In the recent past, government and funding bodies have been asking to see how researchers

are going to translate the projects they are working on to benefit the Canadian public. The challenge is that results can’t always be shown in “short order”. That’s where research networks play a pivotal role. “With an overarching network structure, the concept is that it should be easier and faster to translate the solutions to clinical problems into the real world,” says Dr. Adeera Levin, Executive Director of the BC Renal Agency, Chair of the nation-wide KRESCENT Program’s Curriculum Task Force, and Secretary General of the International Society of Nephrology. “We’ve been doing networks for a long time in the renal community; but we haven’t had this specific, goal-oriented formality of the interactions. However, because it’s a time of systems biology, everyone involved in research

Working Together to Improve Health and Care.

SPOTLIGHT ON RESEARCH NETWORKS

understands that everything connects, that there isn’t a simple answer to any problem or question. There isn’t one person or one group or one area of science that has the answer to the whole thing and so, you have to put everybody together to actually get closer to the truth – or closer to the right things for patients.” Dr. Levin provides a Canadian example of how networks can work to translate important questions to clinical practice: “One of the key premises of the Canadian Kidney Knowledge Translation and Generation Network (CANN-NET) is to answer questions that are of importance to patients, that impact their outcome. The key is to find what questions ought to be answered by the kidney research community. And then, once researchers get the answer, the goal is to apply it to patient care. It’s quite a unique perspective: that you figure out what the important question is and you design a natural

experiment to answer it with all the people at the table so you can actually get the answer and put it into play.” Furthermore, in Canada, the national, kidney researcher training program KRESCENT, brings together a “network” of different scientists doing quantitative and qualitative research as well as investigators in basic science and clinical research, helping to spawn additional findings to impact health.

Dr. Levin notes: “I think we’ve been doing networks for a long time in the Canadian kidney community, before they were in fashion. But with the advent of CANN-NET and the KRESCENT Program and the Canadian Institute of Health Research’s recognition that networks are important, collaborative interdisciplinary research has actually become quite the right thing to do.”

DR. ADEERA LEVIN

SPRING 2013

Introducing the Canadian Kidney Knowledge Translation and Generation Network known as CANN-NET

New opportunities Between 2004 and 2010, Dr. Braden Manns was Chair of the Canadian Society of Nephrology Scientific Committee. He was also an Associate Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Community Health Services at the University of Calgary. He remarks that at the time he was frustrated by what he perceived to be “a lack of collaboration between researchers and decision makers – all of which was resulting in gaps in care, and making it more difficult to undertake more multi-center clinical trials”. So when a funding opportunity arose with the Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR), he was able to organize a group of investigators to prepare a submission that resulted in what has become the Canadian Kidney Knowledge Translation and Generation Network or CANN-NET.

Identifying clinical trial priorities Today, various committees guide CANN-NET’s extensive work and Dr. Manns chairs the network. “One large part of our work consists of trying to facilitate investigator-initiated clinical trials. We asked heads of renal programs and other knowledge users what they thought were the most

Kidney Disease Professionals and Patients: Working Together.

DR. BRADEN MANNS

important clinical trials to be done. Two trials were developed from identified priorities: one on the optimal way to manage people with high phosphorous levels on dialysis, and the other on the best way to manage high blood pressure in dialysis patients.” (See Dr. Michael Walsh, Large Clinical Trials: Testing Treatments for People Living with Kidney Disease)

Improving patient care CANN-NET also works with the heads of renal programs across Canada to address high priority areas where improvements in clinical care are required. “We have a pretty good idea of how we should be approaching problems like the timing of dialysis initiation and the increasing use of home therapies, yet we have huge variations in how well we do that across the country,” says Dr. Manns. CANN-NET finalized guidelines around dialysis initiation and is set-ting up a network of chronic kidney disease clinics across Canada to share those guidelines, as well as tools to enhance their use. “We know from research that simply creating guidelines is not enough to change patient care.” The knowledge trans-lation side of CANN-NET has been working on communica-tion, uptake and application of these guidelines.

