David Collister, MD, PhD

Area of Study / Keywords

Nephrology Randomized Controlled Trials Epidemiology Precision Medicine

About

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry.

I am an Associate Faculty Member at the Canadian Vigour Center in Edmonton, Alberta: https://thecvc.ca/about-us/bio/david-collister/

I am an Associate Investigator at the Population Health Research Institute in Hamilton, Ontario: https://www.phri.ca/research-categories/renal/ 

I am a Faculty Associate at the Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research at McMaster University: https://cannabisresearch.mcmaster.ca/about-us/faculty/ 

My clinical activities include outpatient general nephrology and chronic kidney disease clinics, home dialysis and inpatient wards and consults.

Research

My patient-oriented research program is dedicated to investigator-initiated and industry clinical trials in the setting chronic kidney disease and dialysis, precision medicine approaches to uremia (symptoms, cognition, frailty), cannabinoids as a novel treatment for uremic symptoms, and the intersection of kidney health and sex/gender. I am a National Leader for the POSIBIL-6 (CSl Behring, NCT05485961) and BaxDuo Arctic/Pacific (AstraZeneca, NCT06268873, NCT06742723) trials as well as the TRACK (https://www.tracktrial.org/) and BEAT-Calci (https://beat-calci.sydney.edu.au/) trials. I am the Director of Clinical Trials in the Division of Nephrology at the University of Alberta.

I am funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Kidney Foundation of Canada, the Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research, a private donor to the Division of Nephrology at the University of Alberta and Amgen (RESET-DIALYSIS, GAHT-KIDNEY, Cannabinoid Basket Trial for Uremic Symptoms, Iohexol Plasma Clearance Pathway Implementation in Alberta Kidney Care North). I currently have 3 research coordinators/assistants (Rocio, Nandini, Julie). 

I currently have 1 graduate student (Eduardo Pontes) who is leading GAHT-KIDNEY.

My previous MSc student Kevin Wang is currently applying to professional programs and had the following publications and awards:

Kidney Med. 2025 May 29;7(8):101037 and Am J Kidney Dis. 2025 Dec 11:S0272-6386(25)01209-0 and https://absporu.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/2023-Graduate-Studentship-Kevin-Wang.pdf

Teaching

I supervise residents and fellows and graduate students.

I am currently looking for graduate students (MSc, PhD) with interests in clinical trials, biostatistics, precision medicine or sex/gender in nephrology.

Potential projects include:

1) Precision medicine approaches to uremic symptoms over the CKD to dialysis transition (funded by CIHR)

2) Cannabinoid Basket Trial (funded by private donor) 

3) The impact of testosterone replacement therapy on iohexol plasma clearance and kidney function biomarkers (funding pending)

4) The impact of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis on iohexol plasma clearance and kidney function biomarkers (funding pending)

Qualified candidates must be independent, motivated, inquisitive, diligent and possess excellent communication skills.

Please contact me at dcollist@ualberta.ca with your CV and personal statement if you are interested in doing a MSc or PhD with me.