Congratulations to Dr. Lorrie Kirshenbaum, who was elected as this year’s Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS) Research Achievement Award recipient. The award acknowledges an individual’s excellence as an established investigator’s outstanding contributions to Canadian cardiovascular health and care.
“I am deeply honoured that our research has been recognized by the CCS, for the research achievement award, having been recognized among other leaders who have received this award in the past is very humbling, it speaks to the high caliber of research at St. Boniface Hospital and our team of researchers, ” said Dr. Kirshenbaum, Director, Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences at St. Boniface Hospital Albrechtsen Research Centre, Head, Division of Cardiovascular Science and Disease,and a University of Manitoba Rady Faculty of Health Sciences professor.
The award was presented to Kirshenbaum on Oct. 21 during a Canadian Cardiovascular Congress virtual event.
Kirshenbaum’s Albrechtsen Research Centre-based lab has been a world leader in the field of cell death for the last 25 years. His expertise is in developing molecular and biochemical techniques that study cell death signaling in the heart. His team has made several important and seminal contributions, including demonstrating for the first time that Bcl-2 related protein Bnip3 plays a major role in regulating mitochondrial quality control and cell death pathways in the pathogenesis of myocardial infarction (heart attack) and cancer.
His lab has also developed several techniques for monitoring mitochondrial dynamics, mitophagy, respiration by live cell imaging to study cell death signaling pathways during normal and diseased conditions. The team has published several landmark papers in this research area.
Hosted by the Canadian Cardiovascular Society and Heart and Stroke , the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress (CCC) is the largest gathering of cardiovascular and allied health professionals in Canada. Cardiologists, cardiovascular surgeons, researchers, nurses and other cardiovascular specialists from across Canada and around the globe come to CCC to connect with other members of the cardiovascular team, to discover how to incorporate the latest science into their practice and to attend cutting-edge, accredited education sessions.