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Kim A. Connelly

FRACP, PhD, MBBS

Scientist

Email: Kim.Connelly@unityhealth.to
Tel: 416-864-6060 Ext 5425

Research Programs

Labs

Kim Connelly Lab ❯

Biography

Dr. Kim Connelly is a Cardiologist and Scientist who is both nationally recognized as an expert in echocardiography, cardiovascular MRI and the impact of diabetes upon cardiac function and ventricular remodeling. His work has been recognized evident by winning the “Young Investigator of the Year Award” by the Canadian Cardiovascular Society, an Early Researcher Award in 2014, and a CIHR New Investigator award in 2014.

Dr. Connelly runs a basic research laboratory at the Keenan Research Centre at St. Michael’s Hospital where he focuses upon basic mechanisms of disease – primarily around the role of pathological extracellular matrix accumulation and the pro-sclerotic cytokine transforming growth factor beta, with a focus upon translating discoveries into therapies in humans. He developed the first hemodynamically validated model of diabetes induced HFpEF. He is the Director of the Krembil Stem Cell Facility at St. Michael’s Hospital and uses regenerative cell based therapies to improve cardiac and renal dysfunction as a result of diabetes. He has research support from the HSF of Canada, CIHR and CFI along with significant research support from the pharmaceutical industry. His work has been published in journals such as the NEJM, Circulation, Journal of the American college of Cardiology, Circulation Research, Diabetes, Cell Metabolism and Lancet Endocrinology and Diabetes.

His H index is 45, and I index of 140.

Dr Connelly is immediate past president of the Canadian Society of Cardiac Magnetic resonance imaging. He runs a translational imaging laboratory and uses hyperpolarized C13 metabolic imaging to understand metabolism in the human heart in real time, as well as CMR to understand the impact of exercise upon cardiac remodeling. He was senior author of the EMPA HEART study along with Dr Verma and Zinman to assess the mechanism by which the SGLT2i empagliflozin provided cardiac protection in patients with type 2 DM. Finally, he was past section lead of 2018 macrovascular complications section for the Diabetes Canada Clinical practice updates and is current chair of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society guidelines.

Recent Publications

  1. Barbour, W, Wolff, E, Puar, P, Hibino, M, Bakbak, E, Krishnaraj, A et al.. Effect of empagliflozin on cardiac remodelling in South Asian and non-South Asian individuals: insights from the EMPA-HEART CardioLink-6 randomised clinical trial. BMC Cardiovasc Disord. 2023;23 (1):557. doi: 10.1186/s12872-023-03549-5. PubMed PMID:37964221 PubMed Central PMC10648366.
  2. Russo, G, Badano, LP, Adamo, M, Alessandrini, H, Andreas, M, Braun, D et al.. Characteristics and outcomes of patients with atrial versus ventricular secondary tricuspid regurgitation undergoing tricuspid transcatheter edge-to-edge repair - Results from the TriValve registry. Eur J Heart Fail. 2023; :. doi: 10.1002/ejhf.3075. PubMed PMID:37905381 .
  3. Bakbak, E, Verma, S, Krishnaraj, A, Quan, A, Wang, CH, Pan, Y et al.. Empagliflozin improves circulating vascular regenerative cell content in people without diabetes with risk factors for adverse cardiac remodeling. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2023;325 (5):H1210-H1222. doi: 10.1152/ajpheart.00141.2023. PubMed PMID:37773589 .
  4. Bentley, RF, Dorian, P, Vecchiarelli, E, Banks, L, Connelly, KA, Yan, AT et al.. The effect of chronic exercise training and acute exercise on power spectral analysis of heart rate variability. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2023; :. doi: 10.1139/apnm-2023-0007. PubMed PMID:37751466 .
  5. Wong, KCK, Ismail, HS, Connelly, KA, Verma, S, Ng, MY, Deva, DP et al.. Relationship between saxagliptin use and left ventricular diastolic function assessed by cardiac MRI. Acta Diabetol. 2023; :. doi: 10.1007/s00592-023-02177-x. PubMed PMID:37691025 .
  6. Thomas, RD, Kosowan, L, Rabey, M, Bell, A, Connelly, KA, Hawkins, NM et al.. Validation of a Case Definition to Identify Patients Diagnosed With Cardiovascular Disease in Canadian Primary Care Practices. CJC Open. 2023;5 (7):567-576. doi: 10.1016/j.cjco.2023.04.003. PubMed PMID:37496780 PubMed Central PMC10366639.
  7. Verma, S, Mazer, CD, Connelly, KA. Inflammation and cholesterol at the crossroads of vascular risk. Cell Metab. 2023;35 (7):1095-1098. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2023.06.011. PubMed PMID:37437543 .
  8. Puar, P, Hibino, M, Mazer, CD, Yan, AT, Pandey, AK, Quan, A et al.. Left ventricular mass predicts cardiac reverse remodelling in patients treated with empagliflozin. Cardiovasc Diabetol. 2023;22 (1):152. doi: 10.1186/s12933-023-01849-w. PubMed PMID:37380983 PubMed Central PMC10303338.
  9. Mistry, N, Verma, S, Puar, P, Verma, R, Teoh, H, Quan, A et al.. A Patient-Level Pooled Analysis of 2 Empagliflozin Trials of Left Ventricular Remodeling. J Card Fail. 2023;29 (8):1218-1221. doi: 10.1016/j.cardfail.2023.05.017. PubMed PMID:37286032 .
  10. Puar, P, Ahmed, S, Hibino, M, Pasricha, A, Pandey, A, Bari, A et al.. The association between anthropometric indicators of obesity and cardiac reverse remodelling with empagliflozin in patients with type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease. Diabetes Obes Metab. 2023;25 (9):2765-2769. doi: 10.1111/dom.15119. PubMed PMID:37246798 .
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Affiliations & Other Activities

  • Director, Krembil Stem Cell Facility, St. Michael’s Hospital
  • Staff Cardiologist, Division of Cardiology, St. Michael’s Hospital
  • Member, Richard Lewar Center, University of Toronto
  • Cardiologist, Division of Cardiology, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre