Heart Failure Symposium

Christopher S. Chen, M.D., Ph.D., is the William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Boston University, Founding Director of the Biological Design Center, and Core Faculty of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. Dr. Chen has been an instrumental figure in the development of engineered cellular microenvironments to understand and control how cells build tissues. He is using these insights to engineer biomimetic cultures to model human tissues, physiology, and disease, as well as to engineer new approaches for regenerative medicine. He serves as Deputy Director of the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center in Cellular Metamaterials and Co-PI of the National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center for Engineering Mechanobiology. He is an Allen Distinguished Investigator, a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, and is a member of the Faculty of 1000. He received his A.B. in Biochemistry from Harvard, M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from M.I.T., Ph.D. in Medical Engineering and Medical Physics from the Harvard-M.I.T. Health Sciences and Technology Program, and M.D. from the Harvard Medical School.

Katey Rayner is the Chief Scientific Officer and VP Research at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. She is also a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology & Immunology in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa. Dr. Rayner’s research program focuses how inflammation underlies common diseases like coronary artery disease, obesity and dementia. Her lab is trying to understand the molecular signals that cause inappropriate activation of the immune system and how we can use this understanding to either better diagnose/identify patients at risk of disease, or to better treat this excess inflammation directly to lower risk of disease.

Dr. Rayner has been recognized with awards such as the CIHR Institute of Circulatory & Respiratory Health/CSATVB Mid-Career Excellence Award in Blood and Blood Vessel Research, Joseph A Vita Award (American Heart Association), and most recently, the King Charles III Coronation Medal. Dr. Rayner is a member of the College of New Scholars of the Royal Society of Canada. Dr. Rayner’s research is currently funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and the European Cardiovascular Research Network.

Samuel F. Sears, Ph.D., ABPP is a Professor in the Departments of Psychology and Cardiovascular Sciences at East Carolina University. Dr. Sears serves as the Division Chief of Innovation and Research at the East Carolina Heart Institute. He also serves as an Assistant Program Director of the ECU Cardiology Fellowship.

Dr. Sears has published over 200 articles in the medicine and psychology research literatures and has well over 13, 000 citations. In 2025, Dr. Sears was named a “world expert” on Defibrillators and ranked 11th all-time in research contributions to the field among the 24, 000 authors on the topic. He was also ranked 42nd all-time in his contributions to Cardiac Electrophysiology.

Dr. Sears received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. (1995) in clinical health psychology from the University of Florida. He is board certified in clinical health psychology (ABPP).

Natasha obtained her medical degree from the University of Western Ontario and completed her cardiology residency at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. She pursued a fellowship in advanced heart failure and transplantation at Toronto General Hospital and a subsequent echocardiography fellowship at Mount Sinai Hospital. Natasha obtained her MSc in Health Research Methodology from McMaster University and successfully defended her thesis in 2022. Natasha is a heart failure cardiologist at Women’s College Hospital and Toronto General Hospital. Her current clinical and research interests include optimizing post-discharge care for patients hospitalized with heart failure and evaluating outcomes in heart transplant recipients.

Doris Adao is a PhD candidate at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto, co-supervised by Dr. Phyllis Billia and Dr. Craig Simmons. She will be presenting her work on investigating the role of microRNAs in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Homaira Hamidzada is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Immunology at the University of Toronto under the supervision of Dr. Slava Epelman. Homaira’s research primarily focuses on the role of tissue macrophages across organs and in cardiovascular disease. Homaira’s most recent work investigates the function of different lineages of macrophages in a mouse model of viral myocarditis. Her interests lie in using novel computational techniques including single cell and spatial approaches to provide a new lens for understanding how immune cells modulate cardiac disease.

Dr. Mansoor Husain is professor of medicine at U of T, attending physician in the Cardiac ICU and Nuclear Cardiology Labs at UHN, and senior scientist at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute.

His award-winning research efforts focus on uncovering the molecular bases of cardiovascular diseases – including diabetes and heart failure – and identifying therapeutic targets involved in pathophysiology.

He has developed several bench discoveries with translational potential and holds three distinct therapeutic patents. Dr. Husain has chaired peer-review panels at Heart & Stroke Canada and CIHR, and is a frequent invited lecturer at international conferences in his fields of research. His past affiliations include leadership positions at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, the Heart & Stroke/Richard Lewar Centre of Excellence, and Hypertension Canada.

