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The Cardiovascular Sciences Collaborative Program has forged
successful links between the
University of Toronto campus and its peripheral sites
(teaching hospitals and research institutes and centres).
These links provide students with the unique opportunity and
exposure to the broad spectrum of cardiovascular based
research at the University of Toronto. This year we felt it
was important to focus on an attempt to establish a strong
financial base into which students could be actively
recruited. Various initiatives were developed and specifics
can be found in the Director's Comments.
Facilities for the Program are located on campus in the FitzGerald Building as well as at a satellite office at The Toronto Hospital. Day-to-day functions of the Program are handled by the Program Director, Dr. C. Wittnich, and Program Administrator, Victoria Simpson; with the guidance of the Executive Committee. Thanks to all the faculty, students, and participants in our activities for another successful year! Dr. Carin Wittnich
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| Clinical: |
Department of Medicine Department of Surgery Department of Anaesthesia
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| Graduate: |
Cellular and Molecular Pathology Department of Clinical Biochemistry Department of Community Health (Exercise Science Program) Department of Pharmacology Department of Physiology Institute of Medical Science
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| Other: |
The Centre for Cardiovascular Research (CCR) Institute of Biomedical Engineering |
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The Executive Committee consists of a representative from each collaborating department as well as a student representative.
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Dr. C. Wittnich (Director) Dr. M. Plyley (Community Health) Dr. M. Rabinovitch (Pathology/Medicine) Dr. C. Forster (Pharmacology) Dr. D.H. Osmond (Physiology) Dr. R.D. Weisel (IMS/Surgery) Dr. C-C. Liew (Clinical Biochemistry,CCR) Dr. M. Ojha (IBME) Dr. D. Cheng (Anaesthesia) Dr. Vivek Rao (Student Representative) |
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CHL5507H CHL5508H MSC3060H* MSC3061H* PAT1015H PCL1006Y PSL1029H PSL1060H PSL1038H CLB1407H
CLB1504H |
Cardiovascular Adaptations to Exercise and Environment (Community Health) Ischemic Heart Disease and Physical Activity (Community Health) Advanced Research in Cardiovascular Sciences I (IMS) Advanced Research in Cardiovascular Sciences II (IMS) Vascular Pathobiology (Pathology) Cardiovascular Pharmacology (Pharmacology) Advanced Course in Cardiovascular Regulation (Physiology) Developmental Cardiovascular Physiology (Physiology) Volume, Electrolyte and Pressure Regulation in Body Fluid Compartments (Physiology) From Bench to Bedside: Design, Measurement, and Analysis for Clinical Investigators (Clinical Biochemistry) Biochemistry, Molecular Biology of Cardiovascular Diseases (Clinical Biochemistry) Signal Transduction Pathways in Normal and Diseased Tissue (Clinical Biochemistry) Cardiovascular Fluid Mechanics (IBME) Ultrasound: Theory and Applications in Biology and Medicine (IBME) Biomaterials Science (IBME) | |
| * Core Courses | ||
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Annual Cardiovascular Scientific Day - May 30, 1997
The Annual Scientific Day, hosted by the Cardiovascular Sciences Collaborative Program and the Centre for Cardiovascular Research at the University of Toronto, is organized to bring together faculty and students who are interested in cardiovascular sciences. The aim is to provide an update in the frontiers of cardiovascular science and each symposium focuses on either clinical or basic science research. Attendees are encouraged to actively participate, either in the form of poster presentation or oral discussion, promoting cross-fertilization of ideas and assist research direction within our own cardiovascular community.
Once again, the Scientific Day was held at the Inn on the Park where over 300 registrants enjoyed a pleasant day of commaraderie, excellent science, and good food. This year the focus was on "Therapy for cardiovascular disease in the 2000s - where are we going?" A central featured symposium consisted of a number of speakers both local and invited. Dr. Batista, Head of Cardiovascular Surgery, Hospital Angelina Caron, Brazil, was the Annual Isadore E. Smith Lecturer, hosted by the Centre for Cardiovascular Research. He discussed his innovative "Volume reduction surgery as a viable therapy for the decompensating myocardium?" His extremely well received talk was then followed by local presentations by Dr. L. Mickleborough - "The role of revascularization and ventricular remodelling in treatment of heart failure due to coronary artery disease", Dr. D. Stewart - "Therapeutic angiogenesis: new genes and new approaches" and Dr. E. Downar - "Baskets and microwaves: new approaches to sudden death".
