Looking Back to Move Forward: The History of PH Care, Community, and Research in Canada

“This article captures the history and excellence of Canadian contributions to the field of pulmonary hypertension”

Published in the Canadian Journal of Respiratory, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine in October 2025, the comprehensive paper History of Respiratory Medicine in Canada: Pulmonary hypertension was clearly a labour of love. Authors Dr. Sanjay Mehta and Dr. Namisha Singh, with contributions from Jamie Myrah and Dr. Robert D. Levy, took two years to write it. Settle into your chair, because it’ll take a while to read, as well. But it’s well worth the time.

The paper goes back to the 1950s, detailing the numerous important early contributions of Canadian researchers and scientists to basic and clinical pulmonary hypertension (PH) research, including the use of electrocardiograms for diagnosis. The paper explores the possibility that the first reported Canadian idiopathic pulmonary hypertension (PAH) patient was a young man who was excluded from pilot training based on his electrocardiogram findings.

Caring for children with pulmonary hypertension was another early focus, with Canadian pediatric cardiologists and surgeons founding a multidisciplinary clinic at SickKids in Toronto and working together to manage symptoms and intervene surgically.

Once adult PH clinics were established, the foundation was built for the current landscape of care and research for pulmonary hypertension in Canada. Canadians have made significant research contributions to the field, and you’ll read many familiar names as the paper describes the tremendous progress that has occurred in recent decades in diagnosis, treatment, transplantation, and understanding both the traditional pathways addressed by pulmonary arterial hypertension treatments and new pathways.

After better treatments for PAH became available and longer-term care for patients was necessary, a network of pulmonary hypertension clinical expert centers was developed. These centers offer patients the best multidisciplinary clinical care, as well as providing research support and training for future PH physicians and allied healthcare providers.

Alongside the development of a collaborative national medical pulmonary hypertension community, “grassroots efforts by patients and their caregivers to support others similarly affected by PH led to the development of a national PH community supported by the nonprofit Pulmonary Hypertension Association (PHA) of Canada.”  PHA Canada now supports the entire pulmonary hypertension community, prioritizing support, education, advocacy, awareness, and research.

Readers will gain a sense of the vast progress made in pulmonary hypertension research, treatment, and advocacy over the past few decades through the efforts of both Canadian and international organizations. You will come away with substantial hope for the future.

Looking ahead, the paper notes that although health system capacity issues are an issue, Canadian PH physicians and scientists “remain committed and incredibly active in ongoing biomedical research … we expect great future contributions to earlier and more precise diagnosis using genetic and biomarkers, more effective therapeutic options, as well as possibly a cure for some patients.”

💡 Whether you’re a clinician, researcher, patient, or advocate, this is a must-read look at how far we’ve come—and where we can go from here.

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