Dr. Ori Rotstein is the Vice-President of Research and Innovation at Unity Health Toronto. He is also a Professor and Associate Chair of the Department of Surgery at the University of Toronto, as well as the former Surgeon-in-Chief at St. Michael’s Hospital and former Director of the Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Science. He is a practicing Trauma and General Surgeon with a research interest in understanding how traumatic injury leads to alterations in the immune response of patients such that these individuals are at high risk of developing organ injury and death. He uses these insights into the mechanisms of disease to generate novel therapeutic approaches to preventing poor outcome in these patients. His work spans the “bench to bedside” continuum, wherein he investigates cellular and animal models with a view to translating these to novel therapies in humans. This translational research has led to the investigation of the use of additives in resuscitation fluids in patients sustaining such injuries.
Dr. Rotstein is an acknowledged expert in the management of intraabdominal infection and inflammation. He is the former Director of the Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, the postgraduate arm of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto from 2001-2011 that was responsible for graduate training programs for more than 500 MSc/PhD students. In 2012, the Institute of Medical Science honoured him with an annual lecture ‘The Ori D. Rotstein Lectureship in Translational Research’. He is a member of several prestigious medical societies including the Society of University Surgeons, the American Surgical Association, and the American Society for Clinical Investigation. He is a Past President of the Surgical Infection Society and has contributed significantly to the activities of the American College of Surgeons through his participation on the Program Committee, Surgical Forum Committee, and the Scholarship Executive Committee.
Dr. Kim Connelly is the Executive Director of the Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Science. He is a cardiologist and scientist who is nationally recognized as an expert in echocardiography, cardiovascular MRI and the impact of diabetes upon cardiac function and ventricular remodeling.
Dr. Patricia O’Campo is the Executive Director of the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute. She is an international leader in Social Epidemiology, Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Population Health Intervention Research and Professor of Epidemiology at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, and an adjunct professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. O’Campo served as former Director of the Centre for Research on Inner City Health (now MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions) for 11 years. Under her leadership, the centre became nationally recognized for its policy and practice-relevant work with community partners to produce rigorous scientific methods and innovative tools aimed at improving the health of urban populations.
