Clinical Research

Research Focus

During the last 14 years, Dr. Guzman has been the Director of the Vascular Clinical Research Program at St. Boniface Hospital. His leadership was instrumental in initiating and developing this successful program. The program consists of a full time Clinical Research Nurse/Coordinator, part time Clinical Research Nurse and two part time Research Assistants.

Dr. Guzman’s experience has included various clinical research trials with the vascular/vascular surgery population including outpatient and inpatient pharmaceutical trials, surgical interventions and diagnostic imaging on a local, national, and international level. Currently, he is the principal investigator with 6 ongoing clinical research studies and has been a principal investigator for a total of 35 research studies. It is worth mentioning that our site was the lead enrolling centre worldwide for one of the multi-centre pharmaceutical clinical trials and was the lead enrolling centre in North America and second highest enrolling centre worldwide for another clinical trial funded by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. Dr. Guzman has been involved with 20 research projects as a co-investigator and the medical monitor for two very important clinical research trials involving the bioavailability of alphalinolineic acid in flaxseed. In addition, Dr. Guzman was a member of the Endpoint Adjudication Committee for a Pfizer Clinical Trial and a member of the Adjudication Committee for the Warfarin and Antiplatelet Vascular Evaluation Clinical Trial with the Canadian Cardiovascular Collaboration.

Dr. Guzman is developing a comprehensive quality management system including functional health status of patients, allowing for improvement and promotion of optimal patient care. Dr. Guzman was involved with introducing and pioneering the Endovascular Repair for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms in Manitoba. Dr. Guzman’s vision for the Vascular Surgery Program at St. Boniface Hospital is to develop a Vascular Centre of Excellence and benchmark our practices with best practices across the country.

Dr. Guzman’s interest in academic research to increase our knowledge and understanding of vascular disease at St. Boniface Hospital is significant and has been awarded various grants for our research. His collaboration with the basic sciences researchers is a fundamental objective to develop new ways of diagnosing and treating patients with vascular disease. It is also noteworthy that Dr. Guzman is an active participant in the Endothelial Dysfunction program that operates out of St. Boniface Hospital Research. His research group has worked very closely with St. Boniface Hospital Research providing the clinical interface for this unique group of basic and medical scientists whose primary goal is to identify the underlying factors that lead to the development of atherosclerosis.

Why is the Work Important

Dr. Guzman’s involvement and collaboration with various research groups locally, nationally and internationally has facilitated Manitobans access to novel therapeutic devices and drugs to treat vascular disease. With increased importance of outcome measures in health care, all programs need to have in place a comprehensive quality management system. This is especially true for a vascular surgery program; this patient group is complex with severe co-morbid conditions including diabetes, renal failure and heart disease. These patients have many risk factors and are at high risk for significant vascular events. There is ample data detailing the high atherosclerotic related morbidity in patients suffering from peripheral vascular disease. Dr. Guzman’s research group has effectively collaborated with the basic and medical scientists to bring new bench research to the patient. Our clinical research expertise will provide the necessary foundation to advance this collaboration.

About Dr. Guzman

Dr. Guzman was born in Ottawa, Ontario and he obtained his elementary, high school and university education in bilingual schools in Winnipeg. He graduated with his Medical Doctorate from the University of Manitoba in 1983. Dr. Guzman completed his General Surgery Residency at the University of Manitoba in 1990 and continued with a fellowship program in Vascular Surgery at the University of Manitoba completing his training in September 1991. During his residency and fellowship training, he completed 6 months at the Surgical Experimental Lab, Laval University in Quebec City, P.Q., being supervised by Dr. R. Guidoin in the area of Biomaterials and completed 6 months at the Clothing & Textiles, University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, MB being supervised by Dr. Martin King. Dr Guzman proceeded on as a Senior Research Fellow of Vascular Surgery at the University of Washington, Seattle Washington completing his Duplex Ultrasound Speciality, S.E.R.F. Fellowship in September 1992. Recently, Dr. Guzman completed Interventional Vascular Radiology Fellowship in June 2006 through the University of Manitoba.

Dr. Guzman has been a practicing surgeon in Vascular Surgery for 21 years in Winnipeg of which 15 of those years have been spent practicing at St. Boniface Hospital. Currently, Dr. Randy Guzman is the Head & Professor of Surgery, Section of Vascular Surgery at the University of Manitoba.

In addition, at St. Boniface Hospital, Dr. Guzman is the Service Chief of the Vascular Surgery Program, Site Medical Manager of the Department of Surgery, Director of the Asper Clinical Research Institute, Director of the Vascular Research Program, the Regional Lead, Section of Vascular Surgery, WRHA and the President of the Medical Staff Council. Dr. Guzman is the Past President of the Canadian Society of Vascular Surgery.

Through collaboration with various colleagues, Dr. Guzman’s accomplishments include publication of 49 articles in various medical journals, as well as, three publications of chapters in medical text books. Other accomplishments include presentation at 90 different national and international conferences, the supervision of eight students at various graduate levels and the supervision of seven vascular surgery fellowship students. Dr. Guzman holds various appointments and positions locally, nationally, and internationally.

For more information, please contact:

St. Boniface Hospital
Room Z3021 – 409 Taché Avenue
Winnipeg, MB Canada
R2H 2A6

Admin Office: (204) 237-2568
Fax: (204) 237-3429
Clinic: (204) 237-2620 or (204) 235-3901
Clinic Fax: (204) 237-6916
Email: rguzman@sbgh.mb.ca