Professor Pediatrics, Surgery, Immunology, Laboratory Medicine & Pathology
University of Alberta

Dr. Lori West is a Professor of Pediatrics, Surgery, Medical Microbiology/Immunology and Laboratory Medicine/Pathology at the University of Alberta and Director of the Alberta Transplant Institute. A clinician-scientist, she has longstanding interest and expertise in pediatric heart transplantation and transplant immunology, particularly related to ABO glycoimmunology. Her pioneering work on crossing ABO-barriers led to global impact on infant heart transplantation. Dr. West is also the founding Director of the Canadian Donation and Transplantation Research Program, a national research coalition funded since 2013 by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Together with founding co-Director Dr. Marie-Josée Hébert, the CDTRP framework has grown to encompass collaborations in all streams of research with hundreds of investigators at 37 sites across Canada. Dr. West previously held the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Heart Transplantation. She is past-president of the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation and the Canadian Society of Transplantation, immediate past-chair of the Women in Transplantation international initiative of The Transplantation Society, and served as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Society of Transplantation. She is also an honorary lifetime member of the British Society of Transplantation. A Fellow of both the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, Dr. West was inducted as an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2022. Dr. West is also the recipient of the 2024 ISHLT Lifetime Achievement Award.

Professor of Pediatrics and Interdisciplinary Transplantation
Consultant Pediatric Nephrologist, Dean for Academic Career Development
Hannover Medical School, Germany

Anette Melk, MD PhD is Professor of Pediatrics and Interdisciplinary Transplantation and serves Hannover Medical School as Dean for Academic Career Development. She is the current chair of Pillar 2 of Women in Transplantation.

Dr. Melk’s clinical research aims to decipher factors leading to cardiovascular and renal comorbidity in children with chronic kidney disease and transplantation. She has demonstrated that girls are particularly vulnerable to certain risk factors and experience more severe cardiovascular damage. She showed that female patients have lesser waitlist access and that younger female patients experience greater rates of graft loss and death.

She has organized two international symposia on the topic of sex and gender in transplantation medicine. For her advocacy and work on the topic Dr. Melk received the Future Award of the German Society of Nephrology in 2023.

Post-doctoral Research Assistant, University of Sydney

Dr Rosales is a Post-doctoral Research Assistant at the University of Sydney with a growing track record in highly translational health research in cancer and kidney transplantation. Her educational background in medical science, and she worked in industry as a Tissue Typing Scientist in the NSW Transplantation and Immunogenetics Services. Following an interest in equity and healthcare delivery she went on to complete a Master of Public Health at the University of Sydney. Dr Rosales has worked internationally in cancer clinical trials, and recently completed a PhD on the impact of cancer in kidney transplant recipients, including identifying sex and gender differences in outcomes under the supervision of Prof Angela Webster and Prof Kate Wyburn at The University of Sydney. Her PhD projects largely involved coordination of data-linkage studies and analysis of complex linked health administrative and clinical data. Her work has informed clinical practice guidelines in keratinocyte cancer management and deceased organ donor acceptance criteria. Her post-doctoral work aims to bring together my diverse research and project management skills and experience to investigate inequities in health service delivery in cancer and transplantation and create real world change.

Professor of Transplant Surgery and Honorary Consultant Transplant Surgeon
Transplant Unit Royal Infirmary Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh

Lorna Marson is a Professor of Transplant Surgery at the Transplant Unit, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, and works clinically as a kidney and pancreas transplant surgeon. Having completed her clinical training in Edinburgh, she was awarded a Clinician Scientist Award from the Academy of Medical Sciences, which allowed her to take up the post of clinical academic within the University of Edinburgh. Lorna continues to have an interest in clinically relevant research in renal transplantation, and now chairs the UK Organ Donation and Transplantation Research Network. She was President of the British Transplantation Society from 2017 to 2019, and chaired the College of European National Transplant Societies until September 2021. She has a significant role in the delivery of undergraduate and postgraduate medical education in Scotland. She is passionate about training and education.

Postdoctoral Fellow Metabolic Disorders and Complications (MeDiC) Program
Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre