Two medical colleagues, one a cardiologist and the other a researcher from the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre (PMCC) at Toronto General Hospital (TGH), are trying to draw attention to heart failure by running in the Paris International Marathon on Sunday.
“Despite being involved in doing research and taking care of patients, we can still train for a marathon,” said Farid Foroutan, a PhD candidate and research fellow at TGH.
“Actions speak louder than words,” said Dr. Jeremy Kobulnik, cardiologist at the PMCC and Mount Sinai Hospital.
“Let’s put ourselves through something we’ve never done before.”
The PMCC is a leading institution in Canada and around the world in the field of heart failure — the most rapidly rising cardiovascular disease in Canada.
“It’s estimated that about a million people are living with heart failure across Canada,” Foroutan said.
“As our patient population is getting older, the incidents of heart failure is increasing,” Kobulnik said.
“I think we’re also better able to detect it.”
“One of the big research initiatives at Peter Munk Cardiac Centre at Toronto General Hospital is that we’re developing a program so that we can use this information to identify the patients who are at risk of developing heart failure, so that we can stop it before it ever happens,” Foroutan said.
Both men were slated to be in Paris for a conference this month, and both men agreed to participate in the marathon despite their heavy workloads.
“I think part of this is that we have the commitment to raise awareness, raise funds,” Kobulnik said.
“And we have a commitment to each other that we’re both going to do this.”