Dr. Maral Ouzounian, NEW Chief of Cardiovascular Surgery, UHN, Toronto and Chair of GADA Professional Advisory Board
Congratulations to Dr. Maral Ouzounian for her recent appointment as the new Chief of Cardiovascular Surgery at Peter Munk Cardiac Centre, University Health Network in Toronto, Ontario.
Dr. Ouzounian is the Chair of GADA Canada’s Professional Advisory Board and we work together to promote, develop and establish numerous aortic research programs. Dr. Ouzounian’s focus on improving surgical care and outcomes for those with aortic disease and those with genetic aortic disorders is essential to the long-term health of patients.
Her research team in Toronto is the most active Canadian research site, entering patient data to build on the research of the Montalcino Aortic Consortium (MAC) global aortic registry. MAC is a research collaboration of physician-scientists, from aortic centers around the world, expanding an aortic registry to identify new genetic aortic disorders and establish evidence-based treatment guidelines specific for each of the disorders. GADA Canada initiated and co-founded MAC in 2013 and continues to fund the expansion of the MAC registry. Dr. Ouzounian is on the MAC Executive committee, participating in and steering the research of MAC.
Dr. Ouzounian is also part of the study team that was awarded the GADA-TF research grant in 2019 to identify cardiac MRI biomarkers to help understand the changes in the heart muscle of patients with genetic aortic conditions and the role of certain medications (BB and ARBs) in protecting it.
As a member of GADA’s Professional Advisory Board, Dr. Ouzounian played a leading role in co-hosting the 2016 GADA conference in Toronto. In 2018, Dr. Ouzounian initiated the Heritable Aortic Disorders (HAD) Symposiums, to continue hosting these patient-focused conferences annually. Two HAD Symposiums have been hosted since its inception: in Toronto in 2018 and in Montreal in 2019. The third symposium is scheduled to take place in Halifax, May 20 – 21, 2022. GADA is a proud sponsor of the HAD symposiums and represents our patient community in this event.
We look forward to continue our work with Dr. Ouzounian to better serve the genetic aortic disorders community!