2024 - Kidney Research Impact Report - Flipbook - Page 7
New Kidney Disease Scientist Promotions
Dr. Deborah Zimmerman
Dr. Ayub Akbari
When one of Dr. Deborah Zimmerman’s patients with endstage kidney disease starts hemodialysis, their life changes
on a dime. They go from feeling unwell at home to travelling
to the hospital three days a week for treatment.
Nephrologist Dr. Ayub Akbari does his best to prepare
patients with advanced chronic kidney disease for the day
when their kidneys fail and they need dialysis, and for many
patients there’s no way to know when that will happen.
Dr. Zimmerman wonders whether starting some patients on
hemodialysis more gradually at two days a week while they
still have some kidney function would give them a bit more
time to enjoy their regular activities. There has been very
little research in this area, so she’s co-leading a clinical trial
to determine the risks and bene昀椀ts.
Kidney failure can be a life-threatening medical emergency
that brings patients to the emergency department, where they
start dialysis as a hospital inpatient. But if kidney specialists
had a better sense of when their patient’s kidneys will fail,
they could see them more regularly, help them prepare for
dialysis or a kidney transplant, and perhaps start them on
outpatient dialysis.
She is also evaluating the education patients receive before
and after starting dialysis, to get patients’ perspectives on
the relevance of this information for planning their end-stage
kidney disease care. In addition, she’s leading a clinical trial
to 昀椀nd out whether a simple exercise program is feasible for
these patients, and whether it can improve their quality of
life.
Dr. Akbari’s research team is using arti昀椀cial intelligence to
see if they can predict when patients will need dialysis. Their
recent study also found that patients without a high school
diploma, or who were unemployed or single, had worse
transitions from advanced chronic kidney disease to kidney
failure requiring dialysis.
Dr. Zimmerman was recently appointed as a scientist in
the Clinical Epidemiology Program. She is a nephrologist,
previous Medical Director of the home hemodialysis program
at The Ottawa Hospital, and Director of clinical research at
the Kidney Research Centre.
Dr. Akbari was recently appointed as an associate scientist in
the Clinical Epidemiology Program. He is a nephrologist and
Medical Director, Multi-Care Kidney Clinic, Nephrology Preconception and Pregnancy Clinic, and Director of Data and
Analytics for Division of Nephrology at The Ottawa Hospital.
The Ottawa Hospital | Kidney Research Centre
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