The Cameron Wallace Graduate Student Award in Pathology

I am a PhD candidate under the supervision of Dr. Christopher McIntyre and Dr. Stephen Pasternak at Victoria Hospital and Robarts Research Institute. My project focuses on identifying the role of extracellular vesicles in end-stage renal disease patients on hemodialysis. Hemodialysis is a chronic, life-sustaining therapy that entails multiple weekly extracorporeal circulation sessions to remove extra fluid and kidney waste toxins. This therapy is commonly associated with repetitive ischemia-reperfusion injury due to hemodynamic instability, microvascular dysfunction, and activation of the innate immune system, resulting in cumulative multi-organ injury and permanent organ damage. Currently, detection of injury is done through advanced medical imaging modalities, which are complex, expensive, and require highly specialized equipment and operators. Extracellular vesicles are an inexpensive, non-invasive biomarker of vascular injury. Therefore, the purpose of my project is to understand whether blood-based extracellular vesicles can be used as an indicator of hemodialysis-induced injury. Aside from my research interests, I have been an active member of the Western Pathology Association as a previous General member, Vice President of Social Events, and as the existing Co-President. I was also previously the Walk Lead for London’s Bladder Cancer Canada Walk.