The Montreal Heart Institute's Research Centre

Mission The MHI's nationally and internationally acclaimed Research Centre is a one-of-a-kind cardiovascular research facility: it combines basic sciences, clinical and applied sciences, and health service sciences, from the study of molecules to public health issues. It also trains graduate-level research interns.

The MHI's Research Centre combines an ambitious future-oriented vision with essential ethical values. To remain a national leader in cardiovascular research, be recognized as an international reference axis and retain an elite staff of specialists, our research team advocates such values as respect, the quality of life of patients and their families, the protection of public health, and solid ethics that are based on transparency and patient consent.

Research Areas

Our Basic research projects enable us to understand the mechanisms underlying heart disease. By demystifying the fundamentals, it's easier to find appropriate treatments and to improve preventative techniques. Basic research is essential to develop the field of cardiology. Our top projects in progress involve:

• Studying vascular and coronary system function in order to better understand coronary disease and hypertension;
• Studying genetic factors and their impact on treating heart diseases;
• Developing specific methods to prevent heart attacks during surgery;
• Understanding the major role of blood elements in coronary diseases, restenosis and myocardial damage.
• Study of the mechanisms leading to cardiac arrhythmias and sudden death.

Technological research plays an increasingly vital role in cardiology. To improve our diagnostic and treatment methods, we have moved to the forefront of technology by developing, testing and using ultra-specialized units such as the tomography camera used in nuclear medicine. Our top projects in progress involve:

• Angioplasty techniques and materials 
• Equipment for removing the originating centres of arrhythmias
• Radiological and nuclear imaging systems
• New molecules
• Catheter sterilization systems and units

Clinical research lies at the heart of the Institute's mission. It's what enables us to improve treatment methods and to diversify the procedures we perform on diseased arteries and hearts, using new drugs, prosthesis, defibrillators, etc. We also study the psychosomatic aspects of heart disease. The MHI conducts large-scale international multicentric patient studies. Our top projects in progress involve:

• Acute and chronic coronary diseases
• Cardiac electrophysiology
• Heart disease prevention and rehabilitation
• Heart surgery

Our research into each of these areas concerns the following top four axes:

• Vascular function
• Myocardial function
• Electrophysiological function
• Prevention and rehabilitation

The Creation of University Chairs in Research

The MHI's many published works in specialized medical journals attest to its research efforts. Our partnerships with major teaching institutions and influential corporations have enabled us to create research chairs aimed at supporting our researchers in their quest to keep pushing the boundaries of medicine forward.

• The Paul-David Chair: for research into cardiovascular electrophysiology
• The Pfizer Chair: a research chair in atherosclerosis
• The Carsley chair: a teaching hospital chair in cardiology
• The Hornstein Chair: a teaching hospital chair in surgery

A Promising Future

The Research Centre is pursuing innovative projects in genetics, molecular electrophysiology, robotics, state-of-the-art biomedical units, among many others. We are also working on Phase I of the Centre's expansion to enable welcoming researchers as of the fall of 2004.

The MHI is doing everything in its power to attract and retain the best medical researchers in Quebec so we can all benefit from the latest medical breakthroughs. Thanks to its pioneering projects, the MHI's Research Centre holds its own with internationally acclaimed centres like Harvard University.