Below is the list of faculty presentations for ACC Lake Louise 2008. For faculty info, abstract(s), references and/or supplemental slides, please click on the physician’s name.

MP3 Audio Files are also available at the 2008 Conference Program.

Paul W. Armstrong, MD FRCPC
Recent ACS Guidelines and Implications for Practice
- abstract, references, online article links and slides available

Renzo Cecere, MD FRCPC
Ventricular Assist Devices and Transplantation for End Stage Heart Failure
- abstract and slides available

Eric A. Cohen, MD FRCPC
The Efficacy and Safety of Drug Eluting Stents
The Importance and Prevention of Bleeding Complications Following PCI
- slides available

Heidi Connolly and Martha Grogan, MDs
PFO and Stroke: Guilt by Association
- abstract, references and slides available

Atrial & Ventricular Septal Defects: Identification & Management in the Adult
- abstract and slides available

Derek Exner, MD MPH FRCPC
Resynchronization Therapy for Severe Heart Failure
- slides available

David Fitchett, MD FRCPC FACC
The Management of Acute Coronary Syndrome in Diabetics
- abstract, references and slides available

Tailored Anti-Thrombotic and Anti-Platelet Therapy for the Patient with Acute Coronary Syndrome
- abstract available

Jacques Genest, Jr., MD FRCPC FACC
2008 Ronnie Campbell Lecture–Statins at 21: A Brief Look Back and Long Look Forward
- abstract and slides available

Alcohol and Heart Disease: In Vino Veritas (Are you MADD?)
- abstract and slides available

Bernard J. Gersh, MB ChB DPhil FRCP FACC
Management of Chronic Stable Angina: Do We Have the COURAGE?
- abstract and slides available

The Global Burden of Cardiovascular Disease
- abstract and slides available

John J.P. Kastelein, MD PhD
Why Have HDL Raising Drugs Failed to Demonstrate Improved Patient Outcomes?
- abstract and slides available

David C.W. Lau, MD PhD FRCPC
Management of Obesity-Related Cardiometabolic Risk
- abstract and slides available

Controversies in the Management of Cardiovascular Complications of Diabetes
- abstract and slides available

Peter Liu, MD FRCPC FACC
Cardiac Stem Cell Therapy for Regeneration: Re-Building a Castle in the Air or True Homecoming?
- abstract and references available

Renin Angiotensin System In Cardiovascular Disease: Are We at the End or the Beginning?
- abstract and references available

Allan M. Ross, MD FACC FAHA
Rescue PCI in STEMI: Outcomes and Evidence Revisited
- slides available

Jean Rouleau, MD FRCPC
Studies that Impact Medical Therapy of CHF from Now to 2010
- abstract and slides available

Peter Sleight, MD FACC
Music, Mantras, Prayer & Biological Rhythms
- abstract and slides available

Why Do We Need Clinical Trials?
- abstract and slides available

Reginald E. Smith, PharmD
Anticoagulation Bridging for Surgical Procedures: Practical Solutions
- abstract and slides available

Robert Welsh, MD FRCPC FACC
Systems Approach to STEMI
- abstract and slides available

Paul Armstrong is University Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) and Director of the Canadian VIGOUR Centre (Virtual Coordinating Centre for Global Collaborative Cardiovascular Research).

Dr. Armstrong’s investigative career has developed around congestive heart failure and acute coronary syndromes. He frequently serves as visiting professor and is the author or co-author of over 400 peer reviewed publications.

He is also a member of a number of international editorial boards, advisory groups and consults widely on health science matters.

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Dr. Renzo Cecere is Associate Professor of Surgery at McGill University.

Originally trained in General Surgery and Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery at McGill University, he went on to complete Fellowships at Loma Linda University and Stanford University in Congenital Cardiac Surgery, Pediatric Heart and Lung Transplantation, and Mechanical Circulatory Support.

He then returned to McGill University and the McGill University Health Centre to develop the multidisciplinary Heart Failure, Transplantation, and Mechanical Cardiac Assist Programs.

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Dr. Eric Cohen received his MD degree from the University of Calgary and undertook further training at McGill University and University of Toronto.

Currently he is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, and a cardiologist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, where he is the Director of Invasive Cardiology and the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory.

He has been actively involved with the Cardiac Care Network of Ontario (CCN) for several years. The Network monitors access to and outcomes of advanced cardiac services, and provides planning advice on these services to the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care.

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Dr. Martha Grogan (left) presented on behalf of
Dr. Heidi Connolly (right) at ACC Lake Louise
due to last-minute circumstances.

Thanks very much to both of you this year!

* * *

Drs. Grogan and Connolly are colleagues at Mayo Medical School in Rochester, Minnesota.

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Dr. Derek Exner is an Associate Professor in the Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta at the University of Calgary. He is a Clinician Scientist of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and a Scholar of the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research.

Dr. Exner is a heart rhythm specialist and clinical trials expert. His clinical work and research focus on device therapy for patients with heart failure and the non-invasive identification of people at risk for serious heart rhythm problems.

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David Fitchett is Director of the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit at St Michael’s Hospital, and an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto.

He came to Toronto in 1997 after 19 years at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal where he was CCU Director and Medical Director of the Heart Transplant Program.

