HSF_Breakthrough_Res

The Heart and Stroke Foundation,

a volunteer-based health charity,

leads in eliminating heart disease

and stroke and reducing their

impact through the advancement

of research and its application, the

promotion of healthy living, and

advocacy.

www.heartandstroke.ca

our mission is for life

Research Results Changing Lives

www.heartandstroke.ca

Breakthrough

2 Leading the Way

4 Supporting Research ExcellencePutting research into practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

8 Strategic Research PrioritiesStroke research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Saving brain cells after a stroke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Obesity research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Combating obesity in our schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

Resuscitation research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

U.S.-Canada study targets cardiac arrest and trauma . . . . .14

16 Moving Forward

contents

“”

We are working with

schools and community

partners to create an

environment that

supports healthy living.

Dr. Patti-Jean Naylor

Did you know?

■ Leads to earlier diagnosisand breakthroughs intreatment and recovery

■ Reduces high blood pressure,high blood cholesterol, andother risk factors thatcontribute to heart disease

■ Leads to a higher qualityof life for people living withthe impact of heart diseaseor stroke

■ Identifies those at highrisk of developing heartproblems or having a stroke

■ Educates Canadians onhealthy lifestyle choices

■ Lowers medical and healthcare costs

■ Retains and attracts theworld’s best researchers

Saving andimproving lives

Since 1956, the Heart and Stroke Foundation has invested over $1 billionin research support

Heart and Stroke Foundation-funded research has helped reduce the deathrate from heart disease and stroke in Canada by 70% since 1952

The Heart and Stroke Foundation currently funds over 900 researchersand research teams across the country

Heart and StrokeFoundation research: 12

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For over 50 years, Heart and Stroke Foundation (HSF) research has led the way toward a greater understanding of the root causes of heart disease and stroke.

Throughout our history, the Foundation has funded life-saving researchto reduce the burden of heart disease and stroke. From blue babysurgery to new ways to open arteries, we’ve had many successes. And today, we are on the threshold of more exciting breakthroughs.

The Heart and Stroke Foundation – a leader in heart and strokeresearch in Canada – works with hundreds of hospital- and university-based research teams across the country to find the answers we need.

We are one of Canada’s most influential organizations dedicated toimproving health and quality of life. Along with funding outstandingresearch, we provide Canadians with information to protect their health.We advocate for changes to public policy to build healthy communitiesand ultimately a healthier country.

The Heart and Stroke Foundation’s emphasis on research, healthpromotion, and advocacy delivers results that benefit all Canadians.

Breakthrough Research Results Changing Lives

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Finding answers. For life. There isn’t a better way to describe what we do.

theleading Did you know?

Cardiovascular diseases cost the Canadian economy over $18 billion a year

Heart disease and stroke are the underlying cause of death for one in three Canadians

way

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Our research activities cover the spectrum ofprevention, treatment, and discovery. Annual open competitions supportinvestigator-initiated research into all aspects of cardiovascular diseaseacross four health research themes:

1. Basic biomedical

Laboratory-based research exploring biological or biochemicalprocesses at the molecular, cellular, organ system, and wholebody levels.

2. Clinical

Patient-focused research aimed at improving the diagnosis andtreatment of disease and injury by applying biomedical findings to new treatments, technologies, and more.

3. Health services and health systems

Multidisciplinary research looking at how to improve the deliveryof health care services through changes to practice and policy.

4. Social, cultural, environmental, and population health

Research examining the way in which socioeconomic, cultural,and environmental factors impact health status.

The Heart and Stroke Foundation supports core research fundingthrough grants-in-aid, personnel awards, and other investments such as research chairs and program grants.

Grants-in-aid

Grants-in-aid allow researchers to undertake specific research projectsand explore innovative treatments. Provided through the provincialFoundations, these grants support critical research costs.

Personnel awards

Personnel awards build Canada’s research capacity by supportinginvestigators across the career spectrum – from graduate students to senior scientists.


