Susan McKenzie, 2025 Alumni Achievement Award recipient
Susan McKenzie (BA '96, MA ’98, English) is a communications and fundraising leader whose personal journey as a kidney transplant recipient sparked a powerful movement for patient advocacy and community building. In 2016, after receiving a life-saving kidney transplant, Susan co-founded the Transplant Ambassador Program (TAP), which is now a volunteer-led initiative with over 230 ambassadors supporting patients in 27 centres across Ontario and Atlantic Canada. She is also the Founder and President of the Kidney Patient and Donor Alliance Canada and the Renal Patient and Donor Foundation. Through education, peer support, and advocacy, Susan empowers others to speak up and drive positive change.
Q and A with Susan
What motivated you to turn such a deeply personal journey as a kidney transplant recipient into a nationwide movement for advocacy and support?
When I was going through the darkest times of my kidney failure, I would have loved to speak with someone like me, someone who was a working mom, trying to juggle a million things. I didn’t see anyone like me in the clinic which added to my fear and isolation. One memory I have of sitting in the clinic waiting room stands out vividly: a woman roughly my age dropped by the nurses desk to pick up a prescription. She was walking fast like she was on a mission, and I could tell from the conversation I overheard that she was a transplant recipient. Just seeing her as an example of what I could be post-transplant, gave me such hope.
Six years later when my middle daughter needed a kidney transplant, I was able to share my experiences with her and that enabled her to get the best outcome possible — a pre-emptive, living donor transplant, which only 2% of patients receive. That underscored the real power of speaking with someone who had been through it.
Building a program with hundreds of volunteers and influencing national healthcare is no small feat. What strategies or lessons have helped you achieve this level of engagement and success?
It did seem daunting at first but incubating the program within the formal structure of a research project provided an early advantage that remains at the core of the program today. Even with the right partners, it was still a heavy lift. The true cornerstone of the program, I believe, is that kidney transplant and kidney donation is a transformative experience for recipients and donors alike. It turns out most patients and donors feel like me - we simply want to use this experience to give back in some meaningful way. I think the Transplant Ambassador Program grew because it successfully harnesses and builds on that fundamentally human desire that is shared across gender, age, culture and background.
How did your time at the University of Waterloo help to shape your ability to lead, communicate, and build communities?
I always loved writing and research. When I went back to university as a single mom in my early 20s, I knew I would only be successful if I studied something I loved. I chose Waterloo because entering the co-op program allowed me to work between school terms, support my two young daughters and gain extremely valuable work experience. The co-op option also forced me outside my comfort zone because I had to study computer sciences and psychology courses. Doing my master’s degree taught me invaluable critical thinking skills that I continue to hone to this day. More than anything, my experience at the University of Waterloo taught me not to be afraid of failing, to challenge myself and to appreciate the journey itself. I have approached the design and implementation of the Transplant Ambassador Program (and the organizations that came after it) with that same spirit.