Professor

Sheldon Cheskes

DFCM - Emergency Medicine Division

MD CCFP (EM) FCFP

Location
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Address
77 Browns Line, Suite 100, Toronto, Ontario Canada M8W 3S2
Research Interests
Emergency Medicine, Resuscitation Science, Social Determinants of Health, Case Studies, Quantitative Data Analysis
Accepting
Graduate Students, Other, Summer Students, Volunteers

- Associate Professor, Emergency Medicine, Family and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada

- Scientist, Keenan Research Institute, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael’s Hospital

- Medical Director, Regions of Halton and Peel, Sunnybrook Centre for Prehospital Medicine, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

- Affiliate Scientist, Sunnybrook Research Institue 

- Co Principal Investigator, Toronto Regional Rescuenet, Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium, St. Michael’s Hospital

- Principal Investigator, Toronto Site, Canadian Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium (CanROC)

- Courtesy Staff, Department of Emergency Medicine, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

- Active Staff, Department of Family Medicine, William Osler Health Centre, Brampton Civic Hospital

- Medical Director, Spectrum Patient Care Services, Ontario, Canada

- Medical Director, Mississauga Fire & Emergency Services

- Medical Director, Caledon Fire and Emergency Services

- Medical Director, Brampton Fire and Emergency Services

 

Research Synopsis

 

Dr. Cheskes research interests lay in the area of resuscitation science particularly the area of cardiac arrest resuscitation. He has a particular interest in CPR quality and its impact on cardiac arrest survival. He as well has interests in STEMI systems of care as well as pre-hospital airway management. Dr. Cheskes currently is a co principal investigator in studies exploring the impact of early prehospital treatment of sepsis (PITSTOP trial) as well as the impact of remote ischemic conditioning on clinical outcomes from STEMI (FIRST study). Finally innovative techniques in the treatment of refractory ventricular fibrillation (double sequential external defibrillaiton, ECMO) are an area of particular interest.

Honours and Awards

Name:
Description:

 

HONOURS AND CAREER AWARDS
Distinctions and Research Awards
INTERNATIONAL
-The Abigail and Gary Conrad Emergency Medicine Research Award, U Penn (university of Pennsylvania), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. (Research Award, Specialty: Emergency Medicine)
-“Top 12 papers of 2015 to impact clinical practice”, New England Journal of Medicine. (Research Award)
Trial of Continuous or Interrupted Chest Compressions during CPR.
-Best cardiac arrest presentation winner, NAEMSP. (Distinction)
The impact of peri-shock pause on survival from out-of- hospital shockable cardiac arrest during the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium PRIMED trial. 
-Best scientific presentation winner, NAEMSP. (Distinction)
The impact of peri-shock pause on survival from out-of- hospital shockable cardiac arrest during the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium PRIMED trial. 
-“Best poster presentation” winner, NAEMSP. (Distinction)
“Does Prehospital CPAP impact the mortality and morbidity of acute respiratory emergencies”. 2013 

NATIONAL

-“Top 4 in Canadian Emergency medicine Research”, CAEP. (Research Award)
The impact of peri-shock pause on survival from out-of-hospital shockable cardiac arrest during the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium PRIMED trial. 
Nominated

PROVINCIAL / REGIONAL
Received

-Department of Family and Community Medicine Research Excellence Award (Senior), University of Toronto. (Research Award, Specialty: Emergency Medicine)
-Service Recognition Award for Medical Oversight in EMS (20 years), Ontario Base Hospital Group. (Distinction)
-Lifetime Achievement Award, Ontario Paramedic Association. (Distinction)
Awarded for Excellence in Prehospital Care.

LOCAL

-Hospital Achievement Award, Emergency Medicine Service, William Osler Health System, Brampton Memorial Hospital Campus. (Distinction)
-Dr. Sheldon Cheskes Bursary Award for Excellence in Paramedic Education, RESCU, St. Michael’s Hospital, University of Toronto. (Distinction)
To be awarded to a paramedic on a yearly basis showing excellence in prehospital research and education.
-Quality Award of Excellence, Trillium Health Centre. (Distinction)
ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction: Quality Care Achieved Through Regional Partnerships.
-Hospital Achievement Award, Peel Memorial Hospital. (Distinction)
- Physician Recognition Award Education Committee, Peel Memorial Hospital. (Distinction)

