At first glance, Donna May Kimmaliardjuk may seem like an average twenty-something-year-old. She is peppy, full of zest and, despite having worked a string of 12-hour long shifts with unpredictable on-call demands, her spirit is as sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel. At 28, Kimmaliardjuk, or “Dr. K” as...
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Look back on a groundbreaking career that helped shape the future of echocardiography and patient care
Cardiovascular medicine has become so successful at rescuing people from major challenges, such as heart attack and stroke, that it must now confront an entirely new difficulty: helping the survivors of these health crises. In many cases, the hearts of these patients have been significantly weakened...
Every research institute is driven by its army of graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. They bring their enthusiasm and curiosity to the lab each day and create new collaborative relationships between research groups, both down the hall and around the globe. The Beat spoke with four graduate...
Nearly 70 Ottawa Heart Institute program items will be on tap this year at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress in Montreal. Topics range widely across basic research, clinical research and clinical practice. Our program guide will help you find them all. A particular highlight will be the Heart...
Qingdao is a metropolis on the northeastern coast of China. Like many Chinese cities, it has seen explosive growth. In the past decade, Qingdao’s population has more than tripled to nearly 9 million people. Such growth has spurred the need to expand and modernize medical facilities and programs. In...
There were a lot of interesting news, research and healthcare policy discussions at this year's conference. Has the Time Come for Precision Medicine? A physician argues that tailoring care to the individual will improve outcomes and reduce costs First National Quality Report on Cardiovascular Care...
Somewhere between traditional cardiologists and cardiac surgeons sit interventional cardiologists. Like surgeons, interventionists get blood on their gowns in the process of correcting structural problems of the heart, but their approach is more subtle and less invasive. Spending their days in the...
To new cardiac anesthesiology residents, Dr. Jean-Yves Dupuis explains that it may be hard for them to predict the twists and turns their careers might take. “I tell them that the day I finished my internship back in 1979, I swore I would never go back to a university hospital—I wanted to travel the...
In March, Dr. Rob Beanlands was appointed Chief of Cardiology at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. He brings extensive career experience in cardiovascular imaging and a passion for patient-centred care and education to his new position. Dr. Beanlands takes over from Dr. Terrence Ruddy, Chief...
Shoehorned into a small room, the first positron emission tomography (PET) scanner at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute made possible a dedicated PET imaging service for heart patients one day a week. That was in 1995, and cardiologist Rob Beanlands, MD, physicist Rob deKemp, PhD, and nuclear...
When someone you love dies, it can feel like the ground has shifted under your feet. Grief affects us all differently, and there is no single “right” way to cope. We are here to support you through this process.
Atrial fibrillation is a complex condition in that its causes vary from person to person, impacting its underlying mechanisms, what triggers episodes and which treatments are effective in each individual. In addition, afib can be difficult to diagnose because it is often episodic nature and in some...
One thing we know about women’s hearts is that they are different. Gender differences have been identified in the recognition, treatment and recovery from heart disease related illness, but there are anatomical differences that can affect a woman’s recovery from cardiac surgery. One post-surgical...
It takes years and years of training to become a doctor, nurse or any other healthcare practitioner. It takes years and years more to master the skills demanded of those occupations. The truth about a career in medicine is no matter the specialty, learning continues long after the graduation caps...
A pillar in the world of cardiovascular nuclear medicine, Dr. Ruddy said: “People make all the difference.”
As commentaries on radiation go, Peter Parker likely summed it up best: “With great power comes great responsibility.” Although no one at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute has had to deal with the complications of acquiring superpowers from a radioactive spider, the staff is profoundly aware...
The University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI) and the UOHI Foundation have established a $1M research chair to improve care and experiences for hundreds of thousands of patients who require life-saving heart surgeries and procedures each year. The J. Earl Wynands Associate Chair in Cardiac...
It can be difficult to talk to a child about a heart event or diagnosis, treatments, the prognosis, and the possible changes that may occur in your family as a result. If you are in this situation, here are 10 tips for discussing your heart condition with your child.