About The CJKHD
Canadian Journal of Kidney Health and Disease, the official journal of the Canadian Society of Nephrology, is an open access, peer-reviewed online journal that encourages high quality submissions focused on clinical, translational and health services delivery research in the field of chronic kidney disease, dialysis, kidney transplantation and organ donation.
Our mandate is to promote and advocate for kidney health as it impacts national and international communities.
Tho-Alfakar (Tho)
Al-Aubodah
Tho-Alfakar (Tho) Al-Aubodah
KRESCENT Editorial Board Member
Tho-Alfakar (Tho) Al-Aubodah is a fundamental immunologist with particular interest in autoimmunity. He earned his PhD in Microbiology & Immunology at McGill University where he studied the immune mechanisms underlying idiopathic nephrotic syndrome in children under the supervision of Dr. Ciriaco Piccirillo and Dr. Tomoko Takano. During this time, he developed an expertise in human immunology leveraging cutting-edge single-cell tools to better understand the biological processes that cause immune cell dysfunction in autoimmune diseases. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Prof. Menna Clatworthy at the University of Cambridge where he is actively using novel spatial transcriptomics and proteomics technologies on human tissue to unravel immune cell functions in healthy and diseased kidney states.
Tho’s major interests lie with the immune system, and particularly how immune cell functions are intimately tied with the function of the tissue within which they reside. This includes the kidney, where normal and diseased states are associated with distinct immune activities and, indeed, immune-targeting drugs are frequently used in the treatment of many kidney disorders. He aims to establish a research program focused on understanding how immune cell functions vary across human tissue and disease states, helping pave the way for the development of better immune-targeting drugs.
Catherine
Fortier
Catherine Fortier, PhD, DESS
KRESCENT Editorial Board Member
Dr. Catherine Fortier is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at Université Laval and a researcher at the CHU de Québec–Université Laval Research Centre. Trained in clinical exercise physiology with expertise in cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, her master's and doctoral research focused on vascular aging and mineral and bone disorders in chronic kidney disease. She subsequently completed postdoctoral training, during which she further developed her expertise in exercise rehabilitation and the assessment and interpretation of vascular function and blood pressure.
By integrating expertise in clinical exercise physiology and hemodynamics, her research program seeks to generate the evidence needed to transform the integration of physical activity into kidney care. Supported by the KRESCENT New Investigator Award, she will evaluate interventions that empower patients to safely incorporate physical activity into their daily lives and investigate the peripheral physiological responses to intradialytic exercise. Her work aims to optimize the safety, effectiveness, and long-term health benefits of exercise, ultimately improving cardiovascular health, functional capacity, and quality of life for people living with chronic kidney disease.
Anukul
Ghimire
Anukul Ghimire, MD
KRESCENT Editorial Board Member
Anukul Ghimire completed his M.D and Internal Medicine residency at the University of Alberta. This was followed by Nephrology training at the University of Calgary, and a fellowship in Solid Organ Transplantation at the University Health Network in Toronto. He is currently a PhD student in the Clinical Epidemiology and Health Care Research program at the University of Toronto.
He is interested in understanding how changes in the epidemiology of people with kidney disease are impacting outcomes and healthcare utilization in transplantation programs.
Luxcia
Kugathasan
Luxcia Kugathasan, PhD
KRESCENT Editorial Board Member
Luxcia Kugathasan is a Postdoctoral Fellow working with Dr. David Cherney in the Renal Physiology Laboratory at Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network. Her research focuses on the mechanisms underlying cardio-kidney-metabolic disease, with a particular emphasis on sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors and novel therapeutic strategies for chronic kidney disease and diabetes.
Her work integrates physiological, biomarker, and patient-centered approaches to improve outcomes for individuals at high cardiovascular and kidney risk. She is committed to advancing equitable, evidence-based kidney care through research, mentorship, and community engagement.
Jennifer
Lake
Jennifer Lake, PhD
KRESCENT Editorial Board Member
Jennifer Lake, PhD, is a postdoctoral research fellow at CHU Sainte-Justine and the Université de Montréal under the supervision of Dr. Alexandra Cambier and co-supervision of Dr. Isabelle Sirois. She earned her PhD from the University of Zurich, where she investigated molecular mechanisms driving inherited kidney diseases, with a particular focus on the role of uromodulin aggregation in autosomal dominant tubulointerstitial kidney disease. She subsequently completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Institut Necker Enfants Malades in Paris, where she applied urinary proteomics to identify non-invasive biomarkers and therapeutic targets in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease.