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The best researchers from across Canada. An excellentpeer review process. A high-caliber research communitycommitted to improving the health of Canadians. Heartand Stroke Foundation research has touched the lives ofCanadians in countless ways over the past 50 years.

supportingresearchexcellence

HSF Research Fund

Stroke, obesity, and resuscitation – the Foundation’s current missionpriorities – are the focus of the HSF Research Fund. Through the Fund,we partner with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, other healthcharities, research organizations, government agencies, and the privatesector to:

■ support strategic research that is inter-provincial and multidisciplinary,

■ strengthen our nation’s research capacity, and

■ leverage more funding for heart and stroke research in Canada.

Supporting innovation

Every year, the Heart and Stroke Foundation partners with industryto provide research fellowships for our next generation of researchers.Through our provincial Foundations we also support high school andmasters scholarships, program grants, career investigator awards, anduniversity research chairs.

Puttingresearch into practice Linking research to the lives of Canadians. This goal iscentral to the Heart and StrokeFoundation’s health educationand advocacy work.

Through the HSF ResearchFund’s managed research cycle, the Foundation worksclosely with policy-makers,practitioners, and researchers to address relevant questionsand accelerate the translation of scientific evidence and proven solutions into policyand practice.

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Did you know?Over 1,000 researchers take part in the Heart andStroke Foundation’s peer review process every year


The McDonald Scholarship Award

Named in honour of Ewing McDonald, theHeart and Stroke Foundation of Canada’sexecutive director from 1968 to 1987, thisaward is given annually to the highest-ratedCanadian applicant in the New InvestigatorAward competition.

The Henry J.M. BarnettScholarship Award

Established to honour Dr. Henry J.M.Barnett’s exceptional contributions tostroke research, education, and patientcare in Canada, this award is presentedannually to a highly rated investigatorworking in cerebrovascular research.

Raising the barfor scientificexcellence

The Heart and StrokeFoundation’s gold standardpeer review process ensuressuccessful applicants meet thehighest standards of scientificexcellence.

Peer review panels include top-rated researchers as wellas lay members from diversebackgrounds.

Lay reviewers represent theperson affected by heartdisease and stroke, the donor, the volunteer, and thecommunity at large. Theystrengthen accountability forthe donor dollar and increasethe openness of the researchfunding process.

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Stroke researchAbout 50,000 strokes occur each year in Canada and over 15,000Canadians die as a result. Three hundred thousand Canadians areliving with its effects. Stroke costs the Canadian economy about $2.7 billion a year.

The Heart and Stroke Foundation is leading national efforts to reversethis trend.

The Foundation is learning far more about stroke and is working withhealth professionals to ensure research results are put into practicethrough Focus on Stroke, a unique partnership with the Canadian Stroke Network, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research/ Rx&D Collaborative Research Program, and AstraZeneca Canada.

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strategicresearch priorities

Surviving and recovering from stroke. Preventing and treating obesity. Saving livesthrough resuscitation. The Heart and Stroke Foundation supports research in many areas of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular science and health.

Did you know?Setting the standard in stroke care

The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario’s Centre for Stroke Recovery is the first centre in the world to streamline research, stroke care, and stroke recovery.The Centre is moving new discoveries to the bedside faster than ever before.And from the bedside, clinicians are learning from patient experiences to inspirenew research with very practical results.

Putting what we know into practice

Recognizing stroke warning signs. Getting immediatemedical attention. These two responses have a majorimpact on survival and recovery.

Yet only 20 to 25 per cent of Canadians who suffer astroke get the emergency care they need within thecritical three-hour window during which treatment is most effective.

Through the Canadian Stroke Strategy, the Heart andStroke Foundation and the Canadian Stroke Networkare pooling their expertise and resources to put intopractice what is already known about preventing and treating strokes.

We are working with governments, health careprofessionals, stroke survivors, caregivers, andleading health organizations to bridge the gapbetween the latest stroke research and currentpractices throughout the country.

