Responsible for countless health problems, including cardiovascular and respiratory illness, and many forms of cancer, smoking commonly leads to hospitalization. Surprisingly, a minority of Canadian hospitals have systems, policies or procedures in place that support the consistent, effective...
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As 2016 winds down, the Ottawa Heart Institute can look back on a remarkable 40 th anniversary year that brought together the extended Heart Institute community in celebration and appreciation. Congratulations Political leaders, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, reached out to share their...
At the turn of the 21 st century, what we knew about the genetic underpinnings of heart disease was limited. There had been success in identifying inherited mutations that cause relatively rare heart rhythm and muscle disorders (arrhythmias and cardiomyopathies). But the genetics of common cardiac...
In 1989, Wesley Behm was born with a serious congenital defect. The left side of his heart was underdeveloped and his prospects for survival were poor. Doctors recommended a heart transplant—a procedure that had never been performed in Canada on an infant. Remarkably, a donor heart was found within...
A heart attack is never good, but a STEMI heart attack is the most serious and deadly. It means that one of the arteries that deliver blood to the heart is completely blocked. The longer the heart goes without blood, the greater the damage. In 2004, the Ottawa Heart Institute launched its STEMI...
October 29, 1991 was a royal day at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. As part of the Canadian tour that Prince Charles and Princess Diana made that year, the Princess of Wales visited the Heart Institute on the Ottawa leg of their travels. Accompanied by Mila Mulroney, wife of Prime Minister...
To take the sick or damaged heart out of a person’s body and replace it with a healthy donor heart, often flown in from far away—the very idea of a heart transplant inspires wonder. In May 1984, Wilbert Keon, MD, founder of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, performed the first-ever heart...
It was on May 11, 1976, that Phase 1 of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute opened for business. What began in 1969, as the Cardiac Unit of The Ottawa Hospital, took a major step toward becoming the internationally recognized cardiac centre that it is today. “It was a very exciting time,”...
Roughly half a million Canadians live with heart failure. The condition is an increasingly common one that can seriously impact an individual’s quality of life. Even when appropriately treated, hospital admission and readmission rates are stubbornly high. Traditionally, therapeutic implants called...
It was a cold November night in 2008. All was quiet save the wind whistling through the bare trees, dark against the evening sky. Inside the computed tomography (CT) suite of the Ottawa Heart Institute, a small group stood hushed with anticipation. It would be a night that none of them would ever...
When he came to the University of Ottawa Heart Institute on April 2, 2004, Robert Roberts, MD, was well established as an international leader in cardiovascular genetics and research. He arrived with a mandate to put research at the Heart Institute on par with the world-class care and training the...
If they weren’t such a modest lot—and if they hadn’t been quite so tired—you might have heard the sounds of celebration at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute last month. It was an occasion truly worth celebrating—the Heart Institute’s 500th heart transplant since the program began in 1984. At...
The Ottawa Heart Research Conference, hosted by the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, brought together an array of researchers that included leading figures from North America and Europe for a lively exploration of “Emerging Pathways in Cardiovascular Disease.” A recent conference mounted by the...
A dedicated staff committed to education. A referral base of 2 million people that offers an amazing range of clinical conditions that enable learning. A vigorous, wide-ranging research program. A supportive administration that believes in continual improvement. The full breadth of clinical care...
Researcher Thomas Lagace, PhD, first came across the protein PCSK9 as a postdoctoral fellow, never guessing that it would become the focus of his career. While starting his post-doc at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, he was placed “kind of kicking and screaming,” as he put it, on a...
Participants at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute’s 25th Annual Research Day attend a research presentation. The program included more than 75 presentations in the categories of basic science, clinical science, and allied and population health. May 7, 2012, marked the 25th Annual Research Day...
The second annual Ottawa Heart Research Conference convened on May 8, bringing together an enthusiastic community of scientists and trainees to share insights on personalized cardiovascular medicine. The theme was chosen in honour of former University of Ottawa Heart Institute President and CEO...
In December 2010, McGraw Hill publishers released the 13th edition of Hurst’s The Heart, one of the essential texts in cardiovascular medicine for more than 40 years. This edition marks a major revision, with 19 new chapters and 59 new authors. Dr. Robert Roberts, President and CEO of the University...
Family medicine is an important setting for managing cardiovascular risk factors and preventing the onset of heart disease, as well as managing risk factors following a cardiac event. If a patient is a smoker, explained Dr. Andrew Pipe, Chief of Prevention and Rehabilitation at the University of...
Dr. Ruth McPherson, an active CARDIoGRAM participant and a co-author on the interferon biomarker study, was honoured by the AHA Council on Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology (ATVB) with its Special Recognition Award. Dr. McPherson, a tireless clinician and scientist, directs the...