Appointments and affiliations
Staff Cardiologist and Clinician Investigator
University of Ottawa Heart Institute
Director, Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory
University of Ottawa Heart Institute
Professor
Department of Medicine
University of Ottawa
Innovation Cluster Lead
CAPITAL Group
Innovation Cluster member
Vascular Inflammation and Metabolism
Transplant and Pumps (TAPS)
Derek So, MD, is a Staff Cardiologist and Clinician Investigator at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute and Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Ottawa. He is the Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. Dr. So leads the RAPID research group at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute.
Background
Dr. Derek So earned his medical degree, cum laude, at the University of Toronto in 1997. He completed residencies in Internal Medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and Cardiology at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. He then went on to Fellowship training in Interventional Cardiology at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. He furthered his training with a Master's in Clinical Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Dr. So received his certification as a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (FRCPC) in Internal Medicine (2001) and in Cardiology (2003). He is also certified with the American Boards of Internal Medicine and Cardiovascular Diseases.
Dr. So has held multiple grants from the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) and the Heart and Stroke Foundation (HSF) in the field of anti-platelet therapies. In 2016, Dr. So was granted a mid-career investigator award from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.
Dr. So had been the program director for the Adult Interventional Cardiology Program at UOHI from 2012 to 2023. He has been a co-director of the Canadian Association of Interventional Cardiology (CAIC) National Fellow’s Course since 2019.
Research and clinical interests
Dr. So’s research interests include: acute coronary syndromes, PCI outcomes, pharmacogenomics, personalized anti-platelet therapy and cardiogenic shock. For over 10 years, Dr. So has been leading a group of basic science and clinical researchers in the RAPID program, studying future strategies for personalized anti-platelet therapy. Dr. So also leads the C3 (Canadian Cardiovascular Collaboratory) Cardiogenic Shock Working group, which has assembled a group of cardiovascular specialists from across Canada to collaborate in several Canadian-based cardiogenic shock studies. As part of the RAPID program, Dr. So presented the RAPID GENE study, a late breaking trial at Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) 2011 and published in the LANCET. He has also presented the RAPID CABG trial as a late breaking trial at the American Heart Association Conference (AHA) in 2021.
Publications
See current publications list at PubMed.
See Research Gate profile.
Selected publications:
- Malhotra N, Abunassar J,. Wells GA, McPherson R, Fu A, Hibbert B, Labinaz M, Le May M, Dick A, Glover C, Froeschl M, Marquis JF, Tran L, Bernick J, Chong AY, So D. on behalf of the CArdiovascular Percutaneous Intervention TriAL (CAPITAL) investigators. A Pharmacodynamic Comparison of a Personalized Strategy for Anti-platelet Therapy versus Ticagrelor in Achieving a Therapeutic Window. Int J Cardiol. 2015.
- So DY, Wells GA, McPherson R, Labinaz M, Le May MR, Glover C, Dick AJ, Froeschl M, Marquis JF, Gollob MH, Tran L, Bernick J, Hibbert B, Roberts JD on behalf of the CAPITAL investigators. A Prospective Randomized Evaluation of a Pharmacogenomic Approach to Antiplatelet Therapy among Patients with ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction: The RAPID STEMI Study. Pharmacogenomics J. 2015 Apr
- Roberts JD, Wells GA, Le May MR, Labinaz M, Glover C, Froeschl M, Dick A, Marquis JF, O’Brien E, Goncalves S, Druce I, Stewart A, Gollob MH, So DYF. Point-of-care genetic testing for personalisation of antiplatelet treatment (RAPID GENE): a prospective, randomized, proof-of-concept trial. The Lancet. 2012 May 5; 379(9827):1705-11.
- So DYF, Roberts, JD. Overcoming Obstacles in Pharmacogenomic Strategies for Antiplatelet Drugs – Are We RAPID enough? Pharmacogenomics. July 2012; 13(10):1105-8.
- Goncalves SC, Labinaz M, Le May M, Glover C, Froeschl M, Marquis JF, O'Brien E, Shukla D, Ruchin P, Sookur D, Ha A, So D. Usefulness of mean platelet volume as a biomarker for long-term outcomes after percutaneous coronary intervention. Am J Cardiol. 2011 Jan 15;107(2):204-9.
- So DY, Cook EF, Le May M, Glover C, Williams W, Ha A, Davie RF, Froeschl M, Marquis JF, O’Brien E, Labinaz M. Association of Aspirin Dosage to Clinical Outcomes after Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: Observations from the Ottawa Heart Institute PCI Registry. J Invasive Cardiol. 2009. 21(3):121-7.
- Le May MR, So DY, Dionne R, Glover CA, Froeschl MP, Wells GA, Davies RF, Sherrard HL, Maloney J, Marquis JF, O’Brien ER, Trickett J, Poirer P, Ryan SC, Ha A, Joseph PG, Labinaz M. A Citywide Protocol for Primary PCI in ST-segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction. New Engl J Medicine. 2008. 358(3):231-40