Identifying patient priorities “Important knowledge users are also the patients themselves,” adds Dr. Manns, “but we didn’t know at the start how to get their input. And, how do you prioritize the questions they raise?” CANN-NET has worked with Dr. Andreas Laupacis to develop a patient priority setting survey based on a process developed and tested in England. (See Dr. Andreas Laupacis, Engaging Patients in Setting Our Research Priorities)

“We’ll soon have a good idea of what patients think are the most important research priorities to be addressed through future studies, and that will help guide CANN-NET priorities as well.”

Impact: larger clinical trials, improved patient care and enhanced community links

CANN-NET has already had an impact on kidney disease research. Dr. Manns explains: “You simply can’t do large clinical trials at one center. You need multiple centers. Sometimes you need multiple countries, each with multiple centers. CANN-NET has enabled us to become better organized, so we can begin to take on these larger trials.”

CANN-NET also recently formed a Pediatric Committee, chaired by Dr. Susan Samuel, to understand how to improve care for pediatric kidney patients. “They’ve done a fantastic job of getting the priorities from the knowledge users across the country in pediatric kidney disease and understanding what are the barriers to improving care,” says Dr. Manns. (See Dr. Susan Samuel, Improving Care and Treatment for Children with Nephrotic Syndrome) “And The Kidney Foundation has also been helpful in linking researchers with the patient community,” says Dr. Manns.

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The Kidney Foundation is a funding partner of CANN-NET, a research network linking Canadian kidney disease treatment guideline producers, knowledge translation specialists and knowledge users to improve information sharing and care of patients with kidney disease.

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Engaging Patients in Setting Research Priorities.Dr. Andreas Laupacis is the Executive Director of the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael’s Hospital and holds a Canada Research Chair in Health Policy and Citizen Engagement. He is helping kidney patients on dialysis become engaged in prioritizing kidney disease research

“I really don’t think patients have as much say in how our health care system works as they should,” says Dr. Laupacis, who first became involved in patient engagement three or four years ago. “That’s not to say scientists and researchers should have no say in the matter. But we should know what patients think is important. And it strikes me as the absolute right thing to do: to ask people who are on dialysis, their loved ones as well as the clinicians who look after them what their research priorities are.”

Dr. Laupacis points to the U.K.’s James Lind Alliance (JLA), which has successfully developed this broad-based approach to prioritizing research. As far as he knows

this is the first time the JLA approach is used in Canada to engage patients in priority setting.

Generating meaningful results means getting sufficient numbers of responses from each group surveyed: people either on or likely to go on dialysis in the next few months or years, their families and friends, and healthcare providers such as dieticians, doctors, nurses, social workers and pharmacists. Print and electronic questionnaires are needed to accommodate everyone. The goal is to get at least a few hundred responses from five dialysis centres in Alberta, Toronto, and Halifax.

Funding for this project was provided by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and by the Canadian Kidney Knowledge Translation and Generation Network (CANN-NET), a nation-wide group of nephrology researchers with a patient engagement program, who is hosting the web survey and inputting responses from the print version.

Dialysis patients comprise half of the project’s Steering Committee and are fully involved in all aspects of the project. The top ten priorities identified through the survey will help inform funding organizations on the types of research that are important to patients.

DR. ANDREAS LAUPACIS

Kidney Research Scientist Core Education and National Training (KRESCENT) Program

A nephrologist and clinician scientist in the Division of Nephrology and Transplan-tation and Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McMaster University and Population Health Research Institute in Hamilton, Dr. Michael Walsh undertook a KRESCENT Program Post-Doctoral Fellowship in lupus nephritis and vasculitis at Cambridge (UK). Recently awarded a KRESCENT Program New Investigator Award, he is also studying heart-related deaths among people on dialysis.

