CANADIAN STROKE PREVENTION INTERVENTION NETWORK - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Population Health Research Institute
Job Titles:
- University of Toronto and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre / Read Full Bio
Job Titles:
- Member of the Scientific Executive Committee
- Cardiology
- Chairman of the Department of Medicine
Dr Mario Talajic is the Chair of the Department of Medicine of the University of Montreal and is the director of the cardiac genetics center of the Montreal Heart Institute. Dr Talajic is also a cardiac Electrophysiologist at the Montreal Heart Institute.
He completed his medical training at the University of Ottawa in 1980. He completed internal medicine and cardiology training at McGill University in 1985. He subsequently completed fellowship training in cardiac electrophysiology at McGill University with Dr Stanley Nattel and at the University of Limburg under the guidance of Professor Hein Wellens.
He has been a cardiac Electrophysiologist at the Montreal Heart Institute since 1987. He was chief of the electrophysiology service from 1991 until 1998 and was the chief of medicine and cardiology of the Montreal Heart Institute from 1998 until 2006. He became the first Marvin and Philippa Carsley chair in cardiology in 2005. He has served in the past as a Royal College examiner in cardiology and has won teaching and career achievement awards from the University of Montreal. He has also served on multiple peer-reviewed research committees in Canada and chaired several provincial committees on electrophysiology services and cardiac genetics in Quebec. He has served on the council of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society and is currently the president of this society.
His research interests include the evaluation and treatment of patients with cardiac arrhythmias including those with inherited arrhythmia syndromes, the treatment of patients with atrial fibrillation and the stratification of patients at risk for sudden death. He has served on the steering committees of several large trials including CTAF, AF-CHF, RELY, ACTIVE and AVERROES. He has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed articles.
Dr Russell Quinn was born and raised in Northern Ireland. He graduated in 1998 with degrees in Physiological Sciences and Medicine at the University of Oxford. He obtained his certification under the Royal College of Physicians in 1998. He did more training in Internal Medicine and Cardiology in Glasgow, Scotland. There he developed a sub-specialty interest in Clinical Electrophysiology and came to Calgary in 2006 to gain further experience in this field. He took up a Staff position as an Electrophysiologist in 2007.
His clinical area of interest is in the management of atrial fibrillation and catheter ablation therapy for cardiac arrhythmias. He is the Clinical Director of ECG & Holter at Foothills Medical Centre, as well as the Clinical Director of the Atrial Fibrillation Clinic, he has been involved in projects aimed at finding the best delivery of care for patients with atrial fibrillation in Alberta.
During his training, Dr Quinn completed a PhD at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, where he studied how intracellular calcium handling is related to contractile performance and arrhythmogenesis. He is now involved in a number of clinical research projects, including studies examining screening for atrial fibrillation in the community.
Job Titles:
- Member of the External Advisory Committee
Job Titles:
- Member of the Scientific Executive Committee
- Cardiology
Dr. Tang was Director of Electrophysiology, Director of Cardiology Research and attending Physician in Medicine (Cardiology) at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute and a Professor of Medicine in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa. He then relocated to Victoria as Cardiologist Electrophysiologist of the Vancouver Island Health Authority at the Royal Jubilee Hospital and became the medical director of Heart Rhythm British Columbia. In 2013, He moved to London, Ontario for the Chair of Cardiovascular Population Health.
Dr. Tang is a well-published investigator, recognized nationally and internationally for research in device therapy specific to cardiac arrhythmia and heart failure. His publication record includes over 100 peer reviewed papers, over 200 abstracts and presentations. He has membership in Ontario Medical Association, American College of Cardiology (Fellow), Canadian Cardiovascular Society, North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology, American Heart Association. His main focus of research involves determining the efficacy of device therapy in patients with heart failure. He has been awarded grants from Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and Canadian Institutes of Health research. Currently he has a CIHR research chair on device therapy for heart failure.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Scientific Executive Committee
- Cardiology
- Chairman of the Heart Rhythm Working Group of the Cardiovascular Care Network
- Director of Arrhythmia Services at Southlake Regional Health Care Centre
- Southlake Regional Health Centre and University of Toronto Cross - Appointed With McGill University / Read Full Bio
Dr. Atul Verma is a staff cardiac Electrophysiologist and Director of Arrhythmia Services at Southlake Regional Health Care Centre in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. He is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto and cross-appointed at McGill University. His practice specializes in cardiac electrophysiology and consists of both patient care and active clinical research. Specific interests include ablation of atrial fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia as well as cardiac resynchronization therapy.
