Dr. Heather Reich

Award: KRESCENT New Investigator Award
Institution: University of Toronto
Year: 2008-2011

Lay Summary

Dr. Heather Reich is a new investigator at the University of Toronto, where she obtained her Ph.D. in the Faculty of Medicine and previously held a KRESCENT Post-Doctoral Fellowship (2006 – 2008). Her current study, Molecular markers of kidney disease progression, is aimed at identifying “high risk” and “low risk” individuals to either facilitate early intervention or spare patients the toxicity of unnecessary therapy. Profiling makes it possible to determine the molecular characteristics of an individual patient’s disease, thus allowing for personalized treatment strategies. Dr. Reich has established a biobank of kidney tissue samples linked to long-term clinical database. She has already identified a “profile” of kidney tissue gene expression that relates to protein in the urine, one of the most important factors of kidney failure. The next stage of her work will be to relate this profile to kidney disease outcome.