Develop a world-class Digital Cardiovascular Health Platform
All patient information will be securely integrated under a single digital platform, or "data lake." The platform will include clinical notes, blood tests, pathology results, imaging studies, genetic information and more – all while maintaining the highest degree of data security – and will build on work initiated through the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research. Worldwide, the healthcare industry is significantly behind in digitizing information, and the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre is beginning the evolution of digitizing patient information to inform patient care.
Generate new knowledge through more first-in-human studies and clinical trials
Clinical trials are crucial to the development of new therapies for cardiovascular disease. They provide the real-world evidence needed to determine how successful therapies will be outside of the lab. A new Clinical Trials and Translation Unit will dramatically increase the number of clinical trials that are led by the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre. Research will focus on areas of strength, such as heart failure, adult congenital heart disease (patients born with structural heart disease), cardiovascular imaging and novel device evaluation.
Expand and strengthen the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre's precision cardiovascular medicine program
Precision medicine is the key to finding the right treatments for the right people. By harnessing the valuable information in the "data lake," researchers can identify similarities between patients and tailor treatment like never before. Predictive modelling will improve the early detection of heart disease, increase the accuracy of diagnoses and tailor treatments to patients' individual characteristics. To lead this precision medicine revolution into the future, the centre will build a top-flight team of clinician scientists to solve the mysteries of genetics and heart disease.
Drive medical innovation and quality
At the root of all initiatives at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre is a commitment to constantly improve diagnoses, care and outcomes for patients. One important initiative is participation in international quality assessment databases to benchmark the centre's performance against leading cardiac centres across North America. The Peter Munk Cardiac Centre will be the first in Canada to participate in the National Cardiovascular Data Registry, the Vascular Quality Initiative and the Society for Thoracic Surgery databases, allowing the centre to compare the outcomes of the 163,000 patients they treat every year with millions of patients in the United States.