It was decided to host two featured research sessions. The morning session included Dr. D. Bradley - "Approaches to heart failure using the lung", Dr. J. Irvine - "Acute myocardial infarction: antiarrhythmic therapy and depression - determinants of outcome", Dr. P. Backx - "Novel paradigms for drug development", Dr. D. Osmond - "Potent new pressor protein (NPP) related to coagulation factor XII is potentiated by ACE inhibition", and Dr. A. Giacca - "Diabetes, insulin-resistance syndrome and cardiovascular disease". After a very pleasant lunch the afternoon featured research session included Dr. R. Hegele - "Genetic dissection of atherosclerosis", Dr. M. Cybulsky - "Adhesion molecules and atherosclerosis", Dr. J.C. Monge - "Regulation of the endothelin system", and Dr. Y. Pei - "Racial differences in cardiovascular mortality and dialysis patients". Then simultaneous break-out sessions included topics on Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy - Novel Approaches, and Developmental Biology.
There were 44 abstracts submitted for the poster session which was expanded to an hour, permitting individual short presentations by each of the six poster finalists. An additional hour of poster viewing was available during the breaks. These posters highlighted our cardiovascular trainees and their particular area of interest. Once again, the Harcourt Brace Canada Publishing Company generously supplied awards for the top 3 posters:
| 1st Prize: | W.J. Wallen - "Gender differences in systemic and myocardial response to dietary manipulation in spontaneously hypertensive rats" (Supervisor: Dr. C. Wittnich) | |
| 2nd Prize: | V. Rao - "Preventing low cardiac output syndrome by stimulating aerobic metabolism" (Supervisor: Dr. R. Weisel) | |
| 2nd Prize: | R. Tsushima - "FE2+ permeation through L-type calcium channels: mechanism of iron uptake by the heart" (Supervisors: Dr. P. Liu/P. Backx) |
Continuing Medical Education credits were issued for this meeting, continuing the high quality of scientific content (7 hours of Category 1 credit towards the AMA Physician's Recognition Award and 11.25 MOCOMP credits for the Royal College of Physicians & Surgeons of Canada). Faculty could use these credits for their professional development.
My thanks are extended, once again, to industry for their continued financial support and generousity which is so essential to the success of this meeting. Major sponsorship included Pfizer Canada, Medtronic of Canada Ltd., Merck Frosst Canada, Hoechst Marion Roussel Canada, Bayer Inc., Parke-Davis, Schering Canada Inc. Because of their support, we were able, once again, to provide an open registration and complimentary luncheon.
Students who completed the Cardiovascular Sciences Collaborative Program were recognized at the Awards Ceremony and included Roberto Diaz, MSc (Supervisor: Dr. G. Wilson), Anish Kirpalani, MASc (Supervisor: Dr. M. Ojha), Dr. Ricardo Fontani, MSc (Supervisor: Dr. G. Steiner), and Giulia Larosa, PhD (Supervisor: Dr. C. Forster).
The Annual Cardiovascular Scientific Day continues to be the highlight of our academic year.
Medtronic Travel Award
The Medtronic Travel Award was established in 1995 to partially defray the cost of travel for Program students presenting their research work at recognized scientific meetings. Two competitions were established - spring and fall. Students supported by this award this year were:
Note: These students were recorded in the 1995-96 annual report in error. Jack Wallen: The role of L-type Ca++ channels in neonatal heart susceptibility to ischemic damage. Canadian Society for Clinical Investigation, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, September 1996 (Supervisor: Dr. C. Wittnich, Physiology).
Bin Zhou: Regulation of smooth muscle cell fibronectin mRNA transport and translation by an AU-rich element and its binding protein. American Society of Cell Biology, December 1996 (Supervisor: Dr. M. Rabinovitch, Pathology)
Bigelow Book Prize
The Bigelow Book Prize, our most prestigious student award, consists of 2 books written by Dr. W.G. Bigelow entitled "Cold Hearts" and "Mysterious Heparin". This prize was established in 1995 by the Cardiovascular Sciences Collaborative Program to recognize and honour a pioneer clinician and scientist in the field of cardiovascular sciences. Awardees should exemplify the personal traits of Dr. Bigelow -- curiosity, drive, and scientific integrity. The award is given in every year that a qualified student is identified. Qualifications include sustained academic scientific excellence, innovative experimental approaches, original discoveries and good scientific productivity. Some weight is given to work that has recognizable clinical relevance, especially that which promises to improve patient care.
| Awardees: | ||
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1995 - 1996 - 1997 - |
Dr. John S. Ikonomidis Ms. Shona M. Torrance Dr. Vivek Rao |
This year, an Annual Bigelow Luncheon, held at Hart House, was instituted to bring together the previous and current awardees and their supervisors. This provided a delightful opportunity to chat informally with Dr. Bigelow.
