The University of Ottawa and its partners are taking the lead in understanding the heart-brain connection

Led by principal investigator Dr. Peter Liu of the uOttawa School of Medicine and the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI), a team of multidisciplinary researchers will receive a highly competitive $2.9 million Heart-Brain Connection IMPACT Award.

The medical profession has traditionally imposed an artificial separation between the heart and the brain, treating them with separate specialties and isolated priorities. However, new research shows that these vitally important vascular organs are closely linked: what affects a person’s heart can set in motion a cascade of harmful effects on the brain, and vice versa.

Now, innovative researchers from the uOttawa Faculty of Medicine and partner institutes are joining forces to bring about a paradigm shift in neurocardiology care, essentially bridging the heart-brain divide in modern medicine. It has the potential to revolutionize patient care for millions here in Canada and many more around the world.

Led by principal investigator Dr. Peter Liu is a team of multidisciplinary researchers proud recipients of the inaugural Heart-Brain Connection IMPACT Award from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada in partnership with Brain Canada. After a rigorous evaluation, the uOttawa-led team will receive a $2.9 million grant to investigate critical questions about the connection between heart and brain health, one of only two groups across the country to receive this important new award receive.

The four-year project will work on issues that connect heart and brain health with the goal of improving patient outcomes. Among other things, the team aims to develop new diagnostic blood tests and new ways to capture cutting-edge imaging of the heart and brain. With patient partners, says Dr. Liu, they will also test new treatments that can be used to protect both organs.

Receiving this highly competitive grant is the latest external endorsement and financial support for Dr. Liu and Dr. Ruth Slack, uOttawa School of Medicine professors who are leaders in deciphering the two-way dialogue between the heart and brain. Their goal is nothing less than to uncover how our heart and brain systems interact, coordinate and co-regulate each other, erasing a historical divide and potentially transforming care for a dizzying array of diseases in the process.

dr Slack describes this latest grant success as a “crucial stepping stone in progressing towards global leadership” in understanding the complex connection between the heart and the brain and bringing together top talent from across Canada and the world.

“The brain and heart have become completely separate over the years, so there is limited knowledge of how they interact. We will bring them together with the aim of really understanding how they are connected as a functional unit,” says Dr. Slack. “We believe this is the key to treating chronic brain-heart-related diseases.”

Both professors in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the uOttawa Faculty of Medicine, Dr. Liu is Chief Scientific Officer and Vice President for Research at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI), and Dr. Slack is the director of the University of Ottawa Brain and Mind Research Institute (uOBMRI).

The impact of brain and heart disease on patients and healthcare systems could not be more profound. From cognitive impairment to heart failure, they represent one of the world’s greatest healthcare challenges, accounting for 32% of all deaths worldwide and 50% of all disease-related disabilities. In Canada alone, one person dies every five minutes from heart disease, stroke or vascular cognitive impairment.

dr Liu says the latest endorsement from two prominent Canadian organizations couldn’t have come at a better time.

“It sets the stage for more opportunities to bring together top research leaders and helps us advance the network we’re building bit by bit,” he says. “It’s really quite exciting.”

Indeed, when it comes to exploring the heart-brain connection, momentum is building at uOttawa and its affiliated institutes.

In recent years, Dr. Liu and Dr. Slack the creation of the groundbreaking Hub of Excellence for Cardio-Neuro-Mind Research (HCNMR), which was awarded $5.8 million by the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) in 2021. This was subsequently supplemented by an additional $5.8 million from the Ontario Research Fund.

It is Canada’s first multidisciplinary, multispecialty research group, based at uOttawa, studying the common mechanisms underlying heart and brain health challenges. It includes leading experts from UOHI, uOBMRI, the Royal’s Institute of Mental Health Research, the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) and other prominent research organizations across Canada.

Of course, here in the nation’s capital, there’s a palpable all-hands-on-deck attitude when it comes to revealing the intricacies of the heart-brain connection. “In the city of Ottawa, we have basically every hospital-based institute, the university, and several faculties that are all committed, excited, and working on this program,” says Dr. Slack.

according to dr Liu, working together to improve health is the team’s vision. And at the end of the day, solving the mysteries of the brain-heart connection is always about improving patient outcomes.

“Our patients are key to telling us what’s important, so we’re equal partners with them as we work to solve these problems,” says Dr. liu “It’s really why we do what we do.”