Dr. Walsh is working with Dr. Ron Wald of St. Michael’s to better understand a vexing conundrum. “When we began to tackle the question of heart-related deaths for people on dialysis,” says Dr. Walsh, “what struck us is how common heart disease is for people on dialysis.” While cardiologists have found reliable treatments for heart patients not on dialysis, nephrologists don’t as yet have treatments proven to help prevent heart problems in patients on dialysis.

Large Clinical Trials: Testing Treatments for People Living with Kidney Disease.

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DR. MICHAEL WALSH

Dr. Walsh explains: “Aldosterone, a hormone released by the adrenal gland, raises blood pressure. Eplerenone is a treatment used effectively in non- dialysis patients that blocks the action of aldosterone.

What we want to prove is that it can safely reduce heart-related deaths in dialysis patients.” Currently in the first phase of a Canadian Kidney Knowledge Translation

The KRESCENT program is focused on the recruitment and training of world-class kidney scientists who will subsequently assume leadership roles in kidney research in Canada. It is a unique program in three key ways: it recruits trainees from multiple disciplines for involvement in a national curriculum; it supports career development at the doctoral level (Allied Health), post-doctoral level and in the period following the candidate’s first Faculty appointment, with on-going mentorship support; and it fosters the development of collaborative research and knowledge translation across research themes.

and Generation Network (CANN-NET) project, Drs. Walsh and Wald are testing eplerenone’s safety more than its effectiveness. “In the next phase, we will conduct the research internationally.”

Dr. Walsh already has considerable international research experience through his work with the European Vasculitis Society. Says Dr. Walsh, “The research has been going on for a number of years. Because vasculitis is uncommon, it is difficult to study. But we have a robust network and very involved patients and physicians who are interested in the research. We’re starting to answer questions and create a model that we can apply to kidney disease research. Where people used to say, ‘it’s not possible’, we’re upping the ante.”

“KRESCENT provided the outstanding intellectual

environment and support that were key to establishing my research programs.

I began my research with Dr. Braden Manns during my Master’s degree in Calgary.

He really got me started.”

Dr. Michael Walsh

DR. SUSAN M. SAMUEL

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Donations from the Branches of The Kidney Foundation of Canada, a special contribution from the membership of the Canadian Society of Nephrology and funding from CIHR are complemented by the generous support of Amgen, Baxter Corporation, Maple Leaf Foods, Ortho Biotech, Takeda, professional associations and private donors. This joint effort represents a major and timely investment in the future of kidney research in Canada.

Improving Care and Treatment for Children with Nephrotic Syndrome.Dr. Susan M. Samuel is a pediatric nephrologist at Alberta Children’s Hospital, Assistant Professor at the University of Calgary, and Chair of the Canadian Kidney Knowledge Translation and Generation Network (CANN-NET) Pediatrics Committee. She is also the recipient of a Biomedical Research Grant and a KRESCENT New Investigator Award co-funded by the Canadian Child Health Clinical Scientist Program and the KRESCENT Program. She is conducting research to improve the care and health of children with nephrotic syndrome. Dr. Samuel is inspired by her pediatric patients to work towards improving care for children with nephrotic syndrome, a kidney disease that is commonly acquired in childhood. As a result of her expressed desire to promote national collaboration to address knowledge gaps in pediatric nephrology, Dr. Samuel was invited to lead the Canadian Kidney Knowledge Translation and Generation

Network (CANN-NET) Pediatrics Committee. “Through this committee, we have built national collaboration from every centre in Canada to partici-pate in studies to address priority areas for pediatric nephrology,” says Dr. Samuel. A national survey conducted by the group revealed that nephrotic syndrome research, and integration of research findings into common practice, were a priority for Canadian pediatric nephrologists. Says Dr. Samuel: “We know there are significant differences in how physicians and nephrology centres treat nephrotic syndrome. There are also significant gaps between treatments recommended in the recently released Clinical Practice Guidelines and treatments used in actual practice.” One of the key barriers to conducting research into childhood diseases is that very few centres have enough patients to yield meaningful research results. Multi-centre collaboration is essential, and Dr. Samuel is

working closely with a team of researchers and practi-tioners from across Canada. “The study will aim to recruit almost every patient in Canada, observe the disease course, treatments received and outcomes,” says Dr. Samuel. “By doing so, we will establish a national infrastructure to conduct high quality clinical trials to find the best treatments for nephrotic syndrome in the future.”

