Collaborations

As part of the Neonatology Division at the MCH,I collaborate with all the clinicians and investigators within the division. I have established close collaborations with all of the neonatologists and neonatal nurse practitioners. As a team, we work in an environment that strives to create knowledge in order to improve the outcomes of our patients. Our academic environment is vibrant, and practices are renewed with an evidence-based approach.

The Montreal Children's Hospital is a quaternary-care pediatric centre that is part of the McGill University Health Centre. As such, I collaborate with numerous investigators throughout the institution. My current collaborations are in cardiology, respirology, neonatology, neonatal follow-up, and surgery (CDH clinic). 

The MUHC - Research Institute is one of the largest Canadian research institutes. The beauty of being part of the MUHC-RI can be found in its cross-disciplinarity. The Institute allows me to create wonderful collaborations with researchers in the fetal, pediatric, and adult world. Working here has provided me with opportunities to develop brilliant research projects in transnational medicine, bringing fundamental sciences to the bedside.

The TnECHO-Qc Collaborative regroups neonatologists from all the neonatology units in Quebec. Our goal is to foster collaborative work for the creation of care bundles for the hemodynamic care of newborns, create research / quality improvement partnerships, offer an education and sharing platform, as well as meet to discuss challenging cases and new research material. The TnECHO Quebec Collaborative is very involved in all the research collaborations in Quebec and of the NeoCardioLab: Dr Audrey Hébert, Dr Christine Drolet, Dr Anie Lapointe, Dr Andréanne Villeneuve, Dr Nina Nouraeyan, Dr Brahim Bensouda, Dr Celine Catelin.

We collaborate closely with the neonatal division of the Jewish General Hospital, which is a McGill University affiliated hospital. My close collaborator is Dr Nina Nouraeyean. I am currently an associate member to the Lady Davis Research Institute - affiliated to the JGH. 

I have numerous colleagues and collaborators at the CHU Sainte-Justine. More specifically, I work on projects with Dr. Anie Lapointe and Dr Andréane Villeneuve (TnECHO specialists), as well as Dr Anne-Monique Nuyt (who has been a mentor for me), pioneer in outcome research of the premature newborn. I am an associate member to their research insititute. 

I have kept important links and collaborations with Stanford University and investigators at the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. I am still involved in research related to premature newborns, newborns with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, newborns with congenital cardiac defects, newborns with omphalocele, and newborns with congenital diaphragmatic hernia. A special thanks to Dr Krisa Van Meurs, Dr Shazia Bhombal, Dr Valerie Chock, Dr Sonia Bonifacio and Dr Susan Hintz for their constant support!

As part of the CNN, the Montreal Children's Hospital investigators, including myself, have tight collaborations with investigators interested in neonatal outcomes across Canada. 

NeoBrainLab - Dr Pia Wintermark

Dr. Pia Wintermark and her team are close collaborators. Dr. Wintermark is a neonatologist at the Montreal Children's Hospital and senior scientist at the MUHC-RI. Her work is focusing on studying newborns with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, as well as other types of neonatal brain injury mechanisms. Dr. Wintermark has published countless of fundamental and clinical research on brain imaging, neonatal neurology, asphyxia, brain recovery and a trial on the use of Sildenafil to promote repair of the brain in neonates following asphyxia. Dr. Pia Wintermark is a collaborator to the NeoCardioLab on countless of projects (as well as provides guidance and mentorship to the P.I. of the NeoCardioLab). 

Dr. Marie Brossard-Racine and her team are close collaborators. abcdresearch has an interest in magnetic resonance imaging of the brain in neonatal populations. 

NeoPremLab - Dr Nina Nouraeyan

NeoPremLab is composed of the team of neonatologists at the Jewish General Hospital, who are collaborators to many projects fo the NeoCardioLab.

The NHRC "brings together the major academic centres around the world in the field of neonatal hemodynamics under one collaborative umbrella and provides clinicians a window into the evolving world of neonatal hemodynamics and access to training opportunities with renowned experts."

