Heart + Lung Institute News Feed

Learn the "whys" and "wheres" about Allergies

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Join us for the next Own Your Health lecture: Whys and Wheres of Allergies: Increasing Incidence and New Manifestations?

Date: Wednesday, March 17, 2010
7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
New Lecture Theatre, St. Paul's Hospital

Presenters:

Dr. R. Robert Schellenberg, MD, FRCPC
Professor, Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia
The James Hogg iCAPTURE Centre for Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Research

Dr. Amin Kanani MD, FRCPC
Clinical Assistant Professor, Allergy and Immunology
Department of Medicine
University of British Columbia

The forums are open to the public and registration is FREE by calling (604) 806-8495 or emailing ownyourhealth@providencehealth.bc.ca.

The Departments of Medicine and Surgery along with the SPH Foundation are offering a series of lectures to the community and our corporate neighbors: "Own Your Health". The lectures are held on the third Wednesday of each month at St. Paul's Hospital, from 7:00 - 9:00 pm. They are intended for staff, patients and their family members and include an informal information session with an opportunity to ask an expert.

RSVP for Heart, Lung & Blood Research and Education FEST!

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0500

The Providence Heart + Lung Institute's 4th annual Heart, Lung & Blood Research and Education Fest takes place March 8 and 9 at the Sutton Place Hotel in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Building on the success of previous years, the event now spans two days and features local, national and international speakers on a spectrum of topics on heart, lung and blood vessel health and research.

Major themes are:

- Cardio-Pulmonary Science for a Healthier Global Society
- Repair and Regeneration of Vital Tissues - What's New, What's Possible?
- Engineers in the Clinic
- Genes and Environment, Hearts and Lungs
- Truth or Consequences about Research and Its Translation

Click here to RSVP today!

A Heavy Toll: Canadian Thoracic Society Report Reveals True Cost of Lung Disease

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Many Canadians are unaware of heavy price of COPD on patients and the healthcare system

A review of Canadian data by the nation's leading lung specialists has provided the factual evidence to support what respirologists across the country have been suspecting for some time. Shockingly, more people are being admitted to Canadian hospitals each year with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) than any other major chronic illness (including heart attacks) and that number has been increasing dramatically in recent years. A new report released today by the Canadian Thoracic Society (CTS), entitled The Human and Economic Burden of COPD: A Leading Cause of Hospital Admission in Canada provides a somber view of the human and financial toll of COPD in Canada.

Read Globe and Mail public health reporter, Andre Picard's story on the growing burden of COPD here.

New speakers announced for Peak Performance!

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0500

More leading experts joining the discussion at Peak Performance on March 10 have just been announced!

Moderated by the Globe and Mail's André Picard, the program will examine the latest technological and scientific advances that will influence the next generation of sporting events and the ethical standards that guide them, touching on nutritional and doping aids, breakthrough medical devices, rapid injury repair and psychological techniques.

Speakers will include:

Dr. Edward Coyle
Director, Human Performance Laboratory, University of Texas, Austin

Dr. Tony Galea
Department of Family Medicine, and Director of the Institute of Sports Medicine and Human Performance, University of Toronto; and Clinic Director, Fitness Institute, ISM Health and Wellness Centre, Etobicoke, Ontario

Dr. Andrew Jones
Chair, Department of Applied Physiology, University of Exeter, UK

Dr. Vicky Tolfrey
Director, Peter Harrison Centre for Disability Sport, Loughborough University, UK

Dr. Brendan Burkett
Director, Centre for Healthy Activities, Sport and Exercise (CHASE), University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia

Dr. Darren Warburton
Department of Human Kinetics, School of Human Kinetics, University of British Columbia

Nanci Guest
President, PowerPlay, Toronto, ON

Paul Melia
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, Ottawa

Dr. Judy Illes
Professor of Neurology, Canada Research Chair in Neuroethics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver

Join us for a thought-provoking, rousing and possibly provocative afternoon examining the issues around sport and science. This special event is presented by the Providence Heart + Lung Institute and is free admission. Visit www.heartandlung.ca/peak for more information.

