About The Committee
The CSN Scientific Committee was set up to continue the work of a prior ad hoc committee arising from the original Horizons 2000 Conference with the main goal of advancing the cause of kidney research in Canada. Currently, the CSN Scientific Committee is chaired by Dr. Norman Rosenblum assisted by Dr. Neesh Pannu (Vice Chair).
Visit the full Scientific Committee membership list.
The Scientific Committee's mandate includes helping promote development of capacity for kidney research in Canada, including recruitment and retention of scientists, development and support of infrastructure, training, communications, liaison with academic centers and other national agencies, including Kidney Foundation of Canada and the Canadian Society for Transplantation.
During the past 2 years the Committee has focused its efforts on developing a national research strategy to enable the Canadian nephrology community to respond to emerging opportunities including the CIHR Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research.
The Committee undertook an analysis of gaps in Nephrology research with great potential for development in the present Canadian nephrology research environment and for collaboration across stakeholders including funding agencies and provincial renal agencies using previous analyses performed via Horizons Conferences and broad consultation with stakeholders in the renal community.
Committee Members
Dr. Michael
Walsh
Chair, Scientific Committee
Dr. Michael Walsh
Chair, Scientific Committee
Dr. Walsh obtained his MD in 2001, completed internal medicine in 2005, Nephrology training in 2006 and a MSc in Community Health Science in 2008 all at the University of Calgary. He then trained in lupus and vasculitis in Cambridge, UK as KRESCENT fellow until 2009, followed by a PhD in Health Research Methods at McMaster University until 2014 under a RCT Mentorship Award from CIHR. He is now an Associate Professor of Medicine (Nephrology) and Health Research Methods, Evidence & Impact at McMaster University, medical director of the Glomerulonephritis Clinic and the director of the Clinical Nephrology Research Group at St. Joseph’s Healthcare, and Scientist at the Population Health Research Institute where he leads research investigating treatments for patients with kidney diseases with particular interests in glomerular diseases, vasculitis, symptoms of kidney failure, and cardiovascular complications of kidney diseases.
Dr. Amira
Abdelrasoul
Dr. Amira Abdelrasoul
Dr. Amira Abdelrasoul, PhD, PEng, FEIC, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and the Division of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. She is the Principal Investigator and leader of the Hemodialysis Membrane Science and Technology Laboratory at University of Saskatchewan. Her research program addresses critical issues in hemodialysis systems, aiming to reduce the high morbidity and mortality rates associated with kidney failure and improve patients' quality of life. Her ultimate goal is to create a wearable artificial kidney. Dr. Abdelrasoul’s contributions to dialysis research have been internationally recognized through numerous honors and awards. She has been named a Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC) and has been honored with the 2025 EIC Award for her distinguished excellence in engineering and significant contributions to the profession and society. In 2022, she received the Young Investigator Excellence Award from the Synchrotron Canadian Light Source (CLS) and has been recognized as a Talented Female Researcher, ranking among the top 18 outstanding women researchers globally by the Chemical Engineering Research and Design journal. She earned her PhD from Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University) in 2015, receiving the Governor General's Gold Medal and the Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award. Dr. Abdelrasoul serves on the Kidney Health and Disease (M3K) Committee and the Canadian Society of Nephrology (CSN) Scientific Committee, reflecting her steadfast commitment to advancing kidney research in Canada. She is dedicated to addressing key challenges in dialysis treatments, enhancing kidney health, and improving patient outcomes.
Dr. Mark
Canney
Dr. Mark Canney
Dr. Mark Canney is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Ottawa, Associate Scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, and Staff Nephrologist at The Ottawa Hospital (2020 - present). He completed his undergraduate medical degree at National University of Ireland Galway and undertook his internal medicine and nephrology training in Ireland. He completed a Ph.D. in Population Health Epidemiology at Trinity College Dublin in 2017 before moving to Canada to pursue a post-doctoral research fellowship at the University of British Columbia. His current research interests include the optimization of blood pressure and cardiovascular risk management in patients with glomerular disease. He is also the principal investigator for a number of collaborative studies from the International Network of CKD Studies (iNET-CKD) investigating regional differences in CKD risk factors and complications. Based on his contributions to these international studies, Dr. Canney was awarded the title of “ISN iNET-CKD Named Fellow” in 2022. His work is supported by the Kidney Foundation of Canada, a KRESCENT New Investigator award, the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute’s ELEVATE program for early career investigator, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
Dr. Rahul
Chanchlani
Dr. Rahul Chanchlani
Dr. Rahul Chanchlani is an Associate Professor in the Division of Nephrology, Department of Pediatrics at McMaster Children’s Hospital. After finishing his initial medical training from India, he completed a clinical fellowship in pediatric nephrology at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, and also pursued a Master's in Clinical Epidemiology and Clinician Investigator Program from the University of Toronto. He is an associate faculty in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact (HEI), and cross-appointed as a Scientist at ICES and at the Population Health Research Institute (PHRI), McMaster University.
