Please plan to join us for the CSCS Annual General Meeting (AGM) taking place at CCC 2025. This meeting will highlight the activities and accomplishments of the CSCS and its members and honor the CSCS Achievement Award recipient.

CSCS AGM

Friday October 24, 2025

12:15 PM - 1:45 PM ET 

Centre des congrès de Québec, Room 205AB

We welcome your voice and participation. The meeting material will follow.

We hope to see many of you at CCC 2025 October 23-26 in Quebec City, QC. The CSCS Scientific Planning Committee has assembled an outstanding international line up of speakers who will address important and contemporary issues in cardiac surgery. 

Of note, we look forward to hosting the CSCS President’s Dinner at Fairmont Le Château Frontenac on Friday, October 24, 2025. This is a ticketed event; click here to register. We are also hosting a CSCS Luncheon on Saturday, October 25, 2025, please join us!

Friday, October 24

SPECIAL SESSION: REDEFINING PRECISION: THE CANADIAN ROBOTIC HEART SURGERY IMPERATIVE

11:15 AM – 12:15 PM

Room: 304AB

CSCS ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

12:15 PM – 1:45 PM 

Room: 205AB

CARDIAC SURGERY ORAL/PODIUM PRESENTATIONS 1

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM 

Room: 304AB

CARDIAC SURGERY ORAL/PODIUM PRESENTATIONS 2

3:15 PM – 4:15 PM  

Room: 304AB

LEGACY & LEADERSHIP: MASTERCLASS IN CARDIAC SURGERY STATE-OF-THE-ART LECTURES FROM ICONS WHO SHAPED THE FIELD

4:30 PM – 5:30 PM

Room: 304AB

CSCS PRESIDENT’S DINNER

7:00 PM – 10:00 PM

Chateau Frontenac (ticketed event)

Saturday, October 25

INNOVATION AT THE CROSSROADS OF TRADITION 

8:30 AM – 9:30 AM 

Room: 202

VALVULAR HEART DISEASE: MAKING SENSE OF A CHANGING LANDSCAPE AND EVOLVING GUIDELINES

10:00 AM – 11:00 AM 

Room: 202

WILFRED BIGELOW LECTURE AND PAUL CARTIER AWARD

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM  

Room: 202

CSCS LUNCHEON

12:30 PM – 2:00 PM

Room: 205AB

CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN CARDIAC SURGERY

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM  

Room: 202

NAVIGATING COMPLEX REDO AND SALVAGE VALVE SURGERY

3:15 PM – 4:15 PM  

Room: 202

The CSCS Achievement Award was created in 2023 to recognize a member who has made significant contributions to the academic, research, or clinical scopes of cardiac surgery. We are pleased to announce this years' recipient, Dr. Subodh Verma.

Subodh Verma, MD, PhD, FRCSC, FAHA, FCCS, FCAHS

Dr. Subodh Verma is an internationally renowned cardiac surgeon-scientist and Professor at the University of Toronto. He is the current Canada Research Chair in Cardiovascular Surgery, having previously served as the Canada Research Chair in Atherosclerosis (2007-2017). Dr. Verma is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, one of the highest national honours that recognizes scholars for their promotion of health science. Dr. Verma was named a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher in Clinical Medicine in 2022 and 2023. He was bestowed the University of Calgary Cumming School Medicine Alumnus of Distinction Award for Research in 2023 and in 2021, he was awarded the University of Toronto Lister Prize in Surgery in recognition of his outstanding and continuing productivity of international stature. For his work on the relationship between inflammation and atherosclerosis, he was named the recipient of the Howard Morgan Award for Distinguished Achievements in Cardiovascular Research from the International Academy of Cardiovascular Sciences and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Gold Medal in Surgery. Dr. Verma is an appointee of the American Association of Thoracic Surgeons (AATS) and member of the Royal Society of Canada College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists.

Dr. Verma’s over 700 peer-reviewed publications have earned him a Google Scholar h-index of 126 with over 80,000 citations. He has published extensively in highly impactful journals like the NEJM, Lancet, Nature, Circulation, European Heart Journal and JACC. He is Section Editor of Current Opinion in Cardiology a Guest Editor of Circulation and JACC. Dr Verma is an active contributor to Canadian clinical practice guidelines and has co-authored recommendations for atrial fibrillation, antiplatelet therapy, cardiorenal protection, diabetes, heart failure, and peripheral artery disease; he was also a member of the 2018 AATS consensus guidelines committee on bicuspid aortic valve-related aortopathy. Dr. Verma is the current Scientific Program Committee Chair for the CSCS and has served in various capacities on the American Heart Association (AHA) Council on Cardiovascular Surgery and Anesthesia since 2008. Read more.

