Research Awards Recipients

Biography
Dr. Mary Smith holds a PhD in Nursing from the University of Victoria and is a Primary Health Care Nurse Practitioner in Ontario. Presently, she is also an Assistant Professor at Queen’s University in the School of Nursing and is keenly interested in pursuing Indigenous renal and mental health research. This interest has been fueled through her own experiences as a live kidney donor and as a member of a First Nations community. She has also been a volunteer with the Kidney Foundation of Canada and continues to offer peer support within her own community, the Beausoleil First Nation. Dr. Smith has provided presentations throughout Canada, the United States and Australia on her experiences with kidney organ donation. Her recent doctoral research concerning kidney disease within a First Nation community has been accepted by the International Journal of Indigenous Health for publication during the fall of 2019. Thorough the Kidney Foundation of Canada’s Allied Health Grant, Dr. Smith and her research team are inspired towards finding strength-based Indigenous solutions towards kidney health.
 
Lay Summary
Indigenous people in Canada have Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) up to four times more often than that of the general Canadian population. In addition to receiving fewer kidney transplants, Indigenous communities face numerous challenges in managing and treating kidney disease. For some remote and isolated communities, travel costs, time commitments to receive dialysis and lack of home dialysis hinders quality of life. For most, further challenges exist with participation in health care systems delivered through non-Indigenous contexts. Beyond focusing on deficits, Dr. Smith project will build upon strength-based approaches or Indigenous knowledge systems that seeks solutions towards CKD and ESRD. The objectives are to create partnerships with Indigenous peoples, stakeholders and community representatives to identify culturally-safe approaches to 1) foster kidney health and prevention of kidney disease; 2) increase kidney donation and transplantation; 3) promote accessible or home dialysis modalities.