“Research networks can create a culture where we are continuously looking to evaluate and improve health care.” says Dr. Samuel. “In the future we will be able to more clearly identify which treatments are the best for children with nephrotic syndrome.”

Created through a special collaboration of the Canadian Society of Nephrology and The Kidney Foundation of Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes and the CIHR Institute of Circulatory and Respiratory Health, the KRESCENT program is a testimony to the leadership of many individuals, organizations and companies committed to reducing the burden of kidney disease throughout Canada.

“I can’t say enough good things about KRESCENT. It opens doors for collaboration,

offers exceptional training sessions and guarantees my protected time for research.”

Dr. Susan M. Samuel

Canadian National Transplant Research Program (CNTRP)

Once upon a time, most Canadians thought of medical research as studious white-coated experts conducting laboratory studies and writing papers for similarly white-coated doctors hoping to improve or at least better manage their patients’ health. But that was then, this is now. The Canadian National Transplant Research Program (CNTRP) is a new initiative uniting more than one hundred experts in the fields of solid organ and bone marrow transplantation and donation. Led by renowned pediatric cardiologist, Dr. Lori West, CNTRP includes transplant surgeons, external researchers, clinicians, decision- makers, patient and family representatives, advocacy group members, an ethicist, a knowledge broker and more.

Transplant Researchers Coming Together to Improve Patient Health.

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The result of a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) initiative, CNTRP was conceived to address two pressing problems: 1) Too many Canadians on transplant waiting lists are dying before suitable donors can be found. 2) Far too many transplants or grafts ultimately fail. To date, CIHR, its partners including The Kidney Foundation of Canada, and coalition members of CNTRP, have raised $30 million to fund this ambitious program. Says Dr. West, “This global program links the science of solid organ transplantation, bone marrow transplanta-tion and donation together. Donation and transplanta-tion kind of go hand in hand, but bringing in bone marrow cell transplantation adds a different nuance. Suddenly you begin to see things in a different way.”

In its quest to advance transplant research to improve patient treatment, the CNTRP has made six key commitments:

1) Increase the number of transplants. 2) Extend the lives of transplant patients.

3) Improve the quality of life of transplant patients.

4) Develop and enhance the pool of talent in the transplant field, including the public.

5) Develop and coordinate a national transplant research program. 6) Enhance transplantation data management platform measures to overcome barriers and evaluate the effectiveness of each measure.

DR. LORI WEST

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If that sounds ambitious, that’s because it is. The program itself is divided into six different projects. Dr. West explains: “The first project has to do with organ repair. Aimed primarily at solid organ donation, it links research in kidney, liver, lung, heart and pancreas transplants and looks at how we can overcome the difficulties of transferring organs from one place to another and maintain their normal physiologic state.”

“Project 2 looks at donation and the process of organ donation in Canada. Between projects 1 and 2, we hope to increase the number and quality of organs available for transplantation. “Project 3 is dedicated to understanding and preventing the early issues that lead to long-term damage of grafts. Researchers, such as Dr. Marie-Josée Hébert, have already begun to

identify the cells or molecules that lead to graft failure.” (See Dr. Marie-Josée Hébert, Balancing Transplantation and

the Immune System) “Project 4 looks at the immune system and examines alternatives to the generalized immune suppression we currently use. Project 5 studies the viral complications of transplantation that are common after surgery. And Project 6 addresses issues that children and young adults face regarding immunosuppression and related viral infections, as well as compliance to their medical regimen.” (See Dr. Bethany Foster, Helping Young Transplant Recipients Stick

with the Program) “In addition to the six projects, we have three core groups that span and support all the projects. One core studies the ethical, economic, legal and social issues around transplantation. The second looks after

data management and consolidation and the third focuses on training for the whole program.”

