About The Award
This award is given to support research studies addressing important issues for patients with kidney disease. Vicky was a leader within the Nephrology community in Canada. She was instrumental in creating awareness on kidney health, the importance of kidneys, and how to protect them. This award is to perpetuate her legacy of fight against chronic kidney disease and reducing the burden of kidney disease throughout Canada.
Applicants to the KFOC Kidney Health Research Competition who show a patient-oriented focus will be automatically considered for the award for each specific year. Awardee will be recognized at the CSN AGM conference and will present his/her work.
Dr. Rita Suri
2026 Award Recipient
Montréal, QC
Dr. Rita Suri
Dr. Suri is a nephrologist, Associate Professor and Director of the Division of Nephrology at McGill University. She is actively engaged in clinical practice, teaching, and research, and is nationally recognized for her leadership in research, network development, and teaching. Dr. Suri is a CIHR-funded clinical researcher and FRQS Junior 2 research scholar with >70 publications and 5 book chapters. Her research interests are in clinical trials of dialysis, dialysis prescription, and adequacy of dialysis. She has served on multiple Guideline Committees for the CSN, KDOQI, and KDIGO. She is also a Scientific Officer for the CIHR Randomized Controlled Trials panel and the Kidney Foundation Grants Committee, and a member of the CIHR Advisory Board for the Institute of Circulatory and Respiratory Health. Dr. Suri is an active member in the Canadian Society of Nephrology. She has served on the Board of Directors as Member at Large for Quebec, participated in several program planning initiatives and committees for the Society, including the World Congress of Nephrology local organizing committee, and has delivered many lectures at the CSN pre-course. Her other accomplishments include Chair and founder of the Canadian Nephrology Trials Network.
Dr. Mona Ben m'rad
2026 Award Recipient
Montréal, QC
Dr. Mona Ben m'rad
Dr. Mona Ben M’rad is a French-Tunisian nephrologist with over twenty years of clinical experience across academic, community, and military settings in France and Quebec. She trained at the University of Paris and the Paris Hospitals, and completed a fellowship at the Reference Center for Vasculitis and Scleroderma at Cochin Hospital in Paris under the supervision of Prof. Loïc Guillevin. She holds an MSc in basic science in nephrology and has expertise in systemic diseases affecting the kidneys, with a particular interest in drug-induced hypersensitivity syndrome (DRESS), on which she has published. Since moving to Quebec in 2012, she has held a position at the Haut-Richelieu Hospital (South shore of Montreal). She also teaches clinical ethics at the Université de Sherbrooke. Currently a PhD candidate in Mental Health at McGill University, she develops innovative, non-pharmacological interventions—such as virtual reality—to improve mental health and physical activity among dialysis patients, and contributes to local, national, and international collaborations to reduce disparities in care for people living with chronic kidney disease.
