Engaging Patients in Research and Policy

This presentation is part of the CDTRP 2024 Patient, Family and Donor Research Forum.
Since her kidney transplant in 2010, Susan has worked to support kidney patients and living donors, by co-founding and overseeing the Transplant Ambassador Program(www.transplantambassadors.ca), a unique volunteer driven, peer support program which has been helping kidney patients and living donors navigate the transplant journey since 2017.She is also the founder of The Kidney Patient and Donor Alliance Canada, a non-profit which drives patient-led advocacy.Susan is an active patient partner who has contributed to several kidney research projects, including the Access to Kidney Transplant (AKT)Strategy in Ontario to increase living kidney donors and Can-SOLVE CKD.
Kathleen is a Communications and Knowledge Translation Specialist for the London Health Sciences Centre, Lawson Health Research Institute, where she translates research into communications for public use and implementation. She supports the ICES Kidney, Dialysis, & Transplantation Program, and Dr. Amit Garg’s KDT research and the Pragmatic Trials Team, which is coordinated under the AcceleratingRandomized Trials Platform at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, WesternUniversity.In this role, Kathleen supports researchers and patient partners acrossCanada as they spread research findings and implement those findings to better healthcare and health policy.