Endowed Chairs help the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI) attract and support top-calibre researchers. They provide long-term support to areas of research and academia identified as a priority for the Institute. Chairs bring prestige and recognition to our researchers.
Endowed Fellowships and Graduate Awards build the next generation of cardiovascular experts. They serve as tools to retain current talents and to recruit new talents. These Fellowships and Awards provide salary stipends to postdoctoral fellows, clinical fellows, and graduate students through a peer reviewed, competitive process.
These funding initiatives are made possible by the generous support of donors, the University of Ottawa Cardiac Endowment Fund at the Heart Institute, and the UOHI Foundation.
- Endowed Chairs
- Endowed Fellowships and Scholarships
- Division of Cardiology Research Fellowships
- Lawrence Soloway Research Fellowship in Cardiac Surgery
- University of Ottawa Cardiac Endowment Fund at the Heart Institute
Endowed Chairs
The Heart Institute offers a total of 14 Endowed Chairs to support our world-renowned physicians and scientists in their leadership, research, and educational activities.
We are grateful to the donors for their support of these Endowed Chairs.
- Gordon F. Henderson Chair in Leadership
Held by the President and CEO, Thierry Mesana, MD PhD - Vered Chair in Cardiology
Held by the Chief of Cardiology, David Birnie, MD - Michael Pitfield Chair in Cardiac Surgery
Held by the Chief of Cardiac Surgery, Pierre Voisine, MD - Endowed Chair in Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery Research
Held by an active cardiac surgeon who provides research and academic leadership in cardiac surgery, Marc Ruel, MD - Dr. T.G. Messana Endowed Team Chair in Valvular Heart Disease
Held and co-chaired by one cardiologist and one cardiac surgeon conducting research to advance knowledge of valvular heart disease, Vincent Chan, MD and David Messika-Zeitoun, MD, PhD - Donald S. Beanlands Endowed Chair in Cardiology Education
Held by an active cardiologist who provides leadership in cardiology education, Michael Froeschl, MD - Endowed Chair in Electrophysiology Leadership
Held by the Director of the Electrophysiology Program, Girish Nair, MD - Merck Frosst Canada Chair in Atherosclerosis Research
Held by an Institute researcher leading translational research in atherosclerosis. These funds were established by Merck Frosst in recognition of Drs. Ruth McPherson, Ross Milne, and Yves Marcel, the founders of the Institute’s Lipoproteins and Atherosclerosis Research Group, Ruth McPherson, MD PhD - Minto Chair in Interventional Cardiology Leadership
Held by the Director of the Interventional Cardiology Program, Derek So, MD - Pfizer Chair in Hypertension Research
Held by a researcher leading hypertension research, Thais Coutinho, MD - Saul and Edna Goldfarb Chair in Cardiac Imaging
Held by an active clinician leading cardiac imaging research, Ian Paterson, MD - Women’s Heart Health Research Chair (term Chair)
Held by a researcher leading women’s heart health research - Chair in Cardiac Nursing Held and co-chaired by the vice-presidents of Clinical Services – Administration, Erika McPhee and Bonnie Bowes
- Dr. J. Earl Wynands Associate Chair in Cardiac Anesthesiology Research
Held by the Chief of Anesthesiology, Bernard McDonald, MD, PhD
Endowed Fellowships and Scholarships
UOHI Strategic Research Fellowships
The Strategic Research Fellowship provides a stipend for a two-year term to a postdoctoral or clinical fellow working in an area of research that aligns with the current Research Strategic Plan.
2026
- Juan David Figueroa Alegria, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow
Supervisor: Emilio Alarcón, PhD
Engineering a Next-Generation Collagen-Mimetic Extracellular Matrix for Cardiac Repair and Regeneration - Terefe Gelibo, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow
Supervisors: Hassan Mir, MD
CanQuit: A Pragmatic Randomized Trial to Improve Smoking Cessation at Population Level - Sora Kwon, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow
Supervisors: Kyoung-Han Kim, PhD
Uncovering hepatic mechanisms and novel molecular targets of SGLT2 inhibitors in MASLD
2025
- Edwidge Martin-Valiente, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow
Supervisor: Peter Liu, MD
Unraveling the Brain-Heart Axis: IGFBP7 and Angiopoietin-2 as Key Mediators and Therapeutic Targets - Lisa-Marie Maukel, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow
Supervisor: Heather Tulloch, PhD
Developing and Testing a Gender-Sensitive Psychological Intervention for Women with SCAD: A Phase IIa Proof-of-Concept Study
UOHI Strategic Research Scholarships
2026
- Abeline Watkins, MD, MSc Candidate
Supervisor: Emilio Alarcón, PhD
In-vivo feasibility and short-term patency of biomimetic graft conduits - Beverley Grace Goderre, PhD Candidate
Supervisor: Wenbin Liang, MD, PhD
Role of Tbx3 and GABA receptors in cardiomyocyte death - Anastasia Fahlman, PhD Candidate
Supervisor: Katey Rayner, PhD
Post-Translational Lysine Lactylation Modifies Inflammatory Resolution in Macrophages - Reda Moutaoukil, PhD Candidate
Supervisor: Wenbin Liang, MD, PhD
Ionic mechanisms of Non-canonical Wnt induced action potential prolongation in ventricular myocytes - Maryam Vahabi, PhD Candidate
Supervisor: Christopher Sun, PhD
Multimodal, Explainable AI for Extracardiac Findings in Cardiac Imaging
2025
- Ramis Ileri, MSc Candidate
Supervisor: Erik Suuronen, PhD
Fighting Methylglyoxal Damage in the Brain and Heart after Myocardial Infarction using Glyoxalase-1 Nanoparticle Therapy
Division of Cardiology Research Fellowships
These Fellowships provide stipends for up to two years to postdoctoral or clinical fellows conducting research in the Division of Cardiology.
