Héloïse Cardinal is a transplant nephrologist at the Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM) and an independent researcher at the CHUM research center. After her nephrology training at the University of Montreal, she did a PhD in epidemiology at McGill University. She is currently working on the characterization of various biomarkers of vascular damage in acute kidney graft rejection and delayed graft function, as well as on the development of a clinical decision support tool to decide to accept or refuse a kidney from a donor with risk features for suboptimal graft survival. She is a Fonds de Recherche du Québec (Santé) Junior 2 scholar and a Canadian Donation and Transplantation Research Program investigator.

Jennifer A. Chandler researches and writes about the legal and ethical aspects of biomedical science and technology, with focuses on mental health law and policy, neuroethics, organ donation and regenerative medicine. She holds the Bertram Loeb Research Chair at the University of Ottawa, leading several research teams addressing trust in the organ and tissue donation system, family decision-making at end of life, and the law and ethics of ante-mortem interventions intended to support organ donation. She is also a co-lead of the Research Core on Ethics, Law and Society for the Canadian National Transplant Research Program. She is active in public policy in organ donation and transplantation as a member of the ethics committees of the Ontario Trillium Gift of Life Network and Canadian Society of Transplantation.

Michaël Chassé is a medical specialist in intensive care medicine at the Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM), a principal scientist at the CHUM Research Center and assistant professor at the Department of Medicine and the School of Public Health at the University of Montreal. He is the Scientific Director of the CHUM Center for Integration and Analysis of Medical Data (CITADEL). His main research interests lie in the improvement of traditional epidemiological research methods using new technologies such as machine learning and innovative clinical trials, particularly in areas related to critical care such as organ donation, organ transplantation and blood transfusions.

Dr. Prosanto Chaudhury is a Transplant and Hepatobiliary Surgeon and Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery at McGill University in Montreal. He is currently interim Director of the Multi-Organ Transplant Program at McGill and Medical Director (Transplantation) at Transplant Québec. He is past President of the Canadian Liver Transplant Network (CLTN). He sits on several advisory committees in organ donation and transplantation at Canadian Blood Services and is currently a member of the Board of the Canadian Society of Transplantation (CST). His academic interests are currently focused on post-transplant outcomes and the use of extended criteria grafts.

Professor Cohen's current research projects relate to big data, health information technologies, mobile health, reproduction/reproductive technology, research ethics, organ transplantation, rationing in law and medicine, health policy, FDA law, translational medicine, and to medical tourism. He is the author of more than 150 articles and chapters and more than 15 books. He is also one of three editors-in-chief of the Journal of Law and the Biosciences, a peer-reviewed journal published by Oxford University Press, and serves on the editorial board for the American Journal of Bioethics. He created the free online Harvard X class Bioethics: The Law, Medicine, and Ethics of Reproductive Technologies and Genetics, which was nominated by Harvard for the Japan Prize. More than 97,000 students have taken the course so far.

Sean Delaney is based out of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He is both a health policy expert working in the field of organ donation and transplantation as well as a two-time kidney transplant recipient. His work with Canadian Blood Services since 2008 has included the building of Canada's first kidney paired donation program and a highly sensitized kidney sharing program.

Dr. Dhanani completed his residency in pediatric and fellowship in pediatric critical care medicine at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto in 2002 and further trained at the Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital in London, UK. He is the Chief of the pediatric intensive care unit at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) in Ottawa and Associate Professor, Pediatrics at the University of Ottawa. He has recently been Chief Medical Officer – Donation for Trillium Gift of Life, Ontario’s organ procurement organization. He is also leading international research pertaining to practices and standards for determining death after cardiac arrest for the purposes of donation.

Dr. Mélanie Dieudé is an immunologist based at the Centre de recherche du Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CRCHUM), as well as Executive Director of CDTRP. She obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Montreal in 2004, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at McGill University from 2005 to 2009, and a second one at the University of Montreal from 2009 to 2011. She is the recipient of several honours including Personnalité scientifique de l’année from the Montreal daily La Presse (2017) and the Young Investigator Award from the American Transplant Congress in 2011. Dr. Dieudé was recruited in 2011 by Dr. Marie-Josée Hébert in her transdisciplinary research group. Her research focuses on characterizing the impact of tissue damage on autoimmune response in the context of transplant rejection, graft-versus-host disease, autoimmune diseases and cardiovascular diseases. Dr. Dieudé has contributed to the development and scientific integration of the PDTRC since 2014.