Please join us at the CSCS AGM to honor Dr. Verma. 

This award was created in honour of Dr. Paul Cartier, who was highly regarded as an outstanding Canadian Cardiac Surgeon. The award is to be given to a Cardiac Surgery Resident who has made an outstanding contribution to the field of cardiac surgery through basic science or clinical research and who has demonstrated promise for a distinguished academic career in cardiac surgery. We are pleased to announce this years' recipient, Dr. Kenza Rahmouni.

Kenza Rahmouni, MDCM, MSc

Kenza Rahmouni is a senior cardiac surgery resident at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. She completed her medical training at McGill University in 2020 and her Master of Science in Epidemiology at the School of Epidemiology and Public Health of the University of Ottawa, through the Clinician-Investigator program, in August 2025. Her research interests include valvular heart disease, women’s heart health, and surgical education.

Photo credit: Communications, Ottawa Heart Institute | Communications, Institut de cardiologie d’Ottawa

Please join us at the Wilfred Bigelow Lecture and Paul Cartier Award Session to celebrate Dr. Rahmouni.

2025 Cardiac Surgery Trainee Challenge

The Cardiac Surgery Trainee Challenge launched on August 25, 2025 and invites medical students, residents, and fellows to test their mastery in a live-leaderboard quiz arena that rewards speed, accuracy, and persistence. Competitors sharpen essential cardiac-surgery concepts, vie for cash prizes of $1,000, $500, and $250, and generate data that will help us refine next-generation AI teaching tools.

Learn more >>

2025 Trainee Spotlight Recommendations

We are looking for recommendations for trainees to showcase in the "Trainee Spotlight" section of the CSCS Website.

If you know a CSCS trainee that you would like to see recognized for their contributions to our profession (academic, education, wellness, advocacy, etc.), please email their name and contact information to Kenza Rahmouni at krahmouni@ottawaheart.ca.

The 7th episode entitled "The Early Career Surgeon" is now available on Spotify.

Join us for an engaging roundtable discussion with seasoned surgeons reflecting on their early careers. Our expert guests share the challenges they faced, lessons learned, and insights gained as they navigated the start of their surgical journeys. They also explore how the field has evolved, comparing their experiences then and now. A must-listen for new surgeons and medical enthusiasts eager for insights from experienced professionals.

Career Opportunities

Surgical Associate

Toronto General Hospital

Toronto, ON

The Division of Cardiovascular Surgery at the Toronto General Hospital, Peter Munk Cardiac Centre at University Health Network is searching for an Associate Cardiovascular Surgeon. The selected candidate may be eligible for a position as Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto.

The successful candidate would have experience in all aspects of cardiac surgical care, and specifically in the care of patients with advanced heart failure. The candidate would be responsible for patients requiring extracorporeal support and for the retrieval of organs for the heart transplant program. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.

We are aiming for the effective date of the appointment to be early 2026 - with flexibility of the start date as needed. The candidate should be eligible for certification with the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and licensure with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario.

Interested applicants should email their CV and a letter of interest to cvs@uhn.ca attention Dr. Maral Ouzounian.

Senior Scientist

University Health Network

Toronto, ON

The Peter Munk Cardiac Centre (PMCC) Research Institute at UHN invites applications for a full-time, permanent Senior Scientist (non-tenured research track) with an anticipated status-only academic appointment at the University of Toronto at the rank of Assistant to Full Professor (or as appropriate). The successful candidate will lead a basic and translational research program in cardiac organ preservation and pre-transplant optimization, with emphases such as, but not limited to ischemia–reperfusion biology, sub-zero organ preservation and reanimation, ex vivo heart perfusion and functional testing, metabolic and immunologic reprogramming of donor hearts, multi-omics readouts, and data-driven viability prediction. We especially welcome applicants who build platforms that bridge laboratory discovery with clinical decision-making in heart transplantation, and who can collaborate with PMCC programs in surgery, organ transplant, anesthesia/critical care, imaging, and digital health. A competitive benefits package is offered, with eligibility for relocation support.

Interested applicants can submit their full application here.  

Please login to your MY.CCS.CA account for more information about these positions.

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