Inside the Heart Lecture Series
For this academic year the lecture series was focused in two main areas: Vascular and Heart Function. A number of interesting speakers, once again, contributed their time and knowledge. Topics covered were vast and the emphasis continues to be to cover a broad spectrum from molecular and genetic through to whole organ and systems in specific and focused subject areas.
Part of this lecture series includes the Pfizer Canada Featured Symposia. Featured speakers included Dr. Preston Mason, Director, Laboratory for Membrane Structure Studies, MCP- Hahnemann School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA - "New concepts in the pathobiology of heart disease" and Dr. B. Ostadal, Head, Department of Developmental Cardiology, Director, Institute of Physiology, The Czech Republic - "Ontogenic development of cardiac sensitivity to inotropic agents".
Summer Activities
The Collaborative Program, along with the Division of Cardiac Surgery, Department of Surgery, ran another very successful summer program. There were 20 participants this year including undergraduate and medical school students from the University of Toronto as well as other Universities. The Collaborative Program provided a number of summer scholarships to help students who were unable to procure funding. Weekly seminars were presented by graduate students currently enrolled in the Collaborative Program and covered a range of topics of both clinical and basic science relevance. The summer students were also given the opportunity to present their summer work. A barbeque for faculty and students topped off the summer!
This highly successful program is enjoyed by all who participate and continues to grow each year.
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World Wide Web
The Cardiovascular Sciences Collaborative Program continues to maintain its own web site under the Faculty of Medicine. This web site is updated regularly and is undergoing expansion to include a news bulletin and on-line application forms. Collaborating departments are encouraged to provide hypertext links to the Collaborative Program on their web site.
The Program address is: www.library.utoronto.ca/www/cardiosci/index.html
Other material that continues to give the Program exposure includes the brochure, the Scientific Day pamphlets and posters, various industry sponsored seminars, and the Inside the Heart Lecture Series notices posted on campus. Collaborating departments also display the Program brochure.
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Faculty are divided into 3 categories (Full, Associate, and Affiliate) depending on their SGS status.
| FULL: | U. Ackermann, L. Adamson, C.E. Bayliss, D. Bradley, R.S.C. Cobbold, F. Coceani, J. Coles, J. Edelson, C.R. Ethier, J.S. Floras, C. Forster, S. Fremes, A.I. Gotlieb, R. Hegele, K.W. Johnston, P.G. Kalman, B.L. Langille, H. Lenskyj, C-C. Liew, P. Liu, P. McLaughlin, D.A.G. Mickle, L. Mickleborough, R.I. Ogilvie, M. Ojha, D.H. Osmond, T. Parker, M.J. Plyley, M. Rabinovitch, M. Sefton, N.A. Shaikh, I. Sherman, M.D. Silver, A.S. Slutsky, M.J. Sole, H. Sonnenberg, G. Steiner, D.E. Stewart, D.J. Stewart, S.G. Thomas, P. Walker, R.D. Weisel, G. Wilson, C. Wittnich, T-W. Wu, E.L. Yeo |
| ASSOCIATE: | P. Backx, E. Conway, J.M. Goodman, L.S. Goodman, J. Irvine, G.F. Lewis, M. Locke | |
| AFFILIATE: | A.G. Adelman, R.J. Burns, J. Butany, D. Cheng, C.M. Feindel, R-K. Li, T. Lindsay, P. Murphy, J. Parker, L. Schwartz |
Congratulations to those faculty whose School of Graduate Studies status was upgraded.
Two of our faculty (Drs. K. Skorecki and I. Rebeyka) have left the University of Toronto and we wish them well in their new positions.
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| STUDENT | SUPERVISOR | DEGREE | DEPARTMENT | |
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Warren Ball Michael Borger Andrea Burry Andrew Campbell Cathy Carlyle Bryce Cowan Kyle Harrow Catherine Mason Hani Najm Vivek Rao Shona Torrance Jack Wallen Bin Zhou |
R-K Li R. Weisel M. Rabinovitch D. Stewart C. Wittnich M. Rabinovitch y H. Lenskyj M. Rabinovitch C. Wittnich R. Weisel C. Wittnich S C. Wittnich y M. Rabinovitch |
MSc PhD MSc MSc PhD PhD PhD PhD MSc MSc PhD MSc PhD |
IMS IMS Pathology IMS IMS Pathology Community Health Pathology IMS IMS IMS Physiology Pathology |
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Roberto Diaz (Supervisor: Dr. G. Wilson) received his MSc through the Institute of Medical Science. Roberto is currently working in Dr. Wilson's laboratory as a Professional Assistant and his long term plans are to go in to clinical medicine.