Patrick Fafard has enjoyed a lengthy career that spans both government and academe. While with the Government of Canada he served as a Director General in the Intergovernmental Affairs Secretariat of the Privy Council Office. Earlier, he served in multiple capacities with three provincial governments, including as Executive Director of the Saskatchewan Commission on Medicare and Executive Director, Policy and Planning, Saskatchewan Department of Health. Patrick’s academic interests are wide-ranging, spanning health, trade, and environmental policies, and federalism and intergovernmental relations in Canada. His current teaching and research includes and health and human rights, the role of senior public health leaders in Commonwealth countries, global health governance to address the challenge of antimicrobial resistance, the governance of organ donation and transplantation, and developing public health political science.

Katherine Fierlbeck is McCulloch Professor of Political Science at Dalhousie University, with a cross-appointment as Professor of Community Health and Epidemiology. She is the director of the Jean Monnet Network for Health Law and Politics. Fierlbeck focuses on the politics of health policy. She has a particular interest in issues of governance and mechanisms of accountability, including multilevel governance. Some of her recent books include Health Care in Canada (2011), Canadian Health Care Federalism (2013), Comparative Health Care Federalism (2015), Health System Profiles: Nova Scotia (2018), and Transparency, Power, and Influence in the Pharmaceutical Industry (2021). Her current book project focusses on the Canada Health Act carve-outs.

Marie-Chantal Fortin, M.D., Ph.D. (Bioethics), F.R.C.P.(c) is a transplant nephrologist at the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM), a researcher at the Research Center of the CHUM and a professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the Université de Montréal. She is a researcher within the Canadian Donation and Transplantation Research Program (CDTRP) and the co-leader of the Patient-Researcher Partnership Platform. Her research interests are related to transplantation  ethics and patient and researcher partnership in research and clinical care. She is a member of the ethics committee of Transplant Québec, the Canadian Blood Services and the Collège des médecins du Québec.

Dr Gardiner is a Consultant in Adult Intensive Care Medicine at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, UK. Through an interest in ethics, the diagnosis of death and deceased organ donation he accepted the role as local hospital Clinical Lead for Organ Donation in Nottingham in 2009 and Regional Clinical Lead for Organ Donation in the Midlands in 2011. In June 2013 he gave up the local and regional roles to became the UK Deputy National Clinical Lead for Organ Donation for NHS Blood and Transplant, and in June 2018 he was appointed into the national role. Dr Gardiner is co-chair of the deceased donation working group for ELPAT (Ethical, Legal and Psychosocial Aspects of organ Transplantation, as part of the European Society for Organ Transplantation) and chair of the Nottingham University Hospital’s Ethics of Clinical Practice Committee.

Rhonda C. George is a sociologist with research expertise in the social dimensions of race and racialization, as it pertains to Caribbean diasporic populations in the U.S. and Canada. She uses mixed-method and qualitative methodologies coupled with critical race and intersectional theoretical paradigms to interrogate how systemic racial stratification informs the ways in which Black communities experience, navigate, and engage with social institutions such as health care, education, and sporting systems.

Jed Adam Gross is a member of the Bioethics Program at University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto, where his clinical practice supports the work of UHN’s Ajmera Transplant Centre. He also advises organizations engaged in transplant governance, including Trillium Gift of Life Network and CSA Group. A member of the Massachusetts bar, Mr. Gross practiced healthcare law at Ropes & Gray before completing a transplant ethics fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic. His scholarly publications bring comparative, historical, and legal insights to bear on the policy challenges associated with biomedical innovation.

Vanessa Gruben has always been interested in the difficult legal and ethical issues of healthcare. She brings that interest to her roles as Vice Dean of the English Common Law Program, Associate Professor, and a member of the Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics at the University of Ottawa. She is co-editor of the 5th edition of Canada’s leading health law text, Canadian Health Law and Policy. Her research focuses on professional self-regulation, assisted reproduction, organ donation, and harm reduction.

Andrew is an emergency and critical care physician at William Osler Health System. He is the former medical director and division head of Critical Care and now serves as the Chief of Emergency Services. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Andrew has co-chaired the COVID Clinical Response Committee for Osler. He is the Chief Medical Officer (Donation) for Trillium Gift of Life Network, remaining committed to an interest in end of life care inside and outside of the ICU. He currently works part-time as an emergency physician at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton and is an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine (Emergency) at McMaster University. Andrew is married to his overly supportive wife Michelle and has four beautiful (home-schooling!) children (13, 10, 7, and 5).

