New Site Chief of Department of Anesthesia and Pain Management, Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network & Women’s College Hospital

Dr. Sheila Riazi has been appointed, starting on January 1, 2022, as the Department of Anesthesia and Pain Management’s new Site Chief at Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network & Women’s College Hospital. The selection committee members included Drs. Paul Tenenbein, Anahi Perlas, Gelareh Zadeh, Shaf Keshavjee, David Urbach, and Keykan Karkouti.

Dr. Riazi is a Professor at the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Toronto, a staff anesthesiologist at University Health Network, and clinician scientist at Toronto General Research Institute. Dr. Riazi is the Medical Director of the Malignant Hyperthermia (MH) Laboratory at UHN, which is the only Canadian diagnostic center for malignant hyperthermia and a world-renowned research hub for this condition. Dr. Riazi’s research on pathophysiology of MH, links with exertional heat illnesses, and phenotypic variability in MH susceptible patients have had global impact and funded by NIH and CIHR, among others. She is the Chair of the MH International Professional Advisory Council, a member of the board of directors of MH Association of the United States (MHAUS), a member of scientific advisory board of RYR1 foundation, and an associate editor of the Canadian Journal of Anesthesia.

We would like to extend since thanks to Dr. Atul Prabhu for his dedicated and visionary leadership and service as Site Chief at Toronto Western Hospital since 2011 and Women’s College Hospital since 2017.