Perioperative and Surgery

PJ Devereaux

Senior Scientist

PJ Devereaux is Senior Scientific Lead, Perioperative and Surgery, PHRI, Professor and University Scholar in the Departments of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact (HEI) and Medicine at McMaster University, and Director of the Division of Cardiology at McMaster.

The focus of his clinic research is vascular complications around the time of surgery, leading several large, international RCTs and observational studies addressing this issue. He has published more than 250 peer-reviewed papers and more than 50 book chapters and editorials. He is supported by a Tier 1 Canadian Research Chair in Perioperative Medicine, and holds the Yusuf Chair in Cardiology at McMaster University.

David Conen

Scientist

David Conen is a Scientist at PHRI, which he joined in 2016, and an Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, McMaster University. A trained internist and cardiologist from Basel, Switzerland, he obtained a Master of Public Health degree from Harvard University.

His research activities involves the conduct of large epidemiological cohort studies to study risk factors for the occurrence of atrial fibrillation and its consequences, and research into therapies to prevent and treat perioperative atrial fibrillation. David is the Co-Principal Investigator of a large national cohort study to assess the relationship between atrial fibrillation and cognitive decline in Switzerland (Swiss-AF). He has published more than 130 peer-reviewed manuscripts in leading scientific journals as well as several reviews and editorials.

Andre Lamy

Scientist

Andre Lamy is a cardiac surgeon practicing at the Hamilton Health Sciences since 1996, and Professor in the Department of Surgery, McMaster University. He led the Canadian Institute of Health Research funded CORONARY trial, which evaluated off-pump CABG surgery versus on-pump CABG surgery in 4752 patients. The results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2012 and 2013.

Maura Marcucci

Scientist

Maura Marcucci is a scientist in the Perioperative and Surgery research group at PHRI, and an Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, and Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact, at McMaster University. Leveraging on her background in vascular medicine, thrombosis and hemostasis disorders, and geriatrics, Maura’s current main focus of clinical research is cardiovascular and neurocognitive outcomes in noncardiac surgery. She is currently the project officer of the PeriOperative ISchemic Evaluation (POISE)-3 trial and principal investigator of the POISE-3 sub-study on delirium and cognitive decline.

She obtained her medical training and residency in Internal Medicine in Italy. In 2012-2013 she completed an MSc in Health Research Methodology and a clinical fellowship in Hematology/Medicine at McMaster University. In 2014-2016 she was an Assistant Professor at the University of Milan in Italy, before returning to  Hamilton, Canada.

Michael McGillion

Scientist

Michael McGillion is Associate Professor, and Assistant Dean, Research, at the School of Nursing, McMaster University. He is the Heart and Stroke Foundation/Michael G. DeGroote Endowed Chair in Cardiovascular Nursing Research, and the International Visiting Professor of Digital Health, at Coventry University in the UK.

He is an internationally-recognized researcher in the area of persistent forms of cardiac pain such as refractory angina and unrelieved chest pain following successful revascularization procedures. He was Chair of the Joint Canadian Cardiovascular Society – Canadian Pain Society guidelines for the management of refractory angina, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). He is Principal Investigator of the largest CIHR-funded, international prospective cohort study to examine social and psychological predictors of chronic post-surgical pain following cardiac surgery. His research focuses on remote automated monitoring and virtual recovery support for people recovering from cardiac and vascular surgery, decision support for people living with RFA, and global-scale, web-based dissemination of new evidence on persistent forms of cardiac pain.

Mike has been recognized for his research and advocacy by receiving the Canadian Pain Society Early Career Award and the McMaster University Arch Award for outstanding contributions to society; and was the first University Scholar (2019) from the McMaster School of Nursing.