The Strategy will help provide all Canadians with the best stroke care possible, regardless of wherethey live.

“”

Stroke costs the

Canadian economy

about $2.7 billion

a year.

Obesity researchNearly 60 per cent of Canadian adults are overweight orobese – as are more than a quarter of our children. Obesitycontributes to type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and liver disorders,along with other health conditions.

Heart and Stroke Foundation research contributes to a greaterunderstanding of how our environment, biology, society, andbehaviour influence obesity. We are leading the development ofinnovative ways to stop this epidemic and its devastating impacton the health of Canadians.


Finding effective strategies that promote brain cell survival – anddecrease cell death – following a stroke is the goal of Dr. Todd and her research team.

With funding from the Heart and Stroke Foundation, Dr. Todd is studyinghow different types of brain cells signal one another after a stroke.

“I want to manipulate brain cells using molecular biology and genetechnology in order to promote survival signals to neurons that arein trouble,” says Dr. Todd. “I doubt we are ever going to have a singletreatment that protects or rescues brain cells from the multiple effects of a stroke. Rather, we’re looking at a cocktail of strategies andinterventions that when applied at different times, will improvethe outcomes for patients.”

Dr. Todd adds that the Heart and Stroke Foundation’s strong linkageto stroke survivors and their families always and importantly keeps thepatient foremost in her mind while she works in her lab.

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What happens in the brain following a stroke? Can we manipulate signaling betweenbrain cells to improve the odds of cell survival following a stroke? Dr. Kathryn Toddbelieves we can.

Saving brain cells after a stroke

oddsimproving

the “”

Nearly 60 per cent of

Canadian adults are

overweight or obese.

Dr. Kathryn Todd Did you know?The Heart and Stroke Foundation’s Action Plan on Obesity focuses on healthynutrition and increasing physical activity in our schools, workplaces, and communities.

Photo courtesy of University of Alberta


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When it comes to nutrition and physical fitness, Canadian schools don’t get a passinggrade. It seems straight forward: eat a healthy diet and exercise more. But that lesson is notgetting to many young students.

Combating obesity in our schools

Dr. Patti-Jean Naylor

Dr. Heather McKay

One in four of our children is either overweight or obese. They are at riskof health complications normally found solely in adult populations, suchas type 2 diabetes and hypertension.

Childhood obesity has tripled over the past two decades. The BritishColumbia government is working with the Heart and Stroke Foundationto change this.

“B.C. has piloted a new healthy eating and physical activity model. We’re evaluating the best way to disseminate the model in elementaryand middle schools across the province,” says Dr. Patti-Jean Naylor,who is leading a team of more than 40 researchers and research staff.“We are working with schools and community partners to create anenvironment that supports healthy living.”

Grades 4 and 5 students from 30 schools in British Columbia areparticipating in the study. The Action Schools! BC model provides trainingand support for teachers and resources for schools.

The study’s first priority is to change how schools plan andimplement healthy living activities. “Over the long term, we seethis program reducing the incidence of heart disease, stroke,and diabetes,” says Dr. Naylor.

The project provides an unprecedented opportunity to evaluatehow changing the school environment can promote healthyweights — and improved health — in children. The lessonslearned will contribute to the science of obesity prevention and our understanding of public health practice.

leadersfollow the

Did you know?Over 14 million Canadians are overweight or obese

“”

Over the long term,

we see this program

reducing the incidence

of heart disease,

stroke, and diabetes.

Guidelines make CPR easier to learnThe Heart and Stroke Foundation is keeping Canada at theleading edge of resuscitation research and practice through its participation in the International Liaison Committee onResuscitation. The committee releases new scientific guidelinesevery five years to reflect the latest research. All CPR training in Canada is based on these guidelines.

Heart and Stroke Foundation research will inform futureguidelines to ensure that Canadian resuscitation training andpractice reflect the most current science.