“It’s an ambitious program, but the enthusiastic response of the community is what grew it to the size that it is. I think people saw that this could be a better way to do things. A better way to do science.” Dr. Bethany Foster agrees. “A large network with core support is more efficient as it allows us to capitalize on the experience and expertise of different people working on different projects.” “For renal patients, it really improves the capacity for them to benefit from a broader perspective of research activities that are being developed in the field of organ donation, organ transplantation and bone marrow transplantation. You actually get a lot more people doing things that are potentially relevant to your condition,” says Dr. Hébert.

Director of the Organ Transplantation Program and holder of the Shire Chair in Nephrology and Renal Transplantation at the Université de Montréal, Dr. Marie-Josée Hébert is heading a team at the Canadian National Transplant Research Program (CNTRP) that is studying the delicate balance between transplantation and the immune system. Organ transplantation can be extremely stressful and not just for patients and their families. Dr. Hébert explains: “All organs are exposed to various stresses when they are still in the cadaveric (deceased) donor, when they are harvested and when they are transplanted.” Dr. Hébert is studying how those stresses can shape rejection episodes in transplant recipients. Says Dr. Hébert, “Renal transplants can result in two major types of rejection: those that target and damage the vessels that supply blood supply to the transplanted kidneys, and those that don’t.” While the latter can be treated and

Balancing Transplantation and the Immune System.

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DR. MARIE-JOSÉE HÉBERT

even prevented, the former can pose serious problems. According to Dr. Hébert, “When the recipient’s immune system injures cells within the vessels, they release mediating agents that may be important in remodeling the vessels. But they may also lead to progressive narrowing of the arteries.

What we’ve discovered is that some of these mediators can foster the production of antibodies that can create scars, narrow the arteries and leave damaging deposits. “We call these antibodies anti-LG3 and recently we’ve discovered that they can be present in renal transplant patients before transplantation, which

means that they can presage or predict rejection episodes. So we are now focusing on preventing the production of anti-LG3 in patients on the transplant waiting list.” By better understanding the stresses associated with transplantation, Dr. Hébert and her Canadian National Transplant Research Program team hope to find better ways of choosing donors, allocating organs, preventing rejection and determining the most appropriate immuno-suppressive regimen for the transplant recipient.

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A former New Investigator Award recipient from the Kidney Research Scientist Core Education and National Training (KRESCENT) program, Dr. Bethany Foster is now Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Montreal Children’s Hospital. She is primarily interested in the long-term health of children and young adults who have received kidney transplants. “It’s really important that organ transplant recipients take their anti-rejection medications every day, on time. We really don’t know if it is safe to deviate even a little from the prescribed regimen,” says Dr. Foster. Following an exact, daily regimen is difficult for anyone. Now imagine having to follow it for a lifetime. Dr. Foster notes that, “for young people, compliance is particularly challenging. Adolescence is a difficult period. It’s a time that’s filled with change, from being totally dependent on your parents to being independent. For healthy young adults, becoming independent involves trial and error and making

DR. BETHANY FOSTER

mistakes.” For young kidney transplant recipients, making a mistake with their medication could mean losing their graft and going back on dialysis. Dr. Foster recently proposed a study as part of The Canadian National Transplant Research Program (CNTRP) to identify factors within the health care system that may

promote better adherence to transplant medication in adolescents and young adults. The 5-year study will examine both kidney and other solid organ transplant recipients in seven or eight pediatric centers and four adult centers. Because single centers have so few young transplant recipients, a multi-center study is essential to yielding meaningful results.

