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...
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It was the very uniqueness of the gene that first drew the attention of molecular biologist Patrick Burgon, PhD. “The striking thing about this gene is that it has no other family members,” he said. “That’s what drove my curiosity.” The gene is muscle enriched A-type lamin interacting protein, or...
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...
After nearly 50 years, the renowned cardiologist is hanging up his stethoscope
From the operating room and catheterization lab to the intensive care unit, cardiac anesthesiologists are central to patient care. Often, it is their role to shepherd the sickest and most complex patients through recovery. Stéphane Lambert, MD, is the recently appointed Division Head for Cardiac...
At the big-picture level, we understand the risk factors for a heart attack, including high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, and genetics. We also know that a heart attack is caused when plaque buildup in the wall of a coronary artery ruptures and blocks the blood vessel. What...
In October, a crane carefully lowered the University of Ottawa Heart Institute’s first dedicated magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner into a narrow access way so that it could be rolled through the exterior wall of the building and into position. By early December, the new MRI facility was fully...
At first glance, Donna May Kimmaliardjuk may seem like an average twenty-something-year-old. She is peppy, full of zest and, despite having worked a string of 12-hour long shifts with unpredictable on-call demands, her spirit is as sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel. At 28, Kimmaliardjuk, or “Dr. K” as...
Cardiovascular medicine has become so successful at rescuing people from major challenges, such as heart attack and stroke, that it must now confront an entirely new difficulty: helping the survivors of these health crises. In many cases, the hearts of these patients have been significantly weakened...
Every research institute is driven by its army of graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. They bring their enthusiasm and curiosity to the lab each day and create new collaborative relationships between research groups, both down the hall and around the globe. The Beat spoke with four graduate...
Qingdao is a metropolis on the northeastern coast of China. Like many Chinese cities, it has seen explosive growth. In the past decade, Qingdao’s population has more than tripled to nearly 9 million people. Such growth has spurred the need to expand and modernize medical facilities and programs. In...
In the recently released SCImago Institutions Rankings [SIR] World Report on the research impact of institutions and companies worldwide, the University of Ottawa Heart Institute placed 57th out of 3,042 organizations. The ranking, conducted by the SCImago Research Group, assessed the quality and...
There were a lot of interesting news, research and healthcare policy discussions at this year's conference. Has the Time Come for Precision Medicine? A physician argues that tailoring care to the individual will improve outcomes and reduce costs First National Quality Report on Cardiovascular Care...
Great strides have been made over the last 40 years in reducing the number of Canadians who smoke. Yet, smoking tobacco remains a leading cause of preventable illness, hospitalization and death. People who smoke daily average twice as many days in hospital as people who have never been daily smokers...
The Ottawa Heart Institute is uniting researchers to study environmental stressors on heart health and create tailored solutions for the most vulnerable
Somewhere between traditional cardiologists and cardiac surgeons sit interventional cardiologists. Like surgeons, interventionists get blood on their gowns in the process of correcting structural problems of the heart, but their approach is more subtle and less invasive. Spending their days in the...
A renowned cardiac surgeon, a champion of innovation, and an experienced and respected administrator, Dr. Thierry Mesana is also a passionate advocate for the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. On September 11, the Heart Institute announced his appointment as its third President and CEO, to...
It takes time and nurturing to grow a top-flight hospital. The University of Ottawa Heart Institute, which began largely as an extension of the Ottawa Civic Hospital when its doors first opened in 1976, has matured to become Canada’s foremost cardiovascular centre. Superior expertise in surgical...
The health benefits of regular physical activity are well documented and hard to overstate, but too often they are left out of the doctor–patient conversation. In December 2015, JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, published the Viewpoint “ Making Physical Activity Counseling a...
One thing we know about women’s hearts is that they are different. Gender differences have been identified in the recognition, treatment and recovery from heart disease related illness, but there are anatomical differences that can affect a woman’s recovery from cardiac surgery. One post-surgical...