The Kidney Patient and Donor Alliance Canada is a not-for-profit dedicated to uniting and amplifying the voices of kidney patients, living donors and their families. We hope to play a meaningful role in improving the lives of those affected by chronic kidney disease (CKD) through advocacy that meaningfully involves patients as research partners across the spectrum of CKD, including early detection, dialysis, and transplantation.
Our Mission
The Kidney Alliance is dedicated to uniting and amplifying the voices of kidney patients, living donors and their families to play a meaningful role in improving the lives of those affected by kidney disease. We strive to educate and empower patients and donors to speak up and get involved in issues that affect us, and to empower fellow patients and donors to play a role in making positive change for ourselves and others.
Our Objectives
- Mobilize a network of kidney patients and kidney donors to promote and share relevant insights and information to improve kidney care.
- Identify and participate as partners in research of particular interest to kidney patients and kidney donors.
- Increase public awareness and understanding of kidney disease, kidney failure and kidney transplantation.
- Promote and support equal access to kidney care, kidney transplantation, including living donor transplantation.
- Advocate for the rights of and access to the best possible care for kidney patients and kidney donors.
- Collaborate wherever possible with individuals and organizations on projects of mutual interest.
- Assist policy makers and various levels of government by sharing lived experiences and information collected.
- Influence governments to develop and implement improvements to the current healthcare system to enhance kidney transplants, including living kidney donation.
The Alliance’s First Initiative – The Transplant 1st Campaign
In July 2022, kidney transplant recipients and living kidney donors held a Patient Partner Workshop to brainstorm roles they can play in translating best practice research findings. The Patient Partner Coalition for Transplant 1st (PPC) formed out of this workshop. The PPC consists of a group of patient and donor research partners advancing research into system-wide reform of the Canadian healthcare system that prioritizes Transplant 1st.
We continued to build new and exciting initiatives!
If you have a great idea for a new initiative that the Alliance can focus on, please contact us at info@kidneyalliance.ca.
Board of Directors
Susan McKenzie, President
Susan McKenzie is a lifelong communications and fundraising professional, having held numerous senior fundraising roles. These roles include major gift fundraising and the strategic planning and implementation or fundraising plans for large organizations that include universities, hospitals, non-profits, and other charities. She holds a Master of Arts in English from the University of Waterloo.
Sue received a kidney transplant from her sister-in-law in 2010. Her lived experience as a kidney patient translates into a deep passion for improving the care that kidney patients and donors receive and increasing access to kidney transplant for those who need one. As such, Sue dedicated herself as an advocate for kidney and transplant patients. She is the Co-Founder and Chair of the Transplant Ambassador Program and holds the positions of President of the Kidney Patient and Donor Alliance Canada and the Renal Patient and Donor Foundation Canada as well.
As a patient partner co-author published in 13 peer-reviewed papers since 2017, Sue provides advice and support for numerous other research and implementation projects. She hopes that kidney-related health care systems improve their care and access for kidney patients across Canada.
Brent Cheal
Brent Cheal is the creator of Kiindee Canada (https://kiindee.ca/), an AI application being developed to assist end stage renal patients in their search for a living donor and at the same time educate potential living donors.
A current resident of Kelowna, BC, Brent is also a living kidney donor, having donated a kidney to his daughter in 2004. In 2002, Brent’s daughter was diagnosed with kidney disease at 10-years-old. After two years of watching his child suffer with kidney disease, Brent donated a kidney to his then 12-year-old daughter.
Since then, he incorporated his journey as a donor and caregiver to advocate in the transplant industry. In partnership with the Renal Patient and Donor Foundation of Canada it is our intention to ensure kidney patients have access to the most up to date technologies as they navigate their journey.
Brent joined the Kidney Patient and Donor Alliance Canada – Patient Partner Coalition in 2023, where he uses his expertise to support the Coalition’s work. “During my work, I have determined that the living donor program in Canada is broken and outdated,” Brent said. “This will be my focus within the Coalition.” His support has directly advanced the Coalition’s efforts in effecting positive changes in Canada’s kidney donation and transplantation system.
Sol Kasimer
Sol Kasimer spent his entire career as a leader in the charitable sector in both staff and volunteer roles. He began his career in the YMCA where he worked for 31 years, including eleven years as CEO of the Montreal YMCA and eleven years as CEO of YMCA Canada. He was also CEO of Altruvest Charitable Services, National Advisor to The Learning Partnership, Senior Advisor to Imagine Canada and is currently Senior Advisor to Jump Math (also acted as voluntary CEO for six months during COVID).
As a volunteer, Sol acted as a Director with Portage, The Learning Partnership, Public Policy Forum, Conference Board of Canada (National Council on Education), Jump Math (Director and Chair) and others. He helped initiate the creation of the Voluntary Sector Roundtable and chaired the Capacity Joint Table with the Federal government.
Sol graduated from McGill University with a BSc in Psychology and from Purdue University with an MSc in Human Development. He recently received (November 2023) a kidney transplant from an anonymous living donor.
