Meet the new heart and lung leaders at St. Paul’s Hospital

In January, Dr. Chris Ryerson was appointed Head of the Division of Respiratory Medicine at St. Paul’s. An associate professor at UBC (where he received his clinical training) since 2011, Ryerson is also director of the St. Paul’s Hospital ILD (interstitial lung disease) clinical and research program. His own research focuses on management and prognostication of fibrotic ILD, a type of degenerative chronic lung disease.

On July 1, Dr. Sean Virani was appointed Head of the Division of Cardiology at St. Paul’s. He also assumes the role of Physician Program Director of the Heart Centre Program. Virani, who received his MD from UBC in 1999, has been a medical staff member at PHC and Vancouver Coastal Health. He received additional training in heart failure, transplantation and clinical research at Stanford University and also completed a master’s of public health in management and policy at Columbia University.

Also on July 1, the Centre for Heart Lung Innovation (HLI) announced Dr. Don Sin as its new director. In this position, and also as the De Lazzari Family Chair in Heart Lung Innovation, Sin leads a top-notch team of scientists, represents HLI and St. Paul’s at conferences, and publishes in prominent journals. He is a graduate of the University of Alberta medical school and holder of a master’s of public health degree from Harvard.

A recent donation by the De Lazzari family is helping establish a new generation of research leaders at St. Paul’s.

Michael and Carmelina De Lazzari and their family made a $3-million gift earlier this year to establish the De Lazzari Family Chair in Heart Lung Innovation. This hospital chair provides essential funding to support the director of HLI, and is now held by Dr. Don Sin.

Thanks to the De Lazzari family’s support, HLI has the resources to recruit and retain top-notch research talent, purchase vital research equipment, and invest in the next generation of scientists. These health clinicians are at the core of the world-leading research being done at St. Paul’s, and this visionary gift directly supports those scientists working to understand and cure heart and lung diseases that affect patients in British Columbia, Canada, and around the world.