Beanlands, Rob

Rob Beanlands, MD, is deputy director general at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI), where he was the former Vered chair and head of the Division of Cardiology from 2012 to 2022. He is a professor in the Division of Cardiology in the Department of Medicine with cross-appointments to the Departments of Radiology and Cellular and Molecular Medicine in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa (uOttawa).

Background

Dr. Beanlands graduated with a gold medal and received his MD degree (magna cum laude) from the University of Ottawa. He undertook residency in internal medicine and cardiology at the University of Toronto before completing research fellowships in cardiology and nuclear cardiology. He subsequently completed a clinical research fellowship at the University of Michigan. He joined the UOHI as a staff cardiologist and clinician-scientist in 1992.

Dr. Rob Beanlands is an international leader in cardiovascular imaging and is considered one of the top five cardiovascular imaging clinician-scientists in his field worldwide. He is the founding director of the Heart Institute’s National Cardiac PET Centre, the first positron emission tomography facility in Canada dedicated to cardiovascular disease. His research on cardiac flow, metabolism, inflammation, and cellular function has led to pioneering translational work that has impacted understanding of disease, application in patient care, health policy and clinical practice guidelines. He has led multi-centre imaging research initiatives, including PARR2, IMAGE-Heart Failure, Canadian Atherosclerotic Imaging Network (co-principal investigator), CADENCE, CHASM, and MARINER. He has served on several committees and advisory boards for government and professional organizations impacting healthcare policies and practice guidelines. He is an associate editor for the Canadian Journal of Cardiology and a senior advisory editor for the Journal of Nuclear Cardiology. Dr. Beanlands is past president of the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology, past Ontario governor for the American College of Cardiology, and he was the scientific program chair and then annual meeting chair for the Canadian Cardiovascular Society. He was also scientific review committee vice chair and chair for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada (HSFC).

Dr. Beanlands has been a career investigator supported by HSFC and is a uOttawa distinguished chair in cardiovascular imaging research. His research program has been funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and Heart and Stroke, Canadian Foundation for Innovation, Ontario Research Fund among other peer-reviewed agencies. He has well over 400 peer-reviewed publications. Recent awards include the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medal for contribution to Canada (2012), the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Hermann Blumgart Award for research achievement (2013), the Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS) Research Achievement Award (2015) and Lifetime Achievement Award (2022), and the CIHR-ICRH/CCS Distinguished Lecturer Award in Cardiovascular Sciences (2019). In 2023, Dr. Beanlands delivered the Mario Verani Lectureship for the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology and received the prestigious Margolese National Heart Disorders Prize.

Research and clinical interests

Clinical

Dr. Beanlands’ clinical practice has included outpatient and inpatient general cardiology as well as imaging. He is a former head of the Department of Cardiac Imaging and was subsequently head of the Division of Cardiology at the UOHI. In imaging, he has special clinical interest and is considered a world expert in defining blood flow in the hearts of patients with coronary artery disease and other heart conditions such as post-heart transplantation. He is also a world expert in the diagnosis of heart tissue metabolism in patients with heart failure, including before considering revascularization with coronary artery bypass grafts or stenting. He is also an expert in defining inflammatory conditions of the heart, such as cardiac sarcoidosis and endocarditis. He strives for patient-centred care and continuous quality improvement.

Research

Dr. Beanlands’ research applies imaging to understand cardiovascular disease and treatment. His research interests include metabolism, cellular function, viability, inflammation and blood flow of the heart and blood vessels. His research interests also include the development and investigation of novel probes for evaluation of proteins, transporters and receptors, and other parameters to help advance understanding of cardiovascular disease; diagnostic capabilities, and optimized management to improve patient care and outcomes.

Publications

See current publications list at PubMed.

