Dr. John A. Cairns
Dr. John A. Cairns was appointed Dean to the University of BC Faculty of Medicine in 1996.
He obtained his M.D. from the University of British Columbia (1968) and was awarded the Hamber Gold Medal for highest standing in the fourth year of Medicine and the Hamber Scholarship for highest standing throughout the four years of the medical course. He continued his training in medicine and cardiology in the teaching hospitals of McGill University (Montreal, Canada) and primarily the Royal Victoria Hospital. He obtained his Fellowship from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in Cardiology (1973) and in Medicine (1974) and pursued research training at the Royal Victoria Hospital with the support of a Medical Research Council scholarship.
Dr. Cairns joined the Department of Medicine at McMaster University as an Assistant Professor in 1975 and was promoted to Professor in 1985.
His research interests have included studies of modification and non-invasive measurement of myocardial infarction size in humans and dogs, studies of acute ischemic syndromes with a particular focus on antithrombotic therapy, coronary care utilization, and post-myocardial infarction arrhythmias.
He has published over 120 peer reviewed papers and 15 book chapters. He has had peer review funding throughout his academic career from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, the Medical Research Council and the Ministry of Health of Ontario. Extensive funding was also received from industrial sources.
During his time at McMaster University, Cairns was an active clinical cardiologist working particularly in invasive cardiology and acute coronary care. He was also active in many education programs and has lectured extensively nationally and internationally.
Cairns is a member of numerous professional and scientific organizations and has held a variety of executive roles. He has chaired consensus conferences in cardiac care in both Canada and the United States. He is a member of a variety of editorial boards of peer-review journals and has served on numerous scientific review committees of peer-review agencies. He is currently a member or Chair of several data safety monitoring, external validation and steering committees of multi-centre studies.