Tej Sheth

Scientist

Tej Sheth is a Scientist with the Perioperative and Surgery research program at PHRI, as well as a Principal Investigator in atherosclerosis imaging, an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at McMaster University, and a interventional cardiologist at Hamilton Health Sciences. His research interests include invasive and non-invasive coronary imaging modalities, including coronary angiography, optical coherence tomography, and CT coronary angiography. He is Director of the CT Angiographic Core Lab for the COMPASS CABG study and the COMPLETE trial at PHRI.

Richard Whitlock

Scientist

Richard Whitlock is Associate Chair, Research, and a Professor at the Department of Surgery, McMaster University. He was awarded the inaugural Canada Research Chair in Cardiovascular Surgery in 2020.

As well as being a PHRI Scientist, Richard is a cardiac surgeon and intensive care physician at Hamilton Health Sciences. His clinical focus is on aortic valve intervention and aortic surgery. He is a lead investigator for the CIHR funded studies SIRS, LAAOS III, and TRICS III, which have established a network of more than 120 centres to address important questions in his field.

He has published more than 90 articles in referred journals. Medically qualified at the University of Toronto, Richard received his specialist training in cardiac surgery and critical care medicine at McMaster University. In 2012, he received his PhD in clinical epidemiology.

Emilie Belley-Côté

Investigator

Emilie Belley-Côté is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at McMaster University; she practices critical care cardiology in the cardiovascular intensive care unit and coronary care unit at the Hamilton General Hospital. Her research interests include perioperative cardiac surgery care, knowledge synthesis and guideline development. At this stage in her career, she has more than 120 publications, including articles in NEJM, Lancet, JAMA, as well as first-tier critical care journals.

She obtained her MD from Université de Sherbrooke in 2006. After internal medicine and cardiology training, as well as an MSc in Clinical Sciences, she completed a critical care fellowship at McMaster. In 2019, she completed a PhD in Health Research Methodology at McMaster University.

Flavia Kessler Borges

Scientist

Flavia Borges is a Scientist in the perioperative and surgery research group at PHRI, and internist, and an Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine (perioperative care; general internal medicine), McMaster University. Her research is focused on perioperative cardiac biomarkers, and perioperative strategies to improve clinical outcomes in patients undergoing noncardiac surgery.

She undertook her Masters in Health Sciences and her PhD in Cardiovascular Sciences in Brazil, and a research and clinical perioperative vascular fellowship under the direction of PJ Devereaux at McMaster. She holds an Early Career Research Award from McMaster.

Rachel Eikelboom

Investigator

Rachel Eikelboom is a cardiac surgery resident and PhD candidate in the Health Research Methodology program under the supervision of PHRI Scientist Richard Whitlock and PHRI Investigator Emilie Belley-Cote.

Her research interests are in antithrombotic therapy after bioprosthetic valve replacement. Rachel is a co-investigator of the SUNDANCE trial, a sub-study of the DANCE trial, which focuses on subclinical valve thrombosis in patients with bioprosthetic aortic valve replacement.

Sandra Ofori

Investigator

Sandra Ofori is an Investigator in the he Perioperative and Surgery research group at PHRI, an Assistant Professor in McMaster University’s Department of Medicine (cardiology), and a PhD candidate in the Health Research Methodology program under the supervision of PJ Devereaux. Her research interests are in the areas of perioperative care and cardiovascular disease prevention.

Her current research program is focused on perioperative smoking cessation and strategies to improve long-term health in patients undergoing noncardiac surgery. She is actively involved in the conduct of large international perioperative clinical trials coordinated from PHRI and was the project officer of the Post Discharge after Surgery Virtual Care with Remote Automated Monitoring Technology (PVC-RAM) Trial.

Sandra completed her residency training in Internal Medicine and Cardiology at the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, where she was an Assistant Professor and Consultant Cardiologist in the College of Health Sciences and its affiliated teaching hospital. She also has a Master’s degree in Preventive Cardiology from the Imperial College, London UK, and was in the third cohort of the World Heart Federation Salim Yusuf Emerging Leaders Program that was focused on the reduction of the global burden of hypertension.

