KRESCENT Team

After finishing his medical training at McGill University, Dr. Lemaire moved to Toronto to learn Paediatrics and Nephrology at Toronto’s SickKids before moving to Yale University to pursue a Ph.D. under the guidance of Dr. Richard Lifton. There, he focused on gene discovery for rare pediatric kidney diseases. This work led to the discovery of two novel forms of atypical hemolytic-uremic syndrome. He then returned to SickKids, joining the Division of Nephrology, the Cell Biology program at the SickKids Research Institute, and the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Toronto.

Much of his work in the lab and clinic focuses on rare genetic diseases affecting the kidneys of children, including glomerular, cystic, metabolic and tubular conditions.

Dr. Adeera Levin, FRCPC, is a Professor of Medicine at University of BC and the Executive director of the BC Provincial Renal, an organization which manages and co-ordinates the care of patients with kidney disease in the province of BC. She is the Senior advisor for the Kidney Research Scientist Core Education and National Training Program — KRESCENT Program. She is currently Chair of the Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO), CKD Work group for the updated guidelines 2023. She is also the lead of the SPOR network Can SOLVE-CKD. Her research and clinical activities focus on chronic kidney disease, co morbidities associated with CKD mechanisms of disease and health outcomes research.

Dr. Levin is active in mentoring young investigators in kidney related research and holds numerous grants for clinical studies. She has received funding from peer reviewed organizations such as CIHR (Canadian Institute of Health Research), The Kidney Foundation of Canada, Michael Smith Foundation, and the Ministry of Health Services BC. In addition, she is the principal investigator on several studies investigator-initiated industry funded grants. She has received many teaching and research awards, and in 2015, was honoured with the Order of Canada.

Sunny Hartwig, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island, a CIHR university delegate, and Member of the College, Royal Society of Canada. Dr. Hartwig obtained her Ph.D. in renal developmental biology at the Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in developmental nephrology at Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. Sunny Hartwig’s research is focused on the molecular regulation of nephrogenesis.

Leanne Stalker, Ph.D., is the National Director of Research at The Kidney Foundation of Canada, based in Ontario and holds a PhD in Biochemistry and Biomedical Science from McMaster University. Leanne has experience in both the academic research and research management and has a long-standing interest in the integration of research science, clinical development, and patient-facing programs. In the National Director of research role, Leanne provides the support needed to engage, empower, and support the kidney research community, to fulfill The Kidney Foundation’s research strategies and, ultimately, improve outcomes for people with kidney disease. Within KRESCENT, Leanne works with the rest of the leadership team to ensure that trainees receive the high-quality training that KRESCENT is known for and manages the administration of the program, including the peer review selection process, through her role at The Kidney Foundation of Canada.

With 30 years of experiences in Community Development work, Ian Goodall-George brings valuable experience as a member of the Patient Community Advisory Network (PCAN).

Ian is passionate about organ donation for the same reasons he is passionate about communities – when a community comes together to support one another it is life changing. The mental and physical health of a community is dependent on its members and when community members act as a unified force and take care of each other fantastic things can happen. Actions speak louder than words, so Ian stepped forward as a non-directed kidney donor over a decade ago and changed someone’s life through Canadian Blood Services Kidney Paired Exchange Program.

Ian lives in Manitoba and works for the Province of Manitoba as a Regional Consultant with the Community Development branch of the Department of Municipal and Northern Affairs. In his spare time he loves volunteering with any group that will take him and is life-long advocate for organ donation awareness and registration.

Veronica has a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology (Trent University) and a PhD in Marine Natural Products Chemistry and Molecular Microbiology (University of Prince Edward Island). In 2013, after finishing her studies, marrying her husband, and starting a family, she was diagnosed with underlying IgA nephropathy during a routine pregnancy test.  The diagnosis came as a surprise, as there were no outward symptoms present. However, diabetes runs strongly through her paternal lineage: her father, grandmother, and great-grandmother all have/have had diabetes, the latter of which passed before insulin was invented.

Devastated yet determined, she sought ways to educate herself on the proper care of the body and healthcare of the kidneys. She noticed a marked improvement after making significant changes in her diet and lifestyle and she is a strong advocate for health and nutrition of the body. She is very grateful to the medical community for diagnostic testing, and she is excited to participate as a patient partner for PCAN. She is particularly passionate about improving early kidney detection methods. She lives in rural Prince Edward Island with her husband and two children and works for Dr. Sunny Hartwig. 

