Help to build the finest
heart institute in Canada.
UPDATED
Dr. Arvind Koshal
Director of Development and External Affairs
Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute
The Surgeon
Dr. Arvind Koshal has always been on the "A-list"—that
mythical roster of extraordinary people who make their mark on the
world. He was born in England and grew up in India as part of a
family that lived and breathed medicine. His father, a chief of
surgery, believed his son Arvind would be a surgeon "since
before he was born."
True to his father's prediction, not only did young Arvind become
a surgeon, but he became the Chief of Cardiovascular Surgery for
Capital Health in Edmonton. "Surgery is my passion," he
says.
While still a medical student, Dr. Koshal earned seven gold medals,
including the Pfizer award for the most outstanding medical graduate.
He went on to complete his cardiac surgery training at the University
of Ottawa Heart Institute and later joined the Harvard Medical Centre
in Boston as a Canadian Heart Foundation Research Fellow. An accomplished
cardiovascular surgeon, Dr. Koshal performed Canada's first implantation
of the Thoratec left ventricular assist device—a small blood
pump that improves blood flow in malfunctioning hearts. He was also
a member of the team that performed the first total artificial heart
implant in Canada.
He has numerous publications and many presentations at national
and international forums. In 1994, Dr. Koshal was awarded the Wilbert
J. Keon Award for outstanding contribution to Canada in the field
of cardiovascular medicine. In 1999, he was elected as the President
of the Canadian Society of Cardiac Surgeons and was awarded the
Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal and Alberta Centennial medal.
In 1991, Dr. Koshal left the Ottawa Heart Institute for Capital
Health in Edmonton. He became part of a team that shared his vision
to build the finest heart institute in Canada. After more than a
decade of planning, that vision became a reality. Dr. Koshal was
there when the first shovels broke ground for the Mazankowski Alberta
Heart Institute in the fall of 2003.
"It's an amazing feeling to see a big dream unfold in front
of you," he says.
In the ten years that Dr. Koshal served as chief of cardiovascular
surgery, Capital Health's heart transplant program has grown become
the largest in the country. "We are very fortunate to have
such an expert team here," he says.
The expert surgical team will be an important part of the heart
institute, but Dr. Koshal believes that just as the human heart
exists within a cardiovascular system—intricately connected
to other elements that all function together—the new Mazankowski
Alberta Heart Institute must function within a regional system that
provides cardiac services across the province.
Accordingly, Dr. Koshal leads the regional committee that plans
cardiac services in Capital Health. Its goal is to ensure that heart
patients will get the best care, whether they enter the system at
the front doors of the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute, or from
an ambulance in a rural community.
His new role as Director of Development and External Affairs builds
on Dr. Koshal's strengths in seeing this bigger system picture.
He will work to ensure the Heart Institute contributes to the regional,
provincial and global agenda on preventing and treating heart disease.
He will also work with the University Hospital Foundation to support
its tremendous efforts to raise funds to advance medical education
and to fund research programs and state-of-the-art equipment in
the Heart Institute. Already, the campaign has raised $40 million.
"We're working toward a future where heart disease is no longer
a major cause of death for men and women in Alberta and where—when
you need heart care—this heart institute is the best place
to be," Dr. Koshal says.
It's a vision Dr. Koshal says he shares with the A–list of
people who have supported him along his career path—his father,
his mentors, colleagues, patients, and friends—and his A-list
family: wife Arti, and sons Arjun, Anu and Amit.
Alberta Health Services - Capital Health

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