CVRI 91ÒùĸÊÓƵ Day 2025
RESEARCH DAY 2025 WAS A GREAT SUCCESS!
Thank you to all who joined us.
The 2025 CVRI 91ÒùĸÊÓƵ Day was a great success, featuring an outstanding lineup of high caliber presentations by faculty and trainees. We welcomed a total of 260 participants who attended either the full event or portions of the day at Bernard Snell Hall. In addition to our guest speaker, ageing researcher and socio-epigeneticist Dr. Michael Kobor from the University of British Columbia, two of our own faculty members, Drs. Welsh and Sivakumaran, presented on clinical innovations at our centre. Ten oral presentations were delivered by trainees, alongside the presentation of over 50 posters. The event showcased a rich blend of preclinical, translational, and clinical work, ranging from drug discovery, molecular biology, animal physiology to clinical trials and outcomes research. Several awards were given to best oral presentations (preclinical and clinical) and best poster presentations (preclinical and clinical). In addition, the Witkowski Best Publication Award for a trainee was presented, based on a competition held prior to 91ÒùĸÊÓƵ Day. Two 50K research grants were also awarded to CVRI faculty members, along with two graduate studentships valued at 20K each. All awards were granted through competitive processes conducted in the previous months. Two additional awards were given by the Division of Cardiology that were specific to cardiology residents. All the award recipients and their photos are featured below.
A tribute to our friend and colleague Dr. Gary Lopaschuk, who passed unexpectedly recently, was delivered at the start of the day by Drs. Dyck and Ussher, highlighting his magnificent scientific legacy. In his honor, the CVRI 91ÒùĸÊÓƵ Day will henceforth be named “Gary Lopaschuk CVRI 91ÒùĸÊÓƵ Day”.
Presentation Awards
Best Oral Presentation (clinical)
Impact of Baseline Q Waves and Reperfusion Strategy on Outcomes in STEMI: Insights from the VHR STEMI Registry
Supervisor: Dr. Kevin Bainey
Best Oral Presentation (preclinical)
Development of Tissue Engineered Heart Valves Using Mesenchymal Stem Cells
Supervisor: Dr. Jeevan Nagendran
Best Poster Presentation (preclinical)
PI3K subunit P110β inhibition with Small Molecule Inhibitors Protects Against Atherosclerosis and Thrombosis in Ldlr-/- mice in vivo
Supervisor: Dr. Gavin Oudit
Best Poster Presentation (clinical)
Percutaneous Coronary Intervention versus Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting in Patients with Three Vessel Coronary Artery Disease and Diabetes
Supervisor: Dr. Jayan Nagendran
Dr. Francis X. Witkowski Publication Award 2025
Best Oral Presentation (clinical)
Dr. Yana Kibalnyk (Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry - Medical Genetics Dept)
The chromatin regulator Ankrd11 controls cardiac neural crest cell-mediated outflow tract remodeling and heart function
Supervisor: Dr. Anastassia Voronova
Dr. Margaret "Marmie" Perkins Hess Heart 91ÒùĸÊÓƵ Pilot Grant
Xavier Clemente-Casares, PhD (Medical Microbiology & Immunology, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry)
Targeted Immunotherapy to Enhance the Protective Functions of Resident Macrophages Against Doxorubicin-Induced Toxicity
Amir Tabatabaei Dakhili, MSc, PhD (Faculty of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences)
Therapeutic Potential of Glucose Oxidation Modulation in Diabetic Cardiomyopathy
CVRI-Cote Biomedical 91ÒùĸÊÓƵ Studentship
Jennie Vu (Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry - Physiology Dept)
Supervisor: Dr. Stephane Bourque
Qiuyu (Violet) Sun (Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry - Pediatrics Dept)
Supervisor: Dr. Jason Dyck
Cardiology Program Awards
The Jose Galante Chicurel Award in Cardiology
Tiffany Yuen
The Henry Anton Deutsch Medical PGME 91ÒùĸÊÓƵ Award
Muhammad Moolla & Ruochen (Tony) Mao