Heather Ross

Heather Ross CM, MD, DSc, MHSc, FRCP (C), FACC is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto, and Head of the Division of Cardiology at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre. She received the Order of Canada in 2020 (CM), and an Honorary Doctor of Science (DSc) from Queen’s University 2021. She is the Scientific lead for the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research, and holds the Loretta A. Rogers Chair in Heart Function and the Pfizer Chair in Cardiovascular Research. She received her medical degree from the University of British Columbia, Canada, Cardiology training at Dalhousie University, and Postdoctoral Fellowship in Cardiac Transplantation at Stanford University, California. She earned her Master’s Degree in Bioethics from the University of Toronto.

Dr. Ross has had numerous leadership roles including President of the Canadian Society of Transplantation in 2005, Executive of the International Society for Heart & Lung Transplantation (ISHLT 2002 – 2005) and ISHLT Secretary Treasurer 2007-2010.   She has served 11 years over two terms on the Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS) Council and is a past president of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society. She spent 6 years on the Board of the CCS Academy. She served 4 years on the Executive of the Heart Failure Society of America. She is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation. She is the past Ted Rogers and Family Chair in Heart Function 2010-2017. 

She has published over 420 peer reviewed articles, with an H index of 77 and > 25 thousand citations, trained > 45 highly qualified personnel and received > 43 million dollars in peer reviewed research funding. She has won numerous awards including Inventor of the year (UHN 2022), the Canadian Society of Transplantation Lifetime Achievement Award (2022), the inaugural CCS Women in Cardiovascular Medicine/Science Mentorship Award (2020) and the Canadian Heart Failure Society Annual Achievement Award (2019), University of Toronto Teacher of the Year (2017), and the UHN Department of Medicine Michael Hutcheon Mentor Award (2017), named by Canadian Geographic as one of the top 100 modern day explorers (2015). Importantly, her work with Indigenous communities in Ontario was recently awarded an Ontario Health Quality Award (2024).