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Ottawa Hospital researchers to lead new national respiratory and vascular networks


February 24, 2014

Ottawa, Canada — Researchers from The Ottawa Hospital and the University of Ottawa are leading two of three national health research networks announced today at The Ottawa Hospital by Canada’s Minister of Health, the Honourable Rona Ambrose. The Canadian Respiratory Research Network will be led by Dr. Shawn Aaron, while the Canadian Vascular Network will be led by Dr. Duncan Stewart.

Each network has been awarded $4.35M from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, plus up to $4.1M from other partners.

Canadian Respiratory Research Network
The Canadian Respiratory Research Network will focus on studying chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma, which together affect almost 15% of Canadians.

“Chronic lung diseases take an enormous toll on Canadians, and require significant health-care resources,” said Dr. Shawn Aaron, director of the Canadian Respiratory Research Network, head of respirology at The Ottawa Hospital, senior scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and professor of medicine at the University of Ottawa. “The Canadian Respiratory Research Network will bring experts from across the country together to improve our understanding of these diseases and improve patient care.”

Dr. James Martin, chairman of the Department of Medicine at McGill University, is co-director of the Canadian Respiratory Research Network.

Canadian Vascular Network
The Canadian Vascular Network represents Canada’s first comprehensive initiative to bring researchers and partners across disciplines together to tackle diseases that are caused by blood vessel damage.

“While it has been known for some time that blood vessel damage underlies catastrophic diseases such as heart attack and stroke, it is increasingly being recognized that blood vessels also play a major role in insidious and chronic disorders such as dementia, kidney failure and certain kinds of eye disease,” said Dr. Duncan Stewart, scientific director of the Canadian Vascular Network, CEO and scientific director of the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, vice-president of research at The Ottawa Hospital and professor of medicine at the University of Ottawa. “The Vascular Network will bring experts in all of these different diseases together to develop integrated approaches for research and patient care for vascular disease.”

Dr. Peter Liu, scientific director of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, is vice-scientific director of the Canadian Vascular Network.
 
Links
• Government of Canada Media Release
• Backgrounder on the Canadian Respiratory Research Network
• Backgrounder on the Canadian Vascular Network

Media Contact
Paddy Moore
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
padmoore@ohri.ca
(o) 613-737-8899 x73687 or (c) 613-323-5680

About the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI)
The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) is the research arm of The Ottawa Hospital and is an affiliated institute of the University of Ottawa, closely associated with the university’s Faculties of Medicine and Health Sciences. OHRI includes more than 1,700 scientists, clinical investigators, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and staff conducting research to improve the understanding, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human disease. Research at OHRI is supported by The Ottawa Hospital Foundation. www.ohri.ca