Grant: Network Grant in Transplantation Research

Transplantation is used much more broadly to treat diseases than most Canadians realize. No longer is it restricted to people with organ failure. Instead, it is poised to become the preferred treatment for many chronic diseases and blood cancers. Nonetheless, challenges remain, such as the 50% transplant failure rate and the risk of complications and cancer from immunosuppressive medication. Even though 90% of Canadians want to be organ donors, few succeed: nationally, there are only around 750 deceased donors per year. As a result, only 33% of Canadians on waitlists receive transplants. The others wait-or die waiting. In 2013, the Canadian National Transplant Research Program (CNTRP) was created to increase the number and quality of transplants in Canada by uniting the donation, solid organ transplant and bone marrow transplant research communities. Building on CNTRP's success, in the renamed Canadian Donation and Transplant Research Program (CDTRP), we are now restructuring the projects into broader themes that will forge new collaborations, strengthen existing ideas and create new ones, and lead to innovations that maintain our position as a global leader in donation and transplantation research. We are also shifting from centralized funding to supporting research through grant competitions funded by partners according to their priorities. Our program infrastructure will support research, training and knowledge transfer, and will catalyze collaborations across disciplines, stakeholders and researchers nationwide (and beyond) to advance research in donation and transplantation, and promote equity and diversity in these fields. This grant will allow us to transition towards a more self-sustaining national network in which we can achieve our long-term vision: that Canada fulfills every donation opportunity and realizes the full potential of transplantation as a cure for many chronic diseases and blood cancers.