Ricardo Fontani (Supervisor: Dr. G. Steiner) received his MSc through the Institute of Medical Science. Ricardo is currently working at Boehringer Ingelheim Canada Ltd as a Clinical Project Manager in the Medical Department where he manages the running of clinical trials in the cardiovascular area.
Anish Kirpalani (Supervisor: Dr. M. Ojha) received his MASc through the Institute of Biomedical Engineering. Since graduating he worked briefly as an R&D Specialist for a medical diagnostics company and more recently, as a Health Care Strategy Consultant for Ernst & Young. Anish will be returning to university this fall (1997) to enter medical school.
Giulia Larosa (Supervisor: Dr. C. Forster) received her PhD through the Department of Pharmacology. Since graduating Giulia has worked as a pharmacologist consultant for a graphics firm and is currently employed by industry.
Due to personal reasons, one student (G. Couch) dropped out of his graduate training.
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| W. Ball |
- UofT Open Scholarship | |
| M. Borger |
- Heart & Stroke Foundation of Ontario Research Fellowship - C. William S. Fenwick Fellowship | |
| A. Burry |
- Ontario Graduate Scholarship - Canadian Hypertension Society Summer Studentship | |
| A. Campbell |
- Dyson Fellowship - C. William S. Fenwick Fellowship | |
| C. Carlyle |
- UofT Open Scholarship | |
| B. Cowan |
- Heart & Stroke Foundation of Ontario Research Traineeship | |
| C. Mason |
- Medical Research Council MD/PhD Studentship | |
| V. Rao |
- 2nd Place Poster Presentation Award, Cardiovascular Scientific Day, UofT - 1997 Bigelow Book Prize, Cardiovascular Collaborative Program, UofT - Finalist, Laidlaw Competition, Institute of Medical Science, UofT - Honourable Mention, Gallie-Bateman Resident Research Competition, UofT - Guest Reviewer, The Journal of Thoracic & Cardiovascular Surgery - Inaugural Recipient, Vivien Thomas Young Investigator Award, Council on Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery, American Heart Association | |
| S. Torrance |
- Ontario Ministry of Health Research Fellowship | |
| J. Wallen |
- Medtronic Travel Award, Cardiovascular Collaborative Program, UofT - Research Trainee Award, The Canadian Society for Clinical Investigation, The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada - Research Trainee Fellowship, CCR, Toronto Hospital, Mt. Sinai Hospital, UofT - PMAC/MRC Summer Scholarship - lst Place Poster Presentation Award, Cardiovascular Scientific Day, UofT | |
| B. Zhou | - Medtronic Travel Award, Cardiovascular Collaborative Program, UofT |
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In its fifth year, the Cardiovascular Sciences Collaborative Program is now well established academically at the University of Toronto.
As the Program continues to evolve, it is clearly very important to monitor the level of satisfaction of both faculty and students involved. The Director holds annual meetings with the Program students and obtains feedback on areas of concern as well as their level of satisfaction with the Program. There continues to be an extremely high level of satisfaction on the part of the students as evidenced not only by their positive responses and support of the Program and its initiatives but in that not a single student has dropped out of the Program in 5 years of operation. It is also valuable to point out that all the departments, institutes and centres continue to participate in the Collaborative Program and other departments, once made aware of the Program, and if appropriate, express interest in joining.
This year, installation of an ethernet cable in the Student Reading Room made internet access available. In the next academic year computers will be installed. The availability of this room allowed both planned and spontaneous meetings to occur throughout the year and has provided a focus for both students and staff of the program.
Interest and activities of the Program by both faculty and students continue to increase and our current enrolment is at 8 Masters and 8 PhD trainees which is another increase from the 1995-96 academic year. Below is a graph summarizing our enrolment statistics since inception:
We are now regularly convocating trainees and have begun a postgraduate follow-up of our alumni. In total, 6 MSc and 4 PhD trainees have convocated. Of these students, 6 are undergoing further clinical or research training, 2 have assumed academic appointments and 2 are employed by industry. Below is a breakdown of the past 5 years of convocated trainees.
