G-CHF

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.

Guillaume Paré

Director, CRLB- GMEL; Senior Scientist

Guillaume Paré is Director of the Clinical Research Laboratory and Biobank (CRLB) – Genetic and Molecular Epidemiology Laboratory (GMEL) and Senior Scientist at the PHRI. He is also Deputy Director of the Thrombosis and Atherosclerosis Research Institute (TaARI), a Professor of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, a Professor in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact, and a University Scholar at McMaster University. A medical biochemist with board certification from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, Gui completed a Master’s in Human Genetics at McGill University under the supervision of renowned geneticist Thomas Hudson. He further trained in genetic epidemiology with Paul Ridker at Harvard Medical School.

His clinical interests are centered on lipoprotein disorders, obesity and cardiovascular disease prevention, with research interests in cardiovascular genetics, biomarker development and pharmacogenomics. Gui’s research combines high-throughput biomarker screens with genetics, bioinformatics and epidemiology to identify novel cardio-metabolic biomarkers. He has published more than 300 original contributions in peer-reviewed journals, all related to his research program in cardiometabolic disease and genetics. These include first or last authored articles in the NEJM, Lancet, Nature Communications, Circulation, EHJ, Stroke, JACC, PloS Genetics, Circulation Genomics and Precision Medicine and AJHG. His work has been sited over 45,000 times with a corresponding h-index of 89. He was inducted to the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artist and Scientists in 2018. 

Philip Joseph

Scientist

Philip Joseph’s research interests include cardiovascular prevention, global health, heart failure, and cardiac imaging. He is the principal investigator for the PURE-AF substudy, and the SPECT-MINS study, an investigator in the PURE study, and the G-CHF registry. He is also the project officer for the TIPS-3 study. He has published more than 30 peer-reviewed scientific papers.

He is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, with certification in both internal medicine and cardiology. obtained his B.A.Sc at McMaster University in 2000, and his M.D. at Western University in 2004. His internal medicine (2004-2007) and cardiology (2007-2010) residencies were completed at the University of Ottawa. Subsequently, he completed additional clinical training in Nuclear Cardiology at McMaster University (2013), a M.Sc. in Health Research Methodology at McMaster (2010-13), and a post-doctoral research fellowship in PET imaging at Harvard University (2015).

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.

Isabelle Johansson

Associate Research Fellow

Isabelle Johansson was a Research Fellow (2019-2021) at PHRI, supervised by Salim Yusuf, and McMaster University where she pursued a Masters in Health Research Methodology, clinical epidemiology. Her main research interests are in heart failure, diabetes, global health, and cardiovascular disease prevention. At PHRI, she is an Investigator in the G-CHF-study and the PURE study. Isabelle was in the 2019 cohort of the World Heart Federation Salim Yusuf Emerging Leaders Programme, focusing on reducing the burden of heart failure globally.

She obtained her M.D. from the Karolinska Institutet Medical University, Stockholm, Sweden in 2014 and has completed two out five years of clinical training in a residency in family medicine. She completed her Ph.D. in medical sciences at the Karolinska Institutet, Department of Medicine in 2017 where she studied epidemiological aspects of heart failure in combination with diabetes. Isabelle was part of the European Society of Cardiology task force writing the guidelines for the management of diabetes and cardiovascular disease presented in September 2019.

Tara McCready

Program Director

Tara McCready, PhD, oversees a variety of collaborative programs at PHRI, and serves as Project Manager for PHRI research studies and registries.

She was recruited to PHRI as a Program Director for the Canadian Network and Centre for Trials Internationally (CANNeCTIN), a national network funded by the CIHR/CFI Clinical Research Initiative program to improve the prevention and treatment of cardiac and vascular diseases and diabetes.

Previously the Executive Director of the Canadian Maternal, Infant, Child and Youth Research Network, Tara holds a PhD in Biochemistry and a MBA in Technology Commercialization from the University of Alberta.

Alex Grinvalds

Project Manager

Alex Grinvalds has more than 15 years experience in clinical research, of which 13 have been at PHRI. He has worked on randomized studies, device trials and numerous registries. Currently, Alex is working on studies involving patients with heart failure and arrhythmias.

Alex holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Queen’s University and a Certificate in Clinical Research from Humber College.