Fellows

Alexander Benz

Research Fellow

Alexander Benz joined the Arrhythmia Research group at PHRI, supervised by Stuart Connolly, as a research fellow in January 2019, and is enrolled in the Health Research Methodology program at McMaster University. His primary research interest is clinical electrophysiology, with a particular focus on atrial fibrillation. Other areas of interest include oral anticoagulation in various settings, inflammation, cardiac implantable electronic devices and interventions such as catheter ablation.

He is actively involved in the conduct of large international clinical trials coordinated at PHRI. Alexander is the Principal Investigator of a randomized clinical trial testing a short-course treatment with colchicine in the setting of catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation that started enrollment in January 2020.

Alexander obtained his medical degree from Goethe University in Frankfurt (Germany) in 2015. He is pursuing a career in Cardiology.

William McIntyre

Research Fellow

William McIntyre, a cardiologist, is a research fellow in the Arrhythmia and Heart Failure research program at PHRI, and in the Clinician Investigator Program at McMaster University. He is pursing clinical training in arrhythmia and a PhD in Health Research Methods. His research interests include atrial fibrillation – including screening, detection and cardioversion, cardiac devices and methods in randomized clinical trials.

He holds fellowship awards from CIHR and the Canadian Stroke Prevention Intervention Network (C-SPIN). He holds research grants from the Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS) Atrial Fibrillation Awards Program and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. William has published more than 50 peer-reviewed articles, and was the 2018 Recipient of the CCS Trainee Excellence in Education Award.  He completed Medical School and Internal Medicine Residency at Queen’s University, and his adult cardiology residency at the University of Manitoba.

Ryo Naito

Research Fellow

After working as a cardiologist for more than 10 years in Japan, Ryo Naito is now a research fellow at PHRI, joining the PURE study team. His research interests include preventive cardiology, heart failure, and ischemic heart disease.

Reema Shah

Research Fellow

Reema Shah completed her MD and internal medicine residency at the University of Toronto, and her endocrinology and metabolism residency at McMaster University. After residency, she completed the Clinician Investigator Program at McMaster University and Master of Public Health degree at Harvard University. Reema is interested in clinical research in the area of diabetes and its complications. She is being supervised by Dr. Hertzel Gerstein.

Jessica Spence

Research Fellow

Jessica Spence is an anesthesiologist, ICU fellow, and PhD candidate under the supervision of Dr. PJ Devereaux. She is a perioperative research fellow at PHRI with a focus on the cognitive and functional outcomes of cardiac and non-cardiac surgery, and perioperative delirium.

Jeremy Petch

Associate Fellow

Jeremy Petch is Director, Digital Health Innovation, Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS), where his team employs machine learning to data streaming from continuous remote monitoring devices to develop improved early-warning systems for patients recovering from surgery. They are also developing a range of patient and clinician-facing applications in the areas of virtual care and improving clinical workflow.

He is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto’s Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, and has a PhD in Philosophy (Health Policy Ethics) from York University.