DISCO-RLS

Michael Walsh

Senior Scientist

Michael Walsh is a Principal Investigator in the Renal research program at PHRI, and an Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine (nephrology), McMaster University. His research activities are in the areas of the treatment of patients who require dialysis, severe glomerular disease, and perioperative acute kidney injury. He has published more than 70 papers and two book chapters.

He holds a Kidney Research Scientist Core Education and National Training (KRESCENT) Program New Investigator award through CIHR and the Kidney Foundation of Canada.  He’s received multiple Top Abstract awards from the Canadian Society of Nephrology, the Chalmers Prize from the Society for Clinical Trials, and the Detweiller Traveling Scholar Award from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

David Collister

Associate Investigator

David Collister is a nephrologist at the University of Alberta Hospital and Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Nephrology, at the University of Alberta. He completed a PhD in Health Research Methodology at McMaster University and research fellowship at the Population Health Research Institute (PHRI) focused on run-in periods and patient oriented research in kidney disease including the DISCO-RLS trial.

His research program focuses on symptom management in patients with kidney disease and, in particular, randomized controlled trials of therapies to alleviate symptoms in chronic kidney disease and dialysis. He currently holds a Kidney Research Scientist Core Education and National Training (KRESCENT) New Investigator Award. His research program is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Kidney Foundation of Canada. He is the principal investigator of RESET-DIALYSIS, a prospective cohort study of patients with advanced chronic kidney disease initiating dialysis which will examine the responsiveness of uremic symptoms to dialysis and uremic symptom pathophysiology with metabolomics, proteomics and genomics. He is the principal investigator of DISCO-POT, a randomized controlled trial of nabilone versus placebo for the treatment of uremic pruritus in adults with kidney failure treated with dialysis. He is also interested in the intersection between transgender, non-binary and gender diverse populations and kidney disease.

Jessica Tyrwhitt

Program Manager

Jessica Tyrwhitt has more than 10 years’ experience in coordinating and managing large, international clinical trials. She oversees interventional trials, registries, and observational research studies looking at primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease in a variety of therapeutic areas, including cardiology, thrombosis, nephrology, cardio-oncology and diabetes.

She holds an Honours Bachelor of Science Degree & Business from the University of Waterloo.

Courtney Christou

Project Manager

Courtney has more than eight years of experience working in both industry and academic research. She primarily manages large international drug trials that focus primarily on prevention of cardiovascular disease (TIPS-3, COMPASS and ORIGIN trials) and chronic kidney disease (ACHIEVE, RECORD and DISCO-RLS trials).

She holds an Honours Bachelor of Applied Sciences with a Major in Kinesiology and a Diploma in Fitness and Health Promotion from the University of Guelph-Humber.