Sep

A.C.T.I.O.N. on Living Kidney Donation & Transplantation in Canada (AM1B)

by The Centre for Living Organ Donation at UHN

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Event description

Improving access and equity in Living Donor Kidney Transplantation in ACB & South Asian Communities moderated by Sunita Singh

About this Event

Living Donation week begins with Access & Equity in Living Kidney Donation & Transplantation. Building on the work of the A.C.T.I.O.N. Project, led by Dr. Istvan Mucsi, UHN and Dr. Jag Gill, Providence Health Care, this panel will discuss barriers to living donor kidney transplantation (LDKT) in Canada and internationally.

Access to LDKT is dramatically reduced among ethno-racial minority groups in Canada and other parts of the world. To date, no interventions to address these inequities have been carried out in Canada. A.C.T.I.O.N. aims to identify barriers to LDKT for African, Caribbean and Black (ACB) communities in Ontario, and South Asian Communities in B.C.

Our first seminar of the week is divided into two parts. Part one, chaired by Dr. Istvan Mucsi, will examine international perspectives on access and equity to LDKT. For more information or to register for AM1A click here.

Part two, chaired by Dr. Sunita Singh, Medical Director of the Living Kidney Donor Program at UHN, will discuss improving access and equity to LDKT in the Canadian context. The session will highlight key findings from the A.C.T.I.O.N. project and living kidney donor and recipient stories.

Speakers

Istvan Mucsi MD, PhD

Istvan Mucsi, MD, PhD is a CIHR funded clinician investigator, transplant nephrologist at the Multi-Organ Transplant Program and Division of Nephrology at the University Health Network in Toronto. He is an Associate Professor of Medicine at University of Toronto. Dr. Mucsi is an "expert advisor" of the Canadian Donation and Transplant Research Program. He received his medical degree (1988) and his certification in internal medicine (1993) in Budapest, Hungary and completed nephrology training at the University of Toronto (1994-1997). Initially he had been working as a general nephrologist but later moved to Montreal to work as a transplant nephrologist at McGill University. He has moved to Toronto in April 2014. His current research focuses on understanding and reducing ethnocultural barriers and disparities in access to kidney transplantation and living donor kidney transplantation. He has been collaborating with multiple community agencies and religious organizations develop culturally and religiously competent kidney transplant education for multiple ethnocultural communities in Ontario. He has adapted a patient education program, called Explore Transplant, for use in Ontario. This program is a key educational tool in the Enabling Access to Kidney Transplant-Living Kidney Donation (ENAKT-LKD) provincial initiative managed by the Ontario Renal Network and Trillium Gift of Life Network. Dr. Mucsi has been co-leading the education pillar of that initiative. He also has a strong interest in psychosocial determinants of health; sleep disorders; quality of life studies and patient reported outcomes. Dr. Mucsi will test the effectiveness of routinely measuring Patient Reported Outcome Measures in the everyday clinical care of patients with chronic kidney disease and solid organ transplant recipients, to improve clinical and quality of life outcomes. He published more than one 140 peer reviewed articles, his H index is 46.

Jag Gill MD, MPH, FRCPC, Scientist

Dr. Jagbir Gill is an Assistant Professor in the University of British Columbia (UBC) Division of Nephrology. He graduated from UBC’s Faculty of Medicine in 2001 and completed his postgraduate training in Internal Medicine and Nephrology. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship in Kidney Transplantation at the University of California, Los Angeles, and obtaining a Master of Public Health from Harvard, he returned to Vancouver in 2008 to work as a transplant nephrologist at St. Paul’s Hospital. He is a Canadian Institutes of Health Research-funded clinical researcher, conducting health outcomes research in organ donation and kidney transplantation. His current research examines determinants of the practice of transplant tourism, transplantation options and management of elderly end-stage kidney disease (ESRD) patients, and ethnic and sociodemographic disparities in organ donation and access to kidney transplantation.

Reema Garcha

Reema is a Living Kidney Donor who donated a kidney to her sister in Feb 2018.

Fadia Jerome-Smith

Fadia is a living donor kidney recipient

Winnie Jerome

Winnie is a living kidney donor.

Lydia-Joi Marshall

Lydia-Joi Marshall is a Research Associate and Community Liaison at the Kidney Health Education and Research Group, UHN. This collaborative group is focused on enhancing kidney health and creating a model of ethnoculturally competent and patient centered outcomes. At the Trillium Gift of Life Network – the Ontario facilitator of tissue and organ donations – Lydia-Joi is a Tissue Coordinator and Team Lead. In addition to these roles, Lydia-Joi also serves as the Vice President of the Black Health Alliance, a not for profit organization that strives to reduce health disparities in Canada’s marginalized populations and ensure equal access to health care. With a background in biology and human genetics, Lydia-Joi’s passion for health care has extended across various disciplines, including previously serving as a medical advisor in creating personalized educational and supportive tools for patients and caregivers newly diagnosed with cancer to address their physical, mental, and psychosocial needs. Currently, Lydia-Joi is engaged in the A.C.T.I.O.N. Project, a federally funded national initiative focused on improving access to living donor kidney transplantation. The project works closely with communities to shape race-based data collection that is translated into system changes to decrease health care inequities.

Noor El-Dassouki

Noor El-Dassouki is a Research Associate with the Kidney Health Education and Research Group (KHERG) at the University Health Network. With a background in the biomedical sciences, she received her Master of Science in Global Health from McMaster University and is currently pursuing a career as a health equity researcher. Her role at UHN involves managing various KHERG projects where she has the opportunity to work with marginalized communities to improve equitable access to living organ donation.

Sunita Singh MD, MSc, FRCPC (moderator)

Dr. Sunita Singh is a transplant nephrologist in the Division of Nephrology and the medical director of the living kidney donation program at the Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network. She is also an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto. Dr. Singh completed medical school at the University of Toronto, and internal medicine and chief medical residency at the University of British Columbia. She returned to Toronto to complete a Master of Science in clinical epidemiology and health care research, as well as additional fellowship training in kidney transplantation and advanced diabetes care. Dr. Singh’s research interests are focused on the evaluation and follow-up of living kidney donors, as well as the management of diabetes in kidney transplant recipients.

Submit Your Questions

We will be using Slido throughout Living Donation Week 2020. Slido allows you to submit questions in advance and in real time.

You can submit anonymously or with your name. Vote other questions up or down to determine the order in which they are asked.

Submit your questions here or go to slido.com and enter event code #AM1B.

Other Sessions You Might Be Interested In

Live Donor Kidney Transplantation

Live Donor Liver Transplantation

Research & Innovation

Lifestyle

Celebration

For more information about Living Donation Week click here.

About Living Donation Week

Please note, event details subject to change

Living Donation Week is an online event hosted by the Centre for Living Organ Donation from Sep 14-18, 2020 to raise awareness about living kidney and living liver donation, and celebrate living donors, recipients and everyone who wants to be a part their future.

For more information about Living Donation Week 2020 click here.