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1992/1993 1993/1994 1994/1995 1995/1996 1996/1997 |
1 (Pathology) 1 (IMS) 1 (Pathology) 2 (IMS), 1 (Physiology) 2 (IMS), 1 (Pharmacology), 1 (Inst. Biomedical Engineering) |
Satisfaction in the Collaborative Program continues to be expressed by the current students as well as our student alumni.
Bound copies of each graduand's thesis is kept in the Program office, and everyone is invited to browse.
This past year the Program felt it very important to attempt to establish a solid financial base into which it could then actively recruit any number of graduate students. This was accomplished with significant success in some areas and less in others. Specifically, the Cardiovascular Sciences Collaborative Program was able to recruit over $21,000 into graduate student support in the University of Toronto "Seat Sale" from both industry and faculty donors. These donations are then matched by government and the university effectively tripling this endowment money to $63,000. When the interest of this money becomes available, a "special needs bursary" will be established for Cardiovascular Collaborative students to assist them in paying their tuition. Thank you to Pfizer Canada, Dr. Daniel Osmond and Dr. Carin Wittnich for their generous donations.
The endowment fund that was created to support Program activities is slowly growing. However, we continue to encourage alumni and faculty to contribute. The fundraising initiatives continue and corporate sponsors such as Pfizer Canada are recognized for their outstanding support of graduate education in the cardiovscular sciences area at the University of Toronto and the featured symposium session continues in Pfizer Canada's honour. This level of support is crucial in our ability to maintain our activity level.
The Medtronic Travel Awards continues to provide funding in support of Program students going to national and international meetings to present their research work. By offsetting expenses, this not only benefits the student but assists our faculty in these times of financial constraints.
Departments coming into the Program give a one-time donation or smaller annual contributions in order to defray the operating expenses of the Program. Clearly this is fair as it avoids placing an ongoing financial burden on any department wishing to involve itself in the Program. Unfortunately, this results in long term difficulties for the management of the Program as it does not guarantee regular funds to defray expenses that the Program incurs in the day-to-day running of the office. This is also an issue that is raised by many other collaborative programs.
The Cardiovascular Sciences Collaborative Program has established a number of funding initiatives in support of its students. However, stable financial support on an annual basis for the operating of the Program continues to illude us. It is hoped, through the recommendations of the School of Graduate Studies and others, that this problem may be addressed in the upcoming year. It is clear that the University of Toronto's mandate is graduate training. It has been recognized that collaborative programs are valued at the university. The ability of our Program to encourage outside funding for support of students will hopefully also translate into some form of operating expense support.
The MSC3060/3061 required curriculum for PhD students enrolled in the Program has been revamped into 4 half credit segments that rotate over a 2-year period and include the following thematic areas: (a) vascular, (b) heart function, (c) molecular biology and signal transduction in the heart, and (d) hormones in the cardiovascular system. The range of subjects include everything from molecular biology and recombinant DNA technology to ion channel signal transduction, whole organ physiology and whole body cardiovascular responses. This curriculum was approved by the Executive and was implimented over this past academic year. Students will be able to select two of the more appropriate sessions that are relevant to their area of interest during their training. This course is meant to be current and therefore individual lectures will be revamped as needed to maintain a timely cutting edge dissemination of information in the cardiovascular sciences area.
In addition to awarding the third Bigelow Book Prize and instituting an Annual Luncheon, a plaque will be established for this award that will contain the dates and names of each of the awardees. This plaque will be maintained in the Collaborative Program office in the FitzGerald Bldg.
Formal recognition of our convocating students who completed the Program is done at the Annual Scientific Day. The graduates are recognized with a certificate and a small momento from the Program. At the PhD level they receive the book "Pioneers of Cardiology in Canada, 1920 - 1970", generously donated by the Canadian Cardiovascular Society. At the Masters level they receive the book "History of Medicine", generously donated by the Harcourt Brace Publishing Company.
For the 1997-98 academic year, we plan to continue our current activities and pursue the following priorities:
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1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. |
Establish base budget for day-to-day operations Active student recruitment at the grassroots level Update the WWW site and maintain a news bulletin board and establish online application forms for both students and faculty Continue developing industry, faculty, and alumni sponsors Promote recruitment of non-graduate students doing research training (eg. cardiology research trainees) into graduate programs where appropriate Promote group e-mail for circulation of timely cardiovascular information |
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