A little bit about myself: I am a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother and a teacher. I am the best dancer in the world in my mind and I am also best friends with Tracee Ellis Ross—yes, in my head. In 2015, I was diagnosed with FSGS and quickly had to start dialysis treatment. I knew I had had kidney disease for a while before that but with one failed pregnancy in 2010 and one successful pregnancy in 2012, I knew this battle would be a difficult one to journey. Thankfully, in 2016, I was able to receive a kidney from a live donor thanks to the paired exchange program.

Stanislas Kandelman began his medical career as a neuro-intensivist at Beaujon Hospital, Paris, the first centre for polytrauma patients in the Paris region, and a reference centre for liver transplantation. From 2012 to 2018, he was the physician in charge of the North French Network for Organ Procurement, which includes 22 hospitals. He was a member of the Ethics Committee of the University Hospitals of Paris Nord Val de Seine until 2018 and has been an active member of the Ethics Committee of the French Society of Anesthesia-Resuscitation since 2017. His two main areas of research are prognostic criteria for patients recovering from coma, and communication with relatives of patients who have suffered brain death.

Dr. Maureen Meade is a Critical Care consultant in the neurotrauma intensive care units at Hamilton Health Sciences and a Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics at McMaster University. Dr. Meade recently launched a program of research in deceased organ donation and is the director of the Canada-DONATE research program. Central to this research is a national prospective observational study of deceased donation practices at high-volume donation institutions across Canada. The purpose is to build a national research platform that will support future clinical trials and address various pragmatic, methodologic and ethical challenges unique to research in this field.

Dr. Mucsi is a clinician investigator and transplant nephrologist at the Multi-Organ Transplant Program and Division of Nephrology at the University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto. He also holds a cross-appointment with the Semmelweis University Budapest. Dr. Mucsi has broad research interests, including living donor kidney transplantation (KT), quality of life of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and KT, bone and mineral disorders, renal anemia, and inflammation in CKD and kidney transplant. Recently he launched a series of research projects to understand and reduce psychosocial and ethnocultural barriers to KT and living donor KT. With his research team and collaborators, he is working on adapting culturally appropriate education resources to enhance transplant-related knowledge, reduce disparities and enhance access.

Dr. Oczkowski is a critical care physician and an Associate Professor of Medicine at McMaster university. He has a masters degree in bioethics from the University of Toronto and in health research methods from McMaster University. His clinical and research interests are in end-of-life decision-making, including organ donation and medical assistance in dying, as well as clinical practice guideline development.

Thaddeus Mason Pope is a foremost expert on medical law and clinical ethics. He maintains a special focus on patient rights, healthcare decision making, and end-of-life options. Pope is a law professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law in Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA. He is ranked among the top 20 most cited health law scholars in the United States with over 225 publications in medical journals, bioethics journals, and law reviews. He coauthors the definitive treatise The Right to Die: The Law of End-of-Life Decisionmaking, and he runs the Medical Futility Blog (with over four million page views).

My friend Edna and I met by chance in 2016. Even with my background of encouraging and supporting people in self-determination, following Edna on her path was a learning for me on many levels. A passionate and principled person, Edna moved through the world on her own chosen trajectory. Edna challenged me and others in her circle of care to explore options that would be acceptable and appropriate to her. I took on the tricky and sensitive role of informing, educating and facilitating communication within her network of friends and family. By sharing our experience I hope to honour her friendship and the virtues she exemplifies.

Dr. Shemie's research interests include the clinical and policy impact of organ failure support technologies, the development and implementation of national ICU-based leading practices in organ donation, and research at the intersection of end-of-life care, death determination and deceased donation. From the additional perspectives of a pediatric critical care physician, ECMO specialist, trauma team leader and medical advisor on deceased organ donation with the Canadian Blood Services, his focus is on organ replacement during critical illness and the continuum between life, death and oxygen delivery.

Christy Simpson is an Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Bioethics, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University. She is also the Department’s Coordinator of the Ethics Collaborations Team which provides ethics support for Nova Scotia Health, the IWK Health Centre, and Nova Scotia Health Ethics Network. Her primary responsibilities in this role include ethics education and capacity-building, policy development and review, and support for clinical and organizational ethics consultations. Christy is also currently a Bioethics Consultant with Canadian Blood Services. Previous to this, she chaired the Canadian Blood Services Bioethics Advisory Committee. Christy has participated in several national forums on organ and tissue donation and transplantation.

