The tools we use in research should reflect the full spectrum of genetic diversity, but they often do not. This is a gap that an international team of scientists is exploring through the lens of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines. iPSCs are a type...
Receiving a heart transplant is a life-changing journey, and you may be wondering about your treatment options. This is why The Heart Hub is excited to introduce A Hearts Journey: A Patient & Caregiver Guide to Heart Transplant. This brand-new, interactive...
On March 5, 2025, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) received a significant breakthrough in pediatric research with an $11.7 million award from Genome Canada. As part of the Canadian Precision Health Initiative, a total of $81 million in...
After eight transformative years at the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research (TRCHR), Dr. Soror Sharifpoor is embarking on an exciting new chapter in her career. As the Director of Strategy & Translation at the Translational Biology and Engineering Program (TBEP)...
With a mission to support novel approaches to managing and preventing heart failure, the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research uses its Innovation Fund to propel emerging research with great potential. The 2024-25 Innovation Fund Seed Grants are currently open and you...
The Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research is delighted to welcome Iris Cohn as the new Innovator in Genomic Translation - also recently promoted to Director of the Pharmacogenetics (PGx) Program at The Hospital for Sick Children. A trained pharmacist, Iris established...
In celebration of ten years of the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research, this opening session marks a special retrospective and forward-looking discussion on the evolution of heart failure research over the past decade. Speakers will reflect on advances across basic, translational, and clinical domains, including perspectives from a person with lived experience. Together, the panel will explore what the future may hold for heart failure research and care.
Mansoor Husain, TRCHR Executive Director
Seema Mital, The Hospital for Sick Children
Craig Simmons, The University of Toronto
Heather Ross, University Health Network
This session will spotlight cutting-edge approaches in cardiac regeneration, spanning cellular to whole organ engineering. Keynote speaker Dr. Christopher Chen will present on engineering larger biologic constructs. Dr. Sara Vasconcelos will also present on innovative methods driving vascular and cardiac tissue regeneration. Additional speakers to be confirmed.
KEYNOTE: Chris Chen, Boston University
Sara Vasconcelos, University Health Network
This interactive session will walk attendees through the newly released 2025 Canadian Guidelines on Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction (HFpEF). Dr. Michael McDonald and Dr. Stephanie Poon will provide key updates and clinical implications.
Michael McDonald, University Health Network
Staphanie Poon, Sunnybrook Hospital
Join this panel of leading cardiovascular journal editors for an inside look at the publishing process. Dr. Candice Silversides and Dr. Sumanth Prabhu will share insights into what makes a successful manuscript, the peer review process, and how to navigate common pitfalls. This session is ideal for both early-career researchers and seasoned investigators looking to sharpen their publication strategies.
Candice Silversides, JACC: Advances
Sumanth Prabhu, Circulation Research
This session explores the complex interplay between metabolic and inflammatory pathways in heart failure. Keynote speaker Dr. Katey Rayner will examine how inflammation underpins both cardiovascular and metabolic disorders and the emerging therapeutic strategies targeting these pathways. Dr. Subodh Verma will present clinical trial insights, including findings from the Zeus trial. Additional speakers to be confirmed.
KEYNOTE: Katey Rayner, University of Ottawa
Subodh Verma, University of Toronto
This session focuses on the critical, often overlooked, intersection of mental health and heart failure. Keynote speaker Dr. Samuel F. Sears will address the psychological considerations in managing cardiovascular patients. Dr. Douglas Lee will speak on heart failure and cognitive function. Additional speakers to be confirmed.
KEYNOTE: Samuel F Sears, East Carolina University
Douglas Lee, University Health Network
Prof. Cheng is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto in the Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Trained as an electrical engineer, she worked in industry on synthetic aperture radar surveillance before completing her PhD in Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto and spending the next decade at SickKids as an MRI physicist. She joined the university in 2014, where she expanded her suite of quantitative physiological MRI capabilities to target cardiovascular disease. Her current research is focused on real-time MRI, chemistry for molecular imaging, and early diagnostics for heart failure.
Dr. Matthias G. Friedrich earned his MD at the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen/Nuernberg, Germany. He completed his training as an internist and cardiologist at the Charité University Medicine Center, Humboldt University in Berlin. He is currently a full professor at the Departments of Medicine and Diagnostic Radiology and acts as Chief of Cardiovascular Imaging and Scientific Director of the Courtois Cardiovascular Signature Program at the McGill University Health Centre. He also has an appointment with the Department of Medicine at Heidelberg University in Germany. He has focused the research activities of his team of 20+ researchers on cardiac MRI of myocardial injury, including acute ischemic and inflammatory conditions.
Dr. Milica Radisic is a Professor at the University of Toronto, Tier I Canada Research Chair and a Senior Scientist at the Toronto General Research Institute. She is also the Associate Editor for ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, the Director of the NSERC CREATE Training Program in Organ-on-a-Chip Engineering and Entrepreneurship and a co-Founder and co-Director of CRAFT. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada-Academy of Science, Canadian Academy of Engineering, AIMBE and TERMIS. The long term objective of her research is to enable cardiovascular regeneration through tissue engineering and development of new biomaterials. Her research findings were presented in over 260 publications with h-index of 68 and over 18,500 citations. She is a co-founder of two companies TARA Biosystems, that uses human engineered heart tissues in drug development and safety testing, and Quthero that advances regenerative hydrogels.
Scientific Lead, Cardiac Precision Medicine Program
Dr. Seema Mital is a Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiologist and Head of Cardiovascular Research at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto. She is Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Toronto and a Senior Scientist at the SickKids Research Institute. She is also the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada / Robert M Freedom Chair of Cardiovascular Science, and Scientific Lead of the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research. Mital has a strong translational research program focused on genomics, pharmacogenomics and stem cell applications to model childhood heart disease and discover new therapies. She has extensive experience in the genetics/genomics of congenital heart disease and heart failure, personalized medicine and clinical trials. 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 international repositories of its kind. Mital is the Principal Investigator of the CIHR-funded INSERT-HCM multi-centre project aimed at implementing digital health technology, the NIH-funded Pediatric Heart Network for clinical trials, and leads the international ERAPerMed funded PROCEED network for Personalized Genomics in congenital heart disease.