Laia Aceituno Sierra

MD

Liver transplant fellow, Ajmera Transplant Centre, Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network
University of Toronto

Laia graduated from the International University of Catalonia Medical School in 2017 and completed her Internal Medicine residency in 2023, with two years focused on hepatology at Vall d’Hebron University Hospital. Laia has received awards for hepatology training. During her training she did an observership at King’s College London and at the Ajmera Transplant Center in Toronto. Post-residency, Laia became a clinical researcher at Vall d’Hebron Research Institute and is currently a liver transplant fellow at the Ajmera Transplant Center. Laia recently enrolled in a PhD program with a focus on transplant oncology and holds a master’s in Clinical Research.

Matthew Binnie

MD

Respirology and Lung Transplant, Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network

Amanda Debreceni

BSc PharmD RPh

Amanda graduated from pharmacy school in 2018, and started practicing pharmacy in surgical areas, specializing in Gynecological Oncology and Urology. In 2023, Amanda joined the Ajmera Transplant Centre where she works with a group of pharmacists, focusing on identifying drug therapy problems, providing pharmacist recommendations to the interdisciplinary team, as well as patient education.

Juan Duero

MD MSc FRCPC

Assistant Professor - Division of Cardiology, University of Toronto

Dr. Duero Posada serves as the Program Director for the advanced heart failure and transplant fellowship program at the University Health Network. His academic interest lies in the field of quality improvement, he has participated in provincial and national initiatives aiming to delineate quality indicators in heart transplantation.

Neta Gotlieb

MD

Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Ottawa
Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, The Ottawa Hospital

Graduated from Semmelweis University in Budapest, Hungary and completed her training in internal medicine, gastroenterology and hepatology in Tel-Aviv medical center. She completed her transplant hepatology fellowship in Ajmera Transplant Centre, University of Toronto after which she and her family moved to Ottawa. Dr. Gotlieb is an assistant professor of medicine in the University of Ottawa since 2021 and has been working as a gastroenterologist, general and transplant hepatologist in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Ottawa Hospital

Dr. Gotlieb’s main clinical work and research is focusing on liver cirrhosis and its complication with frailty and sarcopenia in particular, portal hypertension, hepatocellular carcinoma, and liver transplantation.

As a faculty member at the University of Ottawa she is highly involved in teaching students, residents and fellows and has organized multiple education days discussing advanced liver disease and its implications.

Victoria Hall

MBBS (Hons) MPH FRACP

Assistant Professor, Clinician Investigator
Department of Transplant Infectious Diseases, University of Toronto, UHN

Dr Victoria Hall is a Transplant Infectious Diseases physician and clinician investigator at Ajmera Transplant Centre. She has trained in both Melbourne, Australia in Infectious Diseases and completed a Transplant ID fellowship at UHN in 2021. Her main research interest is understanding the burden, host immune response and prevention strategies of respiratory viral infections in immunocompromised patients.

Andrew Healey

MD FRCPC (EM CCM) DRCPSC (he/him)

Specialist in Emergency and Critical Care Medicine
Provincial Medical Director, Donation | Clinical Institutes & Quality Programs | Trillium Gift of Life Network (Ontario Health)
Regional Clinical Lead, Critical Care | Ontario Health (Central Region)

Dr. Healey is an emergency and critical care physician. He is the Chief of Critical Care at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton and a Critical Care Physician at William Osler Health System. He is currently the Provincial Medical Director for Donation with Trillium Gift of Life (Ontario Health) and a Regional Critical Care Clinical Lead with Ontario Health. As an Associate Clinical Professor at McMaster University, his current academic interests are around optimizing death determination, donation processes, and health system leadership.

