We are pleased to announce the appointment of Abhinav Sharma, MD, PhD, as Director of the MDCM & PhD Program, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS), McGill University. The program offers a combined clinical and doctoral research program leading to the MDCM and PhD degrees. Dr. Sharma succeeds Mark Eisenberg, MD, who has led the program for the past 10 years. We’d like to thank Dr. Eisenberg for his leadership and vision in service of the MDCM-PhD program. His dedication and efforts have enabled the program to be one of the most respected in the country.
Dr. Sharma is Assistant Professor, Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, and Member, Division of Experimental Medicine, FMHS, Clinical Heart Failure Cardiologist, Division of Cardiology, McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), and Scientist in the Cardiovascular Health Across the Lifespan Program, Centre for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, Research Institute of the MUHC. He is also Co-director of the DECIDE-CV Cardiometabolic Fellowship and Clinical Program, MUHC and McGill.
Dr. Sharma completed his medical degree and residency in internal medicine at McMaster University. Following this, he completed three consecutive fellowships, first at the University of Alberta (cardiology), then Duke University (cardiovascular research) and Stanford University (advanced heart failure and transplantation) where he was also a postgraduate visiting scholar in digital health. He completed a PhD focusing on clinical epidemiology at the University of Alberta.
Dr. Sharma’s research focuses on the intersection of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and digital health. His research group focuses on two major themes: cardiovascular outcomes and therapy optimization in patients with diabetes and heart failure; and use of digital health to streamline follow-up and therapy selection in patients with heart failure.
As both principal investigator and co-principal investigator, his research has been supported by grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and Brain Canada Foundation, Québec’s Ministère de l’Éducation and the Ministère de l’Enseignement Supérieur, Le Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé, and the McGill Interdisciplinary Initiative in Infection and Immunity (MI4), among others.
He is the author of nearly 140 peer-reviewed publications, and three book chapters, and served as guest editor for the January 2024 issue of the American Heart Journal.
In 2023, Dr. Sharma was selected for the World Heart Federation Salim Yusuf Emerging Leaders cohort, which includes candidates from 19 countries across five continents. He also recently received the Department of Medicine Early Career Research Award and a 2024 American Heart Association – Heart Failure Collaboratory Top Principal Investigator Award.
Reporting to the Associate Dean, Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, and Associate Dean, Undergraduate Medical Education, Dr. Sharma will be responsible for the overall administration of the MDCM-PhD Program, assuring mentorship and support of students in the program, and pursuing continued excellence in the program’s development and outcomes.
He will participate in the admissions process for the program and in the transition phases between MDCM and PhD programs. He will provide leadership in the assessment of educational objectives and long-term outcomes for the program and report annually on key metrics. In addition, he will coordinate a regular seminar series for students in the joint program as well as MDCM students pursuing PhD studies through other routes.
Dr. Sharma will chair the Program Advisory Committee that oversees the curriculum, administration and outcomes of the program, and represent the MDCM-PhD Program on relevant MDCM committees, and on other FMHS committees relevant to the clinician-scientist continuum.
Please join us in congratulating Dr. Sharma on his appointment and wishing him every success in his new role.
Lesley Fellows, MDCM, DPhil
Vice-President (Health Affairs)
Dean of the Faculty of Medicine
and Health Sciences
Christian Pineau, MDCM
Vice-Dean, Academic Affairs