Jessica, also known as "Miracle," was born in Lagos, Nigeria, in 1988. She boldly made the decision to immigrate to Canada in 2007 as a teenager to further her studies. Although leaving home was a difficult adjustment, she faced the challenge with excitement for the future. She enthusiastically engaged in playing basketball, participating in various acting classes, swimming, and watching crime and thriller television shows. Shortly after her move, in January 2008, she underwent an immediate liver transplant due to a health complication, and in 2020, she underwent a combined kidney-liver transplant. The name Miracle was bestowed upon her by her mother, nurses, and doctors who witnessed her remarkable strength and resilience during her challenging journey.

She pursued her education at a college in Ontario, specializing in television broadcasting and communications. Although she initially aspired to become a newscaster and have her own talk show, her experiences with the healthcare system inspired her to pursue her true calling of helping others. She obtained a certificate as a Medical Office Assistant and is now on the path to becoming a nurse. Despite her medical journey, she remains determined to fulfill her ambition of hosting her own YouTube talk show, while also being grateful for the opportunity to be part of the PCAN program, where she can share her knowledge and experiences as a patient to aid others.

Tania Woodlock is a former elementary school educator and is currently a policy analyst working in outreach and stakeholder engagement for Health Canada’s consumer product safety program. Tania is a living donor, and mother and chauffeur to three spirited, hockey playing, opinionated, red-headed children including a two-time, paediatric, kidney transplant recipient.

Her 15-year-old son Benjamin, was born in renal failure and began peritoneal dialysis at 1 month of age. When Ben was 18 months old, he received his first kidney transplant from his dad. That kidney gave him the chance to grow and develop and live life. When Ben was 7, he went into rejection and despite treatment, Ben eventually lost his kidney. In 2019, Tania was able to donate a kidney to Ben and is passionate about improving the lives of those who are living with kidney disease.

Tania has a master’s degree in public health, and undergraduate degrees in education and psychology. Between work, children, medical appointments, and hockey, Tania works with KRESCENT as a member of the Patient and Community Advisory Network (PCAN).

Warren’s late wife, Ruth, was diagnosed with kidney disease when she was 12 years old. Ruth and Warren met at university when they were both 21, and two years after they met, Ruth started hemodialysis treatments at The Ottawa Hospital (TOH). They also performed hemodialysis treatments at home in the early to mid-1980s. Ruth had five kidney transplants in her lifetime: three at TOH; and because her situation had become medically complex, her fourth and fifth transplants were referred by TOH to the London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC). One of Ruth’s transplants was a kidney donated by one of her sisters. Ruth and Warren were together 44 years.

Warren spent 20 years working in the international development field and 20 years assessing the economic and social benefits and impact of public sector science and technology programs. He retired two years before Ruth died to care for her. Since Ruth passed, Warren has been volunteering at The Ottawa Hospital’s Riverside Hemodialysis Unit. Warren is very grateful to be a member of the PCAN as he cannot think of a better way to both honour Ruth and support kidney research.

Dr. Nina Jones is a Professor and Canada Research Chair in Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Disease at the University of Guelph, Ontario. She completed Ph.D. studies at the University of Toronto and obtained postdoctoral training at the Lunenfeld Tanenbaum Research Institute with Dr. Tony Pawson before her recruitment to Guelph in 2006. Her research investigates fundamental mechanisms of cell communication by phosphotyrosine adaptor proteins, and she has made significant contributions in understanding how such signalling pathways become deregulated in prevalent human pathologies such as kidney disease, cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Dr. Jones has received numerous awards throughout her career, including a CIHR-KRESCENT New Investigator Award, an Ontario Early Researcher Award, an NSERC-University Faculty Award, and the John Charles Polanyi Prize, and she is a past member of the Royal Society of Canada College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists. Dr. Jones also received the inaugural Graduate Student Mentoring award in her College, as well as a Kidney Foundation of Canada Merit Award for Outstanding Community Partner, and she was named a YMCA-YWCA Woman of Distinction. Research in Dr. Jones’s lab is presently supported by CIHR, NSERC, and The Kidney Foundation of Canada.

Dr. Quinn is a Professor in the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary. He is a Nephrologist and Clinical Epidemiologist whose research interests include the care of patients with kidney disease, the provision of renal replacement therapies (with a focus on dialysis access), and quality of dialysis care. He received his MD in 1999 and completed specialty training in Internal Medicine and Nephrology at the University of Calgary in 2004. Dr. Quinn then completed a PhD in Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Toronto before joining the University of Calgary in 2009.