Skip to main content

About Us

In November 1999 the Kidney Foundation of Canada (KFoC) and Canadian Society of Nephrology (CSN) co-hosted the Horizons 2000+ conference, bringing together multiple stakeholders with the goal of developing strategies to enhance kidney research capacity and infrastructure in Canada. This was the first of a series of strategic planning meetings that resulted in the release of the National Research Coalition Task Force report in 2002, a report that contained the blueprint for a long-term strategy to build research capacity through productive partnerships and the creation of a fertile environment for research excellence and innovation.

In the autumn of 2002, the CSN established an ad hoc Scientific Committee to address concerns related to a diminished ability to attract and sustain kidney research scientists in Canada, as well as the barriers in translating scientific research knowledge to clinical practice and improving patient outcomes. With support from the CSN and KFoC, the committee organized two meetings in March and September 2003 that brought together a broad spectrum of leading biomedical, clinical and allied health scientists from across Canada with representatives from the Kidney Foundation and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

These meetings resulted in all parties committing to an exciting new training program for kidney research scientists, with support from the CSN/Kidney Foundation of Canada partnership and involving the Canadian Institutes of Health Research together with private sector stakeholders. This new program would be unique in several ways:

1) it would recruit trainees from multiple disciplines who would be involved in developing a national curriculum;
2) it would support career development at the post-doctoral level and in the period following the candidate's first faculty appointment, with corresponding mentorship and coaching; and
3) it would foster the development of collaborative research and knowledge translation across research themes.

As a result, the Kidney Research Scientist Core Education and National Training (KRESCENT) program was launched in January 2005 and is a testimony to the leadership of the individuals, organizations and companies committed to reducing the burden of kidney disease throughout Canada.