Dr. Anie Lapointe is a neonatologist at CHU Sainte-Justine and specialized in Neonatal Hemodynamics and Targeted Neonatal Echocardiography. She is an associate member of the division of Neonatology at the Montreal Children's Hospital and collaborator on some of the HIE-related projects, for which she participate to the echo-driven acquisition. Dr Lapointe is also a very close collaborator to many projects of the NeoCardioLab on prematurity and CDH. She has acted as a mentor through the years and continues to provide guidance, advice and mentorship. 

Dr. Prelipcean is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Neonatology at University of Rochester who cares for sick newborns in the neonatal ICU. She graduated from the University of Central Florida College of Medicine as part of the school’s charter class. She completed her residency and neonatology fellowship at the University of Florida Health Shands Children's Hospital. Her area of academic focus is the improvement of outcomes in critically ill neonates, specifically on the hemodynamics and biomarkers involved in neonatal adrenal and brain dysfunction. She has a special interest in point-of-care ultrasound and targeted echocardiography in the neonatal ICU. Dr. Prelipcean is the co-investigator and local PI (University of Rochester) to the SAVING study.

Dr Vinet is a rheumatologist at the MUHC. She is an epidemiologist with a research focus on rheumatological conditions during pregnancy. She has done pioneering work on  improving reproductive health outcomes in women with rheumatic diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and their offspring. She has created the world's largest cohort of offspring from SLE women, which has driven novel findings demonstrating that SLE offspring are at increased risk of autism spectrum disorders, congenital heart defects, and stillbirths. She is also actively spear-heading research initiatives to elucidate how therapies used to treat rheumatic diseases (e.g. TNF-inhibitors and other biologics) impact health outcomes in these patients and their offspring. We are privilege to work in collaboration with Dr Vinet on the At the Heart Matters project, supported by Mi4.

Marilyn Aita main research interests focus on the impact of the neonatal environment on the neurodevelopment of preterm infants and, more specifically, on the development and evaluation of nursing interventions related to developmental care in neonatology. She is the principal investigator of the NeuroN-QI project, for which we are collaborators at the Montreal Children's Hospital.

Dr Katz is the principal investigator of the Early-life MRI biomarkers of longer-term respiratory morbidity in infants born extremely preterm (EMBLEM) study. She is a pediatric respirologist at CHEO in Ottawa. The study is funded by CIHR. The NeoCardioLab is a collaborator to the study. 

The “she MATTERS” (iMproving cArdiovascular healTh in new moThERS) project aims to understand if a breastfeeding intervention can improve blood pressure and markers of metabolic risk in women with recent hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP). Principal investigator: Dr Natalie Dayan - I am one of her collaborators. "Pregnancy complications are risk factors for premature cardiovascular disease (CVD) and stroke that are specific to women. Breastfeeding may be protective against development of hypertension and metabolic syndrome. Information gained from this program will inform personalized sex- and gender-specific approaches to CVD risk management."

Dr Sahar Saeed is an assistant professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences at Queen's University. She received her Ph.D. in Epidemiology from McGill University and completed her CIHR-funded post-doctoral fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis. Her research interests lie at the intersection of policy evaluation, health outcome disparities, and knowledge translation, focusing on vulnerable populations. Her overarching goal is to understand the role of patient-, provider- and system-level facilitators and barriers to accessing health care. She is a close collaborator of the NeoCardioLab. 

We collaborate with Dr Isabelle Malhamé and her team from the MUHC-RI on the SARABI study on the impact of maternal preeclampsia on maternal and neonatal cardiovascular function. Her research program focuses on early detection and prevention of severe maternal morbidity, with a special interest for cardiovascular disease. We are very fortunate to participate to the SARABI study, which will inform on key cardiovascular findings in mothers with hypertensive disorders and their offspring. 

Dr Maria V Fraga and her team from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia are key collaborators. We are launching a study on the use of Lung ultrasound in congenital diaphragmatic hernia -  "PUrPOSE Study - Point of Care Ultrasound in Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia: Predicting Outcomes and Success of Extubation". Dr Fraga is a senior neonatologist, world renowned for her work on point of care ultrasound in the neonatal period. She is the co-chair of the famous POCUS course at CHOP. She is also an expert in hemodynamics management in critically ill newborns. The project we are launching in partnership will be supported by the Frontier Program of Dr. Holly Hedrick, a senior scientist and surgeon at CHOP who has done pioneering work in congenital diaphragmatic hernia and a key member of the bigger team working on PUrPOSE.


