a province-wide quality initiative led by Dr. Amit Garg and co-led by Drs. Novak and Mucsi. The ETO pilot study, conducted at Toronto General Hospital and Humber River Hospital, demonstrated that a targeted transplant education package for patients with advanced kidney disease significantly increased patients’ knowledge of kidney transplantation options and their ability to make informed treatment decisions. The ETO transplant education toolkit consists of print materials informing patients and their families […]

Diabetes often coexists with mental health problems such as depression. Research suggests that this link goes in two directions—that is, adults with Type 2 diabetes are twice as likely as non-diabetic adults to develop depression, and depressed adults also have an increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. Diabetes, in turn, accounts for about 50% of new cases of end-stage kidney disease, where kidney function declines to the point that a patient requires renal replacement therapy—namely, kidney transplant or dialysis. […]

The Kidney Health Education and Research Group was well represented at the 2017 American Transplant Congress, the annual conference of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS) and the American Society of Transplantation (AST). The congress was held from April 29 to May 3 in Chicago, Illinois. Four abstracts submitted by our team members were accepted for poster presentation, and on May 1 the team presented these research posters at the “Disparity in Access and Outcomes for Solid Organ Transplantation” poster […]

The Kidney Health Education and Research Group is proud to sponsor the Muslim Medical Association of Canada’s First Annual Bioethics Conference, at Hilton Garden Inn, Toronto on Sunday April 30th, 2017! The conference aims to provide healthcare practitioners in Canada with a review of common bio-ethical issues from an Islamic perspective that impact Muslim patients’ healthcare decisions. The Kidney Health and Education Group embraces diversity within Canada. We are dedicated to understanding cultural differences in approaches to healthcare and working […]