Her research integrates proteomics, extracellular vesicle biology, and translational nephrology to uncover molecular pathways driving kidney disease and transform them into clinically actionable biomarkers. Her current work focuses on defining pathway-specific complement activation signatures in pediatric nephrotic syndrome using advanced proteomic analyses of plasma, urine, and urinary extracellular vesicles. By identifying mechanistically informed biomarker panels capable of distinguishing focal segmental glomerulosclerosis from minimal change disease, predicting disease progression, and revealing targetable complement pathways, her research aims to advance precision medicine for children with glomerular diseases.
Robert
Myette
Robert Myette, PhD
KRESCENT Editorial Board Member
Dr. Robert Myette is a pediatric nephrologist-scientist at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) and the CHEO Research Institute, an Assistant Professor at the University of Ottawa, and the CHEO Foundation Research Chair in Pediatric Kidney Disease.
His research program investigates the cellular mechanisms underlying childhood nephrotic syndrome, with a particular focus on podocyte injury, extracellular vesicle biology, and kidney cell-to-cell communication.
Michael
Reaume
Michael Reaume, MD
KRESCENT Editorial Board Member
Dr. Michael Reaume is a research fellow at the University of Manitoba. He received his MD from the University of Ottawa and an MSc in Biostatistics from Queen’s University. He completed Core Internal Medicine residency at the University of Manitoba and Nephrology fellowship at the University of Ottawa.
His work focuses on chronic kidney disease epidemiology, health equity, and health services research, with the goal of improving outcomes for people living with kidney disease.
Vikas S.
Sridhar
Vikas S. Sridhar, MD, PhD
KRESCENT Editorial Board Member
I joined the Division of Nephrology at the University of British Columbia with a research focus on repurposing and expanding the applications of therapeutic agents with established and proposed cardio-kidney-metabolic benefits to novel chronic kidney disease populations, and a clinical focus on providing world-class pre- and post-transplant care to patients with end-stage kidney disease. One important research interest revolves around diabetes and cardiovascular-kidney health in the post solid organ transplant setting. This is a relatively under-served area of research with significant potential and need for expansion – despite advances in reducing rates of acute rejection, cardiovascular morbidity and mortality remain common in this population. A lack of effective therapies that improve cardio-kidney-metabolic outcomes further accentuates the problem.
My research program is comprised of a blend of mechanistic and translational renal physiology, as well as involvement in high impact clinical trials of varying sizes in transplant and non-transplant patient populations.
Caitlyn
Vlasschaert
Caitlyn Vlasschaert, MD, PhD
KRESCENT Editorial Board Member
Caitlyn Vlasschaert is a nephrology fellow at Queen’s University in Canada and an emerging clinician-scientist interested in understanding how inherited and acquired genetic variation contribute to kidney disease. She completed a PhD during internal medicine residency studying how age-related somatic mutations in blood cells influence kidney disease and has published over 70 papers. Her work has appeared in leading journals including Nature, Nature Medicine, Nature Genetics, Cell Stem Cell, Journal of Clinical Investigation, Circulation, Blood, and JASN.
Her research has been recognized with several honours, including being named a STAT Wunderkind in 2024, receiving an American Society for Clinical Investigation Emerging-Generation Award in 2023, winning Best Oral Presentation and the Innovation & Discovery Awards from the Canadian Society of Nephrology in 2024, and receiving Queen’s University’s Governor General’s Academic Gold Medal in 2024.
Tae Won
Yi
Tae Won Yi, MD, PhD
KRESCENT Editorial Board Member
Dr. Tae Won Yi is a nephrologist and postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto in the Cardiovascular, Renal, Endocrinology, and Metabolic Diseases Fellowship. He completed his internal medicine and nephrology training at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, and earned a PhD at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. His PhD focused on improving the uptake of evidence-based therapies in CKD and diabetes.
His research interests include clinical trials and implementation science, with an emphasis on generating and translating evidence into routine clinical practice.
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