Dr. Lee is the Ted Rogers Chair in Heart Function Outcomes at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre, Professor of Medicine at University of Toronto, and senior scientist and leader of the Cardiovascular Program at ICES.

Dr. Lee obtained his M.D. and completed postgraduate training in Internal Medicine and Cardiology at the University of Toronto, a Ph.D. in Clinical Epidemiology at University of Toronto, and a post-doctoral fellowship at the NHLBI’s Framingham Heart Study.

He has published over 410 peer-reviewed articles (Scopus h-index 77).

Dr. Michael McDonald is associate professor of medicine at U of T and medical director of both the Ted Rogers Centre of Excellence in Heart Function and the Ajmera Transplant Centre at Peter Munk Cardiac Centre. His clinical efforts focus on advanced heart failure, transplant and implantable device therapy, and Dr. McDonald also directs UHN’s Advanced Heart Failure/Transplantation Fellowship Program. He is past-president of the Canadian Cardiac Transplant Network and co-chair of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society’s Heart Failure Guidelines Committee.

Dr. Seema Mital is professor of medicine at U of T and at SickKids she is head of cardiovascular research and senior scientist in the genetics and genome biology program.

She established the SickKids Heart Centre Biobank, a multi-centre biorepository of children and adults with childhood onset heart disease for genomics research, one of the largest of its kind in the world. Her research interests include genomics, pharmacogenomics, and stem cell applications to model childhood heart disease and discover new therapies.

Dr. Mital is principal investigator in the CIHR-funded Canadian Heart Function Alliance and Canadian National Transplant Research Program, as well as the NIH-funded Pediatric Heart Network. She serves on the American Heart Association committees for Functional Genomics and Translational Biology Council as well as National Peer Review, as well as serving as vice-chair for the AHA Council on Cardiovascular Disease in the Young.

She is the first female editor of the “Moss and Adams’ Heart Disease in Infants, Children and Adolescents”, the definitive textbook for pediatric cardiology (10th edition).

Dr. Prabhu is the Lewin Distinguished Professor of Cardiovascular Diseases, Professor of
Medicine, Pathology and Immunology, and Chief of the Division of Cardiology at Washington
University in St. Louis. He is a heart failure cardiologist and physician-scientist whose research
program focuses on the immuno-inflammatory basis for heart failure. His work has contributed
importantly to the rapidly expanding field of cardio-immunology. Important discoveries from his laboratory include defining components of a cardiosplenic axis during myocardial infarction and ischemic heart failure, where activated immune cells traffic from the spleen to the heart to
modulate tissue healing and injury; and delineating immune cell drivers of para-inflammatory
response in heart failure, including neutrophil expansion, alternative macrophage activation,
circadian disruption, and regulatory T cell dysfunction. Dr. Prabhu has been elected to the
American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, the American Clinical and Climatological Association, and the Association of University Cardiologists, and currently serves as Senior Associate Editor for Circulation Research.

Dr. Heather Ross is a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto and Head of the Division of Cardiology at UHN. She received the Order of Canada in 2020 (CM), and an Honorary Doctor of Science (DSc) from Queen’s University 2021. Past president of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society, Dr. Ross is one of Canada’s most esteemed cardiologists.

She is the site lead for the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research, and currently holds the Loretta A. Rogers Chair in Heart Function and the Pfizer Chair in Cardiovascular Research.

Founder of TestYourLimits.ca dedicated to improving heart health and research in heart failure, Dr. Ross was named as one of the top 100 modern day explorers by Canadian Geographic.

She has published over 360 peer reviewed articles and won many awards including the inaugural CCS Women in Cardiovascular Medicine/Science Mentorship Award (2020) and the Canadian Heart Failure Society Annual Achievement Award (2019). Through advanced data science and digital health initiatives, she is committed to helping all communities receive equitable access to high-quality heart failure care and patient empowerment.

Craig Simmons is professor of mechanical engineering and distinguished professor of mechanobiology at U of T’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering. He has been named a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, the Biomedical Engineering Society, the American Institute for Medical & Biomedical Engineering, the Engineering Institute of Canada, and the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering.