Discovery points way for new treatment for aneurysms

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0500

New findings from a research team at the Providence Heart + Lung Institute (HLI) at St. Paul's Hospital and the University of British Columbia may lead to new treatment for abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) – a potentially fatal disease that currently has no pharmacological treatments.

Dr. David Granville, a researcher in the UBC James Hogg Research Centre, part of the HLI, led the study, which was published today in the American Journal of Pathology.

Dr. Granville and his team identified a protein-degrading enzyme called Granzyme B that is abundant in aneurysms. To determine whether Granzyme B was contributing to aneurysms, the enzyme was genetically knocked out.

"When we removed Granzyme B, we found that it not only slowed the progression of aneurysms, but also markedly improved survival," says Dr. Granville. "This suggests that drugs designed specifically to target Granzyme B could be an effective means of treating aneurysms."

Currently the 13th leading cause of death in North America, AAA has an 80 - 90 per cent chance of fatality if the aneurysm ruptures. Currently, the only effective treatment interventions involve surgical repair at late stages of disease. There are no treatments for smaller, earlier-stage aneurysms beyond basic monitoring of progression.

To read more click here.

Dr. David Granville, Providence Heart + Lung Institute researcher

The Journey to Peak Performance

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0500

The Providence Heart + Lung Institute presents Peak Performance: The Path to Exceptional Athletic Achievement, an afternoon symposium taking place March 10 as part of UBC's Celebrate Research Week.

Join leading experts from around the world for an afternoon focused on hot topics in the scientific, ethical and psychosocial complexities underlying competitive sports and the challenges athletes face in reaching peak performance. Presenters and discussants will address state-of-the-art advances and future innovations that may play important roles in elite achievement: ergogenic aids (such as nutritional supplements, "doping", and mechanical assistive devices), mental-emotional strength and stamina, breakthroughs in the healing and repair of injuries and many of the ethical implications and considerations involved with these issues. This forum for lively and thought-provoking discussion will interest anyone involved in athletic activities: aspiring athletes themselves, their coaches and families, spectators, health sciences and engineering innovators, the press, and the public-at-large.

For more information click here.

Call for poster abstracts for the 4th annual Heart, Lung + Blood Fest!

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0500

The Providence Heart + Lung Institute's 4th annual Heart, Lung & Blood Research and Education Fest takes place March 8 and 9 at the Sutton Place Hotel in Vancouver, British Columbia.

To submit a poster, RSVP or for further details click here.

Poster submission deadline is February 15, 2010.

HLI Director Receives National and International Recognitions

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Dr. Bruce McManus, Director of the Providence Heart + Lung Institute, has recently been the recipient of two major awards. The Canadian Society of Atherosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology recognized Dr. McManus with the 2009 Scientific Excellence Award for his work to understand the accelerated blood vessel disease that affects transplanted hearts. He presented the Award Lecture, "Towards Preventing Injury and Modifying Repair in Allograft Vessels", in October 2009 at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress in Edmonton.

Recently, Dr. McManus has received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Society for Cardiovascular Pathology, an international flagship organization for education in cardiovascular pathology, for his many years of extraordinary contributions to the field. He will deliver the Distinguished Achievement Award Lecture regarding the molecular pathology of heart muscle diseases in March 2010 at the Annual Society Meeting in Washington DC.

Dr. Bruce McManus

UBC Ranks Third in COPD Research

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0500

The University of British Columbia recently ranked third in a listing of the top 20 institutions for COPD research with 244 papers cited a total of 5,608 times, in part due to the prolific work of Drs. James Hogg, Peter Paré and Don Sin (a top 20 ranked scientist) -- all researchers with the James Hogg Research Centre, an affiliated centre of the Providence Heart + Lung Institute.

The rankings were presented by ScienceWatch.com, which looked at 9,945 institutions publishing on the topic in Thomson Reuters-indexed journals. Click here to read more.

