A pioneering force in the field of kidney transplantation has been recognized for leading the development of a health systems approach to transplant medicine in Canada.
Dr. Peter Nickerson received the 2025 Canadian Blood Services Lifetime Achievement Award for a career dedicated to improving life for those living with a gifted kidney. Through his research and leadership, Dr. Nickerson has become one of Canada’s leading clinician scientists in the field of kidney transplantation. For the last two decades, his work on transplant rejection, immunogenetics and developing better ways of monitoring immune activation have improved outcomes for kidney transplant recipients in Canada and around the world.
Dr. Graham Sher, CEO of Canadian Blood Services, presents Dr. Peter Nickerson with the organization’s 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award, Dec 5, 2025
In addition to his outstanding contributions in kidney transplantation, Dr. Nickerson has led the Canadian national standardization of HLA laboratory practice (the testing used to match organ transplant recipients with compatible donors) and the development of an interprovincial transplant network in Canada that has impacted the lives of hundreds of Canadians to date.
Dr. Nickerson played a pivotal role in the development of a health systems approach to transplant medicine. He helped design and implement a national transplant program that oversees interprovincial organ sharing. Rolled out by Canadian Blood Services under a mandate from the federal, provincial and territorial Ministers of Health, this system includes the national Kidney Paired Donation Program and the highly-sensitized patient (HSP) Program in Canada allowing difficult-to-transplant patients a better chance of finding a compatible donor. The very first patient to benefit from the HSP program was a Manitoban! Thanks to the introduction of these programs, more than 1,000 people have received a life-changing kidney transplant.
From 2014 – 2023, Dr. Nickerson was the medical director of Transplant Manitoba and he played a key role in the development of the Transplant Wellness Centre, home of Manitoba’s kidney transplant program located at HSC Winnipeg.
The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes individuals whose landmark contributions have made both extraordinary and world class impacts in the field of transfusion and/or transplantation science or medicine, and Dr. Nickerson has certainly accomplished that.Â
Learn more about the award and watch a short video celebrating Dr. Nickerson’s outstanding contributions throughout his career.