In the Media

The media regularly turns to our healthcare professionals for their expertise on a wide range of important heart health topics.

Here is a selection of recent news items featuring the Heart Institute and its experts.

Please note this page is updated regularly. Linked content is available in the language in which it was published.

  • When researchers at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute went looking for scientific literature on how anxiety affects women with heart conditions, they found no studies that looked at outcomes in women only, reports the Ottawa Citizen.
  • CBC’s As It Happens interviewed Dr. Calum Redpath as part of its reporting on early results of a randomized trial investigating the safety and efficacy of reusing pacemakers. 
  • A new Ottawa biotech startup is seeking to raise $4 million to produce groundbreaking treatments aimed at curing one of the most common heart rhythm, writes the Ottawa Business Journal.
  • Ottawa Citizen: University of Ottawa Heart Institute scientist Dr. Kelly Cobey has been awarded the prestigious John Maddox Prize Early Career Award for standing up for science.
  • The Heart Institute’s mobile screening program for valvular heart disease is the only one of its kind in Canada and it is beginning to draw attention from across the country, Dr. David Messika-Zeitoun told the Ottawa Citizen.
  • A team of researchers at the Heart Institute have developed a new material aimed at promoting tissue repair, particularly after surgery, reports Le Devoir.
  • Described as the soul of the Heart Institute, Dr. Donald S. Beanlands died last month at the age of 91, writes the Ottawa Citizen.
  • The co-founder of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute and world-renowned cardiologist Dr. Donald S. Beanlands has died, CTV News Ottawa reports.
  • Jeffrey Gleeson received a heart transplant 34 years ago, at just six weeks of age. He has spent his life trying to honour that gift, writes the Ottawa Citizen.
  • The Heart Institute is marking 40 years of performing life-saving heart transplants, CTV Ottawa reports.
  • Dr. Katey Rayner, who was appointed chief scientific officer and vice-president of research at the Heart Institute, told the Ottawa Citizen thinking outside the box will be a focus of her leadership.
  • Canadian Healthcare Technology Magazine: The Heart Institute is celebrating a new addition that will use cardiovascular data and artificial intelligence to save lives.
  • The Heart Institute is taking a leap into the future of medicine, accelerating the expanded use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to advance research and improve patient care, writes the Ottawa Citizen.
  • Ottawa Citizen: February 13 — Wear Red Canada Day — marks the sixth annual day devoted to raising awareness about women’s heart health.
  • Dr. Rob Beanlands is preparing to lead the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, which his father helped found in 1976. The Ottawa Citizen reports. 
  • In an interview with the Globe and Mail, Dr. Andrew Pipe, a clinical scientist at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute who specializes in smoking cessation, said a New Zealand policy to prevent the development of yet another generation of nicotine addicts merits a close look by Health Canada and the mental health and addictions minister. 
  • The Heart Institute’s chief scientific officer and vice president of research, Dr. Peter Liu, told the Ottawa Citizen there is a growing movement to view COVID-19 as an additional risk factor for cardiovascular disease. 
  • CTV National News Medical Correspondent Avis Favaro reports on a study co-led by Kelly Cobey, PhD, of the Heart Institute that found only three per cent of Canadian human research trials testing new drug treatments or therapies meet all three international criteria that ensure fair and timely sharing of results for all to learn from.
  • Jodi Edwards, PhD, of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute would like to see widespread use of transcranial magnetic brain stimulation therapy in stroke patients, if the results of ongoing trials, like the one at Élisabeth Bruyère Hospital, are positive, writes the Ottawa Citizen.
  • Experts estimate that vaccines against Covid-19 have saved millions of lives during the pandemic, yet false information about their safety continues to surface online. AFP Fact Check spoke with experts (including Dr. Peter Liu of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute) and reviewed multiple scientific studies confirming that, while the vaccines can have adverse effects, severe cases are extremely rare.
  • With funding from the Institute of Gender and Health of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and Women and Gender Equality Canada, the Canadian Women’s Heart Health Alliance (CWHHA) is recognized as the country’s women’s cardiovascular health hub. Kerri-Anne Mullen, PhD, interim chair of the CWHHA and director of the Canadian Women’s Heart Health Centre at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, spoke to The Ottawa Citizen about an initiative that aims to close the heart health gender gap.