Ori Rotstein

MD, MSc

Scientist

Biography

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.

In addition to his role as VP, Dr. Rotstein is a practicing General Surgeon, and is an acknowledged expert in the management of intra-abdominal 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 Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, 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.

Research Interests

Dr. Rotstein has a major interest in understanding how traumatic injury leads to alterations in the immune response of patients. He uses his clinical 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.

Recent Publications

  1. Naraiah Mukkala, A, Petrut, R, Goldfarb, R, Leigh Beroncal, E, Ho Leung, C, Khan, Z et al.. Augmented Parkin-dependent mitophagy underlies the hepatoprotective effect of remote ischemic conditioning used prior to hemorrhagic shock. Mitochondrion. 2023;70 :20-30. doi: 10.1016/j.mito.2023.03.002. PubMed PMID:36906251 .
  2. Gomez, D, de Mestral, C, Stukel, TA, Irish, J, Simpson, AN, Wilton, AS et al.. Characterizing the Impact of Procedure Funding on the Covid-19 Generated Procedure Gap in Ontario: A Population-Based Analysis. Ann Surg. 2022; :. doi: 10.1097/SLA.0000000000005781. PubMed PMID:36538613 .
  3. Zamzam, A, Syed, MH, Rotstein, OD, Eikelboom, J, Klein, DJ, Singh, KK et al.. Validating fatty acid binding protein 3 as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for peripheral arterial disease: A three-year prospective follow-up study. EClinicalMedicine. 2023;55 :101766. doi: 10.1016/j.eclinm.2022.101766. PubMed PMID:36531981 PubMed Central PMC9755058.
  4. Ailenberg, M, Kapus, A, Leung, CH, Szaszi, K, Williams, P, diCiano-Oliveira, C et al.. ACTIVATION OF THE MITOCHONDRIAL ANTIVIRAL SIGNALING PROTEIN (MAVS) FOLLOWING LIVER ISCHEMIA/REPERFUSION AND ITS EFFECT ON INFLAMMATION AND INJURY. Shock. 2022;58 (1):78-89. doi: 10.1097/SHK.0000000000001949. PubMed PMID:35670454 PubMed Central PMC9415233.
  5. McLeod, R, Keshavjee, S, Ahmed, N, Richards, R, Fehlings, MG, Nathens, A et al.. History of the Department of Surgery at the University of Toronto: celebrating a centennial of progress and innovation. Can J Surg. 2022;65 (1):E56-E65. doi: 10.1503/cjs.013621. PubMed PMID:35115318 PubMed Central PMC8820838.
  6. Chiu, LYC, Syed, MH, Zamzam, A, Rotstein, OD, Abdin, R, Laraya, N et al.. Perceived Challenges to Routine Uptake of the Ankle Brachial Index within Primary Care Practice. J Clin Med. 2021;10 (19):. doi: 10.3390/jcm10194371. PubMed PMID:34640389 PubMed Central PMC8509610.
  7. Ailenberg, M, Kapus, A, Rotstein, OD. Improved SARS-CoV-2 PCR detection and genotyping with double-bubble primers. Biotechniques. 2021;71 (6):587-597. doi: 10.2144/btn-2021-0063. PubMed PMID:34519222 PubMed Central PMC8544493.
  8. Christie-Holmes, N, Tyli, R, Budylowski, P, Guvenc, F, Weiner, A, Poon, B et al.. Vapourized hydrogen peroxide decontamination in a hospital setting inactivates SARS-CoV-2 and HCoV-229E without compromising filtration efficiency of unexpired N95 respirators. Am J Infect Control. 2021;49 (10):1227-1231. doi: 10.1016/j.ajic.2021.07.012. PubMed PMID:34320409 PubMed Central PMC8310574.
  9. Bakbak, E, Terenzi, DC, Trac, JZ, Teoh, H, Quan, A, Glazer, SA et al.. Lessons from bariatric surgery: Can increased GLP-1 enhance vascular repair during cardiometabolic-based chronic disease?. Rev Endocr Metab Disord. 2021;22 (4):1171-1188. doi: 10.1007/s11154-021-09669-7. PubMed PMID:34228302 .
  10. Hess, DA, Trac, JZ, Glazer, SA, Terenzi, DC, Quan, A, Teoh, H et al.. Vascular Risk Reduction in Obesity through Reduced Granulocyte Burden and Improved Angiogenic Monocyte Content following Bariatric Surgery. Cell Rep Med. 2020;1 (2):100018. doi: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2020.100018. PubMed PMID:33205058 PubMed Central PMC7659601.
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Affiliations & Other Activities

  • Vice-President of Research and Innovation, Unity Health Toronto
  • Scientist, Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Science, St. Michael’s Hospital
  • Professor, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto
  • Associate Chair, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto
  • Adjunct Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Ryerson University