Sasan Hosseini

MD MPH MSc

Associate Professor of Medicine
Division of Infectious Diseases, Dept of Medicine, University of Toronto
Ajmera Transplant Centre, University Health Network, Transplant-Oncology Infectious Diseases Program

• Specialist of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, Fellowship in Transplant Infectious Diseases, U of T
• MSc degrees in Public Health and Epidemiology and Biostatistics
• ICES Scientist
• Transplant ID Medical Director: London Health Sciences Centre, UWO (2014-2019)
• Transplant ID, Fellowship Director, Ajmera Transplant Centre, UHN (2021-present)
• Infectious Diseases Division, Fellowship Director, Dept. of Medicine, U of T, (2022-present).

Gillian Lester

Clinical Nurse Coordinator, Heart Transplant
Ajmera Transplant Centre, University Health Network

Gillian Lester is a Clinical Nurse Coordinator for the Heart Transplant Program at the Ajmera Transplant Center where she coordinates the clinical management of patients post heart transplant. Gillian is an RN who earned a Specialized Honours degree in Health Policy and Management as well as a BScN at York University. Prior to joining the Ajmera team, Gillian built a wealth of knowledge with over 20 years experience in the clinical, management and policy side of patient care with the majority dedicated to improving access to Primary Care in Canada and the United States. When Gillian joined the team in 2020 she did so with a keen interest in health education and in enhancing the role of primary care into the traditional hospital centric transplant patient management model. In addition to her career, Gillian is the busy mom of two very active boys and their dog, Ruby. If there is any spare time, Gillian can be found enjoying one of her other passions, gardening, especially at this time of year!

Adriana Luk

MD

Assistant Professor, Division of Cardiology, University of Toronto

Dr. Adriana Luk is an advanced heart failure and transplant cardiologist, as well as a cardiac intensivist at UHN. She completed her cardiology and critical care training at U of T, and her heart failure fellowship at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Her academic interests include quality improvement and patient safety for the critically ill patients admitted with heart failure.

Carla A. Luzzi

MD

Staff Anesthesiologist Toronto General Hospital – University Health Network
Member of the Anesthesia Committee of the International Liver Transplant Society

Current staff anesthesiologist at Toronto General Hospital, trained in transplant and cardiothoracic anesthesia. Main areas of interest include perioperative management of liver transplants and transesophageal echocardiography.

Michael McDonald

MD

Associate Professor, University of Toronto
Director, Ted Rogers Centre of Excellence in Heart Function
Division of Cardiology and Transplant Program, University Health Network and Mount Sinai Hospital

Dr. McDonald is currently an Associate Professor in the Division of Cardiology at the University Health Network/Mount Sinai Hospital, where his clinical focus is the management of patients with advanced heart failure, cardiac transplantation and implantable device therapy. He is the Medical Director of the Adult Heart Transplant Program at the Ajmera Transplant Centre and the inaugural Martha Rogers Chair in Heart Failure Training and Education. He is the past president of the Canadian Cardiac Transplant Network and the past chair of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society’s Heart Failure Guidelines Committee.

Nicole Mills

RN BScN MN

Post-Heart Transplant Clinical Coordinator, Ajmera Transplant Centre, Toronto General Hospital

Nicole Mills is an Advanced Practice Nurse in the Heart Transplant Program at Toronto General Hospital. She began her nursing career as a paediatric cardiac nurse at The Hospital for Sick Children. After completing a Masters of Nursing at the University of Toronto, Nicole joined the Ajmera Transplant Centre as an outpatient Post-Heart Transplant Clinical Coordinator in 2022. Her main clinical interest is improving transition from paediatric to adult health care.

Andrew Purssell

Clinical Fellow, Transplant and Oncology Infectious Diseases
Ajmera Transplant Centre, University Health Network
University of Toronto

Dr. Purssell earned his Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology at Queen’s University exploring the genetics of antimicrobial resistance conferred by multidrug efflux pumps in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. He then received his medical degree from the University of British Columbia following by residency training in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases at the University of Ottawa. He is currently completing a fellowship in Transplant and Oncology Infectious Diseases at the University of Toronto. Dr. Purssell plans to focus his future research on the diagnosis and management of multidrug resistant Gram-negative infections particularly in the transplant population.