Maxwell J. Smith, PhD, MSc, is a Bioethicist and Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Western University. Dr. Smith co-directs Western’s Health Ethics, Law, and Policy (HELP) Lab and has appointments in Western’s Department of Philosophy, Rotman Institute of Philosophy, Centre for Research on Health Equity and Social Inclusion, and Institute for Earth and Space Exploration. Beyond Western, Dr. Smith is a member of Ontario’s COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Task Force, Ontario’s COVID-19 Bioethics Table, World Health Organization’s Ethics & COVID-19 Working Group, and Public Health Agency of Canada’s Public Health Ethics Consultative Group. His expertise is in the areas of infectious disease ethics and he has published widely in the area of organ donation ethics.

Dr. Caroline Tait holds a Ph.D. in medical anthropology from McGill University and is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Saskatchewan. Dr. Tait is a member of the Métis Nation-Saskatchewan. She is the nominated principal investigator of the CIHR-funded Saskatchewan First Nations and Métis Health Research Centre, the CIHR Networks of Environments for Indigenous Health Research National Coordinating Centre, and the Saskatchewan Indigenous Mentorship Network. With Dr. Michael Moser, a kidney transplant surgeon in Saskatoon, Dr. Tait established the Saskatchewan First Nation and Métis Organ Donation and Transplantation Network. The network is made up of First Nation and Métis elders, knowledge keepers and persons with lived experience, researchers, physicians, and students.

Everad Tilokee received a heart transplant at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI) in 2014 and later that year completed graduate research at the same institute. He currently works at Canadian Blood Services as a Data Analyst in Ottawa where he coordinates several research and training programs and performance reporting to Health Canada. Over the years he has participated in policy building, patient advocacy and awareness initiatives related to organ donation and transplantation. He also brings his unique perspective as a patient, data analyst, and former graduate researcher to the UOHI Patient Alumni Association where he is an active member of the Board of Directors. His interests include helping to develop patient-oriented research and policies to ultimately improve the patient experience and clinical outcomes. Taken together, these roles enable him to give back to the community that gives him the life he leads today.

Maeghan Toews's research interests are in the fields of health and medical law, with a focus on the legal and ethical issues arising from new medical biotechnologies. She has been involved in a wide range of projects on topics such as precision medicine, rare diseases, research ethics, non-invasive prenatal testing, regenerative medicine, biobanking, and genetics and genomics. Organ donation and transplantation is a central focus of her work. Her work encompasses a range of methodologies, including traditional doctrinal legal scholarship, media studies, and public surveys. Prior to entering academia, she spent several years in private practice as a commercial litigator.

Alyssa Tomkins has a broad-ranging litigation practice in both official languages, including corporate and commercial litigation, bankruptcy and insolvency, and administrative/constitutional law. Alyssa has appeared before all levels of court, in various commercial arbitrations and before administrative tribunals. Prior to joining Caza Saikaley at the time of its inception, Alyssa clerked for the Honourable Michel Bastarache at the Supreme Court of Canada and worked for several years at a national firm.

Robin is an Assistant Professor and Ramia Scientist in the Department of Surgery, with cross-appointments in the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology and Division of Medical Education, at Dalhousie University. She is also a Senior Scientist with the Beatrice Hunter Cancer Research Institute and an Affiliate Scientist at the Nova Scotia Health Authority. Robin’s primary research interests relate to understanding and optimizing the movement of evidence-based innovations into clinical practice as well as the interface between evidence-based medicine and policy. This includes investigating issues such as: barriers and enablers to implementing and using evidence-based innovations; how and the extent to which factors at multiple levels of the cancer system influence the implementation and sustainability of innovations; and the role and nature of scientific evidence in decision-making for cancer.

Charles Weijer is an internationally recognized expert in research ethics. His publications on the duty of care in clinical research, the ethical analysis of study benefits and harms, and empowering communities in research have been broadly influential. From 2008 to 2013 Charles co-led a collaboration that produced the first international ethics guidelines for cluster randomized trials. From 2014 to 2018 he collaborated with Dr. Adrian M. Owen on a project exploring the ethics of functional neuroimaging after severe brain injury. Charles’ current work explores the ethics of research involving imminently dying patients, and ethical issues in organ donation, including the use of normothermic regional perfusion. He held the Canada Research Chair in Bioethics from 2005 to 2019. In 2014, Charles received Western’s Hellmuth Prize for Achievement in Research, and, in 2016, he was elected to the Royal Society of Canada.

Dr. Matthew Weiss practices pediatric critical care medicine at the CHU de Québec – Université Laval (CHUL). Dr. Weiss is also an assistant clinical professor in the Faculty of Medicine at Université Laval. His academic activities are mainly focused on organ donation, and he is funded by the Canadian Blood Services to assist in the development of clinical practice guidelines. He is an active member of the Canadian Critical Care Trials Group, and the medical director of organ donation at Transplant Québec.