Transform HF
Digital Innovation for Heart Failure CareTRANSFORM HF aims to build, support, and seed fund a community of engineers, scientists and clinicians who will work in tandem with Indigenous health experts and patients to develop point-of-care diagnostics, wearables, and AI technologies to monitor and proactively treat people with heart failure in their homes – and empower them to be more active in their own care.
750,000
Canadians are living with heart failure
7
Days in hospital on average per visit
100,000
New cases are diagnosed each year
70,000
Canadians hospitalized per year
Heart Failure in Canada
Few chronic conditions carry as great a burden as heart failure. Yet its care in Canada is fragmented, low-tech and reactive, with glaring inequities in access, quality of care and patient outcomes. Through collaboration, integration and innovation, our diverse team will dramatically alter the management and trajectory of people with heart failure, bringing new innovations into clinical practice, and improving access to equitable high-quality care.
Together, we will break the barriers faced by Indigenous people and underserved communities. And improve care for all.
FEATURED EVENT
ECHO Discovery Fireside Chat: HDAX Therapeutics
Our next ECHO Discovery fireside chat is around the corner! On April 24th, join us and the Translational Biology and Engineering Program for an inspiring discussion with Dr. Nabanita Nawar – CEO and Founder of HDAX Therapeutics. Tune in to learn all about Dr. Nawar’s journey of becoming a successful entrepreneur and the novel approach her biotechnology company is taking to support cardiovascular disease.
NEWS
Re-Imagining the Heart Failure Landscape
At TRANSFORM HF, one of the key ways we foster innovation and build connections is through our Collaboration Starter Grants. These grants spark new partnerships, providing crucial early-stage funding for research proposals. We’re thrilled to announce our 2025 recipients who are working to advance heart failure care and prevention through equitable, patient-centered design. Say hello to our seven teams – or rather – TRANSFORM HF’s Group of Seven.
MOVING THE NEEDLE
U of T Groundbreakers
Our University of Toronto Groundbreakers episode is live! Hear from Dr. Heather Ross, Amika Shah, and Dr. Dan Franklin to learn about some of the important work we are supporting.
Groundbreakers is a multimedia series that features U of T research superstars from the Institutional Strategic Initiatives.
Acknowledgement of Territory
We acknowledge the traditional territories of the Mississauga of the New Credit First Nation, Anishnawbe, Wendat, Huron, and Haudenosaunee Indigenous Peoples on which our partner institutions stand.
The territory was the subject of the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement between the Iroquois Confederacy and Confederacy of the Ojibwe and allied nations to peaceably share and care for the resources around the Great Lakes. We would also like to pay our respects to all our ancestors and to our present Elders.