Firestone is based at St. Joseph's Healthcare in Hamilton Ontario Canada. It is also an Institute of McMaster University. Clinical, research and educational activities are closely integrated and largely collaborative within FIRH.The intent is to create a synergy between patient care, basic and translational research and training of health care professionals.

Providing leadership and strategic direction for the Firestone Institute in 2010-11 were Dr. Paul O'Byrne, Executive Director; Dr. Stewart Pugsley, Clinical Director; and Dr. Martin Kolb, Research Director.

Members of the FIRH faculty hold important administrative posts locally, including Dr. Paul O'Byrne, who is the current Chair of the Department of Medicine at McMaster University; Dr. Gerard Cox, who is the Division Director of Respiratory Medicine; Dr. Lori Whitehead, who is the Program Director for Adult Respiratory residency training at McMaster University; Dr. Mark Inman is the Firestone Scientific Officer; and Dr. Malcolm Sears, who is the Principal Investigator for the national Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) Study.

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It is with great sadness that I have to notify all of the untimely death of Dr. Freddy Hargreave on June 15, 2011

Dr. Hargreave was truly one of the giants of respiratory medicine over the last 40 years and helped change our thinking about the treatment of serious diseases like asthma, chest infections and COPD. In doing so he hugely improved the care of patients throughout the world and his work improved many lives. He taught many students and fellows from many different countries - many of whom returned home and became internationally recognized in their own right. He made our hospital world famous – but more importantly, he lived the Mission every single minute in his work. He cared for individual patients in an exemplary manner with unfailing courtesy, dedication, humility, kindness and, most particularly, in bringing the challenges they faced each day to the research community to find better ways of relieving their suffering.

Our sympathies go to his family. May he rest in peace.

Dr. David A. Higgins
President, St. Joseph's Healthcare

FIRH provides comprehensive inpatient and outpatient respiratory care as the regional respiratory service for the City of Hamilton and the Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant Local Health Integrated Network (LHIN). FIRH has a unique Chest Programme that encompasses the spectrum of respiratory medicine together with affiliated head-and-neck and thoracic surgery services; all are located on one site.

FIRH's patient-centred focus on care is achieved through the tremendous efforts of allied health care professionals, including nurses, respiratory therapists and technicians, and through the efforts of FIRH's administrative staff. In 2010 / 2011, 41 physicians saw 38,800 patients, totalling 63,160 visits and procedures.  Additional tests not connected to these physicians, but conducted in the FIRH labs, totalled an additional 23,340 procedures.  Therefore, the total number of procedures and visits captured at FIRH was 86,504.

Research within the FIRH is wide-ranging, not only from bench to bedside, but to population health and policy; extending from studies of smooth muscle physiology and intracellular signalling through experimental disease models to clinical trials to enhance patient quality-of-life. FIRH is particularly known in the field of asthma biomarkers including: measures of BHR, sputum inflammatory cells, reactivity testing and allergen challenge as diagnostic tools and as experimental medicine approaches to understand disease mechanisms, therapeutic responses to interventions and natural history of different airway disease phenotypes. The research productivity of FIRH is attested to by the high quality and impact of the peer reviewed publications.

The research productivity of FIRH is attested to by the high quality and impact of the peer-reviewed publications. In 2010, FIRH faculty was listed as authors on 109 peer-reviewed publications, including several in high impact international publications. Since 2009, current FIRH faculty were listed as an author on over 245 peer reviewed publications. In 2010-2011, FIRH faculty had over 40 "open" studies that had been approved by the St. Joseph's Research Ethics Board. Many of these studies (12) were investigator initiated and self-funded.

FIRH faculty have been actively engaged in education activities at the undergraduate, graduate, post-graduate and continuing medical education levels. FIRH is also the home for the Respirology Residency Training Program of the Division of Respirology, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University. The following is a list of the incoming and outgoing residents for 2011 / 2012.

Outgoing Residents, Fellows and Clinical Scholars

• Dr. Naomi Spitale completed her training in March 2011 and has accepted a 3rd year position as Clinical Scholar in Sleep Medicine at the University of Ottawa commencing September 2011.
• Dr. Juliana Li completed her training as of June 30, 2011 and has secured a 3rd year position as Clinical Scholar in Sleep Medicine at McMaster University supervised by Dr. Peter Powles, Dr. Raymond Gottschalk and Dr. Nicole Drost.
• Dr. Salima Amlani completed her training as of June 30, 2011 and will be doing locums in community Respirology and Sleep Medicine in Ontario.
  
• Dr. Ali AlMusawi will complete his training July 31, 2011 and has accepted a 3rd year Clinical Fellowship in the COPD/Rehabilitation program supervised by Dr. David Todd and Dr. Stewart Pugsley at McMaster University.

Residents and Fellows Remaining in Program

• Dr. Jodi Goodwin, PGY5 will be on maternity leave from August 1 – January 31, 2012. She will return in February 2012 to complete her residency training. Her Mentor is Dr. Lori Whitehead.
• Dr. Saima Husain, PGY5 has entered her 2nd year of residency training commencing July 1, 2011. Saima has accepted the role of Chief Resident. She will be working in clinic with Dr. Martin Kolb, Mentor.
• Dr. Jacob Gelberg, PGY5 entered his 2nd year of residency training commencing July 1, 2011. He will be working in clinic with Dr. Marcel Tunks, Mentor.
• Dr. Anushya Chelvanathan, PGY5 entered her 2nd year of residency training commencing July 1, 2011. Anushya will be working in clinic with Dr. Andrew McIvor, Mentor.
• Dr. Farhan AlEnezi, Clinical Fellow will remain with the Respirology Training Program until October 31, 2011 when he will complete the Respirology portion of his training before returning to complete the second half of his dual training experience within the Critical Care Program at McMaster. Farhan will be working with various physicians in our outpatient subspecialty clinics. His Mentor is Dr. Lori Whitehead.

