Dr. Keyvan Karkouti, MD- ACTU Director
Dr. Karkouti (cardiovascular anesthesia) is a world-renowned investigator with a focus on improving the science and outcomes of perioperative medicine as it relates to anemia, coagulopathy, transfusion and acute kidney injury. His multidisciplinary research network has made several important contributions to the field including: 1) being the first to identify the propensity of aprotinin for causing acute kidney injury (which led to a re-evaluation of its use in clinical practice), 2) being one of the first groups to study recombinant activated factor VII for mitigating refractory hemorrhage (helping identify where and when it could be used safely and effectively), 3) developing a novel blood management algorithm that uses point-of-care coagulation assays to provide targeted, patient-centric management (adopted as standard of care at many cardiac surgery centres across the world), and 4) leading a trial comparing cryoprecipitate to fibrinogen concentrate in cardiac surgical patients with hemorrhage (which led to a rapid change in transfusion practice across Canada). Dr. Karkouti's publications have over 10,000 citations (Google Scholar) and are included in guideline recommendations. He has been invited to present at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Europeans Medicines Agency, and Health Canada, and has sat on advisory committees for national and international organizations, as well as providing consultation to several multinational companies.
He obtained his MD, University of Toronto (1990), FRCPC, Anesthesia (1995), followed by a Fellowship at St. Michael’s Hospital (1995-96) and MSc, Clinical Epidemiology and Health Care Research, Department of Health Administration, University of Toronto (1999). He joined the Active Staff in the Department of Anesthesia and Pain Management, University Health Network, Toronto General Hospital (1996) and a Senior Scientist at the Toronto General Research Institute, University Health Network (2010). He became deputy anesthesiologist-in-chief at the Toronto General (2011), and is currently the Head of the Department of Anesthesia and Pain Management, UHN, SHS, and WCH (2019). He holds the ranks of Professor, Departments of Anesthesia and Assistant Professor, Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation, University of Toronto.
Deep Grewal, MD – ACTU Manager
Deep has extensive experience in conducting and overseeing clinical research in the areas of anesthesia, pain management, and perioperative medicine. At the ACTU, she is responsible for overseeing trial management including ethics and regulatory approvals, clinical monitoring, and development and implementation of trial documents (case report forms, standard operating procedures etc.) and staff training.
Jo Carroll, RN – Anesthesia Research Manager, Department of Anesthesia and Pain Management, Toronto General Hospital & Sinai Health System
Jo Carroll has a background in critical care nursing and health service management and has over 25 years of clinical research experience. At the ACTU, Jo is responsible for coordinating trial budgets and contracts and overseeing project management.
Deborah Mancini – Anesthesia Research Manager, Department of Anesthesia and Pain Management, Toronto Western Hospital
Deb has over 15 years of clinical research experience including clinical trials management. At the ACTU, Deb is responsible for coordinating trial budgets and contracts.
Our Scientific Associates at ACTU assist with study conceptualization and design and play a key role in securing funding for promising research projects. They have experience in studies across a range of methodologies (e.g., randomized controlled trials, observational cohort studies, and pilot and feasibility studies) used to study anesthesia and pain management.
Binu Jose Jacob, MSc, PhD holds an MSc in Biostatistics and a PhD from the Institute of Medical Science (University of Toronto) where her research focused on methodological approaches in population-based research in the presence of selection bias and exposure measurement error. She also completed postdoctoral training at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute focused on improving the cognitive and functional outcomes of individuals with hypoxic-ischemic brain injury and understanding their post-acute care trajectories and healthcare use. Dr. Jacob has extensive experience with large databases, health outcomes research, economic analyses, and population-based studies on mental health and addictions. As a methodologist, she has expertise in observational studies, longitudinal data analysis, clinical trials, and health service research methods. Her research interests also include sex and gender-based inequalities.
Sarah Miles, PhD holds an MSc and PhD in cognitive psychology (University of Western Ontario) where her research focused on the cognitive processes (e.g., executive function, working memory, visual processing) and cognitive systems that adults and children use when learning to categorize novel objects. She used laboratory-based randomized controlled trials and computational modeling. Following her graduate training, she transitioned to research in health care, working as a Research Coordinator at St. Michael’s Hospital and a Project Scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health on studies investigating substance use, harm reduction, access to care and quality of care for marginalized populations.
Miki Peer, PhD holds a PhD from the Institute of Medical Science (University of Toronto) where her multidisciplinary research focused on examining the effects of perinatal stress on maternal and infant health. During her graduate work and shortly thereafter, her research experience centred on examining contributors to changes in women's mental health that occur during reproductive transitions (e.g., across the menstrual cycle, during pregnancy). She has also worked in the biotechnology sector designing mobile health interventions to improve patient adherence and promote healthy behaviour change. Dr. Peer has extensive experience conducting clinical research in the areas of neuroscience and mental health across a range of topics, study designs (e.g., cohort studies, clinical trials, meta-analyses), and patient populations.