Dr. Simmons has made pioneering contributions in understanding how biomechanical forces contribute to heart valve disease and regeneration and has developed lab-on-a-chip microtechnology to model tissues and organs for drug discovery. His lab seeks to discover new treatments for heart valve, heart muscle, and blood vessel diseases, including strategies to regenerate cardiovascular tissues using stem cells and biomaterials.

Prof Simmons is former director of the NSERC CREATE Program in Microfluidic Applications and Training in Cardiovascular Health. His many research and teaching awards include the Ontario Early Researcher Award, the McCharles Prize, the McLean Award, the Heart & Stroke CP Has Heart Award, and the Northrop Frye Award for excellence in teaching and research.

Dr. Sara Nunes Vasconcelos, PhD is a Senior Scientist at the University Health Network in the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute and holds the John Kitson McIvor Endowed Chair in Diabetes Research. Her translational research program aims to develop regenerative medicine strategies to treat cardiovascular diseases and diabetes and to use bioengineering approaches to study these diseases. Her lab has developed new vascularization techniques to support functional tissues for organ regeneration and is pioneering the work to create mature, long-lasting, functional blood vessels. Her work on human cardiac tissues-on-a-chip has opened a new avenue of research in stem cell-derived cardiomyocyte maturation and drug testing. Her laboratory’s ground-breaking research contributions have been recognized by several awards, including the Outstanding Young Investigator Award from the Microcirculatory Society and the Young Innovators in Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering Award, USA. She holds funding from CIHR, NSERC, JDRF, SCN and the NFRF and serves as a reviewer for CIHR, NIH, and NASA.

Dr Subodh Verma is a cardiac surgeon-scientist, Full Professor, and the Canada Research Chair in Cardiovascular Surgery at the University of Toronto. He has been a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher since 2022 (March 2025 Google Scholar h-index 133). He is the Editor-in-Chief of Current Opinion in Cardiology, an Associate Editor of the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery and the European Journal of Heart Failure, and an Editorial Consultant for JACC. He had/has leadership roles in numerous contemporary global cardiometabolic trials and his translational research team pioneered the concept of human vascular regenerative cell exhaustion in cardiometabolic disease progression.

Dr. Candice Silversides is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto, the Miles Nadal Chair in Pregnancy and Heart Disease, director of the CardioObstetrics program at Mount Sinai Hospital and inaugural Editor-in-Chief of the American College of Cardiology’s newest journal, JACC: Advances. She has published extensively in the field of cardiology and contributed to many leading cardiology textbooks, international practice guidelines, and consensus statements. She was awarded the Kent Ueland Distinguished Career Award and the Canadian Society of Cardiology 2023 Achievement Award for her contributions to the field.

Todd Murray is a former educator with 30 years of teaching experience whose life was profoundly changed by his journey with heart disease and heart failure. He became an active member of the TRANSFORM HF network in 2022, using his lived experience to advocate for patient-centered research and care. Todd has provided feedback on critical publications and is an active patient partner on clinical research projects, including the Module 3 Initiative: The Heart-Brain Connection, led by Dr. Douglas Lee. In 2025, he co-developed TRANSFORM HF’s Foundations Course – a new initiative designed to train and empower patients, caregivers, and family members to engage in heart failure research projects and activities. Todd believes that true progress in heart failure care requires the inclusion of all perspectives—especially those of people with lived experience. His philosophy centers on the clinical translation of research into real-world improvements, helping patients move forward and lead more fulfilling lives.

Anita has far more than 30 years’ experience in leadership coaching and had global accountability in organizational development roles. She led senior teams in the non-profit, public, private, and academic sectors. 

She served in line leadership, consulting and advisory roles in the Ontario government and in Canada’s leading multinationals. She was recruited from the private sector to serve as Dean of Continuing Education at Ryerson University (now TMU), where she focused on a Quality strategy and an Access agenda centered on Internationally Educated Professionals prior to launching her own Executive Coaching Practice.

She is fully fluent in French and Spanish and speaks some Italian and Portuguese. She has international development project experience in Latin America and Africa and is a volunteer coach to women in transition. Despite having Rheumatoid Arthritis, managed Atrial Fibrillation and CHF, she enjoys her granddaughters, golfing, swimming, long walks and cooking Mediterranean food.

Amika is a PhD Candidate at the Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on designing and evaluating a digital mental health stepped care model for the Medly heart failure remote management program.