Dr Fitchett’s investigative career has focused on arterial mechanics, heart failure, and clinical trials in acute coronary syndromes. Dr Fitchett has over 200 peer reviewed publications, abstracts, and book chapters. He is a frequently invited to be a guest speaker across Canada and has an interest in developing effective interactive teaching programs.

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Jacques Genest was born (and raised) in Montréal, Québec. He trained at McGill University Medical School and did a residency in Internal Medicine at McGill and cardiology fellowship at Tufts University in Boston. He then did Postdoctoral studies in Boston in lipoprotein metabolism and molecular genetics.

For ten years, he directed the cardiovascular Genetics Laboratory at the Clinical Research Institute of Montréal. Since 2000, he has been Professor of Medicine and Head of Cardiology at McGill University, and he holds the McGill/Novartis Chair in Medicine at McGill.

His research involves clinical studies in cardiovascular risk factors, the genetics of premature coronary artery disease and in the translational biology of the formation of high density lipoproteins.

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Dr. Bernard Gersh is Professor of Medicine at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Consultant in Cardiovascular Diseases and Internal Medicine and Associate Chair of Academic Affairs and Faculty Development in the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases at Mayo Clinic, and Honorary Professor of Medicine University of Cape Town, South Africa, from 2006 to present.

His past positions include The W. Proctor Harvey Teaching Professor of Cardiology and Chief of the Division of Cardiology at Georgetown University Medical Center. Dr. Gersh received his MB ChB from the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He received his Doctor of Philosophy Degree from Oxford University where he was a Rhodes Scholar.

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John J.P. Kastelein is Professor of Medicine and Chairman of the Department of Vascular Medicine at the Academic Medical Center (AMC) of the University of Amsterdam, where he holds the Strategic Chair of Genetics of Cardiovascular Disease.

He received his medical degree in Amsterdam in 1980 where he subsequently received specialty training in internal medicine. Then, between 1986 and 1988, he was trained in medical genetics, lipidology and molecular biology at the University of British Columbia under the guidance of Prof. Dr. M.R. Hayden.

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Dr. David Lau is Professor of Medicine, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and Chair of the Diabetes and Endocrine Research Group at the University of Calgary.

Dr. Lau is also President of Obesity Canada, a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to improve the health of Canadians by reducing the occurrence of obesity through research, education, and service.

Dr. Lau is a graduate of the University of Toronto and received postgraduate training in internal medicine and endocrinology at Harvard Medical School and University of Toronto.

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Dr. Peter Liu is the Scientific Director of the Institute of Circulatory and Respiratory Health at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

He is also the Heart & Stroke/Polo Chair Professor of Medicine and Physiology at the Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network, and till recently, the Director of the Heart & Stroke Richard/Lewar Centre of Excellence for Cardiovascular Research at the University of Toronto.

He completed his MD degree at the University of Toronto, and did his postgraduate training at Harvard University.

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Allan M. Ross was born in New York City. He graduated from Northwestern University (BA) and Chicago Med (MD). His internal medicine and cardiology training was at George Washington University, University of Colorado and Yale University.

His faculty positions have been at Yale and George Washington University. At the latter he served as Director of the Cardiology Division from 1978 to 1994. His present position is Professor of Medicine Emeritus (cardiology).

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Named Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Montréal in June 2003, Dr. Rouleau first obtained his MD (cum laude) from the University of Ottawa in 1974 and his FRCPC in Internal Medicine and in Cardiology following his training at McGill University.

He won the McLaughlin Research Fellowship to the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the University of California at San Francisco and returned to Canada.

He has since held a number of key positions in Medicine, Cardiology, Physiology and Pharmacology at McGill University, Montréal General Hospital, University of Montréal, University of Sherbrooke and the Montréal Heart Institute.

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Professor Peter Sleight is currently Honorary Consultant Physician at the Oxford Radcliffe NHS Trust (since 1964), Emeritus Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine University of Oxford, and Emeritus Fellow Exeter College, Oxford.

Professor Sleight was formerly President of the World Hypertension League and serves as chair of the ISIS group steering committee and the related coronary prevention studies coordinated by the Clinical Trials Service Unit in Oxford.

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Reg Smith is a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist in Cardiology at the Royal Jubilee Hospital (RJH) in Victoria, BC, and a Clinical Researcher at the Victoria Heart Institute.

He operates the Venous and Arterial Thromboembolism Clinic for the Vancouver Island Health Authority. He is also a Clinical Instructor in the Island Medical Program, University of Victoria, and the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Science at the University of British Columbia.

Dr. Smith’s area of research interest is in anticoagulation and antithrombotic therapies. He has been either a principle or co-investigator in more than 50 clinical trials, including many in the treatment and prevention of venous or arterial thromboembolism.

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Robert Welsh is an Associate Professor and academic Interventional Cardiologist at the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton.

Dr. Welsh received his Medical Doctorate from the University of Saskatchewan in 1993 where he subsequently trained in Internal Medicine (1993-1996). He undertook Cardiology training and an Interventional Cardiology fellowship at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (1996-2000).

He is the Director of Adult Cardiac Catheterization and Interventional Cardiology. He is also the Co-Director of the University of Alberta Chest Pain Program, which he initiated and designed in collaboration with Dr. Brian Holroyd (Chief, Emergency Medicine). He is Director of the University of Alberta Cardiology Residency Training Program.

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