Anna Valujskikh, PhD

Keynote Speaker, Lymphoablation in Organ Transplant Recipients: Lessons Learned from Mouse Models

Anna Valujskikh is a transplant immunologist at the Cleveland Clinic Department of Inflammation and Immunity. She received a PhD in Immunology from Moscow State University (Russia), did her postdoctoral training at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland OH, and started her independent lab at the Cleveland Clinic in 2006. Studies in Dr. Valujskikh’s lab use preclinical mouse transplant models to provide insights into adaptive immune responses leading to transplant rejection. Significant portion of group effort is focused on the mechanisms underlying antibody mediated rejection of vascularized allografts. Another series of projects investigates the aftermath of lymphoablative therapies in organ transplant recipients. Dr. Valujskikh’s research program has been continually funded since 2004 by NIH, the American Society of Transplantation, the American Heart Association, and Roche Organ Transplant Research Foundation. Dr. Valujskikh has authored over 90 original articles and reviews, and currently serves as an Associate Editor for Transplantation and a Section Editor for The Journal of Immunology. She devotes significant time and effort to training and mentoring students, research fellows, and junior faculty members.

Heather Badenoch

Plenary Speaker, The Donor’s Journey: Giving the Gift of Life and Supporting Recipients in Finding a Donor

Heather Badenoch says that the best decision she ever made was donating 22 percent of her liver to a child she’s never met.

She believes in the power of non-profits and purpose-driven organizations, and their ability to effect change. As the President and Communications Strategist at Village PR, Heather works with progressive health, substance use, housing, social service and environmental clients.

As an active volunteer in the transplant community, she mentors people who are becoming living liver donors. Heather also combines her living donor experience and communications skills to help patients on the transplant list find living donors by running their appeals pro bono.

Candice Coghlan

Plenary Speaker, The Recipient’s Perspective on Living Donation and Supporting Donors

Candice Coghlan is the Education & Outreach Coordinator at the Centre for Living Organ Donation at UHN’s Ajmera Transplant Centre. After receiving a life-saving kidney transplant from her mother in 2009, she dedicated her career to supporting patients and families navigating chronic illness. Candice has worked with organizations such as the Kidney Foundation, Canadian Cancer Society, and Transplant Ambassador Program, and has collaborated with UCLA, Explore Transplant, Ontario Health and sits on the National Board of Directors for the Kidney Foundation to educate patients about transplant and modality options. She also hosts the "Living Transplant" podcast, sharing stories and insights from the transplant community. In 2021, Candice and her husband welcomed a healthy baby girl into the world.

Edward H. Cole, CM MSc MD FRCP(C)

Concurrent Speaker, Increasing access to Kidney Transplant for Highly Sensitized Patients: Kidney Paired Donation, Highly Sensitized Patient Registry and the Willing to Cross program

Dr. Cole received his Master of Science from the University of Toronto in 1973 and his M.D. from Memorial University of Newfoundland in 1975. He is a former Physician-in-Chief of UHN and previously served on the Board of Directors of The UHN Foundation. He is founder and past Chair of The Canadian Transplantation Society Kidney Working Group and past Chair of the Steering Committee for National Kidney Registries. In 2012, he received the Canadian Transplantation Society Lifetime Achievement Award. He received The Order of Canada in June, 2024.

Dr. Cole’s major research interests are in immunosuppressive drugs and clinical trials in renal transplantation with over 150 peer reviewed publications. He has been a member of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto since 1981 and is presently a staff nephrologist at The University Health Network and a Professor of Medicine at The University of Toronto .

Mar Miserachs, MD, PhD

Concurrent Speaker, Post-liver Transplant Pediatric Transition Clinic: Are We Ready?

Dr. Mar Miserachs is a Staff Physician in the Division of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and an Assistant Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Toronto. She completed her medical degree, paediatric residency and PhD in Paediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Universitat Autonoma of Barcelona, Spain. Before moving to Toronto in 2014 to complete a dual fellowship in Paediatric Gastroenterology and Paediatric Hepatology and Liver Transplantation at SickKids, she was a Staff Paediatric Hepatologist in Hospital Universitari Vall d’Hebron in Barcelona, Spain, from 2011 to 2013.

Dr. Miserachs’ research activities focus on paediatric liver diseases and paediatric liver transplantation. Her research work is dedicated to improving the nutritional care of liver transplant recipients, and enhancing post-transplant ouctomes including quality of life and sucessful transitions from paediatric to adult health care.

Coleman Rotstein, MD, FRCPC, FACP, FIDSA, FECMM, FAMMI

Plenary Speaker, Cases in Solid Organ Transplant

Dr. Rotstein is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Toronto. He received his medical degree from the University of Calgary in 1976. Dr. Rotstein completed his specialty training in Internal Medicine and pursued further subspecialty training in Infectious Diseases & Immunology at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, South Carolina. He is currently the Interim Director of Transplant and Oncology Infectious Diseases at the University Health Network.

Dr. Rotstein has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers. His research interests have focused mainly on infections in cancer patients and other immunocompromised hosts (Contact information: Tel. 416-340-4800 X6663; E-mail: Coleman.Rotstein@uhn.ca).

Daniel Santa Mina, RKin, CEP, PhD

Concurrent Speaker, Managing Frailty - Pre and Post-Transplant

Dr. Daniel Santa Mina is a kinesiologist and clinical exercise physiologist. Dr. Santa Mina is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education and cross-appointed to the Faculty of Medicine in the Department of Surgery. At the University Health Network in Toronto, Canada, he is a Clinician Investigator in the Department of Anesthesia and Pain Management and Director of Research and Programming for the Prehabilitation Program. His area of research focuses on surgical prehabilitation, rehabilitation, and exercise for people with chronic diseases. He as over 120 peer-reviewed publications and over $21MM in research funding.

Nazia Selzner, MD

Keynote Speaker, Beyond the Gift: The Living Donor Journey and Long-Term Outcomes

Dr. Nazia Selzner is a Transplant Hepatologist and Medical Director of the Living Donor Liver Transplantation at the Ajmera Transplant Center, University Health Network, and Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto. Dr. Nazia Selzner is a Scientist at the Institute for Medical Science (IMS) as well as at the Toronto General Research Institute (TGRI). Dr. Selzner graduated from Medical School at the University of Paris VII, France and completed her Gastroenterology training in France. She completed her PhD in 2003 at the University of Paris VII, France, after four years of research fellowship at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC and at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. Her research interest is in on mechanism of ischemia/reperfusion injury of the liver. Her clinical research is focused on access to liver transplantation and living donor liver transplantation. She is recipient of numerous national and international awards and has published extensively in the area of living organ donation, transplantation outcome and reperfusion injury. She is President-Elect of International Liver Transplantation Society (ILTS) and Executive Editor of Transplantation International.