Dr. Chanchlani is one of the 14 participants selected from 12 countries by the International Society of Nephrology for the Emerging Leader’s Program, which helps early-career nephrologists to become qualified for a leadership role in the advancement of global kidney care. In addition to clinical and teaching commitments, Dr. Chanchlani has an established research program that aims to promote interdisciplinary collaborations among peers and experts to address key knowledge gaps in common kidney diseases such as acute kidney injury, kidney transplantation, hypertension and nephrotic syndrome among children. As principal investigator, his research program is supported by grants from various local, provincial and national organizations including CIHR and Kidney Foundation of Canada. He has so far published >55 peer-reviewed papers and has supervised learners at all levels of training.
Dr. Janine
Farragher
Dr. Janine Farragher
Dr. Janine Farragher is an Assistant Professor from the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy at the University of Toronto, who holds a Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Life Participation and Kidney Disease and a KRESCENT New Investigator Award. She completed a PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences from the University of Toronto, and a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Calgary with the Interdisciplinary Chronic Disease Collaboration.
Dr. Farragher’s research uses a rehabilitative lens to understand life participation and its enablement in people with chronic kidney disease. Her overarching objective is to clarify the range of cognitive, psychosocial, and environmental factors that impact life participation in CKD, so that underexamined factors can be highlighted and targeted in clinical care. Dr. Farragher has co-led studies showing that conditions such as cognitive impairment & frailty are common in kidney disease and contribute to disability, and that inpatient rehabilitation can minimize functional losses after dialysis is initiated. She has also spearheaded the development and testing of a web-supported energy management program (The “PEP” Program) designed to promote life participation for people on chronic hemodialysis with debilitating fatigue.
Beyond her own research, Dr. Farragher has contributed to national and international kidney care initiatives such as the CANSOLVE-CKD Self-Management project, the Mind the Gap mental health priority-setting initiative, and the life participation working groups for the Standardized Outcomes in Nephrology (SONG) PD and CKD initiatives.
Dr. Paul
Goodyer
Dr. Paul Goodyer
Dr. Goodyer is a Professor Pediatrics at McGill University. He trained in Pediatric Nephrology at the Montreal Children's Hospital and joined the clinical staff in 1980. He established the McGill Renal-Genetics Clinic for care of children with genetic kidney disease and has directed a research laboratory focused on the molecular pathogenesis of hereditary renal disease. In recent years, his research has transitioned to the development of novel therapies for these kidney diseases. Currently he is working on the potential of lipid nanoparticle/mRNA to treat cystinosis.
Dr. Rémi
Goupil
Dr. Rémi Goupil
Dr. Rémi Goupil is a nephrologist at the Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur de Montréal and an associate clinical professor at the Université de Montréal. He is a FRQS Junior 2 clinician-scientist focusing on optimising blood pressure measurements and hypertension management. His research program is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Kidney Foundation, the Heart + Stroke Foundation and the Société québécoise d'hypertension artérielle. For his achievements, he has received several awards, such as the Young Nephrologist Award from the Société québécoise de Néphrologie (2022) and New Investigator awards from the Canadian Society of Nephrology (2020) and the Société québécoise d'hypertension artérielle (2022).
