COMPASS

Stuart Connolly

Stuart Connolly is a Professor of Medicine at McMaster University and a cardiac electrophysiologist at Hamilton Health Sciences. He became a faculty member at McMaster University in 1983 and was awarded a full professorship in 1994. He was also appointed as the inaugural holder of the Salim Yusuf Chair in Cardiology at McMaster University.

He has published more than 270 scientific articles in the field, and is currently a member of the editorial boards for a number of prominent cardiology journals, including Heart, the American Heart Journal and the Journal of Pacing and Electrophysiology. His main research interests are focused on the evaluation of treatments for heart rhythm disorders. His academic career has been largely devoted to the design and execution of controlled clinical trials in this area.

He holds a Masters degree from Fordham University, New York, and an MD from McGill University in Montreal. He received his specialist training in cardiology at the University of Toronto and at Stanford University.

John Eikelboom

Senior Scientist

John Eikelboom is Professor, Department of Medicine, McMaster University, Senior Scientist, Population Health Research Institute, Hamilton Health Sciences Corporation, and Hematologist, Thrombosis Service, Hamilton General Hospital. He completed training in Internal Medicine and Hematology in Perth, Australia, in 1998 and in Health Research Methodology at McMaster University, Canada, in 2000.

He has authored or co-authored more than 800 articles in peer-reviewed journals and for the past decade has been listed annually by the Web of Science among the top 1% of cited researchers. He holds the Jack Hirsh/Population Health Research Institute Chair in Thrombosis and Atherosclerosis. His current research, supported by peer reviewed funding from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research and the Gates Foundation focuses on the efficacy and safety of antithrombotic therapies in arterial, venous, cardiac, and procedure-associated thromboembolism as well as strategies to reduce the burden of the “big three” infectious diseases (HIV, TB, malaria) on the African continent.

Sonia Anand

Senior Scientist

Sonia Anand is a Professor, Medicine and Epidemiology at McMaster University; Associate Chair, Diversity and Equity in McMaster’s Department of Medicine; Director of McMaster’s Population Genomics Program; inaugural Chair, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Committee of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society; and Director, Chanchlani Research Centre for Global Health at McMaster, among other roles.

Her present research focuses upon the environmental and genetic determinants of vascular disease in populations of varying ancestral origin, women and cardiovascular disease. Sonia has published more than 200 articles in peer review journals. Shas been inducted into the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.

Salim Yusuf

Founder and Emeritus Executive Director, Senior Scientist

Salim Yusuf is an internationally renowned cardiologist and epidemiologist, whose work over 40 years has substantially influenced prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease. Medically qualified from St John’s Medical College in Bangalore in 1976, he received a Rhodes Scholar-ship and obtained a DPhil from Oxford, during which he (along with Richard Peto, Rory Collins and Peter Sleight) initiated the concepts of large, simple trials, and meta-analysis. He coordinated the first ISIS trial (which established the structure for future international collaborative work in cardiovascular and several other diseases) that demonstrated the value of beta-blockers in myo-cardial infarction, and was a member of steering committees for all subsequent ISIS trials.

In 1984, following clinical training in medicine and cardiology in the UK, he moved to the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, USA, where he led the SOLVD trial (establishing the value of ACE-inhibitors on LV dysfunction) and DIG trial (clarifying the role of digitalis).

In 1992 he moved to McMaster University as head of cardiology, where he established an inter-national program of research in cardiovascular diseases and prevention, culminating in the creation of the Population Health Research Institute. His therapeutic trials have established the roles of ACE-inhibitors in CVD prevention, dual antiplatelet therapies in acute coronary syndromes, novel antithrombotic therapies, and most recently the value of the polypill in substantially pre-venting heart attacks and strokes globally, and at low cost. The Polypill was recently included by the WHO in its Essential Medicines List.

His epidemiologic work in over 80 countries involving all inhabited continents of the world shows the majority of risks of both heart attacks and strokes are attributable to a few risk factors. He currently leads the PURE study exploring the role of societal and environmental factors in CVD. This study (PURE) involves 200,000 people from over 800 communities in 27 high, middle and low-income countries.

He has built capacity for clinical and population research across Canada and the world by establishing research networks involving over 1500 sites in 102 countries. He has trained over 100 researchers, many of whom are now nationally or internationally renowned leaders in medical research. He has helped develop major research institutes or programs in Canada, India, Argentina, Brazil, S. Africa, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, and China.

He holds a Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario Research Chair, was a Senior Scientist of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (1999-2004), and has received (among over 100) the Lifetime Research Achievement award of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society and the World Heart Federation, the Paul Wood Silver Medal of the British Cardiac Society, the European So-ciety of Cardiology gold medal, the American Heart Association Clinical Research Award, the Killam Prize, and the Canada Gairdner Wightman Award in 2014. He has been inducted into the Royal Society of Canada, been appointed an Officer in the Order of Canada, and has been in-ducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame in 2014. In 2023 he was elected as an Honorary Fellow of St. John’s College, Oxford. He has been conferred 4 honorary doctorates.

He has published over 1400 articles, and was the second most cited researcher in the world for 2011, and has been among the highest cited scientists in the world (his H index is currently 17th of all scientists in history) for over a decade. He is Past President of the World Heart Federation, where he initiated the Emerging Leaders program (now named after him) to build capacity for research in all continents of the world, with the aim of halving the CVD burden globally within a generation. This program has already trained over 250 individuals from 50 countries.

Jackie Bosch

Scientist

Jackie Bosch is the Assistant Dean of the McMaster Occupational Therapy Program and a PHRI Scientist. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Occupational Therapy, a Master’s degree in Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and a PhD in Rehabilitation Science. She also serves as a Professor in the School of Rehabilitation and has an Adjunct Appointment with the University of Galway College of Medicine, Nursing, and Health Sciences.

Her research focuses on improving functional outcomes in clinical trials, particularly for stroke survivors in low-resource settings, and enhancing clinical trial methods. Bosch has taken on leadership roles in large-scale trials such as HOPE, HOPE-TOO, HOPE-3 (NCT00468923), DREAM (NCT00095654), ORIGIN (NCT00069784), TIPS-3 (NCT01646437), and COMPASS (NCT01776424). She leads the Organized Stroke Care Across Income Levels (OSCAIL) group, which has conducted a proof-of-concept study implementing key aspects of stroke unit care in hospitals within low-resource settings. Currently, the OSCAIL group is working on a community-based study aimed at improving outcomes for stroke survivors in these challenging environments. Bosch is also interested in optimizing how clinical trials are conducted, especially by finding new ways to make the start-up and execution processes more efficient.

Jackie Bosch has published 184 articles and received several awards, including the Lorna Reimer Award for Leadership from the Canadian Occupational Therapy Foundation in 2019 and the Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, Programs Award for Graduate Students in 2014.

Kevin Reeh

Project Manager

Kevin Reeh has more than 15 years experience in academic research. He has been at PHRI since 2014, and has been involved in the coordination of large, multicenter international clinical trials, as well as pilot/feasibility studies. These project include industry-sponsored, and investigator-initiated with industry and/or grant funding.

He has Bachelor degrees in the Biological Sciences and Health Sciences from Brock University, as well as a Masters of Science from Dalhousie University.