Sam Shemie

Dr. Sam Shemie is a Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at McGill University’s Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. He serves as an Associate Investigator at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) and as a pediatric critical care physician at the Montreal Children’s Hospital. Additionally, he holds an honorary staff position at the Department of Critical Care Medicine, Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto. Dr. Shemie is a medical advisor for deceased organ donation at Canadian Blood Services.

• Research Focus: Organ replacement during critical illness, neurological determination of death, and advancing deceased organ donation science.
• Clinical Expertise: ECMO specialist, brain death protocols, donation after circulatory death (DCDD), and end-of-life care in ICUs.

His recent publications (2023–2025) emphasize brain death diagnostics, DCDD protocols, transplantation ethics, and equity in organ donation. Studies include “A brain-based definition of death and criteria for its determination in Canada” (2023), “Normothermic regional perfusion in DCDD” (2025), and analyses of family experiences in ICU-based donation processes.