Says Dr. Foster, “Our objective is to see which, if any, health care system factors are associated with medication compliance. If we find that having a certain patient-to-nurse ratio, or having monthly rather than quarterly blood tests improves adherence, then that would be a rationale for getting more nurses or prescribing more frequent blood tests. We will also look at how the regular involvement of pharmacists and psychologists affects outcomes.” Dr. Bethany Foster hopes to learn how health care can be better structured, organized and delivered to help young patients take their medications. Doing so could improve their survival rate and that of their transplant.

Helping Young Transplant Recipients Stick with the Program.

Kidney Cancer Research Network of Canada (KCRNC)

Dr. Michael Jewett is Professor of Surgery (Urology) at the University of Toronto, a member of the Department of Surgical Oncology at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and a clinician investigator at the University Health Network. He also helped found the Kidney Cancer Research Network of Canada.

“In January 2008, a group of clinicians and researchers convened at Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, in what we called the First Canadian Kidney Cancer Forum (CKCF),” Dr. Jewett explains. “The focus was on finding a consensus in how oncolo-gists, nurses, pharmacists, imagers and pathologists manage kidney cancer. We did something that, in hindsight, was very useful. We invited kidney cancer survivors and caregivers to join us. In turn, they launched an organization called Kidney Cancer Canada (KCC).” This organization now has over 1,400 kidney cancer survivors throughout Canada that meet regularly to share information, provide support to the newly diagnosed, and lobby for access to inexpensive medications.

Subsequent Forums on the problems surrounding kidney cancer research led to the creation of the Kidney Cancer Research Network of

Everyone Has a Role in Fighting Kidney Cancer.

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DR. MICHAEL JEWETT

Canada in 2011. The network includes researchers, physicians and healthcare professionals involved in clinical care, as well as survivors and caregivers from the KCC.

So far the KCRNC has identified four key initiatives:

1) Develop an effective care plan for kidney cancer survivors and their families, from initial diagnosis through treatment and follow-up care. 2) Examine the quality of kidney cancer care by identifying and measuring ‘quality indicators’ that can be used to establish quality patient care (e.g. What is the relationship between length of hospital stay and patient outcome?).

3) Understand the genetics of kidney cancer. Kidney cancer often occurs in groups of patients that share hereditary conditions such as Von Hippel-Landau.

4) Support and encourage cutting-edge research that can help personalize kidney cancer care and shorten the bench-to-bedside cycle (e.g. Develop a rapid response test for medications commonly used to treat kidney cancer to determine how a patient is responding to therapy

within weeks instead of having to wait a few months).

“We have two tools anchoring these initiatives,” says Dr. Jewett, “One is a web-based information system called Canadian Kidney Cancer information system (CKCis). It’s running in 13 major centres across Canada, where most cases of kidney cancer are seen. We’re using it to capture new patient data to help us understand the patterns of care, test the ‘quality indicators’, identify genetic predispositions, validate genetic testing and identify patients that may be eligible for certain clinical trials.”

“The other tool involves asking the Canadian clinical trial groups that already exist to consider our trial ideas.”

“There’s an apparent pre-disposition for people with chronic kidney disease and end-stage kidney disease to develop kidney cancer, compared to people with normal renal function,” says Dr. Jewett. “When we treat patients with kidney cancer with drugs, they often have a glomerulopathy, and they

get proteinuria and hyper-tension. It becomes very limiting for their treatment for reasons that are not entirely clear. So there’s a number of different aspects of kidney cancer that intersects with The Kidney Foundation’s mandate.”

With help from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Kidney Cancer Canada, and The Kidney Foundation of Canada, the KCRNC has funding to continue its work for three years. Through its work, cancer survivors and caregivers will help the biomedical enterprise (which includes clinicians, therapists, pharmacists and scientists) prioritize the problems that need to be addressed, decide which research projects should go forward for funding, and identify new areas that everyone can contribute to.