Sonia Rodriguez-Ramirez

MD MSc (Healthcare quality)

Department of Nephrology and Ajmera Transplant Centre, University of Toronto

Dr. Sonia Rodriguez-Ramirez is a transplant nephrologist based at University Health Network originally from Mexico. She completed a Master of Science in Healthcare Quality in 2023. Sonia’s Quality Improvement (QI) interests include high-value care, novel models of inpatient care and transitions of care, qualitative research, and change management. She believes QI’s mission is about serving exponentially, beyond our human limits, by designing valuable healthcare systems to impact our community.

Jeffrey Schiff

MD FRCP (C)

Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Toronto
Medical Director, Pancreas Transplant Program, Ajmera Transplant Centre and Division of Nephrology, Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network

Dr. Schiff is Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto, Medical Director of the Pancreas and Clinical Islet Transplant Program in the Ajmera Transplant Centre and a member of the division of Nephrology at University Health Network. He is also Past President of the Canadian Society of Transplantation. He completed residency training at McGill University, followed by a Transplant Fellowship at McGill University and l’Université de Montréal. He participates in transplant-related activities with Trillium Gift of Life Network, Canadian Blood Services and the Canadian Institute for Health Information. He is chair of the CST Pancreas Transplant Working Group.

Lianne G. Singer

MD FRCPC

Professor of Medicine, Division of Respirology, University Health Network and University of Toronto

Dr. Singer is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto with cross-appointments to the Institute of Medical Science and Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation. She is the Division Head of Respirology and Critical Care Medicine at University Health Network and Sinai Health System, Toronto. She was Medical Director of the Toronto Lung Transplant Program from 2004-2020. Dr. Singer completed her M.D. and postgraduate training in Internal Medicine and Respiratory Medicine at the University of Toronto. She went on to do a Lung and Heart-Lung Transplantation Fellowship at Stanford University, combined with Advanced Training in Clinical Research at the University of California, San Francisco. She has held leadership positions with the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation, the American College of Chest Physicians and the Canadian Society of Transplantation. Her research focuses on health outcomes and clinical innovation in advanced lung disease and organ transplantation.

Sunita Singh

MD MSc FRCPC

Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Toronto
Transplant Nephrologist, Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network
Medical Director, Living Kidney Donation Program, University Health Network

Dr. Sunita Singh is a transplant nephrologist in the Division of Nephrology and the medical director of the living kidney donation program at the Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network. She is also an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto. Dr. Singh completed medical school at the University of Toronto, and internal medicine and chief medical residency at the University of British Columbia. She returned to Toronto to complete a Master of Science in clinical epidemiology and health care research, as well as additional fellowship training in kidney transplantation and advanced diabetes care. Dr. Singh’s research interests are focused on the follow-up of living kidney donors, as well as the use of novel glucose-lowering agents for cardiorenal protection in kidney transplant recipients.

Vikas S. Sridhar

MD FRCPC

Fellow, Division of Nephrology, UHN
PhD Candidate, Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto

Dr. Vikas S. Sridhar MD, FRCPC completed his residency training in Internal Medicine at McGill University followed by a residency in adult nephrology and a fellowship in kidney and pancreas transplantation at the University of Toronto. He is currently a PhD candidate at the Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto with a focus on cardio-kidney-metabolic health in transplantation. He is supported by the Eliot Phillipson Clinician Scientist Training Program, a Banting and Best Diabetes Centre Postdoctoral fellowship, and a CIHR Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships Doctoral Research Award.

Andrea Weiss

MD MSc CCFP(PC) FRCPC

Assistant Professor, Division of Palliative Care, Department of Family & Community Medicine, University of Toronto

Andrea completed her medical degree at the University of British Columbia. She completed her Family Medicine residency training at University of Toronto, and she completed the conjoint fellowship in palliative care at University of Toronto in 2012. She wrote the Royal College Palliative Medicine exam in 2018. Andrea is the lead for the Toronto General Hospital inpatient palliative care consult service, which helps support patients with malignant and/or non-malignant disease.