Katherine Allan, BSc, BASc, MASc, PhD

Toronto, ON | @Katie_s_allan

Senior Research Associate, Division of Cardiology 
Chair, Cardiac Arrest Response and Education (CARE)
Project Manager, Canadian Sudden Cardiac Arrest Network (C-SCAN)
St. Michael’s Hospital
Toronto, ON | @Katie_s_allan

CWHHA member since 2020

Biography

Currently a senior research associate at St. Michael’s Hospital, Dr. Allan specializes in arrhythmia research with a focus on sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) in the young. She has over 14 years of experience in both in-hospital and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest resuscitation research. She is the Project Manager and co-investigator for the Canadian Sudden Cardiac Arrest Network (C-SCAN), a national registry of sudden cardiac arrests, funded by the Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada (CANet), as part of the Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE).  

In 2018, Dr. Allan co-founded CARE (Cardiac Arrest Response and Education), a grass roots organization made up of survivors of SCA, families who have lost a loved one to SCA, scientists, cardiologists and six paramedic organizations. Together with Heart & Stroke and the Red Cross, CARE’s mission is to increase survival from SCA through various community-based initiatives, including raising awareness of SCA, mandating CPR and AED training for all kids and increasing accessibility to AEDs. CARE was instrumental in helping to get Bill 141 Defibrillator Registration and Public Access Act to pass in early 2020 and is now lobbying the Ministry of Education to mandate CPR and AED training for all kids in Ontario.    

Dr. Allan completed a post-doctoral fellowship (2017) at McMaster University focusing on decision aid methodology, patient-oriented outcomes, meta-analyses, and health-related quality of life. She was funded by the E.B. Eastburn scholarship and won numerous awards during her tenure.    

Dr. Allan completed a PhD (2016) at the Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto in collaboration with the Electrophysiology Research Department at St. Michael’s Hospital. Funded by a CIHR doctoral scholarship, her thesis assessed the incidence, etiology and familial risk for sudden cardiac arrest in young individuals (ages 2-45) and their family members within the Greater Toronto Area.    

She is a member of several committees, including the Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS) Advocacy Committee, the CCS Guidelines Review Writing Group, and is Chair of the CANet Training and Education Committee and Chair of the CARE group. She has published 31 articles and presented at both National and International Meetings. She regularly reviews manuscripts for JAHA, Circulation and JACC and is on the editorial board for the CJC and CJC Open.