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Finding an Effective, Targeted Therapy to Treat Kidney Cancer.Dr. Sandra Turcotte has been studying kidney cancer since 1999. Assistant Professor at the University of Moncton, Researcher-in-residence at the Atlantic Cancer Research Institute and Research Chair at the Canadian Cancer Society of New Brunswick, her research work is supported by the New Brunswick Health Research Foundation. In 2012, she received a New Investigator Award through the landmark Kidney Research Scientist Core Education and National Training (KRESCENT) program. Dr. Turcotte is exploring how a tiny molecule may lead to effective, targeted chemotherapy for kidney cancer patients.

Dr. Turcotte first began studying kidney cancer when she was working on her PhD at the Université du Québec à Montréal, then pursued her work at Stanford University in California and at the Centre de recherche du CHUM in Montreal during her postdoctoral studies. Says Dr. Turcotte, “Advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common type of kidney cancer and it is also one of the most lethal since it is resistant to both radiation and chemotherapy. There is

simply no effective treat-ment for advanced RCC. ”

Research has shown that a tumor suppressor gene called von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) is inactivated in 75% to 80% of patients with RCC. “Because the VHL gene plays an important role in the early development of RCC,” Dr. Turcotte explains, “focusing on its inactiva-tion represents a promising target for the development of new therapies.” While at Stanford, she discovered a novel, small molecule called STF-62247. “We demonstrated that STF-62247 was 10 times more toxic to renal cancer cells

with an inactivated VHL than to cells with a functional VHL,” says Dr. Turcotte. She and her team are learning how they can zero in on the VHL-inactivated cancer cells and kill them without harming the normal cells. Their goal is to achieve an effective chemotherapy treatment with relatively few side effects.

“Through the KRESCENT Program and the Kidney Cancer Research Network of Canada, I met Dr. Jewett and other researchers who could help me take my fundamental laboratory research to another level, helping to make it relevant to patient treatment,” says

Dr. Turcotte. “The KRESCENT program provides training and so I learn about kidney disease and treatment, including basic science, dialysis, and transplantation. The Kidney Cancer Research Network is more focused on improving our knowledge of kidney cancer, developing new treatments, and improving the care and survival of kidney cancer patients by bringing together caregivers and researchers. Both networks have been helpful, but in different ways.”

“More and more, we have to come together, communicate and share ideas on issues that will advance research and accelerate the development of new, more effective treatments,” says Dr. Turcotte, “Research networks are essential and very important, they can bring strength to the healthcare system.”

DR. SANDRA TURCOTTE

On behalf of those affected by kidney disease,The Kidney Foundation of Canada gratefully acknowledges:

The Kidney Foundation of Canada National Office300-5165 Sherbrooke St. WestMontreal, QC H4A 1T61-800-361-7494 Ext. 225 or(514) 369-4806

research@kidney.cawww.kidney.ca

n the thousands of volunteers and donors throughout Canada who give generously to enable the Foundation to fund promising research. A special appreciation is extended to those who have chosen to provide lasting support to kidney research in Canada through their endowment fund;

n the Canadian Society of Nephrology (CSN) for its enormous strides in quality patient care and its ongoing collaboration with the Foundation toward innovative kidney research and the development of excellent researchers;

n the CIHR Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes who fund special strategic research initiatives;

n national corporations including Amgen, Baxter Corporation, and Pfizer Canada for their special support of kidney research through the funding of grants and fellowships within the Foundation’s Research Program; and

n the professional societies and associations dedicated to kidney health, institutes of the CIHR, corporations and individuals whose generous support has enabled the creation and launch of the KRESCENT program.

About The Kidney Foundation’s New Challenge Campaign:In 2012, The Kidney Foundation launched the public phase of a campaign to raise $73 million to further invest in building world-class research capacity; foster early detection and prevention of kidney disease; power local and national program and policy initiatives; and build organizational capacity to even more effectively and efficiently serve the needs of people living with kidney disease. To find out more about this bold, new campaign, visit

www.kidney.ca/campaign