162 - RICHARD ROWE COMPETITION

Thursday, October 23, 2025

4:30pm - 5:30pm ET

Room:204AB

Target Audience: Pediatric cardiologists, Adult congenital heart disease specialists

Co-Chair(s)

Michael Khoury, MD FRCPC

Pediatric Cardiologist - Heart Function and Transplant
CPCA
University of Alberta
LM

Luc Mertens

Director Echocardiography
The Hospital for Sick Children Toronto
University of Toronto

Presenting Author(s)

Joseph Bellissimo, BSc

Medical Student
Queen's University
Queen's University
Shivani Bhat, MD, MPH (she/her/hers)

Internal Medicine Resident
University Of Saskatchewan
University of Saskatchewan
Tony El-Rabahi, MSc (he/him/his)

Medical Student
Dalhousie University
Dalhousie University
Venessa Thorsen, BSc (Hons), MSc (she/her/hers)

Medical Student
University of Alberta
University of Alberta

The finalists for the 2025 Richard Rowe Competition present their abstract research during this 1-hour session.

Presentations:

Tony El-Rabahi – Modified Ultrafiltration Does Not Reduce Inflammatory Mediator Burden After Children's Heart Surgery with Cardiopulmonary Bypass

Shivani Bhat – Heart-Felt Immunity: Uncovering COVID-19 Vaccine Attitudes in ACHD Patients

Joseph Bellissimo – Mesenchymal Stromal Cell Derived mRNA Therapy for Fontan-Associated Liver Disease: Preclinical Design, Validation and Preliminary Results

Venessa Thorsen – Secular Trends in the Detection and Management of Pediatric Dyslipidemias in British Columbia (2000–2021)

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this session participants will be able to:

critically appraise innovative research approaches in pediatric and adult congenital heart disease;
evaluate the broader social and behavioral dimensions influencing cardiovascular health outcomes, with attention to patient perspectives and public health implications; and
synthesize findings from translational and population-level studies to inform future directions in congenital cardiovascular care and research.