Teaching and Education Awards

LOCAL

-Hospital Achievement Award, Medical Education, William Osler Health Centre, Brampton Memorial Hospital Campus. (Continuing Education)

Grants

 

2019 July- Principal Investigator. Region of Peel Community Responder Program for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.Co-investigators and Collaborators. Snobelen Paul, Nevils,Gordon, Drennan, Ian. Zoll Medical Corporation Investigator Initiated Grant. 261,250 CAD(Grants)

2019 May- Principal Investigator. AED on the Fly: A Drone Delivery Feasibility Study. Co-investigators and Collaborators. Snobelen Paul, Nolan, Michael, Collaciti Greg, Reece Philip, Vaillancourt Christian, Dainty Katie, Brooks Steven, Chan Tim. Zoll Medical Corporation Investigator Initiated Grant. 50,000 CAD(Grants)

2019 May Co-investigator. Neighbours Saving Neighbours: Planning a Community Volunteer Resuscitation Program For Victims of Out-of- Hospital Cardiac Arrest in Canada. Principal Investigator: Steve Brooks. Co-investigators: Robert Acheson, Michael Feldman, John Tallon, Peter Thorpe, Farhan Banji, Erin Brennan, Jim Christenson, Gareth Clegg, Katie Dainty, Brian Grunau, Laurie Morrison, Adam Szulewski, Christian Vaillancourt, CIHR Planning Grant 15,000 CAD (Grants)

2019 April-March 2020 Principal Investigator. AED on the Fly: A Drone Delivery Feasibility Study. Co-investigators and Collaborators. Snobelen Paul, Nolan, Michael, Collaciti Greg, Reece Philip, Vaillancourt Christian, Dainty Katie, Brooks Steven, Chan Tim. CANet (Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada). 150,000 CAD(Grants)

2019 Mar- July 2022 Principal Investigator. Double Sequential External Defibrillation in Refractory Ventricular Fibrillation. The DOSE VF randomized controlled trial. Collaborator (s). Verbeek Richard, Mcleod Shelley, Scales Damon, Morrison Laurie, Pinto Ruxandra, Lin Steve, Ko, Dennis, Dorian Paul.Heart and Stroke Foundation- Grant in Aid. 283,347 CAD (Grants)

2018 Nov Co- Investigator. Finalist, Angel’s Den. St. Michaels Hospital Research Competition. AED on the go. Improving public access to automated external defibrillators. Collaborator (s) Dorian, Paul, Anargan Paul, Umapathy K. Brooks S. 25,000 CAD (Grants)

2018 July- 2020 June Co- Investigator. AED on the go. Improving public access to automated external defibrillators. Michael R. Freeman Innovation Competition. Collaborator (s) Dorian, Paul, Anargan Paul, Umapathy K. Brooks S. 150,000 CAD (Grants)

2017 June- 2020 June Co-Principal Investigator. Targeted Initiatives to Decrease the Burden of Sudden Cardiac Death in Canada – A CANet-CanROC Collaboration. Collaborator (s) Lin Steve, Dorian Paul, Christian Vaillancourt, Katie Dainty, Chris Fordyce, Brian Grunau, Laurie Morrison, Jim Christenson. CanNet Grant 1,246,942 CAD (Grants)

2017 May- 2018 May Principal Investigator. Double Sequential External Defibrillation in Refractory Ventricular Fibrillation. The DOSE VF randomized controlled trial. Collaborator (s). Verbeek Richard, Mcleod Shelley, Scales Damon, Morrison Laurie, Pinto Ruxandra, Dorian Paul. Laerdal Foundation Grant 22,500 US dollars (Grants)

2017 May- 2022 May Co-Investigator. The Epinephrine Randomized Optimal Versus Current Dose (EpiROC) Canada Trial. CIHR Project Grant. Collaborator(s): Dorian, Paul; Lin, Steve; Morrison, Laurie J,Brooks, Steven C; Cheskes, Sheldon; Christenson, James M; Dainty, Katie N; Drennan, Ian; Scales, Damon C; Stiell, Ian G; Thorpe, Kevin E; Vaillancourt, Christian; Verbeek, P. 2,509,200 CAD (Grants)

