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Howard Leong-Poi

MD, FRCPC, FACC, FASE

Scientist

Email: Howard.Leong-Poi@unityhealth.to
Tel: 416-864-5201

Research Programs

Biography

Dr. Howard Leong-Poi is a Clinician Scientist in the Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Science and Head of the Division of Cardiology at St. Michael’s Hospital. He is also an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto. He is the current incumbent of the Brazilian Ball Chair in Cardiology at St. Michael’s Hospital. His research has been funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR), Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada (HSFC) and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation. He has held personnel support from the CIHR (New Investigator), HSFC (Clinician Scientist – Phase II Award) and the Ministry of Research and Innovation (Early Researcher Award). He has published over 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals, and serves on the editorial board of the Canadian Journal of Cardiology. Dr. Leong-Poi has served on numerous grant review panels, including the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Cardiovascular B (CSB) – Chair 2012-2015, and Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada (Committees I and II). His basic biomedical research focuses on ultrasound-targeted gene- and cell-based therapies for cardiovascular disease and cancer. His clinical research interests revolve around cardiac imaging, predominantly echocardiography, in ischemic heart disease, heart failure and valvular heart disease.

Recent Publications

  1. Djahanpour, N, Ahsan, N, Li, B, Khan, H, Connelly, K, Leong-Poi, H et al.. A Systematic Review of Interleukins as Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarkers for Peripheral Artery Disease. Biomolecules. 2023;13 (11):. doi: 10.3390/biom13111640. PubMed PMID:38002322 PubMed Central PMC10669432.
  2. Kumar, A, Connelly, K, Vora, K, Bainey, KR, Howarth, A, Leipsic, J et al.. The Canadian Cardiovascular Society Classification of Acute Atherothrombotic Myocardial Infarction Based on Stages of Tissue Injury Severity: An Expert Consensus Statement. Can J Cardiol. 2023; :. doi: 10.1016/j.cjca.2023.09.020. PubMed PMID:37906238 .
  3. Gkavogiannakis, NA, Tsoporis, JN, Drosatos, IA, Tsirebolos, G, Izhar, S, Sakadakis, E et al.. Emergent Inflammatory Markers and Echocardiographic Indices in Patients with Bronchial Asthma. Biomolecules. 2023;13 (6):. doi: 10.3390/biom13060955. PubMed PMID:37371535 PubMed Central PMC10296420.
  4. Ong, G, Leong-Poi, H. Coaptation Angle: Linking Atrial Functional and Ventricular Functional Mitral Regurgitation. Am J Cardiol. 2023;200 :239-240. doi: 10.1016/j.amjcard.2023.05.061. PubMed PMID:37357038 .
  5. Nair, P, Chen-Tournoux, A, Almufleh, AS, Blissett, S, Ducas, R, Fine, NM et al.. 2023 CCS/CSE Standards for Physician Training and Maintenance of Competence in Adult Echocardiography: Executive Summary. Can J Cardiol. 2023;39 (10):1302-1306. doi: 10.1016/j.cjca.2023.06.418. PubMed PMID:37355231 .
  6. Vaswani, CM, Varkouhi, AK, Gupta, S, Ektesabi, AM, Tsoporis, JN, Yousef, S et al.. Preventing occludin tight-junction disruption via inhibition of microRNA-193b-5p attenuates viral load and influenza-induced lung injury. Mol Ther. 2023;31 (9):2681-2701. doi: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2023.06.011. PubMed PMID:37340634 PubMed Central PMC10491994.
  7. Sanwal, R, Mintsopoulos, V, Ditmans, M, Lang, A, Latreille, E, Ghaffari, S et al.. Ultrasound-guided transfection of claudin-5 improves lung endothelial barrier function in lung injury without impairing innate immunity. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2023;325 (2):L135-L142. doi: 10.1152/ajplung.00107.2023. PubMed PMID:37310768 PubMed Central PMC10393345.
  8. Chong, A, Wahi, S, Wang, WYS, Levitt, K, Woo, A, Yan, AT et al.. Utility of Doppler Systolic Timing Intervals in Discriminating "True" Severe from "Pseudo-Severe" Stenosis in Classical Low-Flow Low-Gradient Aortic Stenosis. J Am Soc Echocardiogr. 2023;36 (8):891-893. doi: 10.1016/j.echo.2023.04.002. PubMed PMID:37044170 .
  9. Tsoporis, JN, Amatullah, H, Gupta, S, Izhar, S, Ektesabi, AM, Vaswani, CM et al.. DJ-1 Deficiency Protects against Sepsis-Induced Myocardial Depression. Antioxidants (Basel). 2023;12 (3):. doi: 10.3390/antiox12030561. PubMed PMID:36978809 PubMed Central PMC10045744.
  10. Rumman, RK, Verma, S, Chan, V, Mazer, D, Quan, A, Hibino, M et al.. Predictors of mitral valve haemodynamics after mitral valve repair for degenerative mitral regurgitation. Heart. 2023;109 (11):866-873. doi: 10.1136/heartjnl-2022-321753. PubMed PMID:36750353 PubMed Central PMC10314030.
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Affiliations & Other Activities

  • Chair, The Brazilian Ball Chair in Cardiology Research, St. Michael’s Hospital
  • Head, Division of Cardiology, St. Michael’s Hospital
  • Associate Professor of Medicine, Medicine/Cardiology, St. Michael’s Hospital
  • Adjunct Scientist, Ryerson University