The Canadian Cardiac Chronicle Summer 2014
Volume 18, No. 2 By the time this special issue of the Chronicle reaches your desk and/or computer screen, the summer solstice will be in your neighbourhood and ours. It is extraordinary to reflect that the tilt of our planet is then most inclined toward the sun (a tilt that maximizes at 23º 26’). As a result, the land of the midnight sun in the Arctic Circle at 66º56’N is in full illumination. For those of us living a bit south of the Arctic Circle at 53º27’N in Edmonton Alberta, we will celebrate over 17 hours of daylight as compared to the approximate 7.5 hours we have on December 21st. Stimulated by the increasing illumination this time of year brings, we are energized to provide you this edition of the Chronicle, chock-full of interesting and new information about CVC. There are four matters that I think are worthy of special note: 1. In March of this year, in conjunction with the ACC Rockies educational event chaired by Robert Welsh, we held a Clinical Trials Colloquium. Our purpose was to generate dialogue on the key issues that affect our clinical trial activities in Canada, and then to examine how best to overcome any impediments to pursuing our pathway to discovering better cardiovascular health. It was a remarkable meeting, with great representation from across the country that resulted in vigorous participation and good ideas and suggestions as summarized elsewhere in the Chronicle. We are most grateful for the sponsorship of Amgen, AstraZeneca, Merck Canada and Sanofi-aventis in support of this endeavour. Special thanks to Tracy Temple for her organizational leadership of the event and to Justin Ezekowitz, Shaun Goodman and Lisa Berdan for their collaboration in developing this inaugural program. 2. The second matter relates to our growing academic partnerships with our friends and colleagues south of the border. For well over a decade, we have had an outstanding collaboration and master clinical research agreement with the Duke Clinical Research Institute. This partnership has facilitated the development of a strong academic thought leadership, focused on the enhancement of patient care and health care systems through the generation, translation and dissemination
The CVC is proud to be a University of Alberta Centre
In This issue: Letter - P.W. Armstrong Trial Updates Beyond 2000 CVC Clincial Trial Research Colloquium CVC Publications
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of new knowledge. This partnering has facilitated the sharing of clinical trial data and the incorporation of innovative high quality research across the full investigative spectrum. It has also provided training and mentoring of young clinician scientists, many of whom have trained at the Duke Clinical Research Institute and then returned to centres in Canada, including the University of Toronto, the University of Alberta, and elsewhere. Two years ago, the then Duke Clinical Research Institute Director Robert Harrington, moved to Stanford University and assumed the Chair of Medicine; subsequently he was joined by Ken Mahaffey from DCRI. As a result, over the past year, we have worked towards a new academic research collaboration facilitating both North/South and East/West connectivity. This exciting opportunity will unquestionably enrich our opportunities, capacity and creativity as the clinical research agenda environment evolves in the times ahead. Visible evidence of this collaboration is provided within this issue of the Chronicle. We were delighted to host a visit from Eric Peterson, Director of Duke Clinical Research Institute and Lisa Berdan, Director of Global Mega-Trials at Duke Clinical Research Institute in March who then joined us subsequently at the Research Colloquium and ACC Rockies meeting. In the subsequent month, we were pleased to welcome Robert Harrington, The Arthur L. Bloomfield Professor of Medicine, Chairman, Department of Medicine at Stanford and gain his perspective not only on the future of cardiovascular clinical trials but also to present our own research