SCHOLAR 2

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.

Filipe Cirne

Research Fellow

Filipe Cirne completed his medical degree at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande in Brazil (2012). His internal medicine and cardiology residency trainings were completed at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, also in Brazil. Additionally he completed an echocardiography fellowship at Instituto de Cardiologia do Rio Grande do Sul, where he is currently completing a MSc.

His main research interests include cardio-oncology and structural heart disease. He is finishing an advanced echocardiography fellowship at McMaster University. Filipe is working on cardio-oncology research projects under the mentorship of Darryl Leong, including on the studies RADICAL-PC and SCHOLAR-2, and doing systematic reviews on prostate cancer risk factors and survivorship/CV outcomes.

Harry Klimis

Research Fellow

Harry Klimis is a Clinical and Research Fellow at PHRI and McMaster University, supervised by Darryl Leong and Salim Yusuf. His training features an integrated cardio-oncology research and clinical program dedicated to understanding the evolution of cardiovascular risk factor patterns in healthy populations and people with cancer, and their association with CVD and mortality. Harry is an investigator in the RADICAL-PC and SCHOLAR-2 studies, and will be working on the PURE study.

Harry is an Australian cardiologist and completed both his MBBS and PhD at the University of Sydney. His research has primarily focused on primary prevention of cardiovascular disease and digital health interventions. Other research interests include cardio-oncology and echocardiography.

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.