Kenneth Litchfield
As a leader, Ken has always had a deep authentic connection with people. Red tape is his greatest enemy. He is a passionate advocate, both professionally and personally, with strengths in risk management, complex system improvement including: Process and Personal Health, Safety and Emergency Response.
A war-torn seven-year kidney transplant recipient, Ken’s life has been drastically changed as result of CKD. It may be said that Ken is not shy. When he was run over by CKD, he decided it was only fair to seek opportunities to improve the process where he could. Born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, he’s married to his best friend and feels blessed beyond recognition.
Marian Reich
Marian Reich became a living kidney donor to her sister-in-law in 2019,a patient partner with Can-SOLVE in 2017, and participated in research projects with foci on living kidney transplant and the living donor evaluation process.
She has served as a volunteer Transplant Ambassador since 2017 first in Mackenzie Health Hospital in Ontario and now is available for Transplant Ambassador calls in the Maritime Provinces.
She is a board member of the Kidney Patient and Donor Alliance whose objectives include advocating for the rights of and access to the best possible care for kidney patients and kidney donors. She is the co-chair of the Atlantic Sub-committee of the Alliance.
Marian’s interests in CKD advocacy are driven by her desire to see all kidney patients receive the most appropriate treatment and current information on living transplant early in their care. She believes connecting patients with those with lived experience is beneficial to patients and their family members.
Marian is a certified teacher who retired from the Toronto District School Board after 28 years of teaching in Elementary Schools. She is certified to teach on PEI and works occasionally as a teacher with the PEI Public Schools Branch.
Barb Longo
Barb Longo is a Registered Nurse with more than 35 years of experience providing healthcare to patients, and in 2018 became a living kidney donor to her husband.
As a living kidney donor, Barb witnessed firsthand the life-saving impact of organ donation on her husband’s life. After years of living with chronic kidney disease, Barb and her husband were able to enjoy many memorable experiences together, including their shared love of travel. Sharing their story became an important part of their advocacy work, helping to raise awareness and support for living donation while encouraging others to register as organ and tissue donors.
As a nurse leader of a Critical Care Unit, Barb helped create a culture that fostered engagement and accountability for all healthcare providers, knowing that it takes dedicated teams, strong partnerships and a workplace that truly understands the importance of supporting organ and tissue donation and transplantation. Before her retirement in 2020, she received the Trillium Gift of Life Network hospital champion award. TGLN grants this award to individuals who have made an exceptional difference in organ and tissue donation and transplantation in Ontario.
Throughout both her career and retirement, Barb has remained committed to one simple goal: ensuring that patients and donors never miss an opportunity for donation and transplant. In doing so, she honours the wishes of patients and their families while helping others achieve healthier lives.
Barb continues this important work today through her involvement with the Transplant Ambassador Program, which she joined in 2020. She currently serves as co-chair of the TAP program at St. Joe’s in Hamilton and is a member of the TAP Operations team. Barb’s volunteer work also includes her role as a patient and family advisor on the Integrated Transplant Forum as well as a member of the Kidney Patient and Donor Alliance Canada where her passion is focused on a “transplant first” approach and supporting others in their own kidney donation and transplant journey.
Christine Pisapia
Christine Pisapia has over 30 years of experience in the field of healthcare in various roles which started as a healthcare provider in Paediatrics, followed by 17 years as a business executive in the private healthcare sector and, more recently, as a Patient-Centred Advisor at Patient Voice Partners, a life-sciences consultancy agency. As a francophone born in Montreal, she lived and worked there for 30 years before moving to Toronto over three decades ago.
Thanks to her studies in healthcare, Christine knew that she could live a healthy life with only one kidney. When her brother was diagnosed with IgA nephropathy and was told he would eventually need a kidney transplant, she promised to explore being his donor. Unfortunately, his need for that kidney came suddenly and earlier than expected. After three-years of dialysis the transplant took place in Montreal in 2014. As such, Christine has experience with donating out-of-province and can speak to some of those challenges. She resolves to break down the barriers she lived through and those identified by potential donors and recipients she interacts with regularly as a Transplant Ambassador since 2018. She is the Lead TAP ambassador at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center as well as at the McGill University Health Centre.
Given this lived experience with living kidney donation, Christine volunteers not only as a Transplant Ambassador and with Alliance but is also involved in the Health Standards Organization’s Technical Committee on Organ Donation and Transplantation (ODT), is a member of the Patient Advocate Advisory Committee on ODT for Health Canada and participated in a number of other national initiatives that focus on improving Living Kidney Donation across Canada.
Advisory Council for Kidney Alliance
Jason Kroft, Chair
Jason is a kidney patient who received a kidney transplant more than 20 years ago. He has been an active supporter and advocate for kidney patients and a volunteer with the Transplant Ambassador Program.
He is a Partner at Miller Thomson in Toronto with over 25 years of experience.
