This year, the CSCS enjoyed another banner conference at Vascular 2023. From combined workshops to oral abstract sessions to trainee-driven skills sessions to post-graduate courses to the annual year in review, surgical content was simply outstanding. It was also an absolute honour to host Dr. Duke Cameron from Johns Hopkins Hospital as the 2023 Dr. Wilfred Bigelow Lecture speaker who spoke to us on the subject of “Heart Valve Disease: At the intersection of science, surgery and collaboration”. I would like to thank Dr. Subodh Verma, our Scientific Program Committee Chair, for putting together an awesome program, and to all of the presenters and the moderators for ensuring that the sessions were truly top notch. 

I would, furthermore, like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to Dr. Joel Bierer from Dalhousie University, winner of the Dr. Paul Cartier Award, and to Dr. Stephen Fremes from the University of Toronto, winner of the 1st ever Annual CSCS Achievement Award. Finally, none of this would have been possible without the support of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society and their incredible staff. Till we reconvene at the next Canadian Cardiovascular Congress in Vancouver!!

Past Presidents' Dinner

On behalf of the CSCS Board of Directors we would like to sincerely thank everyone who attended this years CSCS "Past Presidents' Dinner", honouring our Society, our founders and Past Presidents. We hope that you had an enjoyable evening catching up with old and meeting new colleagues, entertaining speeches and fantastic food from the staff at the L'Auberge Saint-Gabriel. We also want to thank Bobbi Hoffman, our event planners at Gemstone and Sara Faubert from the CCS for their support and organization of this event.

Looking forward to next year, we have already heard some of your feedback and will plan to rename this event as the CSCS Presidents' Dinner. We are interested to hear more of your feedback in terms of the venue, cost, food and any other feedback to make next year's event even better. Please send your comments to us at [email protected]

The CSCS is pleased to announce and introduce our newly elected Board of Directors.

CSCS Board of Directors and Officers 2023-2024

• Ansar Hassan, Portland, ME - President
• Maral Ouzounian, Toronto, ON - President Elect
• Rakesh Arora, Cleveland, OH - Past President
• Richard Cook, Vancouver, BC - Treasurer
• Corey Adams, Calgary, AB - Secretary
• Edgar Chedrawy, Halifax, NS - Atlantic Regional Representative
• François Dagenais, Quebec, QC - Quebec Regional Representative
• Emmanuel Moss, Montréal, QC - Quebec Regional Representative
• Jennifer Higgins, Kitchener, ON - Ontario Regional Representative
• Talal Al-Atassi, Ottawa, ON - Ontario Regional Representative
• Scott McClure, Calgary, AB - SK, MB, AB Regional Representative
• Lynn Fedoruk, Victoria, BC - BC Regional Representative
• Kenza Rahmouni, Ottawa, ON - Cardiac Surgery Resident Representative
• Subodh Verma, Toronto, ON - Scientific Program Committee Chair
• Saurabh Gupta, Hamilton, ON - Workforce Committee Chair
• Denis Bouchard, Montréal, QC - Specialty Committee Representative
• Buu-Khanh Lam, Ottawa, ON - Exam Board Representative
• Gurmeet Singh, Edmonton, AB - CANCARE Representative

Under the co-chair leadership of Drs. Scott McClure, Tom Lindsay, and Michelle Keir, the multi-society Aortic Team Model and Collaborative Decision Pathways for the Management of Complex Aortic Disease Clinical Practice Update proudly launches in the November issue of the Canadian Journal of Cardiology. The aims of the CPU are to affirm the importance of the aortic team concept, to provide an expert consensus on what constitutes an aortic team, and to provide a framework to guide efforts to incorporate the aortic team model into daily practice across Canada.

“Aortic disease management becomes increasingly nuanced with increasing complexity. Providing the best care for our patients requires collaborative treatment decisions and a team mentality. It is the best way to ensure all treatment options are considered for the betterment of our patients.“ - Scott McClure, Co-chair of the CCS/CSCS/CSVS/CAIR Team Model and Care Pathways for Aortic Disease CPU

The Team Model and Care Pathways for Aortic Disease CPU focuses on the aortic arch, descending thoracic, and thoracoabdominal aorta, as these are the aortic segments where specialties, care plans, and treatment have the most substantial overlap. The importance of interdisciplinary aortic clinics is emphasized, as they promote shared-decision making, facilitate life-long surveillance and referrals for unique conditions, while also streamlining care pathways for aortic disease that were historically fragmented across specialties. This may mean regionalizing care for increasingly complex aortic disease, to maintain concentration of expertise and increased volume-outcome ratios for high-risk endovascular and surgical procedures. 

Read the Team Model and Care Pathways for Aortic Disease CPU Publication here.

The Division of Cardiovascular Surgery and Department of Surgery at Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network is inviting applications for the position of Surgical Director of Heart Transplantation. This would be accompanied by an academic position as Associate or Full Professor at the University of Toronto. The effective date of this appointment is flexible, tentatively aiming for July 1, 2024.

The Surgical Director of Heart Transplantation will work closely with the Medical Director of the Heart Transplant Program and will be responsible for all clinical, education, and research activities of the heart transplant program. Duties will include all aspects of clinical care of a full-time adult cardiac surgeon, education of cardiac surgery residents and fellows, and expanding the research and scholarly activities of the cardiac transplant program. Robust opportunities exist to enhance the existing research portfolio through collaboration with an array of clinicians and researchers within the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre, Ajmera Transplant Centre, and the UHN Department of Surgery and across the University of Toronto.

Click here or login to your MY.CCS.CA account for more information about this position.

Applicants are asked to submit a letter of intent, curriculum vitae and names and email addresses of three referees with their applications. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply. The deadline for receipt of applications is January 1, 2024, or until the position is filled. 

Please submit completed applications to:

Dr. Maral Ouzounian, Head, Division of Cardiovascular Surgery

Toronto General Hospital

200 Elizabeth St. 4N-458

Toronto ON M5G 2C4

Email: [email protected]