Dr. Lakshman
Gunaratnam
Dr. Lakshman Gunaratnam
Dr. Lakshman Gunaratnam is an Associate Professor of Medicine and clinician-scientist at Western University (Associate Prof.). Lakshman completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at the University of Toronto in immunology and then went on to attend medical school and complete residency training in internal medicine at the University of Ottawa. Dr. Gunaratnam completed research fellowships at the University of Ottawa (Dr. Stephen Lee) and Harvard Medical School (Dr. Joseph V. Bonventre) in cancer biology and acute kidney injury, respectively. After completing his clinical fellowship in nephrology at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 2009, he did additional training in renal transplantation with Dr. Anil Chandraker at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He was promoted to Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School and later served as an associate physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital prior to moving to London, Ontario.
Dr. Gunaratnam is currently the Dr. Robert Zhang Chair in Translational Transplant Research at Western and Medical Director of the kidney transplant program at London Health Sciences Centre. His clinical and research interests are in renal transplant-related ischemia-reperfusion injury and repair, kidney transplantation and renal cell carcinoma. His basic research laboratory is funded by independent peer-reviewed grants from Canadian Institutes for Health Research, Kidney Foundation of Canada and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation.
Dr. Gunaratnam has held many leadership positions including Director of the Board of the CSN, member of the Kidney-Pancreas Working Group for Trillium Gift of Life Network, member of Canadian Blood Services Kidney Transplant Action Committee, Chair of the OMA section on Nephrology and Co-Chair of the Scientific Meetings Committee of the CST. He has also served on the peer-review committees of many funding agencies including the CIHR, Kidney Foundation of Canada, Medical Research Council of the UK, Canadian Foundation for Innovation and NSERC.
Dr. Arsh
Jain
Dr. Arsh Jain
Dr. Arsh Jain is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Western Ontario. He is a practicing Nephrologist at the London Health Sciences Centre and his clinical expertise is in the area of Peritoneal Dialysis. Dr. Jain conducts clinical and health services research to improve health outcomes for patients with kidney diseases. He is the lead physician for peritoneal dialysis access and is Program Director for the Home Dialysis Fellowship.
Dr. Ana
Konvalinka
Dr. Ana Konvalinka
Dr. Ana Konvalinka was recruited in 2015, as a Transplant Nephrologist and a Clinician Scientist at Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network. She is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. Dr. Konvalinka completed medical studies at the University of Ottawa in 2003. She then completed internal medicine and nephrology training in Toronto in 2008. She subsequently embarked on a PhD in basic science at the University of Toronto. Her PhD thesis addressed the effect of angiotensin II on the proteome of primary human proximal tubular cells, and the relevance of this effect in vivo. Following completion of her PhD in 2013, she went on to complete the clinical kidney transplant fellowship at Toronto General Hospital. Her main clinical and research interests are in antibody-mediated rejection and kidney allograft fibrosis. She utilizes systems biology approaches and proteomics to enhance the understanding of the mechanisms, derive novel markers and to repurpose drugs for treatment of kidney disease. Dr. Konvalinka is the director of the Multi-Organ Transplant biobank for kidney, pancreas and liver transplant programs. She is also the co-director of the Drug Discovery research group. She has received international research awards (the Human Proteome Project (2016), the American Society of Transplantation Faculty-Development Research Grant (2016) and the Advances in Organ Transplantation Award (2015)) and national research awards (Canadian Society of Transplantation Research Excellence Award (2020), Canadian Society of Nephrology New Investigator Lectureship (2017) and the KRESCENT New Investigator Award (2016)).
Dr. Ngan
Lam
Dr. Ngan Lam
Dr. Ngan Lam is a clinician-scientist and transplant nephrologist at the University of Calgary where her research focuses on the health outcomes of living kidney donors and kidney transplant recipients.
Dr. Caroline
Lamarche
Dr. Caroline Lamarche
Dr Lamarche is a nephrologist and clinician-scientist at the Centre de Recherche de l’Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont in Montreal. After her nephrology training at the Université de Montréal (2015), she completed a Master’s thesis degree on the use of adoptive immunotherapy to prevent and treat BK polyomavirus in kidney transplant recipients. She then pursued with a post-doctoral fellowship in Megan Levings’ lab at the University of British Columbia on the use of HLA-A2 chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) regulatory T cells (Tregs) to increase transplant tolerance. She developed an expertise in transplant immunology, Tregs and adoptive immunotherapies. She opened her research lab in January 2021 and is interested in the use of immunotherapy in nephrology.