Pavel Roshanov

Investigator

Pavel Roshanov, an internal medicine physician and nephrologist, is completing a fellowship in kidney transplantation at McMaster University. He has published more than 50 papers in the areas of perioperative care and medical informatics.

Jessica Spence

Investigator

Jessica Spence is a cardiac anesthesiologist and intensivist who completed a research fellowship at PHRI and a PhD in Clinical Epidemiology under the supervision of PJ Devereaux.

She is an Assistant Professor at McMaster University and the Principal Investigator of the B-Free Cluster Crossover Trial. Her research program focuses on the perioperative outcomes of cardiac surgery.

Amit Garg

Associate Scientist

Amit Garg is the Associate Dean, Clinical Research, at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University, has practiced as a staff nephrologist at the London Health Sciences Centre in London, Ontario, Canada since 2003, and is a Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Western University, with a cross-appointment in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact (HEI) at McMaster University. A past president of the Canadian Society of Nephrology, Amit Garg serves as the current Ontario Lead of the Kidney, Dialysis and Transplantation Program at ICES.

He values his ongoing collaborations with PJ Devereaux and other leading clinician-scientists at PHRI, which has led to several sub-studies funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research which examined the effects of perioperative interventions on the risk of acute kidney injury (off-pump cardiopulmonary bypass surgery) in the CORONARY study, and more. A current interest is in pragmatic randomized trials embedded into routine healthcare delivery.

Emmanuelle Duceppe

Associate Scientist

Emmanuelle Duceppe is a principal scientist with Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM) Research Centre in Montreal, Quebec. She is also an internist and clinical assistant professor, Department of Medicine, Université de Montréal.

Her research interests include: prediction of preoperative risk in non-cardiac surgery; perioperative interventions and clinical outcomes in non-cardiac surgery; biomarkers for prediction and early identification of perioperative complications; pre- and postoperative management of patients in day surgery; statistical methodology for predictive model development; and cohort studies and clinical trials.

Steffen Blum

Research Fellow

Steffen Blum is a clinical and research fellow at PHRI and McMaster University, supervised by PHRI scientist David Conen. He completed medical school at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria. Steffen is a Swiss board-certified internist and has been a resident in cardiology at the University Hospital Basel, Switzerland, where he also completed his PhD in Clinical Research.

Steffen joined PHRI to build up a cohort of patients with myocardial injury of non-cardiac surgery (MINS), who are undergoing cardiac imaging with positron emission tomography for further risk stratification. Additionally, he is involved in the ASPIRE-AF and COP-AF trials and undergoes advanced training in nuclear cardiac imaging at the McMaster affiliated hospitals.

Tina Stegmann

Research Fellow

Tina Stegmann is a Research Fellow at PHRI supervised by PHRI scientist David Conen. Her main research activities at PHRI will focus on the prevalence and distribution pattern of vascular brain lesions and correlating cognitive function in patients with atrial fibrillation compared to patients with high cardiovascular disease burden. A comparative analysis of large clinical trials in collaboration with the study team of the COMPASS-MIND trial is planned. Tina will also be involved in international perioperative clinical trials coordinated from the PHRI (COP-AF and ASPIRE-AF).

Tina obtained her medical degree from the University of Leipzig, Germany in 2017 and is a cardiology resident at the University Hospital Leipzig, Department of Cardiology since 2018.

Her previous work focused on the relationship between heart failure and the comorbidity atrial fibrillation, such as telemedical non-invasive interventions in patients with chronic heart failure compared to usual care. Tina mainly contributed to the Investigator-initiated German study addressing the mechanisms of Sacubitril-Valsartan on heart failure hemodynamics by using noninvasive pressure-volume analysis. Tina is involved in multicenter clinical trials as an investigator.

Maram Khaled

Research Fellow

Maram Khaled is a Research Fellow at PHRI, supervised by Maura Marcucci, and a PhD student in the Health Research Methodology Program at McMaster University. Her current research interests focus on perioperative pain, pain management strategies and neurocognitive outcomes after non-cardiac surgery in older adults.

