Cancer Survivorship

Darryl Leong

Senior Scientist

Leong’s clinical interests include cardio-oncology, frailty, multi-morbidity, and echocardiography. He is the Director of the McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences Cardio-Oncology Program. Leong graduated from the University of Adelaide Medical School with Deans Listing and Honours for academic excellence in 2000. He completed his cardiology training, Doctor of Philosophy, Master of Public Health, and Master of Biostatistics degrees at the University of Adelaide, Australia. He has completed a fellowship in cardiovascular imaging at the Leiden University Medical Centre, the Netherlands, before relocating to Canada.

Leong is an Associate Professor in the Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, at McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences. His research is supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Canadian Cancer Society, and the United States Department of Defense, among others. He has published approximately 200 manuscripts, including leading publications in the Lancet and New England Journal of Medicine as well as top cardiovascular journals. He is a Clinician Scientist of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and has received the Clive Kearon Mid-Career Award from McMaster University. Additionally, he serves as the Director of the Internal Medicine Resident Research Program and the Cardio-Oncology Program at McMaster University.

PJ Devereaux

Deputy Director, Senior Scientist

Devereaux is a cardiologist, perioperative care physician, and clinical epidemiologist. He is the Director of the Division of Perioperative Care at McMaster University and a Deputy Director, Senior Scientist, and Scientific Leader of the Anesthesiology, Perioperative Medicine, and Surgical Research Group at PHRI. He is the Nominated Principal Applicant of the Accelerating Clinical Trials (ACT) Consortium, which is the Pan-Canadian Clinical Trials Consortium funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Additionally, he holds a Tier 1 Canadian Research Chair in Perioperative Medicine.

Devereaux is a full Professor at McMaster University and the President of the Society of Perioperative Research and Care. He has published over 450 peer-reviewed papers and more than 85 book chapters, editorials, and commentaries, including 17 in the New England Journal of Medicine, 13 in the Lancet, and 11 in JAMA. He has an h-index of 115 and has given over 1000 lectures and research presentations in 41 countries. His research program focuses on major vascular complications during and after surgery, and he has led many large international randomized trials and prospective cohort studies on this topic.

David Conen

Senior Scientist

David Conen is currently the Principal Investigator and Senior Scientist at the Population Health Research Institute (PHRI) and an Associate Professor of Medicine at McMaster University. He serves as a staff cardiologist at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton (SJHH) and Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) and is the Cardiology Clinical Site Lead at the Juravinski Hospital. Conen obtained his MD degree at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, and holds a Master of Public Health degree from Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, USA. He completed a 2-year postdoctoral research fellowship in clinical epidemiology. His research focuses on perioperative medicine and atrial fibrillation.

Conen is the Principal Investigator of two large multinational clinical trials aimed at preventing and treating perioperative atrial fibrillation (COP-AF and ASPIRE-AF) and is involved in the leadership of many international cardiovascular and perioperative trials. COP-AF has recently been presented and published. His research activities also include conducting large epidemiological cohort studies that examine risk factors for the occurrence and consequences of atrial fibrillation. He has published over 250 manuscripts in peer-reviewed scientific journals and has received several prestigious grants and awards in both Switzerland and Canada. Conen has extensive knowledge in the design, development, management, analysis, interpretation, and reporting of clinical trials and large-scale epidemiology studies.

Deborah Siegal

Associate Senior Scientist

Deborah Siegal is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine within the Division of Hematology at the University of Ottawa. Her primary research interests include improving patient outcomes after anticoagulant-related bleeding; management of anticoagulants in patients who have acute bleeding complications or require urgent surgery; understanding the factors that influence patient and physician decision-making after anticoagulant-related bleeding; and reducing red blood cell transfusion by minimizing iatrogenic blood loss for laboratory testing.

With expertise in the design and conduct of pragmatic cluster randomized trials, individual patient randomized trials, mixed-methods studies, observational studies and meta-analyses, Deborah Siegal has received peer-reviewed grant support as principal investigator from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the American Society of Hematology, CanVECTOR/Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, Ontario AFP Innovation Fund, and Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation. She has published 70 peer-reviewed articles including several in high-impact journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine, Circulation, Blood, and Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis.

Hira Mian

Associate Investigator

Hira Mian is a hematologist at the Juravinski Cancer Centre and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Oncology, McMaster University where she specializes in multiple myeloma. Hira completed her clinical training at the University of Toronto, and furthered her research training at McMaster where she obtained her Masters in Health Research Methodology, and completed the Royal College Accredited Clinician Investigator Program.

Hira’s research interests center around clinical trials and health services and outcomes, with a specific focus on disparities in access to care/outcomes and quality of life among patients with myeloma. She is involved in research activities with the Canadian Myeloma Research Group (CMRG), the Canadian Cancer Clinical Trials Group, as well as the International Society of Geriatric Oncology. She also currently holds local research grants.

Sumathy Rangarajan

Program Director

Sumathy Rangarajan has been Program Director, Global Health, since 2016, preceded by many years’ service at PHRI in other roles. She oversees the PURE study team, as well as the INVICTUS rheumatic AF treatment trial, the CANPWR pediatric weight management registry, and others.

She holds both a Bachelor of Science Degree and a Master of Science degree from Pune University in India.

Maha Mushtaha

Project Manager

Maha Mushtaha has been employed by the Population Health Research Institute since 2011, working currently in the global health research group on the following studies: PURE, SCHOLAR-2 and TIMING. She has experience with site and database management of large, international observational studies as well as investigator-initiated clinical trials.

She holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from McMaster University and a Biotechnology Diploma from Mohawk College.

Sarah Karampatos

Senior Research Coordinator

Sarah Karampatos has been employed by Population Health Research Institute since 2017, working currently in the Global Health Department on the following cancer survivorship studies: RADICAL PC and ORCHID. She has experience working on large international investigator-initiated studies.

She holds a Masters of Science from McMaster University, Bachelor of Applied Science in Kinesiology from the University of Guelph and a Diploma in Fitness and Health Promotion from Humber College.