New members

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LIBIN LIFE

Growing team

Institute welcomes new members with diverse backgrounds

Dr. Muhammad Rauf Ahsan, MD

Dr. Muhammad Rauf Ahsan, MD, earned his medical degree at Dow Medical College in Karachi, Pakistan. He received further training in general surgery and cardiac surgery in Ireland before emigrating to Canada. After finishing medical school, he completed fellowships in adult cardiac, complex aortic and transcatheter aortic valve replacement surgeries at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. Before moving to Calgary he worked as a staff cardiac surgeon at St. Mary’s Hospital in Kitchener, Ont., at Southlake Regional Health Centre in Newmarket, Ont., at St. Michael’s Hospital at the University of Toronto, and at the Health Sciences Centre at Memorial University in St. John’s, Newfoundland. His interests lie in aortic and coronary artery bypass surgery. He is now an integral part of the cardiac surgery team in Calgary.

Dr. David Campbell MD, PhD

Dr. Robert Miller, MD

Dr. David Campbell, MD, PhD, is an assistant professor in the departments of Medicine, Community Health Sciences and Cardiac Sciences at the Cumming School of Medicine (CSM). Born and raised in Calgary, he earned his MD and PhD in Health Services Research at the University of Calgary. While attending Medical School, Campbell helped start the student-run clinic at the Calgary Drop-In & Rehab Centre. That experience sparked his interest in reducing inequalities in health care delivery. Today, his research focuses on the impact of socio-economic factors—such as homelessness, poverty and food security—on patient outcomes in the area of cardiovascular health and metabolic diseases like Type 2 diabetes. Campbell’s goal is to increase equity in health services delivery and improve access for those who face social disadvantages.

Cardiologist Dr. Robert Miller, MD, has returned to practice in Calgary, where he completed his internal medicine and cardiology residency training. Miller earned his MD at the University of British Columbia. He completed further training in advanced heart failure and transplant at Stanford University and in cardiac imaging at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in southern California. Miller’s interests are in advanced cardiac imaging in patients with heart disease and in epidemiology in heart failure and cardiac transplantation. He feels advances in cardiac imaging and new approaches to using statistics will lead to better outcomes for patients by allowing doctors to predict patient risks more accurately and alter treatments accordingly. But Miller isn’t just a doctor and scientist, he is a swimmer with a number of accolades under his belt, including five Canadian Interuniversity Sport championships, won while training at UBC.

LIBIN LIFE

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Dr. Jonathan Smirl, PhD,

Dr. Amelie Stritzke, MD

Dr. Lin Yang, PhD

Dr. Lianne TomfohrMadsen, PhD

Dr. Jonathan Smirl, PhD, is passionate about finding ways to improve recovery outcomes for people following concussion. His research focus is on what happens to the brain’s blood flow regulation system after a concussion and uses this information to create informed treatment opportunities. This topic is of personal interest to Smirl who suffered from concussions as a high-level athlete with notable accomplishments in rugby, wrestling, judo, rowing, triathlon and swimming. Smirl grew up on Canada’s West Coast and earned his PhD in cerebrovascular physiology at the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan Campus in 2015. He is an associate professor in concussion research within UCalgary’s Faculty of Kinesiology. Smirl’s current research project includes working as the national lead on exercise-based measures on the NFL-funded SHRed Concussions project.

Dr. Amelie Stritzke, MD, is a neonatal physician with training in pediatric cardiology. An assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the CSM, Stritzke’s research interest is in the hemodynamics (how blood flows) of infants. In particular, she is fascinated by the normal hemodynamic changes that occur when babies are born. She hopes a better understanding of the intricate physiology of newborns will allow her to better treat sick infants. Stritzke was born in Germany and received her medical degree in Frankfurt. Her residency was completed in Switzerland. Stritzke has specialty training in ultrasound, echocardiography and Doppler studies in the neonatal population and enjoys teaching bedside ultrasound skills around the world to neonatologists and their trainees. Her travels have taken her across North America and to India, Ecuador, Oman and England. In her spare time, Stritzke enjoys Bikram hot yoga.

Dr. Lin Yang, PhD, an adjunct assistant professor in the departments of Oncology and Community Health Sciences at the CSM, is a scientist with an interest in using big data to improve population health. Originally from China, she earned two masters degrees in kinesiology and statistics at the University of Illinois and a doctorate in epidemiology from the University of Cambridge, UK. Her undergraduate work was in exercise science, which reflects her belief in the importance of physical activity as the cornerstone of health. The goal of Yang’s research is to make physical activity an easy and accessible option for everyone. She is excited about being involved in Person to Population (P2), a multidiscipline research collaboration with a keen interest in health. Yang is no stranger to physical activity: she is a former marathoner who now practices Tai Chi.

Dr. Lianne Tomfohr-Madsen, PhD, is a clinical psychologist with an interest in how psychological and social factors promote or detract from health. An associate professor in UCalgary’s Department of Psychology, she is particularly interested in the transition to parenthood and interventions that could prevent disease later in life. She is fascinated by mind-body interactions and began studying associations between early signs of cardiovascular disease and depression while an undergrad. Her longtime personal interest in contemplative practices such as yoga and meditation also play a role in her projects. Tomfohr-Madsen’s lab is working on a number of interventions aimed at promoting mental and physical health in pregnancy. She is also creating screening tools used to direct patients to the most effective resources.