Vered-Beanlands Fellowship
2026
- Kieran Oldfield, MD, Clinical Research Fellow (2026-28)
Supervisor: Pascal Theriault-Lauzier, MD, PhD
Multi-centre Clinical Validation of TAVI-AI for CT-based Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation Planning
Kaufman-Chan Fellowship in Cardiac Imaging
2026
- Shihab Sarwar, MD, Clinical Research Fellow (2026-28)
Supervisor: Ian Paterson, MD
Midodrine in Heart Failure with Reduced Ejection Fraction with Hypotension: A Pilot, Open-label, Randomized Controlled Trial (MIDOH-HF-P)
2025
- Maria Lopez-Laporte, MD, Clinical Research Fellow
Supervisor: David Messika-Zeitoun, MD, PhD
Echocardiographic Predictors of Pregnancy Outcomes
Whit & Heather Tucker Fellowship
2025
- Elise Gambahaya, MD, Clinical Research Fellow
Supervisor: Kevin Boczar, MD, PhD
Targeting vascular INflammation in patients with Community- Acquired Pneumonia (TIN-CAP): a multi-centre, prospective, randomized control trial
Ernest & Margaret Ford Fellowship
2025
- Joanne Joseph, MD, Clinical Research Fellow
Supervisor: Markus Schwerzman, MD
Randomized Clinical Trial on SGLT2 inhibitors in Systemic Right Ventricle
Lawrence Soloway Research Fellowship in Cardiac Surgery
The Lawrence Soloway Fellowship provides a stipend for up to two years to a postdoctoral or clinical fellow conducting research in the Division of Cardiac Surgery.
2026
- Micaela Giannetti, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow
Supervisor: Erik Suuronen, PhD
Engineering peptides to target methylglyoxal and its AGE
2025
- Ines Amara, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow
Supervisor: Erik Suuronen, PhD
Effect of exercise on methylglyoxal damage after myocardial infarction
Ian and Jan Craig Fellowship in Prevention and Rehabilitation Research
2025
- Matheus Reis-Hausen, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow
Supervisor Jennifer Reed, PhD
University of Ottawa Cardiac Endowment Fund at the Heart Institute
These awards provide stipends for up to a two-year term to postdoctoral fellow(s) and graduate student(s) based at the Heart Institute and registered with the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Medicine.
Fellowship
2026
- Dan Quansah, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow
Supervisor: Kerri-Anne Mullen, PhD
The effect of semaglutide on weight reduction in postpartum women with obesity: a patient-centered pilot randomized controlled trial
2025
- Syeda Kiran Shahzadi, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow
Supervisor: Darryl Davis, MD
Sex-Specific Validation and Electrophysiological Profiling in a Novel Cardiac Sarcoidosis Animal Model
Scholarships
2026
- Ali Abdalbari, PhD Candidate
Supervisor: Erin Mulvihill, PhD
Unveiling the Mechanisms and Therapeutic Potential of DPP4- Resistant Peptides in Obesity-Associated Type 2 Diabetes and Atherosclerosis - Khatira Mehiyeva, PhD Candidate
Supervisor: Munir Boodhwani, MD
TITAN•X | Exercise in Thoracic Aortic Disease - Mishita Dharia, MSc Candidate
Supervisor: Mireille Ouimet, PhD
Activation of Mighty Lipophagy to Combat Atherosclerosis - Nysa Vinayak, MSc Candidate
Supervisor: Mireille Ouimet, PhD
Harnessing ApoA1 to reverse surgery induced dysregulated immunometabolism in the brain in cardiovascular disease
2025
- Deyanira Hernandez, PhD Candidate
Supervisor: Emilio Alarcon, PhD
Design of small and medium-diameter vascular grafts with rapid endothelialization and antifouling protection - Saif Rjaibi, PhD Candidate
Supervisor: Peter Liu, MD
Optimizing mRNA-lipid nanoparticle design, delivery, and assessment for a scalable therapeutics pipeline for brain and heart diseases - Shabnam Pourshojae, MSc Candidate
Supervisor: Han Kim, PhD
Understanding the Role of Irx1 and Irx2 Transcription Factors in Pancreatic Alpha Cell Development and Function