Every seven minutes in Canada, a life is taken by heart disease and ...

“The Heart and Stroke Foundation is critical to the ongoing success of the Alberta heart and stroke research community.
Because of the philanthropic support of Heart&Stroke donors, 80 research teams across the province received HSF funding in
2011-2012. The Foundation has a long tradition of supporting New Investigators, like those featured in the Mavericks program.
Our New Investigators are embarking on exciting work that will most certainly have a long-lasting impact. Thank you for helping
to support healthy lives for all Canadians.” – Dr. Michael Hill, Chair, Heart and Stroke Foundation, Alberta Provincial Board.
GROUNDBREAKING RESEARCH
is vital to achieve the vision we all
have and hope for, which is to live
healthy lives free of heart disease and stroke.
The generosity of Albertans and their philanthropic
efforts allow the Heart and Stroke
Foundation (HSF) to fund the province’s
bright, up-and-coming research stars, aptly
called Mavericks. Heart&Stroke
Mavericks are innovative and bold
researchers in the early stages of
their careers.
The Foundation awards grants
based on a gold-standard peer
review process through which only
the highest ranked projects receive funding
to further the momentum of life-giving heart
and stroke research. Four featured Mavericks
– Dr. Stevan Dubljevic, Dr. Zamaneh
Kassiri, Dr. Adam Kirton and Dr. Theresa
Green – share a little of what their research
is about and the important role that donor
funding and support plays in what they
strive to do each day.
Dr. Dubljevic, gratefully acknowledges
the support he gets from the HSF for his
Dr. Stevan Dubljevic, BSc, PhD, Assistant
Professor, Department of Chemical and Materials
Engineering, University of Alberta
arrhythmia isolation studies (disturbances to
the regular heartbeat). “I see people from age
27 to 50 in front of me, looking completely
healthy and normal and yet their hearts are
failing in front of my eyes,” he says. “I just
hope my research will bring one beat more to
their lives.” Currently, he has one professor
and three graduate students on his research
Every seven minutes in
Canada, a life is taken by
heart disease and stroke.
team. “Without the funding, I wouldn’t be
able to hire the graduate students for this very
expensive and quite laborious work,”
Dubljevic says. “Graduate students are the
main engines of the development of this research.”
In seven to 10 years, he estimates, his
team’s research will provide Albertans with
a type of heart patch (similar to a nicotine
patch) that – when placed on the upper chest –
prevents the onset of a severe, abnormal heart
rhythm and sudden cardiac death.
Dr. Kassiri’s HSF funding was confirmed
in March 2011 to study and identify what
role certain enzymes play in the progression
of heart disease. She required the very best
colleagues on her team to make progress on
her study, and was able to do just that with the
HSF grant by adding a post-doctoral fellow to
her team. “Our research can potentially identify
new methods in treating heart disease.”
Her studies also led her to the idea of “tailored
therapy.” For example, not every patient with
reduced heart function should receive the
same treatment because it’s actually the triggers
of the disease – hypertension and clogged
arteries, for example – that determine the
mode of repair. Kassiri is still in the early
stages of her research, but she’s encouraged by
her findings as well as those of her peers. With
the dedication and hard work of researchers,
physicians and their teams to discover new
ways of tackling these diseases, combined
with the support of the generous Albertans
who give to the Heart and Stroke Foundation,
Kassiri asks, “How can anyone not believe
that we are moving in the right direction”
At the University of Calgary, Dr. Kirton
focuses on the participants within his campbased
therapy programs. His clinical trials,
delivered as two-week-long day camps, are
geared towards improving the motor function
of children affected by stroke-induced
cerebral palsy. Kirton is testing two different
methods of stimulating the patients’ brains:
one trial will finish this summer and the other
has only just begun. “I think Alberta children
and families affected by perinatal stroke are
already beginning to see real results from our
work,” says Kirton. “Participants in our clinical
trials have seen increased function while
also growing as young individuals from their
experience.” His work has encouraged further
research, education and support systems for
Dr. Zamaneh Kassiri, MSc, PhD,
Associate Professor, Department of Physiology,
University of Alberta
Find out more about how you can become a Heart&Stroke Mavericks Investor by
contacting Camille Cuthill, Vice-President, Philanthropy at ccuthill@hsf.ab.ca.
Healthy lives free of heart disease and stroke. Together we will make it happen.

“Thanks to its generous donors,
the Heart and Stroke Foundation
continues to fund New Investigators
at all our universities and research
institutes – and I know from
experience how important that career
boost is! The Foundation is an integral
part of the research community in
Alberta, both because of the funding
it provides, and for the role it plays in
spreading our vital health messages.”
– Dr. Gary Lopaschuk, Distinguished
Professor - Pharmacology and
Pediatrics, University of Alberta
Many thanks to our generous
Heart&Stroke Mavericks Investors:
Lori Bonnett • Henry J. Duff •
Janet & Owen Edmondson •
Donna Hastings • Jeff Kenny
Memorial • KPMG LLP • Roderick &
Jean McKay • Kevin Neveu •
Precision Drilling Corp. •
Murray P. Suey
Dr. Adam Kirton, MD, MSc, FRCPC,
Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Clinical
Neurosciences, University of Calgary
Dr. Theresa Green, BSc, MSc, PhD, Associate
Professor, Faculty of Nursing and Adjunct
Assistant Professor in Clinical Neurosciences,
University of Calgary
children and parents affected by perinatal
stroke. “Support from generous HSF donors
has been essential to our success – we absolutely
would not be half as far along were it
not for them,” he says. “The Foundation’s
ability to recognize the potential of both
our novel ideas and our young team, and its
willingness to invest in our efforts, has been
invaluable.”
Also at the University of Calgary is Dr.
Green, whose current HSF-funded research
looks for the predictors of marital stressors
after one partner has a mild-stroke. Specifically,
she and her team of seven examine mild
stroke impairments pertaining to a patient’s
behaviour, personality, mood and cognitive
changes, and the impacts on spousal relationships.
“Many times, patients with mild stroke
were, and still are, discharged very quickly
from acute care – often without rehabilitation
services or followup from stroke specialists,”
says Green. “We call these patients the ‘Walking
Wounded.’ ” Her goal is to help relationships
by providing coping resources, which
in turn will also aid in the patient’s physical
recovery. “As diagnosis and treatment of
“Our bank takes great pride in
sponsoring this Heart&Stroke
Mavericks report to the community.
BMO is one of Canada’s largest
corporate benefactors, supporting
causes that help create stronger and
healthier communities everywhere we
do business.”
– Robert Hayes, Senior Vice-President,
Alberta & NWT Division,
BMO Bank of Montreal
stroke continues to improve, my research
can help identify some of the consequences
of stroke that may affect many layers of our
social structure,” she says. “This work will
allow us to provide timely interventions and
services to help maintain and sustain family
coping over the long-term, post stroke.”
Philanthropic support from generous
Albertans fuels the very best research that
saves countless lives.
For full profiles of the Heart&Stroke Mavericks,
visit heartandstroke.ab.ca/mavericks
The Heart and Stroke Foundation is grateful to BMO Bank of Montreal
for their sponsorship of this Heart&Stroke Mavericks insert. Their commitment and
support allow us to truly express the heart of our mission – funding life-giving research.