Thrombosis

John Eikelboom

Senior Scientist

John Eikelboom is Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, McMaster University, and a haematologist in the Thrombosis Service, Hamilton General Hospital. He originally trained in Internal Medicine and Haematology in Perth, Australia and subsequently moved to Hamilton to take up a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Cardiovascular Medicine.

He has co-authored more than 350 articles in peer-reviewed journals. His current research, supported by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, focuses on the efficacy and safety of antithrombotic therapies, outcomes after blood transfusion and bleeding, and the mechanisms of variable response to antiplatelet drugs.

Stuart Connolly

Stuart Connolly is a Professor of Medicine at McMaster University and a cardiac electrophysiologist at Hamilton Health Sciences. He became a faculty member at McMaster University in 1983 and was awarded a full professorship in 1994. He was also appointed as the inaugural holder of the Salim Yusuf Chair in Cardiology at McMaster University.

He has published more than 270 scientific articles in the field, and is currently a member of the editorial boards for a number of prominent cardiology journals, including Heart, the American Heart Journal and the Journal of Pacing and Electrophysiology. His main research interests are focused on the evaluation of treatments for heart rhythm disorders. His academic career has been largely devoted to the design and execution of controlled clinical trials in this area.

He holds a Masters degree from Fordham University, New York, and an MD from McGill University in Montreal. He received his specialist training in cardiology at the University of Toronto and at Stanford University.

Vinai Bhagarith

Investigator

Vinai Bhagirath is a hematologist working clinically in benign hematology and thrombosis at the Hamilton General Hospital. He holds a Master’s degree in Medical Sciences, for which he studied molecular mediators of inflammation in sepsis, after which he trained as a clinical research fellow under the mentorship of John Eikelboom, a Senior Scientist at PHRI.

His current research interests include optimal measurement and dosing of direct oral anticoagulants, innovative digital platforms to improve trial efficiency, and predictors of bleeding.

Jackie Bosch

Scientist

Jackie Bosch started working with Salim Yusuf in 1993, before PHRI was formally created, as she was completing her Masters in Clinical Epidemiology, with the intent to learn how to do clinical trials so she could run trials in post-stroke rehabilitation. Most recently, she has been a co-investigator on large trials in primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease and diabetes, as well as understanding the causes of functional decline as well as developing simple, internationally applicable interventions to improve post-stroke disability.

She is Assistant Dean of the Occupational Therapy program, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, McMaster University, and has received awards such as the (McMaster) President’s Award for Outstanding Service, and the PHRI Award for Outstanding Contributions to Global Collaborations. She has more than 65 peer-reviewed publications.

Noel Chan

Scientist

Noel Chan is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Hematology and Thromboembolism, Department of Medicine, McMaster University, specializing in anticoagulant therapy and thrombosis medicine. His research seeks to improve our understanding of the triggers for thrombosis (including the role of inflammation) and the determinants of variable response to antithrombotic therapies to inform on novel strategies that have the potential to further reduce the burden of thrombosis.

Deborah Siegal

Associate Senior Scientist

Deborah Siegal is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine within the Division of Hematology at the University of Ottawa. Her primary research interests include improving patient outcomes after anticoagulant-related bleeding; management of anticoagulants in patients who have acute bleeding complications or require urgent surgery; understanding the factors that influence patient and physician decision-making after anticoagulant-related bleeding; and reducing red blood cell transfusion by minimizing iatrogenic blood loss for laboratory testing.

With expertise in the design and conduct of pragmatic cluster randomized trials, individual patient randomized trials, mixed-methods studies, observational studies and meta-analyses, Deborah Siegal has received peer-reviewed grant support as principal investigator from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the American Society of Hematology, CanVECTOR/Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, Ontario AFP Innovation Fund, and Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation. She has published 70 peer-reviewed articles including several in high-impact journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine, Circulation, Blood, and Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis.

Jessica Tyrwhitt

Program Manager

Jessica Tyrwhitt has more than 10 years’ experience in coordinating and managing large, international clinical trials. She oversees interventional trials, registries, and observational research studies looking at primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease in a variety of therapeutic areas, including cardiology, thrombosis, nephrology, cardio-oncology and diabetes.

She holds an Honours Bachelor of Science Degree & Business from the University of Waterloo.

Courtney Christou

Project Manager

Courtney has more than eight years of experience working in both industry and academic research. She primarily manages large international drug trials that focus primarily on prevention of cardiovascular disease (TIPS-3, COMPASS and ORIGIN trials) and chronic kidney disease (ACHIEVE, RECORD and DISCO-RLS trials).

She holds an Honours Bachelor of Applied Sciences with a Major in Kinesiology and a Diploma in Fitness and Health Promotion from the University of Guelph-Humber.