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Announcement: Dr. Lakshman Gunaratnam re-appointed Dr. Robert Zhong Chair in Translational Transplant Research
Office of the Dean
I am pleased to announce that Dr. Lakshman Gunaratnam has been re-appointed as the Dr. Robert Zhong Chair in Translational Transplant Research at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University, effective April 1, 2026 to March 31, 2031.
Dr. Gunaratnam is Medical Director of the Multi-Organ Transplant Program at London Health Sciences Centre and Professor of Medicine at Western University. As an internationally recognized clinician-scientist, he leads a translational research program focused on advancing understanding of kidney injury, transplantation and cancer with the goal of improving patient outcomes.
Dr. Gunaratnam completed his undergraduate and graduate training in immunology at the University of Toronto, followed by medical school and an internal medicine residency at the University of Ottawa. After pursuing a research fellowship in cancer biology at the University of Ottawa, he completed joint research and clinical nephrology fellowships at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 2008, followed by additional subspecialty training in renal transplantation.
Dr. Gunaratnam leads an active basic and translational research program focused on Kidney Injury Molecule-1 (KIM-1), a protein expressed in the kidney following injury, and its roles in immune response and cancer biology. His research is centred on three key areas: understanding the role of KIM-1 in ischemia–reperfusion injury in both renal transplantation and native acute kidney injury, defining its contribution to metastatic kidney cancer and identifying novel pathways that drive kidney fibrosis. Through this work, his program aims to develop strategies to prevent kidney failure, extend transplant longevity and reduce mortality from kidney cancer.
Dr. Gunaratnam’s research is supported by peer-reviewed funding from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR), the Kidney Foundation of Canada and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation. Dr. Gunaratnam has received numerous awards, including the KRESCENT/CIHR New Investigator Award, the Schulich Clinician-Scientist Award and the 2023 Research Excellence Award from the Canadian Society of Transplantation. His trainees have also earned highly competitive national awards, including those from CIHR, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship program. He also holds many advisory and leadership roles at provincial and national levels with organizations such as the Canadian Blood Services, the Trillium Gift of Life Network, the Canadian Society of Transplantation, the Canadian Society of Nephrology and the Ontario Medical Association. Currently, he sits on the Advisory Board of the CIHR Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes, where he helps shape national research priorities.
Please join me in congratulating Dr. Gunaratnam on his re-appointment.
John Yoo, MD, FRCS(C), FACS
Dean, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry
Western University