Incoming Residents and Fellows

• Dr. Nooreen Popat, PGY4 commenced her training July 1, 2011. Nooreen is an Internal Medicine graduate of McMaster University. She will be working in clinic with Dr. Gerard Cox, Mentor.
• Dr. George Yuan, PGY4 commenced his training July 1, 2011. George is an Internal Medicine graduate of the University of Alberta. He will be working in clinic with Dr. Lori Whitehead, Mentor.
• Dr. Ali AlMusawi, mentioned earlier, will commence his Clinical Fellowship August 1st with Dr. Todd and Dr. Pugsley
  Dr. Angira Dasgupta will soon commence her Clinical Fellowship under the supervision of Dr. Parameswaran Nair. Angira will be doing research and clinical work during her one year fellowship.
• Dr. Nizar Naji will soon commence his Research/Clinical Fellowship in September 2011 working under the supervision of Dr. Paul O'Byrne.

New Clinical Scholars

• Dr. Juliana Li will remain at McMaster University as a Clinical Scholar, Sleep Medicine, July 1, 2011. Juliana is a graduate of the Adult Respirology Program, McMaster University. She is currently working with Dr. Raymond Gottschalk and his sleep medicine team but will return to the Firestone in September 2011 where she will do Sleep Medicine and Respirology clinics. Mentors include Dr. Peter Powles, Dr. Raymond Gottschalk and Dr. Nicole Drost.
• Dr. Ganesh Subramanian joined McMaster University as a Clinical Scholar, Sleep Medicine, on July 1, 2011. Ganesh is a graduate of the Adult Respirology Program, University of Alberta. Ganesh is currently doing Sleep Medicine clinics at the Firestone and will be working with Dr. Gottschalk in September 2011. Mentors include Dr. Peter Powles, Dr. Raymond Gottschalk and Dr. Nicole Drost.

In 2010 / 2011, the McMaster University Adult Respirology Training Program in association with FIRH provided training to 9 respirology residents, 49 medical residents (on rotation), 28 medical students and 1 clinical fellow.   FIRH research faculty supervised 15 full-time graduate students (candidates for Masters and for Ph.D.) along with 5 postdoctoral fellows. In addition, FIRH hosted numerous placements for nursing students, respiratory therapist students, undergraduate and post secondary work placements as well as countless hours of high school students earning mandatory community service hours.

It’s with a great sense of sadness and loss that I have to announce the death on June 15, 2011 of a dear colleague and friend to many of us, Dr. Freddy Hargreave.

Freddy Hargreave was one of the founding members of the Division of Respiratory Medicine at McMaster University and helped develop the Firestone Institute for Respiratory Health at McMaster University as a world centre in the investigation and treatment of asthma. The studies that Freddy Hargreave led changed the way that asthma was diagnosed and treated, particularly through his development and validation of the methacholine inhalation challenge test as a method of measuring airway responsiveness in asthma and subsequently with his pioneering work in using induced sputum to measure airway inflammation and make clinical decisions on treatment based on this outcome. Dr. Hargreave trained many of the world leaders in asthma research, some of whom are based in Canada and many others in more than 20 countries around the world.

Freddy Hargreave will be deeply missed by his colleagues at the Firestone Institute and McMaster University. His mentorship and collegiality were legendary and his passion for clinical care, particularly for patients with difficult to treat asthma, was quite unique.

Paul M. O'Byrne, MB, FRCPC, FRSC
Professor and Chair, Department of Medicine

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Dr. Paul O'Byrne has been named as a Fellow in the Royal Society of Canada. "The work that has been recognized by the Royal Society has all been conducted at McMaster University and St. Joseph's Hospital and could not have been done without the outstanding colleagues with whom I work, and the supportive environment of these institutions. I am enormously grateful for both." For more information CLICK HERE

Dr. Parameswaran Nair has had his Canada Research Chair in Airway Inflammometry renewed for another 5 years. His work involves measuring inflammation by non-invasive methods, such as in sputum, to improve treatment during exacerbations and to modify smooth muscle biology to limit chronic changes associated with airway diseases such as asthma and COPD. For more information CLICK HERE

Welcome to Dr. Marcel Tunks who joins the clinical team at St. Joseph's Healthcare and the FIRH respirology group.

Welcome to Dr. Kjetil Ask, who joins the research group following post-doctoral studies at the National Institutes of Health in Maryland, USA. and Dr. Antje Ask, who joins the group as the TD Fellow.

Dr. David Higgins, a clinical respirologist at FIRH, has been appointed as the President of St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton.

Dr. Mark Inman, FIRH Scientific Officer, has been promoted to "Professor", Department of Medicine, McMaster University, as of July 1 2010.

Dr. Susan Wasserman, has been promoted to "Professor", Department of Medicine, McMaster University, as of July 1 2009.

Dr. Michael Newhouse received the 2010 Charles G. Thiel Award from the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Pharmacy‟s Department of Pharmaceutics for his pioneering contributions to pulmonary medicine, respiratory physiology and inhalation delivery.

Dr. Stewart Pugsley, who received the Mission Legacy Award at St. Joseph's Healthcare and the Sister Joan O'Sullivan Award aslo at St. Joseph's Healthcare, has been appointed as the Clinical Director.

Myrna Dolovich received a Career Achievement Award from the International Society for Aerosols in Medicine in recognition of her lifetime contributions advancing the field of aerosols in medicine.

Sadly, in January 2009, FIRH lost one of its greatest advocates when Morgan Firestone, for whom the Firestone Institute is named, died after a lengthy illness. The development of the institute into a world-renowned academic centre would not have been possible without the philanthropic activities of Mr. Firestone.