Although still early in his career, Dr. Karthik Tennankore is already making great strides in kidney disease research and care. As a Principal Investigator for the past seven years, he has made a name for himself across Nova Scotia, throughout Canada and around the world, and is helping to establish a highly regarded nephrology research program within Nova Scotia Health.
Dr. Tennankore, who is the QEII Foundation Chair in Transplantation Research, is recipient of this year’s Early Career/Emerging Researcher Award. This provincial award recognizes one early career researcher (e.g. within 10 years of completion of a PhD), who has shown promise in terms of leadership and achievement and who has contributed to research at Nova Scotia Health.
Dr. Tennankore’s award nomination notes that he “lights up a meeting by contributing thoughtful observations, asking great questions, and engaging in meaningful discussion. He sparks excitement into projects!”
Tell us a bit about yourself. What you do, where you are located and your favourite part about it?
I am currently part of a newly branded research team (the Kidney Research Institute of Nova Scotia, or KRINS), made up of clinical researchers, research coordinators and a dedicated project manager.
My work largely involves outcomes research with dialysis patients and kidney transplant patients. I conduct both prospective studies (including clinical trials) and large database studies with a special interest on frailty and its impact on outcomes for those with kidney disease. In addition, I am venturing into new areas of research, which are looking at arrythmia burden among dialysis patients, artificial intelligence and machine learning.
My favourite part of what I do is interacting with my team to come up with new and creative areas of research to help address important clinical problems for patients living with kidney disease, with a great emphasis on finding ways to improve their health and health outcomes.
How do you feel your work contributes to the health and wellbeing of Nova Scotians? Why is it important?
Much of what I do directly impacts decision making around the care of patients living with kidney disease. In addition, by identifying clinical issues that are impacting the health of these patients and trying to better understand them, I hope I can inform future interventions/treatments to better their health. For example, in collaboration with an expert in determinants of physical activity and sedentary behavior, I am trying to better understand the exercise behaviours of transplant recipients and their partners. This research may help to design a future behavior intervention focused on improving their ability to exercise and long-term health.
What does it mean to you to receive the outstanding researcher award
This is a truly humbling experience. It really makes me feel as though my research is being valued, and more importantly, that research involving patients living with kidney disease is being highlighted. I hope that this will help grow public awareness of kidney disease in Nova Scotia.
As this year’s recipient of the outstanding researcher award, how do you hope to inspire others who are working to make a difference in the lives of Nova Scotians each day?
To me, the biggest inspiration is knowing that there is a problem that needs to be explored and addressed for patients with illness. Asking the right questions and using that to develop important studies to make a difference in the lives of patients is truly fulfilling and the main reason I chose to include clinical research as a major part of my career. I hope that everyone always goes back to this point when they are contemplating a career in clinical research: Why do we do what we do? If the answer is to improve the health of those around us, then no clinical question and no project is too small. I think about this every time I start something new.
Congratulations to Dr. Tennankore on receiving this year’s Making Waves: Early Career/Emerging Researcher Award. He “approaches his research and clinical practice in a caring and compassionate manner. To him, the research participants are not just participants – they are people. His respect for people is reflected in the research projects that he undertakes and how he ensures that his findings are translated into improvements to patient care quickly.”
