Steering Committee

Dr. Beattie assumed the role of Chair in October 2021. Dr. Beattie is a founding member of PACT and acknowledges the vision and wishes to thank the previous Chairs, Dr’s Richard Hall and Eric Jacobsohn for the commitment and hard work.  Dr. Beattie  is an internationally recognized expert in cardiovascular physiology and anesthesia and has authored (or co-authored)  more than 200 peer-reviewed articles while holding numerous peer-reviewed grants in aid of clinical investigation. Dr. Beattie joined the Department of Anesthesia and Pain Management at the Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network in 2000. During his tenure at UHN he has served as the Deputy Anesthesiologist-in-Chief (Toronto General), the Director, Anesthesia Research and held the R. Fraser Elliott Chair in Cardiac Anesthesia. Dr. Beattie has served as an Associate Editor of the Canadian Journal of Anesthesia and the Associate Editor-in-Chief (Cardiovascular Anesthesia) for Anesthesia and Analgesia.

Dr. Beattie has retired from active clinical practice but continues to maintains a active clinical research program. Presently, this involves collaboration several national and international projects. Most recently the focus his investigations has been on establishing Standardized Endpoints for Clinical Trials, Canadian Anesthesia Critical Incidents and Patient Safety Measures , and the Patient Centred effects on peri-operative myocardial injury.

Dr. Beattie encourages any and all interested in peri-operative investigation to join the PACT family.

Dr. André Denault has a special interest in ultrasound, and since his PhD thesis on difficult separation from cardiopulmonary bypass, he has published numerous echocardiography texts and peer-reviewed publications in heart and lung ultrasound. Dr. Denault is professor of anesthesiology andcritical care at the Université de Montréal, and cardiac anesthesiologist and critical care physician at the Montreal Heart Institute and the Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal.

His range of research interests, include:

• Perioperative transesophageal echocardiography and bedside ultrasound
• Post-op complications from heart surgery: fluid overload, renal failure, delirium
• Extracorporeal circulation and hemodynamic instability
• Right ventricular failure and portal hypertension
• Inhalation therapy of pulmonary hypertension and right ventricular dysfunction
• Cerebral and somatic oximetry monitoring in the operating room and the ICU

Dr. Rick Hall has quietly and methodically improved anesthesia care and safety in Canada and beyond for more than 25 years. He was recently named the 2016 recipient of the Canadian Anesthesiologists’ Society Research Recognition Award for his efforts. The award is the society’s most prestigious research honour.

Before graduating with an MD, Dr. Hall conducted a prospective study of the influence of influenza vaccination on theophylline pharmacokinetics under the supervision of Dr. Ken Renton at Dalhousie. The results of the study, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in 1980, led to a hypothesis that the systemic inflammatory response to infection alters drug metabolism – the crux of Dr. Hall’s career-long program of related basic and clinical research.

After accepting a position at Dalhousie University as assistant professor of anesthesia and pharmacology in 1987, Dr. Hall began to merge his interests in the influence of inflammation on drug response with cardiac anesthesia. He has since conducted studies examining almost every facet of the practice of cardiac anesthesia.

Dr. Hall’s work has so far resulted in more than 56 peer-reviewed research funding awards as principal or co-investigator, 200 publications and 180 invited presentations. And he has helped change the research landscape in Canada as a founding member of the Canadian Critical Care Clinical Trials Group, one of the leading clinical trials collaboratives in the world, and the Canadian Perioperative Anesthesia Clinical Trials Group (PACT).

Dr. Hall is a professor of anesthesia, critical care, and pharmacology, a world-expert in cardiac anesthesia and cardiovascular intensive care, and a Canadian authority on research ethics, particularly as it relates to end-of-life care.

Dan McIsaac is an Anesthesiologist and Associate Scientist at The Ottawa Hospital and Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. He is an Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, as well as Epidemiology, Public Health and Preventative Medicine at the University of Ottawa, and is an Adjunct Scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences. Dr. McIsaac’s clinical and health services research focuses on how to optimize the perioperative health-care system to deliver high quality and effective care to high risk older surgical patients. Dr. McIsaac holds a Junior Research Chair in Perioperative Health Systems and Outcomes Research, and his program is supported by grants from national and international peer-reviewed funding agencies. Dr. McIsaac’s work in advancing the specialty of anesthesiology and perioperative medicine was recognized with the 2017 Canadian Anesthesiology Society’s Career Scientist Award.

Dr. David Mazer’s research program focuses on perioperative blood conservation, cardiac physiology and metabolism and perioperative organ protection. He is actively engaged in translational research as an investigator in both pre-clinical and clinical studies in these areas and has authored or co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications. He is currently principal investigator of a global randomized trial of transfusion triggers in cardiac surgery.

Dr. Mazer is a professor and vice chair of research in the Department of Anesthesia and a professor of physiology at the University of Toronto. He is also associate editor of the Canadian Journal of Anesthesia and chair of the research ethics board of St. Michael’s Hospital where he is actively engaged in clinical practice and research in anesthesia and critical care. Dr. Mazer received his medical training at the University of Saskatchewan (MD 1978) and worked as a family physician in Inuvik NWT, Whakatane New Zealand, and Cudworth Saskatchewan before attending the University of Toronto to complete his residency in Anesthesia (FRCPC 1985). He subsequently completed his fellowship training in cardiovascular anesthesia research at the University of California San Francisco from 1985-87.

Alex Turgeon’s research program focuses on the evaluation of prognosis in critically ill patients with severe traumatic brain injury and the comprehension of level of care decisions in neurocritically ill patients. He leads the CIHR-funded TBI-Prognosis Study, a pan-Canadian study aiming to develop a prognostic model of long-term prognosis following severe traumatic brain injury.  Dr. Turgeon is an associate professor in the Division of Critical Care Medicine at Laval University. He is Director of Research, Division of Critical Care Medicine, and Associate Director, Population Health and Optimal Health Practices Research Unit of the CHU de Québec Research Centre. He practices critical care medicine at the CHU de Québec – Enfant-Jésus Hospital. He is a FRQS-funded scientist in the Trauma – Emergency – Critical Care Medicine Research Group within the Population Health and Optimal Health Practices Unit at the CHU de Québec Research Centre.