Chair/Chief, Professor of Surgery
Western University, London Health Sciences Centre, Canada
Michael studied medicine at the University of Saskatchewan, where he graduated with distinction in 2000. He completed a Master's degree in Medical Education from the University of Toronto in 2004 and cardiac surgery residency at the University of Western Ontario in 2006. Following his residency, he undertook a fellowship with Dr. W.R. Chitwood, Jr. in minimally invasive and robotic cardiac surgery, with a focus on complex mitral valve reconstruction. Then, he completed a fellowship in transcatheter aortic valve technology at the Herzzentrum in Leipzig, Germany. Michael has a clinical focus in minimally invasive mitral valve reconstruction, transcatheter valve technology and complex aortic reconstruction, including hybrid arch repair and the Ross procedure. Michael has also been awarded the MacEachern Award, Francis Fontan Award and ISMICS Robert Emery Young Investigator Award for his research endeavours. He has active grants from the Heart and Stroke Foundation and Canadian Institutes of Health Research and actively participates in many multicenter surgical clinical trials. He has over 220 peer reviewed publications, 12 textbook chapters and has delivered over 200 presentations at meetings nationally and internationally. Michael has been a Royal College Cardiac Surgery Examiner from 2014 – 2021. He is the founder and lead of the Canadian Thoracic Aortic Collaborative and continues to co-ordinate activities and meetings semi-annually. He is Co-Chair of the Thoracic Aortic Working Group of the Cardiothoracic Surgical Trials Network (CTSN). He was promoted to Associate Professor of Surgery in 2014, Full Professor of Surgery in 2019 and is currently practicing as a consultant cardiac surgeon and Chair/Chief of the Division of Cardiac Surgery at London Health Sciences Centre and Western University, and has been holding the positions of Director of Research and Fellowship Director since 2015.