Sonny Dhanani

Investigator, CHEO Research Institute

Dr. Dhanani is the chief of the pediatric intensive care unit at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) in Ottawa and Associate Professor (Pediatrics) at the University of Ottawa. He has been the chief medical officer- donation and medical lead for research for Trillium Gift of Life, Ontario’s organ procurement organization. He is Chair of the newly formed Canadian Donation Physician Network, and is Chair of Canadian Blood Services’ Deceased Donation Advisory Committee. He is associate director for donation research for the Canadian Donation and Transplant Research Program. He is leading international research pertaining to practices and standards for determining death after cardiac arrest for the purposes of donation.

Related News

Research Projects

  1. Resumption of Cardiac Activity after Withdrawal of Life-Sustaining Measures

    27/01/2021

    A new international study, led by Dr. Sonny Dhanani published in the January 28 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, documents the physiology of the dying process. Working closely with the Canadian Donation and Transplantation Research Program, the research team asked over 600 families to allow their loved ones in the ICU to have their vital signs monitored during the dying process. This is the largest international study of its kind.

  2. Solid organ donation from the emergency department – missed donor opportunities

    22/09/2020

    The ED is a source of missed organ donors. All potential donors were missed due to referral after withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy. ED physicians should consider the possibility of solid organ donation prior to the withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy.

  3. Ensuring nondiscrimination in pandemic prioritization decisions

    14/04/2020

    People with disability, cognitive or otherwise, are human beings, entitled to the same legal and ethical protection as any other person who needs care in Canada.

  4. Effect of organ donation after circulatory determination of death on number of organ transplants from donors with neurologic determination of death

    25/09/2017

    Implementation of DCD in Ontario led to increased transplant activity for all solid-organ recipients. There was no evidence that the use of DCD was pre-empting potential NDD donation. In contrast to groups receiving other organs, heart transplant candidates have not yet benefited from DCD.