Dr. Alejandro
Meraz Muñoz
Dr. Alejandro Meraz Muñoz
Dr. Meraz Muñoz completed his Internal Medicine residency and Nephrology fellowship in Mexico City at the National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition. After practicing as a nephrologist for two years in Mexico, he moved to Toronto to further specialize, completing fellowships in Onco-Nephrology at the University Health Network and Critical Care Nephrology at St. Michael’s Hospital. Additionally, he completed his Master’s degree in Clinical Epidemiology and Health Care Research at the University of Toronto.
Currently, Alejandro serves as an Assistant Professor at the University of Manitoba and works as an academic nephrologist at St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where he is medical director of hemodialysis. Dr. Meraz Muñoz is passionate about point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) and urine microscopy.
Beyond clinical work, he is deeply engaged in social media, contributing to the nephrology community by sharing knowledge, fostering discussions, and promoting education in the field.
Dr. Annie-Claire
Nadeau-Fredette
Dr. Annie-Claire Nadeau-Fredette
Dr. Annie-Claire Nadeau-Fredette is a Clinical scientist and Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at the Université de Montréal. She is the Director of Home Dialysis and a staff nephrologist at Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont. Dr. Nadeau-Fredette received her MD (2007), completed a Masters in Clinical Research (2016) at the Université de Montréal and home dialysis research fellowships at the University of Toronto (2013) and University of Queensland (2015). Dr. Nadeau-Fredette is a FRQS Junior 1 research scholar, has >60 publications and is involved in national and international studies in chronic kidney disease and dialysis. Her research program focuses primarily on improving outcomes of transitional periods for patients with advanced chronic kidney disease and on home dialysis.
Dr. Jennifer
Rodrigues
Dr. Jennifer Rodrigues
Dr. Rodrigues completed a Masters in cancer immunology (2008) as well as medical school at the University of Calgary in 2011. She completed Internal Medicine training at McGill University followed by Nephrology fellowship at the University of Toronto (2016). She subsequently completed a Masters in Health Research Methodology at McMaster with Dr. Michael Walsh. Her research interests are in clinical trials as well as person-centered research in the field of glomerulonephritis and vasculitis. She is currently a community Nephrologist at Humber River Health and Adjunct Clinical Lecturer at the University of Toronto.
Dr. Karthik
Tennankore
Dr. Karthik Tennankore
Dr. Karthik Tennankore received his MD at the University of Western Ontario, and completed Internal Medicine and Nephrology at Dalhousie University. He went on to complete a two year clinical fellowship in home dialysis at the Toronto General Hospital (University of Toronto), and concurrently obtained a Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology through Harvard University.
He joined the Dalhousie Division of Nephrology in 2013 and is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine and the QEII Foundation Endowed Chair in Transplantation Research. His research interests are aimed at improving the health of patients with chronic kidney disease, dialysis patients and kidney transplant recipients. In addition, he is heavily involved in both investigator-led and industry clinical trials, he is the current executive committee co-chair and scientific operations committee co-lead for the Canadian Nephrology Trials Network
Dr. Ron
Wald
Dr. Ron Wald
Dr. Ron Wald is a nephrologist at St. Michael’s Hospital and Director of the hospital’s Hemodialysis Program. He is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto. A native of Montreal, he completed his undergraduate and medical degrees at McGill University and continued his clinical training in internal medicine and nephrology at the University of Toronto. Following this, he completed his Master of Public Health at Harvard University and a research fellowship at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. Dr. Wald’s research areas are critical care nephrology and maintenance dialysis. He was co-principal investigator of the STARRT-AKI trial, a Canadian Institutes of Health Research-funded international trial on the timing of dialysis initiation in critically ill patients with acute kidney injury. He is also interested in fluid management in the setting of acute kidney injury and the long-term outcomes of patients who survive an episode of acute kidney injury. In the realm of maintenance dialysis, he is on the leadership team of the multinational PHOSPHATE trial that is evaluating whether intensive lowering of serum phosphate reduces the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events.
Dr. Darren
Yuen
Dr. Darren Yeun
Dr. Darren Yuen is a Clinician Scientist and Staff Nephrologist, an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto, and the Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Fibrotic Injury. He is also a co-founder of Fibrocor Therapeutics. His research group is based at St. Michael’s Hospital. Dr. Yuen’s research is focused on developing new diagnostics and therapeutics for organ injury.