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Resuscitation researchNearly 80 per cent of the estimated 40,000 cardiac arrests that occurin Canada each year take place at home – and most of them are fatal.

Your odds of surviving an out-of-hospital arrest are only about five percent. Research shows that these odds can be greatly improved if CPR isperformed immediately and in conjunction with defibrillation – a shockto restart the heart’s normal rhythm.

The Heart and Stroke Foundation is committed to improving the scienceof resuscitation. We convene expert workshops to identify researchpriorities where Canada can lead internationally – and ultimately savemore lives.

Launched in March 2006, the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium couldresult in new medical protocols for hospital staff, paramedics, and otherfrontline workers treating cardiac and trauma patients.

Collaborative trials will be held in 11 North American cities over five yearsto assess the effectiveness of new devices, treatments, and strategies to treat serious trauma or out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Funded in part by the Heart and Stroke Foundation, the consortium is also developing a patient database to help standardize treatment for cardiac arrest andtrauma events.

"Not only is this the largest pre-hospital trial on cardiac arrest and traumaever undertaken, it will also be the largest database on cardiac arrest ever known," says Dr. Christian Vaillancourt, who is working with leadinvestigator Dr. Ian Stiell’s team in Ottawa.

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Did you know?There are over 70,000 heart attacks in Canada every year

teamwork

Dr. Ian Stiell

Dr. Christian Vaillancourt

“”

The Heart and Stroke

Foundation is keeping

Canada at the leading

edge of resuscitation

research and practice.

Top scientists from Ottawa, Vancouver, and Toronto are among the leaders of a US $50-million clinical study to improve survival rates from sudden cardiac arrest andsevere traumatic injury.

U.S.-Canada study targets cardiacarrest and trauma

Today’s research is producingadvances in knowledge at a rate not even dreamed of 50 years ago.

Promising developments inseveral fields – from genetherapy to how communities are designed – could lead tonew and more effective ways of preventing and treatingcardiovascular disease.

The Heart and StrokeFoundation will continue to bea leader in funding innovativeresearch and maintaining thehighest standards of scientificpeer review. The Foundationwill also build on its work withpartners to identify researchpriorities and translate researchoutcomes into knowledge toimprove clinical practice, healthpolicy, and health care deliveryacross the country.

Researchers collaborating across disciplines.Building on current knowledge. Supportinginnovation. And fast tracking discoveries.

The Heart and Stroke Foundation is committedto strategic partnerships to support innovativemultidisciplinary research, from basic scienceto population health.

For over 50 years, we have been a worldresearch leader in the prevention, diagnosis,and treatment of heart disease and stroke.

Invest in the health of Canadians.

To partner with the Heart and Stroke Foundationof Canada in funding outstanding research inCanada, please contact:

HSFC Director of Research

Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada 1402-222 Queen Street Ottawa, ON K1P 5V9 [email protected]

The future is in our hands – and yours.

Did you know?

working together

Heart and Stroke Foundation researchers are charting new frontiers in cardiovascular disease in emerging fields such as:■ Sex hormones, gender, and hypertension

■ New generations of anticoagulants

■ Recombinant clotting factors

■ Novel biomaterials for use in catheter and stent design

to find answers for life

forwardmoving

Thanks to the tremendous support of our researchers, donors, and volunteers,Heart and Stroke Foundation research has a significant impact on the health of Canadians.

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Research makinga difference

Newborn heart repairMore babies born with heart defects are survivingtoday after Heart and Stroke Foundation-fundedresearchers discovered thatprostaglandin E2, a naturallyoccurring substance, couldmaintain a unique feature of fetal circulation, givingsurgeons the much-neededtime to repair the defect.

Study gives HOPEThe HOPE trial – a landmarkinternational study led by aHeart and Stroke Foundation-funded researcher – showedthat an ACE-inhibitor drug,originally developed to treathigh blood pressure, could alsodramatically cut the risk ofheart attacks and strokes inpeople at high risk.

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