OSSU Scientific Co-lead wins Gairdner Award

Congratulations to Dr. Salim Yusuf, one of OSSU’s Scientific Co-leads, who was recently awarded the Canada Gairdner Wightman Award by the Gairdner Foundation.

Dr. Salim Yusuf
Dr. Salim Yusuf

Dr. Yusuf, who is a Professor of Medicine at McMaster University, Director of the Population Health Research Institute and Vice President of Research at Hamilton Health Sciences Centre, has spent much of his career studying how to prevent and treat cardiovascular disease (CVD) in populations around the world. The results of his global clinical trials and population health studies—including the seminal HOPE trial—have shaped best practice guidelines for the prevention and treatment of heart disease and related conditions, and improved our understanding of the role of societal changes on behaviours and risk factors that lead to CVD.

Over the last three decades, Dr. Yusuf has built the capacity for clinical trials and population research across Canada and around the world by establishing networks at more than 1,500 sites in 85 countries. He came to Canada in 1992 after working at the U.S. National Institutes of Health and Oxford University in England.

“We are delighted that Salim is working with us as we build patient-oriented research capacity in Ontario,” says OSSU Executive Director Dr. Vasanthi Srinivasan. “His expertise and experience designing and leading large-scale international clinical trials and population health studies is a tremendous asset to us and to our research colleagues throughout the province.”

The Canada Gairdner Wightman Award, which comes with a $100,000 (Cdn) prize, is given to a Canadian who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in medicine and medical science throughout his or her career. It was one of six Awards presented by the Gairdner Foundation at its Awards dinner on October 30, 2014.

The Canada Gairdner Awards were created in 1959 to recognize and reward the achievements of medical researchers whose work contributes significantly to improving the quality of human life.