Jamal El Ali
An accomplished professor, researcher, published author, educator, speaker, and project management consultant, Jamal El Ali holds 20 years of experience in management in Canada and the United States. He is a part-time faculty member at the University of Toronto, York University, Toronto Metropolitan University, and Humber College, where he teaches project management and business administration. Jamal holds an MBA and is pursuing a PhD in psychology on artificial intelligence.
Jamal was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease in March 2009 and began home hemodialysis in 2018. He received his kidney transplant from a deceased donor on February 5, 2022, and has lived a healthy life since recovering from the transplant. His experience has made Jamal passionate about giving back and help kidney patients and their loved ones by actively advocating for kidney care. He joined the Transplant Ambassador Program in April 2022 and the Kidney Patient and Donor Alliance Canada – Patient Partner Coalition in 2023, where he uses his experience and expertise to support work that will improve access to transplant for persons living with kidney disease.
Alexandra Freund
Alexandra is a kidney transplant recipient and founding Kidney Patient and Donor Alliance Canada board member who is passionate about helping others with end stage kidney failure, and in particular, about supporting younger patients realize their best possible outcome through pre-emptive transplant.
She advocates for living donor transplant in her life and through her work as a Transplant Ambassador, as well the acting Provincial Program Coordinator for the Transplant Ambassador Program, a key pillar of the Ontario Renal Network’s Enhancing Access to Kidney Transplant and Living Donation Research Strategy.
Dr. Amit X. Garg
Dr. Amit X. Garg is a world-renowned nephrologist and clinician-scientist with 20 years of clinical practice and over 600 published research papers.
He holds the position of Associate Dean, Clinical Research, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University Department of Medicine; Past Site Director, Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) Western Facility; Past President, Canadian Society of Nephrology; Provincial Medical Lead, ICES Provincial Kidney, Dialysis and Transplantation Program (ICES KDT); and Past Provincial Medical Lead, Access to Kidney Transplantation, Ontario Renal Network.
Sushan Shetty
As a management consultant for large-scale program management projects, Sushan Shetty specializes in business strategy, IT due diligence, operating model design, mergers & acquisitions, and digital transformation across various industries.
He is currently working at Mastercard (Advisory Consulting) specializing in long term strategic projects. Prior to joining Mastercard, Sushan has worked with KPMG, EY and Bayer CropScience in various capacities implementing enterprise-wide programs focused on internal strategy, program management, process improvement, and operational efficiency.
Sushan earned his Masters in Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology from University of Waterloo, and his Bachelors in Computer Engineering from India. Sushan started working with the Transplant Ambassadors Program and the Kidney Patient and Donor Alliance Canada as a student because his own family had been affected by kidney disease. He supports the Alliance by generously applying his skills in business and technology to significantly advance the program.
Scientific Advisors
Dr. Kyla Naylor
Dr. Kyla Naylor is an adjunct scientist in the Kidney, Dialysis and Transplantation (KDT) Program at ICES. She is also an Associate Scientist at Lawson Health Research Institute and an Adjunct Research Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Western University. Dr. Naylor completed her PhD in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Western University in 2015 and completed her post-doctoral training at ICES in 2018.
Dr. Naylor is passionate about using research to improve patient care and access to kidney transplant. Her research is primarily focused on using administrative healthcare databases to meet these goals, and also concentrates on the epidemiology of post-transplant outcomes, and more recently, the epidemiology of COVID-19 in the kidney disease population. She is the Project Co-lead for a Can-SOLVE CKD Project titled “Increasing the use of living donor kidney transplantation,” which has focused on improving the efficiency of the living donor candidate evaluation and breaking down barriers related to living kidney donation.
Dr. Seychelle Yohanna
Dr. Seychelle Yohanna is a transplant nephrologist at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton and an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at McMaster University. She completed internal medicine and nephrology residencies at Western University and a kidney transplant fellowship at McMaster University. She also has a Master of Science in Quality Improvement and Patient Safety from the University of Toronto and completed a healthcare improvement fellowship through CQuIPS.
Dr. Yohanna is the provincial medical lead for kidney transplant at the Ontario Renal Network (Ontario Health) and has a clinical and academic interest in improving access to kidney transplantation and living kidney donation. She also leads the Hamilton One-Day Living Kidney Donor Assessment Clinic, aiming to improve the efficiency and patient-centeredness of the living donor evaluation.
Dr. Yohanna acts as a consultant to the Patient Partner Coalition, supporting its mission to improve the health care and policies for patients living with kidney disease.
Founding Directors
Mary Beaucage was Anishnaabe, from Nipissing First Nation, near North Bay Ontario. She is a founding member of the Alliance Board of Directors and contributed significantly to the formation and implementation of the Alliance.
She was a vulnerable and engaging storyteller who trusts you with her story. Mary had type 2 diabetes and was diagnosed with end-stage kidney disease in 2013 and started dialysis immediately. In March 2015, she received a kidney from her cousin Janice, who lives in Manitoba.
Mary was active as a patient advocate and patient research partner between 2016 and 2024, and held anumber of important including roles with Can-SOLVE CKD, CDTRP, Ontario Renal Network, Trillium Gift of Life, and the Transplant Ambassador Program.