Drs. Susanna Mak and Daniel Schramek appointed as Deputy Directors of Research for Sinai Health

Under the leadership of Dr. Anne-Claude Gingras, Director of the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute (LTRI), part of Sinai Health, and Vice President, Research, Drs. Mak and Schramek will be instrumental in defining and executing the organization’s research strategy. Their focus will be on fostering discovery and clinical research integration across various specialties. Tasked with overseeing global talent recruitment and training opportunities enhancement, they will uphold an inclusive culture that embraces diverse backgrounds and perspectives at every career level.

Dr. Gingras, the inaugural Vice President, Research since August 2023, expressed excitement about the appointments, “This marks a significant step for Sinai Health as we look to the future and how best to harness and build on our world-leading research.”

“I look forward to working with Drs. Mak and Schramek to create new opportunities for discoveries and talent development, with the ultimate goal of producing health-care benefits for patients.”

Dr. Susanna Mak is a Senior Clinician-Scientist at LTRI. She is the Director of the Anna Prosserman Heart Function Clinic and of the Harold & Esther Mecklinger and the Posluns Family Cardiac Catheterization Research Laboratory at Mount Sinai Hospital. She is an Associate Professor and, in 2019, became the first female Department of Medicine Division Director of Cardiology at the University of Toronto, holding the Dexter Man Chair in Cardiology. Dr. Mak received her PhD from the Institute of Medical Sciences at the University of Toronto and is an expert in the assessment of hemodynamics and heart chamber function in humans. Her research interests include the differences in heart function between men and women, using exercise to better understand and classify the symptoms of difficulty in breathing and high blood pressure in the lungs, and the quality of care for patients with acute and chronic heart failure. Dr. Mak is recognized as a Fellow of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society for her research, clinical and professional accomplishments. Furthermore, she has been appointed the incoming Vice Chair of the Scientific Review Committee at the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and holds the Nadal Chair for Research in Advanced Heart Failure. Her term as Deputy Director will start July 1, 2024.

Dr. Schramek is a Senior Investigator at LTRI and the Canada Research Chair in Functional Cancer Genomics. He is also an Associate Professor at the Department of Molecular Genetics at the University of Toronto. Dr. Schramek completed his PhD at the University of Vienna and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Rockefeller University. His research leverages functional genomics technologies to understand how tumours develop, opening new avenues for treating human cancers in a targeted manner. He is renowned for developing a powerful technique that has enabled the investigation of multiple cancer genes simultaneously in a living animal. These advances have brought Dr. Schramek numerous awards, including the Regeneron Innovation Award, the Human Frontier of Science Program (HFSP) Career Development Award and the Susan Komen Career Catalyst Award. He was also named Anna D. Barker Fellow in Basic Cancer Research by the American Association for Cancer Research and received a New Principal Investigator Award by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Dr. Schramek’s directorship is supported by the inaugural Tony Pawson Chair, in memory of the distinguished LTRI scientist. His term as Deputy Director will start March 1, 2024.

“Drs. Mak and Schramek are accomplished leaders in their fields, bringing a wealth of knowledge in research, collaboration, and stewardship. Coupled with Dr. Gingras’ visionary leadership, their alliance is exceptionally well-positioned to foster innovations that resonate not only within Sinai Health, but across the global health-care landscape,” said Dr. Gary Newton, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sinai Health.