Dr. Verma serves as chair of the heart rhythm working group of the Cardiovascular Care Network. He also is co-chair of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society Atrial Fibrillation Guidelines Committee and serves on the writing committees of the Heart Rhythm Society Remote Monitoring Guidelines and the Venice Chart Guidelines. He is also chair of the Annual Canadian Heart Rhythm Society Meeting.
Dr. Verma completed his medical school and cardiology residency at the University of Toronto. He then specialized in cardiac electrophysiology at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. He is both a clinician and researcher who has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. His publications can be found in journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Circulation, JACC, JAMA, JAMA Internal Medicine, European Heart Journal, Circulation EP, and Heart Rhythm.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Scientific Executive Committee
- Cardiology
Dr. David Birnie was appointed Staff Cardiac Electrophysiologist at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute in May 2002. He was educated in Scotland and received his medical degree (MB ChB) from Glasgow University in 1990. After completion of Internal Medical training at Aberdeen University he gained his MRCP (UK) in 1993. He spent three years as a cardiology research fellow at Glasgow University from 1993 where he studied the immunology of atherosclerosis and was awarded his PhD equivalent (MD) in 1996. Between 1996 and 2001 he did cardiology training at Glasgow University. He received his Certificate of Completion of Specialist Cardiology Training in 2001. In addition he spent a year in 1999-2000 as a Cardiac Electrophysiology Fellow at the Ottawa Heart Institute. Dr Birnie is the Director of the Arrhythmia Services at UOHI. His clinical focus is on all aspects of cardiac electrophysiology including arrhythmia pharmacotherapy and radiofrequency ablation of simple and complex arrhythmias including atrial fibrillation. He also has a major clinical interest in all aspects of implantation and follow-up of device therapy for arrhythmias. To date he has been involved in over 285 peer-reviewed presentations, publications, and book chapters. His major ongoing research interests are selection and optimization of CRT for heart failure patients, investigating optimal strategies for stroke reduction around device surgery and following AF ablation and cardiac sarcoidosis.
Job Titles:
- Member of the External Advisory Committee
- Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health / Harvard University
Job Titles:
- Member of the External Advisory Committee
Job Titles:
- Member of the Scientific Executive Committee
- Knowledge Translation / University of Ottawa
- Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Community
- University of Ottawa and Ottawa Hospital Research Institute / Read Full Bio
Dr. Ian Graham is a Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Community, Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa and Senior Scientist in the Clinical Epidemiology Program of the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. From 2006-2012 he was on an interchange with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research where he held the position of Vice-President of the Knowledge Translation and Public Outreach.
His research focuses on knowledge translation (the process of research use) and conducting applied research on strategies to increase implementation of evidence-informed practice. His research in KT has been in the areas such as cancer care, stroke care, maternity care, wound care, heart failure, practice guidelines, decision support tools, as well as KT framework and model development. He has published over 250 peer reviewed articles and is co-editor of Knowledge Translation in Health Care (2013) and Evaluating the Impact of Implementing Evidence-based Practice (2010).
Job Titles:
- Director
- Member of the Scientific Executive Committee
- McMaster University and Population Health Research Institute / Read Full Bio
- Principal Investigator )
- Principal Investigator and Chair of the Canadian Stroke Prevention
Jeff Healey is the director of arrhythmia services and associate professor of medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario Canada. He is also a clinical trialist, and member of the Population Health Research Institute. Dr. Healey completed his clinical training in cardiology and electrophysiology at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute and completed his Master's degree in health research methodology at McMaster University.
Currently, Dr. Healey's clinically activities involve both catheter ablation and pacemaker/ICD implantation. His research involves the conduct of randomized clinical trials and large registries in the fields of cardiac arrhythmias and cardiac devices. His area of research focus is studying the effect of risk factors, and risk factor modification on the development of atrial fibrillation and its complications, such as stroke.
Dr. Healey was the lead author of the ASSERT trial, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2012 and demonstrated the increased stroke risk associated with sub-clinical atrial fibrillation detected by pacemakers. Thomson-Reuters recognized ASSERT as the 38th most-cited scientific publication in 2012 (#16 in Medicine). He is also leading 2 major ongoing studies. The SIMPLE trial is a 2500-patient randomized trial evaluating the value of performing intra-operative defibrillation threshold testing at the time of ICD insertion. The RELY AF Registry is a 15,000-patient worldwide registry, examining the causes, treatment and outcomes in patients with atrial fibrillation.
Dr. Healey has published over 280 manuscripts and abstracts, including 60 manuscripts in the past 2 years (24 as first or last author). Dr. Healey has received numerous grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Heart and Stroke Foundation and from industry. He is the co-chair of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society's Atrial Fibrillation Guidelines Committee, co-chair of the CCS Guidelines for Perioperative management of pacemakers and defibrillators and past chair of the Cardiac Care Network of Ontario's Heart Rhythm Working group.