HLI Researcher Named one of Vancouver's Top 40 Under 40

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Providence Heart + Lung Institute researcher, Dr. David Granville has been named one of Vancouver's Top 40 Under 40. The award was founded by Business in Vancouver to honour corporate leaders, entrepreneurs and non-profit leaders in British Columbia who have reached a significant level of success before the age of age 40.

Dr. Granville, 38, is a Principal Investigator at the Providence Heart + Lung Institute at St. Paul's Hospital, and an Associate Professor in UBC's Faculty of Medicine.

His current research focuses on understanding and developing new treatments for cardiovascular conditions including aneurysms, atherosclerosis and heart attacks.

Recently, Dr. Granville found that reducing the activity of a protein-degrading enzyme, known as Granzyme B, could reduce blood vessel degeneration that is associated with many age-related cardiovascular conditions, including the progression and rupturing of aneurysms, which is often fatal. These discoveries have lead to the incorporation of a UBC spin-off company, viDA Therapeutics, Inc., of which Dr. Granville is a Founder and Chief Scientific Officer.

To read more click here.

Dr. David Granville

HLI Researchers Awarded Funding for Canada-Wide Rollout of Revolutionary Biomedical IT Resources

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Biomedical researchers face many problems as they try to understand and develop new interventions and treatments for disease. One of the major challenges is the length of time it takes to find the right data and the right way to analyze it. But researchers across Canada got a boost last week when Canada's Advanced Research and Innovation Network (CANARIE) awarded $927,000 for the C-BRASS (Canadian Bioinformatics Resources As Semantic Services) project.

C-BRASS is a multi-center initiative, led by the Providence Heart + Lung Institute at St. Paul’s Hospital and the University of British Columbia, in collaboration with researchers at Carleton University and the University of New Brunswick. The grant funds the deployment of two novel Internet platforms - CardioSHARE and SADI - nationwide, and establishes courses to train highly qualified Canadian personnel in these new Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 technologies.

CardioSHARE and SADI were developed by Providence Heart + Lung Institute researchers in collaboration with regional and international partners. CardioSHARE was created three years ago with funding from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of BC & Yukon. Its aim is to make the discovery, integration, and analysis of biomedical data on the Web as straightforward as simply asking a question, in a very natural way. In parallel Microsoft Research funded the invention of a new data-integration technology - SADI - that enables data and analytical tools on the Web to be self-explanatory. This allows machines to make many of the complex decisions about where and how to retrieve and analyze data, leaving the researcher free to focus on what the results mean and how this new knowledge can be used to improve the health of Canadians. To read more click here.

Women's Heart Health Forum & Health Fair!

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Heart disease and stroke is the leading cause of death for women in Canada, yet the majority of women don't know that they are at risk.

Join leading cardiac experts from the Providence Heart + Lung Institute at St. Paul's Hospital for an interactive discussion about women's heart health in support of the Heart and Stroke Foundation's The Heart Truth campaign.

Saturday, November 28, 2009
9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. (doors open at 9:00 a.m.)
Health fair: 11:30 - 1:30
New Lecture Theatre, Level 1
St. Paul's Hospital, 1081 Burrard Street, Vancouver

Topics will include:
• The journey from symptoms to treatment
• Pregnancy & heart health
• Coping with the risk factors of heart disease: a woman's perspective
• What is a woman to do? Preventing cardiovascular disease in women

For more information on the speakers click here.

Visit the Health Fair!

After the forum, have your risk factors assessed & speak with experts from our Heart Centre. Ask your questions to our dietitians, exercise therapists, psychologists and other experts. Learn about different risk factors and how you can improve your heart health!

The forum is free to the public but space is limited. Registration is advised.
RSVP: nordano@providencehealth.bc.ca or 604-806-9139.

The Providence Heart + Lung Institute is a proud sponsor of:

HLI Director receives CSATVB Scientific Excellence Award

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Dr. Bruce McManus, Director, Providence Heart + Lung Institute at St. Paul's Hospital, was named the second recipient of the CSATVB Scientific Excellence Award. The award, sponsored by the Canadian Society for Atherosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, is given to an active researcher for consistently outstanding and innovative research in the areas of atherosclerosis, thrombosis and/or vascular biology.

