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. Bakbak, E, Verma, S, Krishnaraj, A, Quan, A, Wang, CH, Pan, Y et al.. Empagliflozin Improves Circulating Vascular Regenerative Cell Content in People Not Living With Diabetes But With Cardiovascular Risk Factors. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2023; :. doi: 10.1152/ajpheart.00141.2023. PubMed PMID:37773589 .
  2. Li, B, Aljabri, B, Verma, R, Beaton, D, Eisenberg, N, Lee, DS et al.. Machine learning to predict outcomes following endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair. Br J Surg. 2023; :. doi: 10.1093/bjs/znad287. PubMed PMID:37710397 .
  3. Li, B, Aljabri, B, Verma, R, Beaton, D, Eisenberg, N, Lee, DS et al.. Using machine learning to predict outcomes following open abdominal aortic aneurysm repair. J Vasc Surg. 2023; :. doi: 10.1016/j.jvs.2023.08.121. PubMed PMID:37634621 .
  4. Onodera, Y, Liang, J, Li, Y, Griffin, B, Thanabalasingam, T, Lu, C et al.. Inhalation of ACE2 as a therapeutic target on sex-bias differences in SARS-CoV-2 infection and variant of concern. iScience. 2023;26 (8):107470. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107470. PubMed PMID:37609639 PubMed Central PMC10440513.
  5. Leung, CH, Rizoli, SB, Trypcic, S, Rhind, SG, Battista, AP, Ailenberg, M et al.. Effect of remote ischemic conditioning on the immune-inflammatory profile in patients with traumatic hemorrhagic shock in a randomized controlled trial. Sci Rep. 2023;13 (1):7025. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-33681-3. PubMed PMID:37120600 PubMed Central PMC10148877.
  6. 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 .
  7. 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. 2023;278 (4):e719-e725. doi: 10.1097/SLA.0000000000005781. PubMed PMID:36538613 .
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. 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.
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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