Fresh Start for a New Year
We are starting 2025 with a new name, a refreshed website, and a new Advisory Board. 2024 was a year of big changes and we’re excited to catch you up to speed!
What’s in a Name?
Previously called the Transplant Research Foundation (TRF), extensive work in 2024 revealed that we were not capturing a significant element of the work that we fund as well as the people who support us.
“After thoughtful consultations with our patient partners, researchers and community, we were inspired to update our name to the Organ Donation and Transplant Research Foundation to truly reflect our mission and vision for the future of organ donation and transplant research,” explains Kristi Coldwell, Senior Advisor, Organ Donation and Transplant Research Foundation (ODTRF) of BC.
The Foundation has always funded groundbreaking research on the donation process—both in the realm of living donation and deceased donation—and yet, our name did not adequately reflect this. Some recent projects by Dr. Jagbir Gill, Dr. Caren Rose, Dr. Daljeet Chahal, Christina Schellenberg and Dr. Alice Virani, which is a project that has actually helped inform BC Transplant policy, exemplify this.
“We had been hearing for some time that the omission of “donation” from our name may be a serious impediment to ODTRF’s greater reach within the organ donation community and raised concerns about inclusivity and recognition of donor families,” says Kristi. “Adding organ donation to our name highlights our ongoing commitment to fund groundbreaking donation-related research. It’s also a heartfelt tribute to organ donors whose incredible gifts make transplants possible—because without donation, there would be no transplant.”
Expert Independent Advice: Scientific Advisory Board
“As a Board, we engaged in strategic planning to look at where we were, and where we wanted to go,” says Lori Lothian, co-chair, ODTRF. “One of the innovations to come out of this is the formation of a Scientific Advisory Board.”
Lori lauds fellow co-chair Rachael Durie and Kristi Coldwell for the launch of the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). The SAB’s mandate is to provide independent, expert advice and guidance to the ODTRF Board on scientific matters pertaining to the work of the Foundation.
“The SAB is made up of the great experts working in our province right now,” says Lori. “We see this as an important piece in closely connecting us with the donation and transplant community.”
Read more about the ODTRF Scientific Advisory Board.
New Look, Same Core Values
The ODTRF’s website has been refreshed to reflect its new name, but the organization’s core values remain the same.
“What we have always tried to do is support and encourage innovation, to provide seed funding for really good ideas where money isn’t always available or to help move things along a bit faster or more intentionally,” says Lori. “People working directly in organ donation and transplants—the nurses on transplant ward, the doctors working in the clinics, the allied health professionals at point-of-care—all have ideas, but those ideas need to be moved forward to a place where they can get conventional funding.”
The ODTRF has proudly supported more than 100 clinicians and scientists, funding more than fifty research projects to advance patient care and revolutionize donation and transplantation science.
“I always eagerly anticipate the new and exciting research we will fund in the coming years,” adds Kristi. “I never know what innovative projects our investigators will bring forward and how their research will transform the care and experience of living donors, deceased donors and their families and transplant recipients.”