Physician-in-Chief, Department of Medicine, Jewish General Hospital
Canada Research Chair in Hypertension and Vascular Research, Lady Davis Institute
Professor and Vice-Chair (Research), Department of Medicine, McGill University
Dr. Ernesto L. Schiffrin (MD Buenos Aires '69, PhD in Experimental Medicine, McGill University '80) is Physician-in-Chief, Department of Medicine, at the Jewish General Hospital; Canada Research Chair in Hypertension and Vascular Research, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research; and Professor and Vice-Chair (Research), Department of Medicine, McGill University. Dr. Schiffrin also directs the Cardiovascular Prevention Center at the hospital, where his clinical research is carried out. Dr. Schiffrin was previously Professor of Medicine at the University of Montreal (until December 2005), Director of the Multidisciplinary Research Group in Hypertension of the Medical Research Council of Canada (later Canadian Institutes of Health Research) and the Hypertension Clinic at the Clinical Research Institute of Montreal (IRCM), and staff member in the Division of Internal Medicine, Hôtel-Dieu Hospital.
Dr. Schiffrin has served on committees of the Canadian Heart Foundation and Medical Research Council of Canada (MRC). He was a member (1987-1989), then Chair, of the Cardiovascular B grants committee of the MRC (1989-1992). In June 2008, Dr. Schiffrin co-chaired the Working Group on Target Organ Damage in Hypertension for the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), which prepared goals for the NIH to launch RFAs in the field of hypertension, and which have been posted on the NHLBI website.
Dr. Schiffrin has been the Associate Editor of the American Heart Association (AHA) journal Hypertension since August 2003. Dr. Schiffrin was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2006. He is the recipient of the 2007 Irvine Page-Alva Bradley Lifetime Achievement Award of the High Blood Pressure Research Council of the American Heart Association and the 2010 Bjorn Folkow Award of the European Society of Hypertension. The Governor General of Canada appointed Dr. Schiffrin a Member of the Order of Canada in 2010 for his important contributions to the study of hypertension, notably through his research on the mechanisms underlying high blood pressure, as well as for his leadership roles in scientific committees and societies. Dr. Schiffrin has received the 2011 Excellence Award for Research in Hypertension of the American Heart Association. The citation of the award reads: For his pioneering translational work leading to discovery of mechanisms involved in the remodeling of small resistance arteries in experimental and human hypertension. His ground-breaking research demonstrated that antihypertensive therapy electively causes regression of vascular remodeling in hypertensive patients. His seminal studies on angiotensin II, aldosterone and endothelin have elucidated the importance of these hormones in the vascular biology of hypertension. Dr. Schiffrin was named the 2013 American Society of Hypertension (ASH) Distinguished Scientist and received the Robert Tigerstedt Award in May 2013 in San Francisco, CA, for his outstanding achievements in the field of hypertension and his contribution to both endocrinology and circulation. In October 2013 the Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS) awarded Dr. Schiffrin the 2013 CCS Research Achievement Award, one of the most prestigious honours bestowed by the Society, for his contribution to Canadian cardiovascular health and care and invited him to present on his research at its annual meeting in Montreal. On October 19, 2013 Dr. Schiffrin was elected President of Hypertension Canada.
Major Research Activities
Dr. Schiffrin’s research addresses the mechanisms and treatment of high blood pressure. He investigates the biology of blood vessels and the roles of endothelin, angiotensin, nuclear receptors, inflammation and T cells in hypertension and the cardio-metabolic syndrome, effects of antihypertensive treatment on blood vessels of hypertensive patients, and the molecular and cellular determinants of elevated blood pressure. He is author of more than 480 peer-reviewed publications in the field, many book chapters, and is the editor of two books, on molecular and clinical aspects of vascular disease and hypertension.
Marchesi C, Rehman A, Rautureau Y, Kasal DAB, Briet M, Leibowitz A, Simeone SMC, Neves MF, Offermanns S, Gonzalez FJ, Paradis P, Schiffrin EL. Protective Role of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell PPAR in Angiotensin II-induced Vascular Disease. Cardiovasc Res. 2013; 97: 562-570.
Briet M, Barhoumi T, Rehman MMO, Sierra C Boutouyrie P, Nessim SJ, Frisch G, Paradis P, Lipman ML, Schiffrin EL. Effects of recombinant human erythropoietin on resistance artery endothelial function in stage 4 chronic kidney disease: Role of oxidative stress and endothelin-1. J Amer Heart AssocCardiovascCerebrovasc Dis. 2013;2:e000128. doi: 10.1161/JAHA. 113.000128.
Li MW, Mian MOR, Barhoumi T, Rehman A, Mann, K, Paradis P, Schiffrin EL. Endothelin-1 overexpression exacerbates atherosclerosis and induces abdominal aortic aneurysms in apolipoprotein E knockout mice. AtherosclThrombVasc Biol. 2013;33:2306-2315.
Leibowitz A, Rehman A, Paradis P, Schiffrin EL. Role of T regulatory lymphocytes in the pathogenesis of high-fructose diet-induced metabolic syndrome. Hypertension. 2013;61:1316-1321.
Javeshghani D, Barhoumi T, Idris-Khodja N, Paradis P, Schiffrin EL. Reduced macrophage-dependent inflammation improves endothelin-1-induced vascular injury. Hypertension. 2013;62:112-117.