2017 May- 2018 May Co-Investigator. Resuscitation in Motion (RiM) 2018 - From Research to Real World Resuscitation - Dissemination and knowledge exchange for best practice. Collaborator(s): Baker A, Brooks S, Buick J, Chan T, Cheskes S, Christenson J, Dainty K, Dorian P, Drennan I, Grunau B, Gupta S, Jensen J, Lin S, Orkin A, Parsons J, Rizoli S, Rose L, Rotstein O, Scales D, Thoma B, Tijssen J, Vaillancourt C, Vaillancourt S, Verbeek PR, Welsford M, deCaen A. CIHR Grant 15,000 CAD (Grants)

2017 Mar- 2019 Mar Collaborator. Determining Long-Term Outcomes Important to Sudden Cardiac Arrest Survivors & Families. Sunnybrook AFP Innovation Grant. Collaborator(s): Katie Dainty, Richard Verbeek, Damon Scales, Joe Sexton. 95,000 CAD (Grants). Research exploring the long term outcomes of patients sustaining OHCA.

2016 Jul - 2018 Dec Principal Investigator. FIRST Study- Field implementation of the AutoRiC device in ST segment elevation myocardial infarction. HTX. REACH Grant. REACH Grant. Collaborator(s): Richard Verbeek, Paul Dorian, Dennis Ko, Madhu Natarajan, Dominic Raco, Bob Singh, Laurie Morrison. 710,000 CAD. [Grants]
Research exploring the impact of remote ischemic conditioning for patients with STEMI.

2015 Dec - 2016 May Collaborator. The Canadian Cardiac Arrest Witness Registry Think Tank: Working together to build an interactive citizen engagement opportunity. Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Planning and Dissemination Grant– Institute Community Suppor. 354855. PI: Dainty, Katie. Collaborator(s): Dr. S. Brooks Mr. J. Buick Dr. S. Cheskes Dr. L. Morrison
Dr. C. Vaillancourt. 24,550 CAD. [Grants]
Think tank on improving rates of bystander CPR.

2015 Jul - 2020 Jul Co- Principal Investigator. CanROC- Canadian Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium:Toward a National Resuscitation Clinical Research Network. Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). ICRH Community Development Grant. PI: Morrison, Laurie. Collaborator(s): Stiell, Ian, Christenson, Jim, Dorian, Paul, Vaillancourt,Christian. 1,500,000 CAD. [Grants]
Development of a Canadian Resuscitation research network based on the lessons learned from ROC over the last 10 years. Development of a national cardiac arrest registry as well as the opportunity to do interventional and observational research in cardiac arrest, trauma, and pediatric resuscitation.

2015 Jul - 2020 Jul Co- Principal Investigator. CanROC- Canadian Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium:Toward a National Resuscitation Clinical Research Network. Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada (HSFC). ICRH Community Development Grant. PI: Morrison, Laurie. Collaborator(s): Stiell, Ian, Christenson, Jim, Dorian, Paul, Vaillancourt,Christian. 1,500,000 CAD. [Grants]
Development of a Canadian Resuscitation research network based on the lessons learned from ROC over the last 10 years. Development of a national cardiac arrest registry as well as the opportunity to do interventional and observational research in cardiac arrest, trauma, and pediatric resuscitation.

2015 Jun - 2018 Co-Investigator. A Pragmatic Strategy Empowering Paramedics to Assess Low‐Risk Trauma Patients with the Canadian C‐Spine Rule and Selectively Transport them Without Immobilization. Ontario SPOR SUPPORT Unit. IMPACT Award. PI: Vaillancourt , Christian. 1,456,990 CAD. [Grants]
This trial will look at decreasing the use of C spine immobilization by paramedics in pre-hospital care.

2015 - 2020 Co-Principal Investigator. Paramedic Initiated Treatment of Sepsis Trial in Out-of-hospital Patients (PITSTOP). Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Heatlh Services and Policy Research. 342603. PI: Scales Damon. Collaborator(s): Dr. S. Cheskes Mr. I. Drennan Dr. T. Mazzulli Dr. A. Morris Dr. L. Morrison Dr. G. Rubenfeld Dr. C. Seymour Dr. P. Verbeek. 900,555 CAD. [Grants]
A randomized controlled trial investigating the impact of paramedic identification and treatment of sepsis in the prehospital care field.

