RE-LY AF Registry

Jeff Healey

Senior Scientist

Jeff Healey is a Cardiologist/Electrophysiologist and Professor of Medicine at McMaster University.  He is Yusuf Chair and Director of Cardiology at McMaster University. He is the chair of the Canadian Stroke Prevention and Intervention Network (CSPIN) and past chair of the Canadian Atrial Fibrillation guidelines committee. He is also on the steering committee of the international AF Screen organization.

Healey was the lead author of the ASSERT trial that demonstrated the increased stroke risk associated with sub-clinical atrial fibrillation (New England Journal of Medicine 2012), and the principal investigator of the ARTESIA trial, which demonstrated that anticoagulation with apixaban reduced the risk of stroke in patients with sub-clinical atrial fibrillation New England Journal of Medicine 2023). He is also the principal investigator of the LAAOS-4 trial, evaluating the role of left atrial appendage occlusion on top of NOAC therapy for prevention of stroke in high-risk individuals with atrial fibrillation.

Alexander Benz

PHRI International Fellow

Alexander Benz joined the Arrhythmia Research group at PHRI, supervised by Stuart Connolly, as a research fellow in January 2019, and is enrolled in the Health Research Methodology program at McMaster University. His primary research interest is clinical electrophysiology, with a particular focus on atrial fibrillation. Other areas of interest include oral anticoagulation in various settings, inflammation, cardiac implantable electronic devices and interventions such as catheter ablation.

He is actively involved in the conduct of large international clinical trials coordinated at PHRI. Alexander is the Principal Investigator of a randomized clinical trial testing a short-course treatment with colchicine in the setting of catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation that started enrollment in January 2020.

Alexander obtained his medical degree from Goethe University in Frankfurt (Germany) in 2015. He is pursuing a career in Cardiology.

Ellison Themeles

Associate Program Manager

Ellison Themeles’ experience includes more than 20 years in the conduct, execution and management of large, international clinical trials involving both medical devices and pharmaceutical agents in the area of cardiovascular disease and arrhythmias.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Gerontology and Sociology, and a Master of Science Degree in Health Research Methodology, from McMaster University.