Co-Investigators - CHOP: Holly Hedrick, MD; Natalie Rintoul, MD; Anne Ades, MD; Katherine Avitabile, MD; Howard Panitch, MD; Leny Matthews; Jennifer Davis; Juliana Gebbs, MD; Sandy Johng, MD


Co-Investigators – MCH: Guilherme Sant’Anna, MD (Neonatologist); Pramod Puligandla. MD (Pediatric Surgery); Adam Shapiro, MD (Pediatric Respirology); Parent Partners: Ode Lunardi, Alina Gotcherian

Dr. Guilherme Sant'Anna is a neonatologist at the Montreal Children's Hospital and Professor of Pediatrics at McGill University. He is world renowned for his work on optimization of the respiratory assistance in prematurity. He is the P.I. of the Smart Hospital project and has published numerous highly impactful studies in the realm of respiratory control, mechanical ventilation, asphixia and more. He is a collaborator to the NeoCardioLab on countless of projects (as well as provides guidance and mentorship to the P.I. of the NeoCardioLab). 


Dr. Beltempo is a neonatologist at the Montreal Children's Hospital and clinician scientist at the MUHC-RI. His research focuses on evaluating how the organization of work affects outcomes of infants in the neonatal intensive care unit. Further, he is a leader in the Canadian Neonatal Network (CNN), and a collaborator to many projects of the NeoCardioLab. More on the work of Dr. Beltempo on his website.

Dr. Abhinav Sharma is a cardiologist, assistant professor, and clinician-scientist in the Division of Cardiology at McGill University. He earned his medical degree and completed his internal medicine training at McMaster University and undertook his cardiology fellowship at the University of Alberta. He obtained his PhD in epidemiology. From 2015 to 2017, he conducted a research fellowship at the Duke Clinical Research Institute. Following his Advanced heart failure and cardiac transplant fellowship at Stanford University (2017-2018), he served as a visiting scholar there, concentrating on the use of digital technologies in patients with cardiovascular disease. He is the founder and co-director of the DECIDE-CV Cardiometabolic Clinic at the MUHC and serves as the heart failure fellowship program director for the centre. His research lab at McGill University, DREAM-CV, is advancing the application of artificial intelligence to expedite the development and identification of therapies for patients with type 2 diabetes and heart failure. co-PI on the MiRACLE study.

Dr. Emmanouil Rampakakis, Ph.D., is the Chief Business Officer and Executive VP, Scientific Affairs of JSS Medical Research founded in 1997. He has over 20 years of experience in scientific research, has contributed to the conception, design, analysis and interpretation of more than 100 large scale, national and international, registration and real-world studies, and has contributed to 8 market approvals. He is an adjunct member of the department of pediatrics of McGill University, collaborator in multiple academic grants in the field of pediatrics, and an author on over 100 peer-reviewed publications and over 300 presentations at international conferences. In addition, he serves as a reviewer for over five peer-reviewed journals, grant reviewer, and advisor for pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, cannabis, and psychedelics companies. Dr. Rampakakis received his Ph.D. from the Department of Biochemistry in McGill University and the McGill Cancer Centre and obtained post-doctoral training in Pharmacoepidemiology at McGill University and the Jewish General Hospital. He is a close collaborator with the NeoCardioLab and offers biostatistical support.

The Courtois Cardiovascular Signature Program is a Biobank at the MUHC-RI. They are collaborators to projects at the NeoCardioLab. 

Other important collaborations:

A) The team of the RESETPDA study - P.I. Dr Dany Weisz at Sunnybrooke Hospital - University of Toronto. 

B) The team of the Comparative Effectiveness Trial on Dopamine vs Norepinephrine in neonatal sepsis (P.I. Dr Amish Jain, Dr Prakesh Shah, Dr Ashraf Kharrat).

Created by Gabriel Altit - Neonatologist / Créé par Gabriel Altit (néonatalogiste) - © NeoCardioLab - 2020-2024 - Contact us / Contactez-nous