2014 Nov - 2015 Nov Co-Principal Investigator and Supervising Investigator. Finding the Sickest Patients: Validation of a Prehospital Sepsis Screening Tool. Ontario Paramedic Research Consortium. PI: Cheskes, S. Collaborator(s): Mausz J, Tavares W, Turner L, MacCalman, Alvarez R. 3,865 CAD. [Grants]

2014 Oct - 2017 Sep Co-Investigator. The Frontier Trial - Field Randomization of NA-1 Treatment In Early Responders. NoNO Inc. PI: Morrison, Laurie. Collaborator(s): Morrison L, Benavente O, Casaubon L, Cheskes S, Christenson J, Demchuck A, Dick W, Goyal M, Hill M, Martin R, Mehdirata M, Perez Y, Selchen D, Swartz R, Tymianski M, Verbeek PR. 1,600,000 CAD. [Industrial Grants]

2014 Oct - 2017 Sep Co-Investigator. The Frontier Trial - Field Randomization of NA-1 Treatment In Early Responders. Brain Canada. PI: Morrison, Laurie. Collaborator(s): Morrison L, Benavente O, Casaubon L, Cheskes S, Christenson J, Demchuck A, Dick W, Goyal M, Hill M, Martin R, Mehdirata M, Perez Y, Selchen D, Swartz R, Tymianski M, Verbeek PR. 6,578,920 CAD. [Grants]

2014 Principal Investigator. The association between chest compression release velocity and clinical outcomes from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. ZOLL Medical Corporation. Collaborator(s): Cheskes S, Common M, Byers A, Zhan C, Morrison L. 15,000 CAD. [Industrial Grants]

2013 Sep - 2016 Sep Co-Investigator. Assessing and improving the quality of care of patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Operating Grant. PI: Ko, D. Collaborator(s): Ko D, Austin P, Morrison L, Stukel T, Wijeysundera H, Cheskes S, Rac V, Tu J, Dorian P, Scales D, Verbeek R. 443,022 CAD. [Grants]

2012 Jan - 2013 Jun Principal Investigator. Does prehospital CPAP impact the treatment and mortality of acute respiratory emergencies? Ontario Paramedic Research Consortium. Collaborator(s): Cheskes S, Turner L, Thomson S, Aljerian N, Summers J. 2,500 CAD. [Grants]

2011 Oct - 2015 Oct Co-Principal Investigator. The ICE-PACS randomized control trial. A trial investigating the ability of pre hospital hypothermia and its impact on in hospital cooling rates. Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Operating Grant. PI: Scales D. Collaborator(s): Scales D, Morrison LJ, Brooks S, Thorpe K, Mamdani M, Dainty K, Perreira T, Cheskes S, Craig A, Verbeek R, Darling S. 945,275 CAD. [Grants]

2011 Jan - 2012 Dec Co-Investigator. Death notification in the field: A pilot study. Ontario Paramedic Research Consortium. PI: Douglas, Lee ann. Collaborator(s): Douglas L, Ratanpalan S, Cheskes S, Feldman M. 15,000 CAD. [Grants]

2010 - 2016 Co-Principal Investigator. From Bench to Bedside to Curbside. Clinical Research Consortium to improve Resuscitation Outcomes. Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada (HSFC). PI: Morrison, Laurie. Collaborator(s): Nathens A, Slutsky AS, Dorian P. 1,500,000 CAD. [Grants]

2010 - 2016 Co-Principal Investigator. Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium Core Training Grant. National Institutes of Health & Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada & Canadian Institute of Health Research. PI: Morrison, Laurie. Collaborator(s): Nathens A, Slutsky AS, Dorian P. 335,000 USD. [Grants]

2010 - 2016 Co-Principal Investigator. From Bench to Bedside to Curbside. Clinical Research Consortium to improfeb ve Resuscitation Outcomes. National Institutes of Health (NIH) (USA). PI: Morrison, Laurie. Collaborator(s): Nathens A, Slutsky AS, Dorian P. 648,000 USD. [Grants]

2009 - 2016 Co-Principal Investigator. From Bench to Bedside to Curbside. Clinical Research Consortium to improve Resuscitation Outcomes. Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Institute of Circulatory and Respiratory Health (ICRH). PI: Morrison, Laurie. Collaborator(s): Nathens A, Slutsky AS, Dorian P. 1,057,000 CAD. [Grants]

2002 - 2003 Co-Investigator. The Reliability and Validity of CTAS Assignment in the Prehospital Setting. Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. Collaborator(s): Murray M, Vandersluis R, Affleck A, Arcieri V, Welsford M, Schwartz B, Cheskes S. 105,143 CAD. [Grants]