Dr. Healey is the principal investigator and chair of the Canadian Stroke Prevention Intervention Network (C-SPIN), a ten-year network grant funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and Industry. C-SPIN will conduct a series of clinical trials related to atrial fibrillation and stroke prevention and will also support the development of new Canadian researchers in this field.
Job Titles:
- Member of the External Advisory Committee
- Director, Medical Affairs
Job Titles:
- Member of the Scientific Executive Committee
- Investigator in the Stroke Program at the Population Health Research Institute
- McMaster University and Population Health Research Institute / Read Full Bio
- Neurology / McMaster University
Dr Sharma is an investigator in the Stroke program at the Population Health Research Institute and Hamilton Health Sciences. He is a stroke neurologist who completed his fellowship at McGill and the University of Ottawa. He has an MSc in Clinical Epidemiology and led the stroke program at the University of Ottawa prior to relocating to McMaster in 2013. Dr Sharma has an interest in clinical trials in secondary stroke prevention, covert stroke and economics of stroke care. He is the Chair of the Canadian Stroke Consortium and was the Deputy Director for Clinical affairs and Health Policy of the Canadian stroke Network, one of Canada's Networks of Centers.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Scientific Executive Committee
- Neurology / University of Calgary
- Professor for the Departments of Clinical Neurosciences
Dr. Michael Hill is a Professor for the Departments of Clinical Neurosciences, Community Health Sciences, Medicine and Radiology at the University of Calgary. He is also Director of the Stroke Unit for the Calgary Stroke Program, Alberta Health Services.
Dr. Hill completed undergraduate training at McGill University in biochemistry and went on to the University of Ottawa medical school. He trained in internal medicine at the University of Ottawa and received his FRCPC (Internal Medicine) in 1997. He later completed a neurology residency at the University of Toronto and received his FRCPC (Neurology) in 1999. Dr. Hill moved to Calgary to undertake a stroke fellowship and clinical epidemiology training at the University of Calgary and was appointed to faculty in 2001. He then completed his MSc thesis in 2003, and is currently Director of the Stroke Unit at the Foothills Medical Centre, Calgary Health Region.
Dr. Hill's research interests include stroke thrombolysis, stroke epidemiology, and surveillance and clinical trials. He is funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) and holds the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Alberta/NWT/Nunavut professorship in Stroke Research. He holds and has held operating and clinical trials grants from the CIHR, Heart & Stroke Foundation of Alberta/NWT/Nunavut and from various industry partners as well as NIH (NINDS). Dr. Hill has also received a number of awards, including the Barnett, The Pessin Award, ARP merit award and the Performance Recognition award for his role in research and his outstanding publication record.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Scientific Executive Committee
- Cardiology
- Department Director, Division of Cardiology
Dr. Paul Dorian is the Department Director, Division of Cardiology, University of Toronto and Staff Cardiac Electrophysiologist at St. Michael's Hospital. He is Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology and in the Division of Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Toronto, and a Staff Scientist at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute.
Dr. Dorian received his medical degree from McGill University in Montreal in 1976. He continued training in Internal Medicine and Cardiology at the University of Toronto, and received certification by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in Internal Medicine in 1983 and certification in Cardiology in 1984. He completed training in Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Toronto in 1982, and received an MSc in Pharmacology from the University of Toronto in 1982. From 1983 to 1985, he completed a Fellowship in Cardiac Electrophysiology at Stanford University Medical Centre in California.
His research interests include basic science research in advanced cardiac life support and atrial fibrillation, the clinical pharmacology of antiarrhythmic drugs, and clinical research on implanted devices, antiarrhythmic drugs, and quality of life in patients with arrhythmias.
He is the current President of the Canadian Heart Rhythm Society, Chairman of the Cardiac Arrest Committee, St. Michael's Hospital, Co-PI on the NIH funded Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium, and serves on the steering committee of multiple multicenter clinical trials in arrhythmia care.
He has published over 300 peer reviewed papers and is Associate Editor of the textbook Electrophysiological Disorders of the Heart.
Dr. Paul Khairy received his medical degree from McGill University and went on to complete internal medicine, cardiology, and adult electrophysiology training at Université de Montréal. He received scholarships to pursue fellowships at Harvard University in Adult Congenital Heart Disease and Congenital and Pediatric Electrophysiology. In parallel, he obtained Master's and PhD degrees in epidemiology and biostatistics. In 2004, Dr. Khairy was recruited to the Montreal Heart Institute and awarded a Canada Research Chair in Adult Congenital Heart Disease and Electrophysiology. He has since been appointed tenured Associate Professor, Director of Clinical Epidemiology and Outcomes Research at the Montreal Heart Institute Coordinating Center, and Director of the Montreal Heart Institute Adult Congenital Center. He maintained a secondary appointment at Harvard University.
