Annie-Claire Nadeau-Fredette (Canada)

It is an honor to be considered as a candidate for the ISPD Council – North American Region member. Over the years, I had the privileged to work with well-known experts in PD and these mentors have majorly influenced my enthusiasm towards this field, which now occupies a central position in all components of my professional life including clinics, research, education and administrative positions.

One of my current leadership roles is through the INTEGRATED research group, an international collaboration of home dialysis expert aiming to improve transition outcomes in patients with kidney failure. Our group have previously received funding from the ISPD International Studies program (with junior lead Dr. Annabel Boyer). As an ISPD Council member, I hope to use my experience and collaborative skills to facilitate research project collaboration and implementation between different ISPD regions. This would also be in line with my current work as the ISPD-North American Chapter (NAC) research co-lead.
If elected, I wish to support and expand current ISPD education initiatives, with a special interest for educational content directed toward non-English populations for whom educational material is sometimes more limited. I will also encourage broader inclusion of patients-partner in the ISPD, with a focus on education, research and advocacy roles.

Finally, I also want to advocate for improved care for all patients receiving PD, and those who could benefit from this therapy. Among all my endeavours, one of my proudest accomplishment was the deployment of a health-care assisted PD program in my center, which, after years of advocacy, has now led to an ongoing province-wide implementation of assisted PD. I believe ISPD should work with different organizations to foster educational tools and increase assistance and support available to patients receiving PD. Among a number of important needs, improving access to assisted PD should be prioritize in many regions, including North America.