Research

Driving positive change

It’s an exciting time for research in the Division of Vascular Surgery. Our division has hired a new academic vascular surgeon, Dr. Christine Herman, who has a 20% research mandate. 

Having trained in cardiac and vascular surgery and graduated with a Master’s in Community Health & Epidemiology, Dr. Herman will expand clinical research within the Division of Vascular Surgery.

Our current research projects

Research currently underway includes two industry-funded randomized controlled trials (RCTs):

• One targets patients with non-reconstructable peripheral vascular disease with gene therapy, a first for Dalhousie.
• The other focuses on surgery versus endovascular techniques for patients with peripheral vascular disease.

Positively impacting Nova Scotians

Abdominal aortic aneurysms have a high mortality rate if left undetected. The Division of Vascular Surgery is proactively working towards a five-year goal of instituting a province-wide abdominal aortic aneurysm screening program. This program will help improve outcomes for Nova Scotians, including those in rural communities.

The screening program is recommended by the Canadian Society for Vascular Surgery but is not yet being instituted across Canada. We will be one of a few provinces across the country with this program in place.

Improving quality of care

We are also becoming members of the Vascular Quality Initiative database, which will allow us to:

• assess our outcomes
• compare them to other institutions across Canada and the US
• institute quality improvement initiatives when deficiencies are identified