Dr. Khairy co-founded and is a past president of the North American Alliance for Adult Research in Congenital Cardiology (AARCC) and is currently president of the International Society for Adult Congenital Heart Disease (ISACHD). He has coauthored over 215 articles, >180 abstracts, >25 book chapters, and two textbooks. He has received numerous awards including the Quebec Young Researcher of the Year Award (André-Dupont), the Quebec Young Professional of the Year Award (ARISTA), and Canada's Top 40 Under 40 Award, which honours "exceptional Canadians under the age of 40 who are outstanding leaders in their chosen field and who are shaping our country's future".
Job Titles:
- Member of the Scientific Executive Committee
- Deputy Principal Investigator )
Dr Robert Sheldon received his PhD in Molecular Biology at the University of Colorado in 1973 and postdoctoral fellowship with Sydney Brenner. He then received an MD from the University of Toronto in 1981. He is a cardiac arrhythmia specialist and Professor of Cardiac Sciences, Medicine, and Medical Genetics at the University of Calgary. He recently stepped down as Senior Vice President Research, Alberta Health Services. He was on the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Governing Council and its committees for 9 years until June 2012. He is a Fellow of the Heart Rhythm Society, the Royal College of Physicians of Canada, and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. His research program is in cardiovascular autonomic physiology and its disorders, among which is vasovagal syncope. It has a strong translational orientation, aiming to understand the causes of syncope, and to develop simple, accessible, and effective approaches to its diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment.
Dr. Ratika Parkash is a cardiac Electrophysiologist at the QEII Health Sciences Centre. She is a graduate of Dalhousie Medical School and completed training in internal medicine and cardiology at the University of Ottawa. She completed an electrophysiology fellowship at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston where she concurrently completed a Masters of Science in epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Parkash has two major areas of research: atrial fibrillation (AF) and cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs). Currently, Dr. Parkash is involved in a number of clinical trial initiatives in atrial fibrillation and CIEDs. In C-SPIN, Dr. Parkash co-leads the knowledge translation initiative for stroke prevention in AF and hypertension, with Dr. Robby Nieuwlaat.
Dr. Roopinder Sandhu is a Cardiac Electrophysiologist in the Division of Cardiology. She is also an and Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Alberta . Her main research focus is to gain a better understanding of atrial fibrillation epidemiology, identify gaps in treatment and pursue strategies to improve outcomes. She is Co-Principle Investigator for the Program for the Identification of "Actionable" Atrial Fibrillation (PIAAF) Study investigating pharmacy-led AF community screening.
Janusz Kaczorowski MA PhD is a medical sociologist with research background in family medicine, epidemiology, psychology, and sociology, He is Professor and Research Director in the Department of Family Medicine at the Université de Montréal. He is a holder of the Dr. Sadok Besrour Chair in Family Medicine and the GlaxoSmithKline-CIHR chair in Optimal Management of Chronic Disease. He directs the Health Care Systems and Services Evaluation research theme at CRCHUM.
He plays leadership roles in hypertension, stroke and primary care research communities in Canada. He has an active, collaborative and multi-disciplinary research agenda that includes optimal use of therapeutics in primary care, primary prevention of cardiovascular disease and stroke, knowledge transfer, health services research and population health.
He has over 20 years' experience in developing, coordinating, and completing all aspects of research studies in primary care. He has held a number of large grants both as principal investigator and co-investigator and has co-authored over 180 peer-reviewed articles.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board
- Member of the External Advisory Committee
Job Titles:
- Member of the Scientific Executive Committee
- Patient Partner
Job Titles:
- Member of the External Advisory Committee
- Director, Cardiac & Vascular Program
Job Titles:
- Member of the External Advisory Committee
- Vice President, Health and Research / Heart and Stroke Foundation
Job Titles:
- Director
- Member of the External Advisory Committee
Job Titles:
- Family Physician in Toronto at Women 's College Hospital
- Women 's College Hospital and University of Toronto / Read Full Bio
Noah Ivers is a family physician in Toronto at Women's College Hospital and a clinician scientist with the University of Toronto. He has a PhD in clinical epidemiology. He focuses on implementation science, particularly the use of performance feedback to improve quality in primary care. He holds research fellowship awards from the University of Toronto and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. In early 2013 he was named a CIHR Institute for Health Services and Policy Research Rising Star for his work focusing on the role of audit and feedback to improve quality of health care. Noah is currently leading or co-leading 3 randomized trials and a number of systematic reviews. They all aim to identify ways to optimize the effectiveness of knowledge translation or quality improvement interventions for primary care.