As part of this recognition, Dr. McManus delivered a keynote scientific lecture titled "Towards Preventing Injury and Modifying Repair in Allograft Vessels," at the annual CSATVB Scientific meeting held at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress.

For more information click here.

Study by HLI researcher shows women have same heart attack symptoms as men

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Research co-authored by Providence Heart + Lung Institute researcher, Martha Mackay reveals that heart attack symptoms in men and women are more alike than some previous studies have indicated.

In the study, presented at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress in Edmonton this week, no difference was found between men and women in the reporting of chest pain, the most common symptom associated with a heart attack, and other typical symptoms, such as sweating, shortness of breath and pain in the left arm. One difference that was found is that women reported jaw, neck and throat pain significantly more often than men.

According to Mackay, who is also a cardiac nurse and clinical research fellow and doctoral student at the University of British Columbia School of Nursing, this research began in 2004 and arose from concerns raised by previous research indicating that women tend to delay seeking treatment when they have a heart attack.

People haven't been able to sort out why that might be, she says. "One of the theories is that women don't seek treatment because they don't understand they're having a heart attack because their symptoms are different."

Mackay will be presenting on this topic at a special public forum on women and heart disease at St. Paul's Hospital on November 28.

To read the Canadian Press article on this study click here.

Dr. James Hogg inducted into Canadian Medical Hall of Fame

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Dr. James Hogg, a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, was inducted Oct. 16 into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame.

Dr. Hogg has leveraged over 40 years of experience in pathology, pulmonary physiology and molecular biology to enhance the world's understanding of lung disease. The Canadian Medical Hall of Fame said, "Dr. Hogg has arguably had a greater influence on the medical community's knowledge of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Asthma than any other individual worldwide."

Dr. Hogg was recruited to UBC and St. Paul's Hospital in 1977 from McGill University, and went on to build a world-renowned centre for pulmonary and cardiovascular research, with 120 trainees and 30 principal investigators a year. The laboratory was named the James Hogg iCAPTURE Centre for Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Research in 2003.

An Officer of the Order of Canada, Dr. Hogg also was elected to the Royal Society of Canada. Among the many professional awards he has received is the American Society for Investigative Pathology Chugai Award.

Dr. Hogg joins 76 other Hall of Fame laureates who have previously been inducted for pushing the boundaries of knowledge to improve human health. This year's inductees were selected by an independent committee of prominent leaders from Canada's medical community. To read Dr. Hogg's bio click here.

The COPD 2009 Conference Report Released

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0400

In early February 2009, around 30 internationally recognized Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) researchers and clinicians gathered in Vancouver to share their thoughts and expert knowledge on COPD... from its pathogenesis and treatment, to devising a new "blueprint" for COPD research for the next generation.

COPD is a very complex disease, with many potential causes and exacerbation factors only recently being recognized and studied. Over the course of two full days, 30 speakers - studying all aspects of COPD - shared their respective research findings and treatments, speculated on future directions, and discussed how their findings compare with those of their colleagues.

To view the entire report from the conference click here.

Heart + Lung Institute V02 the Max Team Riding 200km to Raise Money

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0400

On September 12th and 13th ten dedicated HLI team members will participating in the 2009 Bicycle Trek for Life and Breath. The Bicycle Trek for Life and Breath is an exhilarating two-day, 200 km scenic ride through the Fraser Valley to raise funds in support of clean air and lung health - and this year the event will celebrate its 25th anniversary!

Twenty four years ago a handful of cyclists came together on a sunny September morning to help raise much needed funds for vital lung health research, education programs and clean air initiatives. Unbeknownst to both
participants and organizers alike, this inaugural ride would mark the beginning of what would become an annual and ever-growing tradition: The BC Lung Association's Annual Trek for Life and Breath.

In 2008, more than 400 ‘Trekkers' took part, raising $368,000 towards the cause. Over the past 24 years, participants have raised well over $4 million. If you wish to sponsor a member of the HLI team please click here.