Dr. Jean-François Légaré is the head of cardiac surgery at the New Brunswick Heart Centre and a professor of surgery, pathology, microbiology and immunology at Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick.

Dr. Légaré has graduated from McGill University, Faculty of Medicine, in 1995 with training in Cardiac Surgery. He then joined Dalhousie Medical School in 2003 following fellowship training in Germany. From 2003-2016 worked as a cardiac surgeon at the Maritime Heart Centre in Halifax. During this tenure acted as the Director of Research and Director of Cardiac Transplantation in the Division of Cardiac Surgery. He has now taken the position of Head of the Division of Cardiac Surgery (2016-) at the New Brunswick Heart Centre in Saint John NB with continued affiliation with Dalhousie University.

Major clinical interests have included surgery for end stage heart failure and valve surgery with emphasis on clinical outcomes and performance indicators. Research interests have also included the role of immune-cell infiltration/inflammation in development of heart failure, with particular emphasis on fibrosis. Funding for this research work as been from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation, Capital Health (NSHRF), Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI), Heart and Stroke Foundation (HSF) and the Dalhousie Medicine Research Foundation (DMRF).

Recent publications:

1. Wong C, Falkenham A, Myers T and Légaré JF. CTGF expression after Ang-II exposure is dependent on TGF-b signaling via the canonical Smad-dependent pathway in hypertensive induced myocardial fibrosis. J Renin Angiotensin Aldosterone Syst. 2018 Jan-Mar;19 (1)
2. McGuireC, Yip AM, MacLeod JB, Paddock V, Lutchmedial S, Nadeem N, Hirsch GM, Adams C, MelvinK, ConnorsS, Hassan A, Légaré JF. Regional differences in AortIc valve replacemeNts (RAIN): Atlantic Canadian Experience. Can J Surg. 2018 Apr;61(2):99-104
3. Boyd C, Cox J, Hassan A, Lutchmedial S, Yip S, Legare JF. Where you live in Nova Scotia can significantly impact your access to life saving cardiac care. Can J Cardiol. 2018 Feb;34(2):202-208
4. Brown A, Intekhab H, Nzirorera C, Tozer K, Trivedi P, Aguiar C, Yip AM, Shea J, Brunt K, Legare JF, Pulinilkunnil T, Kienesberger PC. Lysophosphatidic acid receptor mRNA levels in heart and white adipose tissue are associated with obesity in mice and humans. PLoS One. 2017 Dec 13;12(12):e0189402
5. Swaminathan M, Stafford-Smith M, Chertow GM, Warnock DG, Paragamian V, Brenner RM, Lellouche F, Fox-Robichaud A, Atta MG, Melby S, Mehta RL, Wald R, Verma S, Mazer CD; ACT-AKI investigators. Allogeneic Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Treatment of AKI after Cardiac Surgery. J Am Soc Nephrol. 2017 Oct 16.
6. Kehler DS, Stammers AN, Tangri N, Hiebert B, Fransoo R, Schultz ASH, Macdonald K, Giacomontonio N, Hassan A, Légaré JF, Arora RC, Duhamel TA. Systematic Review of preoperative physical activity and its impact on post-cardiac surgical outcomes. BMJ Open. 2017 Aug 11;7(8):e015712
7. Perez LJ, Rios L, Trivedi P, D’Souza K, Cowie A, Webster D, Brunt K, Legare JF, Hassan A, Kienesberger PC, PulinilkunnilT. Validation of optimal reference genes for quantitative real time PCR in muscle and adipose 2 tissue for obesity and diabetes research. Sci Rep. 2017 Jun 15;7(1)
8. GawdatK, LegereS, WongC, MyersT, MarshallJ, HassanA, BruntK, KienesbergerP, PulinilkunilT, Legare JF. Neutrophil to Lymphocyte Ratio correlate with circulating levels of non-classical monocytes (CD16+) in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. Front Cardiovasc Med. 2017 Mar 15;4:12
9. Rosvall B, Forgie K, MacLeod JB, Yip AM, Aguiar C, Lutchmedial S, Brown C, Forgie R, Légaré JF, Impact of Obesity on Intensive Care Unit Resource Utilization Following Cardiac Surgery. Ann Thorac Surg. 2017 Dec;104(6):2009-2015
10. Falkenham A, SaraswatMK, WongC, GaudatK, MyersT, BegumJ, ButhKJ, HaidlI, Marshall J, and Légaré JF (For the REACH Investigators). Recovery free of heart failure after acute coronary syndrome and coronary revascularization: Towards a better understanding of the biological mechanism favoring resolution of inflammation. ESC Heart Fail. 2017 Jul 24. doi: 10.1002/ehf2.12197
11. O’Keefe S, Williams K, Légaré JF. Hospital acquired infections after cardiac surgery and current physician practices: a retrospective cohort study. J Clin Med Res. 2017 Jan;9(1):10-16.
12. Gainer R, Curran J, Buth KJ, David J, Legare JF, Hirsch GM.Toward Optimal Decision Making among Vulnerable Patients referred for Cardiac Surgery: A Qualitative Analysis of Patient and Provider Perspectives. Med Decis Making. 2017 Jul;37(5):600-610 PMID: 27803362
13. Mokhtar A, Begum J, Buth KJ and Legare JF. Cardiac Troponin-T is an important predictor of Mortality Following Cardiac Surgery. J Crit Care. 2016 Oct 20;38:41-46
14. Trivedi PC, Bartlett JJ, Brunt K, Legare JF, Hassan A, Kienesberger PC, Pulinilkunnil T. Glucolipotoxicity diminishes cardiomyocyte TFEB and inhibits lysosomal autophagy during obesity and diabetes. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2016 Sep 9;1861(12 Pt A):1893-1910
15. Devereaux PJ et al. Toward Fairness in Data Sharing: The International Consortium of Investigators for Fairness in Trial Data Sharing. NEJM 2016; 375: 405-6
16. Falkenham A, Myers T, Wong C, Legare JF. CCR2^-/- Mice Exhibit An M2 Phenotypic Shift In Resident Cardiac Macrophages That May Be Protective in the Setting of Myocardial Fibrosis. Cardiovasc Pathol. 2016 May 30;25(5):390-398
17. Williams K, O’Keefe S, Légaré J-F. Creation of the sole regional laser lead extraction program serving Atlantic Canada: initial experience. Can J Surg. 2016 Jun;59(3):180-7
18. Leontyev S, Légaré JF, Borger MA, Buth KJ, Funkat AK, Gerhard J, Mohr Predictors for in hospital mortality in patients with type a aortic dissection from a two center experience Ann Thorac Surg. 2016 May;101(5):1700-6
19. Dahn H, Buth K, Legare JF, Mingo H, Kent B, Whynot S, Scheffler M. Endocarditis is not an independent predictor of blood transfusion in aortic valve replacement patients with severe aortic regurgitation. J Cardiothorac Vasc Anesth. 2016 Jun;30(3):687-91
20. Walsh M, Whitlock R, Garg AX, Légaré JF, Duncan AE, Zimmerman R, Miller S, Fremes S, Kieser T, Karthikeyan G, Chan M, Ho A, Nasr V, Vincent J, Ali I, Lavi R, Sessler DI, Kramer R, Gardner J, Syed S, VanHelder T, Guyatt G, Rao-Melacini P, Thabane L, Devereaux PJ. Effects of remote ischemic preconditioning in high-risk patients undergoing cardiac surgery (Remote IMPACT): a randomized controlled trial.; Remote IMPACT Investigators. CMAJ. 2016 Mar 15;188(5):329-36

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