Job Titles:
- Member of the External Advisory Committee
- Professor of Medicine, Chair of European AF Guidelines, past President of the European Society of Cardiology / St. George 's University
Job Titles:
- Principal Investigator for the Cardiovascular Surgery Program at the Population Health Research Institute
Dr. Whitlock is a Principal Investigator for the Cardiovascular Surgery program at the Population Health Research Institute. Dr. Whitlock is currently an Associate Professor within the Department of Surgery at McMaster University. He holds a Bachelor of Science, a Masters of Health Research Methodology and Clinical Epidemiology and a PhD in Health Research Methodology from McMaster University. He completed his Medical Degree from the University of Toronto, and his residency in cardiac surgery and fellowship in critical care medicine at McMaster University.
Dr. Whitlock has been awarded many honors for his various accomplishments including the Ted Thomas Prize from McMaster University and the Anemia Institute's Award for Research and Education. He is a lead investigator for the CIHR funded studies SIRS, LAAOS III, and TRICS III. The SIRS trial completed in December 2013 and represents the largest clinical trial ever performed in cardiac surgery.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics
Dr. Nieuwlaat is Assistant Professor in the department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics at McMaster University. He is also a researcher at the Population Health Research Institute since 2011. He obtained his clinical epidemiology PhD degree in 2007 at Maastricht University on the topic of ‘Management of Atrial Fibrillation in Europe' and worked as a post-doctoral research fellow at the PHRI in 2008-2011. Dr. Nieuwlaat's research focuses on better understanding gaps and barriers to optimal care. He tests interventions to improve the application of guideline recommended care and consequently cardiovascular outcomes. For this, he has performed observational studies assessing the quality of care for atrial fibrillation patients and, systematic reviews to summarize barriers to care and the effects of knowledge translation intervention techniques to improve the uptake of recommended care. He also conducted cluster randomized trials testing interventions to improve the uptake of recommended atrial fibrillation care.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Scientific Executive Committee
Ron is a Professor in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McMaster University and Director of the Programs for Assessment of Technology in Health (PATH) Research Institute at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton (SJHH). He is a member of the Centre for Evaluations of Medicines, also affiliated with SJHH. His main research interests are centered on health technology assessment (HTA), decision analytic modelling and economic evaluations. Ron teaches in the Health Research Methodology (HRM) Program, where he developed a course in advanced decision analytic modelling and founded the Field of Specialization for HTA in the HRM Program. Ron has also been actively involved in the development and teaching of several international workshops in HTA and economic modeling.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Scientific Executive Committee
- Assistant Professor at McMaster University
- Nursing
Dr. Carroll is an Assistant Professor at McMaster University in the School of Nursing. She is the Director of Clinical Health Professional Research, Hamilton Health Sciences and an Affiliate Researcher at Population Health Research Institute, Hamilton Health Sciences. Dr. Carroll holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Toronto and PhD from McMaster University. Dr. Carroll completed a CIHR Strategic Training Fellowship in the FUTURE Program for Cardiovascular Nurse Scientists and a Post-Doctoral Fellowship through the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario/Michael G. DeGroote Chair in Cardiovascular Nursing Research.
Job Titles:
- Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre / Read Full Bio
Job Titles:
- Member of the Scientific Executive Committee
- Cardiology
- Professor of Medicine at Mc
Stuart J. Connolly is a Professor of Medicine at McMaster University in Ontario and a Cardiac Electrophysiologist at Hamilton Health Sciences, Ontario. Dr. Connolly holds a Masters degree from Fordham University, New York, and an MD from McGill University in Montreal. He received his specialist training in cardiology at the University of Toronto and at Stanford University. Dr. Connolly became a faculty member at McMaster University in 1983 and was awarded a full professorship in 1994. As well as being an active clinical cardiologist, Dr. Connolly has been the Director of the Division of Cardiology since 2005. He was also appointed as the inaugural holder of the Salim Yusuf Chair in Cardiology at McMaster University.
Dr. Connolly has published more than 270 scientific articles in the field and is currently a member of the editorial boards for a number of prominent Cardiology journals, including Heart, the American Heart Journal and the Journal of Pacing and Electrophysiology. Dr. Connolly's main research interests are focused on the evaluation of treatments for heart rhythm disorders. His academic career has been largely devoted to the design and execution of controlled clinical trials in this area.