John Floras

Dr. Floras is a Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto and Research Director for the University Health Network and Mount Sinai Hospital Division of Cardiology. In 1985 he established, in Toronto, the first human cardiovascular laboratory in Canada with the capacity to record efferent sympathetic nervous discharge to resistance vessels. During his tenure as Mount Sinai Hospital Cardiology Division Head, he assembled a multi-disciplinary group for the investigation and therapy of human cardiovascular disease, supported by a unique complex of laboratories. His research program has focused on the neural regulation of the heart and circulation in human health and disease, with particular emphasis on hypertension, heart failure, renal failure, heart-lung interactions and sleep-related breathing disorders in men and women. His laboratory has elucidated a number of novel concepts of integrative human cardiovascular biology concerning autonomic disturbances in cardiovascular disease states, triggers to sympathetic nervous system activation in heart failure, neuromodulatory actions of natriuretic peptides, cardiovascular and autonomic consequences of sleep apnea and its specific treatment in heart failure patients, and endothelial contributions to blood pressure regulation. His findings, which appear in over 150 original publications, have altered our understanding of the nature of and therapeutic approach to several of these conditions. He is the recipient of national and international awards in recognition of these discoveries, is a Past President of the Canadian Hypertension Society, and has been a Career Investigator of the Heart and Stroke Foundation since 1995. In 2004, Dr. Floras was awarded the Canada Research Chair in Integrative Cardiovascular Biology.