Selected publications

  1. Rubin BB, Drenth B, Beanlands RS. Appropriate, quality imaging tests through linkage of payment to guidelines, accreditation and training. CMAJ. 2015 Mar 3;187(4):E126-7.
  2. Hall AB, Ziadi MC, Leech JA, Chen SY, Burwash IG, Renaud J, deKemp RA, Haddad H, Mielniczuk LM, Yoshinaga K, Guo A, Chen L, Walter O, Garrard L, DaSilva JN, Floras JS, Beanlands RS. Effects of short-term continuous positive airway pressure on myocardial sympathetic nerve function and energetics in patients with heart failure and obstructive sleep apnea: a randomized study.Circulation. 2014 Sep 9;130(11):892-901.
  3. Chow BJ, Dorbala S, Di Carli MF, Merhige ME, Williams BA, Veledar E, Min JK, Pencina MJ, Yam Y, Chen L, Anand SP, Ruddy TD, Berman DS, Shaw LJ, Beanlands RS. Prognostic value of PET myocardial perfusion imaging in obese patients. JACC Cardiovasc Imaging. 2014 Mar;7(3):278-87.
  4. Sleiman L, Beanlands R, Hasu M, Thabet M, Norgaard A, Chen YX, Holcik M, Whitman S. Loss of cellular inhibitor of apoptosis protein 2 reduces atherosclerosis in atherogenic apoE-/- C57BL/6 mice on high-fat dietJ Am Heart Assoc. 2013 Sep 26;2(5):e000259.(R Beanlands co-supervisor)
  5. Thackeray JT, Dekemp RA, Beanlands RS, Dasilva JN. Insulin restores myocardial presyncopy sympathetic neuronal integrity in insulin-resistant diabetic rats. J Nucl Cardiol. 2013;20(5):845-56.) (R Beanlands co-supervisor) (–Awarded Top Basic Science Paper Journal of Nuclear Cardiology 2013)
  6. O'Meara E, Mielniczuk LM, Wells GA, deKemp RA, Klein R, Coyle D, Mc Ardle B, Paterson I, White JA, Arnold M, Friedrich MG, Larose E, Dick A, Chow B, Dennie C, Haddad H, Ruddy T, Ukkonen H, Wisenberg G, Cantin B, Pibarot P, Freeman M, Turcotte E, Connelly K, Clarke J, Williams K, Racine N, Garrard L, Tardif JC, DaSilva J, Knuuti J, Beanlands R; IMAGE HF investigators. Alternative Imaging Modalities in Ischemic Heart Failure (AIMI-HF) IMAGE HF Project I-A: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Trials. 2013 Jul 16;14:218.
  7. Tardif JC, Spence JD, Heinonen TM, Moody A, Pressacco J, Frayne R, L'allier P, Chow BJ, Friedrich M, Black SE, Fenster A, Rutt B, Beanlands R. Atherosclerosis imaging and the Canadian Atherosclerosis Imaging Network. Can J Cardiol. 2013 Mar;29(3):297-303.
  8. Mielniczuk L, Beanlands R, Imaging-Guided Selection of Patients with Ischemic Heart Failure for High Risk Revascularization Improves Identification of those with the Highest Clinical Benefit. Circulation Cardiovascular Imaging 2012; 5(2):262-70.
  9. Mc Ardle BA, Dowsley TF, deKemp RA, Wells GA, Beanlands RS. Does rubidium-82 PET have superior accuracy to SPECT perfusion imaging for the diagnosis of obstructive coronary disease?: A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2012 Oct 30;60(18):1828-37.
  10. Youssef G, Leung E, Mylonas I, Nery P, Williams K, Wisenberg G, Gulenchyn KY, deKemp RA, DaSilva J, Birnie D, Wells G, Beanlands RSB. The Use of FDG-18 PET Imaging in the Diagnosis of Cardiac Sarcoidosis, a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Including the Ontario Experience. J Nucl Med. 2012;53(2):241-8.
  11. Ziadi MC, deKemp RA, Williams K, Guo A, Chow BJW, Renaud JM, Ruddy TD, Sarveswaran N, Tee R, Beanlands RSB. Impaired Myocardial Flow Reserve on Rubidium-82 Positron Emission Tomography Imaging Predicts Adverse Outcomes In Patients Assessed for Myocardial Ischemia. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2011;58(7):740-8.
Rob Beanlands, M.D.

Beanlands, Rob

Beanlands, Rob

MD, FRCPC

Appointments and affiliations

Deputy Director General
University of Ottawa Heart Institute

Professor, Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine;
Professor, Department of Radiology (cross appointed);
Professor, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine (cross appointed);
University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine Distinguished Research Chair Award in Cardiovascular Imaging 
University of Ottawa