Maram is a pain physician, she obtained her medical degree (MBBCh) from Alexandria University, Egypt and her MSc degree in Pharmacology from the University of Toronto where she studied the neurocircuitry of relapse to addiction. She completed her training in Pain Medicine at the Medical Research Institute, Alexandria University, Egypt (2012-2018) where she was involved in clinical research related to acute and chronic pain.

Ana Claudia Tonelli

Research Fellow

Ana Claudia Tonelli is a Research Fellow at PHRI under the supervision of PHRI Scientist Flavia Kessler Borges. Ana will be involved in an international multi-centre randomized controlled clinical trial in perioperative care. Ana is an internal medicine physician at Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Brazil, and an Associate Professor at Unisinos University.

She has a Master’s Degree in internal medicine and a Ph.D. in cardiology and cardiovascular sciences, conferred by Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil. The primary research related to this academic formation is related to hypertension. In 2012, she started her ultrasound point of care career as a fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital. Since then, she has been a standard bearer for Point-of-Care Ultrasound in Brazil, teaching medical students, residents, and practicing internists.

Michael Wang

Investigator

Michael Ke Wang is an Investigator at PHRI and an MSc student in the Health Research Methodology Program at McMaster University, supervised by Dr. David Conen. His main interests are in perioperative medicine and perioperative atrial fibrillation. Michael is actively involved in the conduct of large international perioperative clinical trials coordinated from PHRI; he is the project officer of the COP-AF and ASPIRE-AF trials.

Michael is a Clinical Scholar in the Division of General Internal Medicine at McMaster University. He obtained his medical degree from the University of Ottawa and completed his internal medicine residency, general internal medicine fellowship, and perioperative vascular training at McMaster University.

Patrick Wanner

Research Fellow

Patrick Wanner is a Research Fellow at PHRI and an MSc student in the Health Research Methodology Program at McMaster University, supervised by PJ Devereaux. His research focuses on optimizing perioperative and post-discharge hemodynamics to prevent postoperative complications.

Patrick is a Swiss anesthesiologist and intensivist. He obtained his medical degree from the University of Zurich and completed his training at the Cantonal Hospitals of St. Gallen & Baden and at the University Hospital of Basel in Switzerland.

Jessica Vincent

Program Director

Jessica Vincent has more than 15 years’ experience in coordinating and managing large, international clinical trials. As Associate Program Manager, she oversees interventional trials, registries, and observational research studies in the areas of perioperative medicine, cardiac surgery, and digital health.

She holds an Honours Bachelor of Science Degree from Queens University, and a Master of Clinical Epidemiology Degree from the University of Newcastle.

Kate Brady

Project Manager

Kate Brady has worked in clinical research since 2008 and joined PHRI in 2010. She has experience in coordinating large international clinical trials and observational studies with a focus on cardiac surgery. She has an Honour’s Bachelor Degree in Science with an Honours Specialization in Genetics from Western University and a post-graduate certificate in Clinical Research from Humber College.

Ingrid Copland

Senior Research Coordinator

Ingrid Copland has been working in research for McMaster University since 1991. She has been at PHRI for 23 years where she has coordinated large, international, industry and investigator initiated trials. Since 2014 she has been with the perioperative and surgery department coordinating observational, drug and device trials.

Emily Di Sante

Senior Research Coordinator

With over 14 years experience in health research coordination, Emily is passionate about building exceptional teams that make a positive impact on global health. She has an Honours Bachelor’s of Arts degree (University of Guelph), Master’s of Political Science degree (McMaster University) and a certificate in Project Management (University of Toronto).

Her research interests include tobacco control, public and patient involvement, long-term care, evaluation and knowledge translation. At PHRI, she supports the perioperative and surgery studies, B-Free, FARGO, FAST, PREVENT and STRATUS.