The Genetic Aortic Disorders Association Canada (GADA Canada) is pleased to announce that Dr. Maral Ouzounian, MD, PhD, FRCSC, is the newly appointed Chair of its Professional Advisory Board. This board, which is comprised of leading clinicians and scientists in the field of genetically triggered aortic disorders from Canada and the U.S., provides the Association with professional expertise and guidance of all medical information on the diagnosis and management of these disorders.
Dr. Ouzounian, who has served on the Professional Advisory Board since 2015, is a cardiac and aortic surgeon at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre, and Assistant Professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto. She received her MDCM degree from McGill University and her PhD from the University of Toronto. Following her cardiac surgery training, she completed a fellowship at the Texas Heart Institute under the mentorship of renowned aortic surgeon Dr. Joseph Coselli. Her current clinical and academic interests are in the understanding and management of aortic diseases, including heritable aortopathies and complex aneurysms and dissections.
Dr. Ouzounian is the co-founder of the Toronto Aortopathy clinic at the Toronto General Hospital, a multidisciplinary clinic focused on the care of patients with heritable aortic disorders. She played a leading role in co-hosting the 2016 GADA conference in Toronto. In 2018, she took the initiative to organize a team of medical professionals across Canada to continue hosting patient-focused conferences annually, called the Heritable Aortic Disorders Symposiums. Two Symposiums have been hosted since its inception: in Toronto in 2018 and Montreal in 2019.
Dr. Ouzounian replaces Dr. Dianna Milewicz, MD, PhD, University of Texas Medical School at Houston, who served as Chair of the Professional Advisory Board since 2012. Dr. Milewicz remains a valued member on the Professional Advisory Board. She is the Chair of the Montalcino Aortic Consortium, leading this global research collaborative of clinicians and scientists in the field of heritable aortic disorders.