After a career spanning three decades, Dr. Frans Leenen is retiring from the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. Dr. Leenen was a clinician scientist and is internationally recognized for his important bench-to-bedside research in brain mechanisms contributing to cardiovascular pathophysiology. Dr. Leenen served as the director of the Hypertension Clinic and was the director of the Brain and Heart Research Laboratory at the Heart Institute.
Dr. Leenen was the first recipient of the Pfizer Research Chair in Hypertension, an endowed chair supported by Pfizer Canada, the Ottawa Heart Institute Foundation, and Canadian Institutes of Health Research. He is also the recipient of several prestigious awards, including the Dedicated Service Award from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. He has been listed in American Men and Women of Science, and Canadian Who’s Who, and is recognized as a distinguished senior physiologist by the American Physiological Society. He has given over 200 invited lectures across the globe, at meetings from Europe to China, and closer to home here in Canada, and he has published over 300 peer-reviewed publications in respected journals.
At the Heart Institute, Dr. Leenen spearheaded the successful Internal Grant Review Program that has been critical in assisting early career and established investigators alike in obtaining peer reviewed funding. Under his direction, the UOHI Mentorship Program was launched to ensure the success of early career investigators. Dr. Leenen’s commitment to building the next generation of researchers extends to the trainee community – just this year, he generously established award funds to annually recognize a UOHI trainee with a high-impact publication: "The Dr. Frans Leenen Publication Excellence Award."
Congratulations to Dr. Frans Leenen.