Matías Madorno completed his degree in Informatics Engineering and postgraduate degree in Design of Medical Devices at the Buenos Aires Institute of Technology in Argentina. He is an Associate Professor in Engineering and PhD student at the same institution. With more than 15 years of experience in design and development of medical devices, his main research interest is focused on developing tools for bedside monitoring of respiratory physiology including respiratory mechanics, inspiratory effort, and control of breathing. He received 5 grants from the Argentinian Ministry of Science and Technology for innovative research and development. He is currently the manager of a company that develops medical devices including a monitor of respiratory mechanics.

Dr. Burns practices critical care medicine at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. She is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto, a Clinician Scientist at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, and an Associate Member of the School of Graduate Studies with the Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation (University of Toronto) and the Department of Health Research, Evidence and Impact (McMaster University).Dr. Burns’ research program focuses on evaluating strategies to liberate critically ill patients from mechanical ventilation. In addition, she has characterized practice variation in weaning critically ill adults from ventilators on national and international levels. Her research program includes large scale observational studies, national and international weaning surveys, meta-analyses, and randomized trials comparing different weaning strategies. Concurrently, Dr. Burns has developed a research program to characterize the unique aspects of the consent processes in critical care research.

Margaret S. Herridge MSc MD FRCPC MPH is Professor of Medicine, Critical Care and Respiratory Medicine at the Toronto General Hospital/University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. Her research interests include 5-year outcomes after the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), 1-year outcomes after the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and 7 day ventilated critically ill patients and their family caregivers. Since 2007, and in collaboration with the Canadian Critical Care Trials group (CCCTG), she has been the co-PI of the multi-phase national RECOVER Program that is developing a patient- and family-centred rehabilitation intervention after critical illness and a national educational program about ICU outcomes. She has published editorials and 2 landmark papers on outcomes after ARDS in the New England Journal of Medicine and is a frequent international speaker on Outcomes after critical illness.

Lorenzo Del Sorbo is an intensive Care attending at Toronto General Hospital, since appointment in 2016. He graduated in Medicine at the University of Torino, Italy. He trained in Internal Medicine at the University of Torino, and in adult Critical Care Medicine at the University of Toronto. He was appointed and worked as an Assistant Professor of Intensive Care Medicine at the University of Torino, Italy. Lorenzo’s main academic interests focus on the application of innovative strategies to prevent the injury induced by invasive mechanical ventilation. These include investigations on extra-corporeal life support strategies in patients with ARDS and COPD exacerbation, on non-invasive ventilation. His work also extends into the translational research defining the mechanisms of organ injury and developing novel therapeutic approaches in cell and animal models of critical illness.

Vagia is Manager of Respiratory Therapy Services at Sinai Health System. She has over 17 years of experience with a focus in critical care medicine, providing clinical, educational and administrative leadership to diverse interprofessional teams. She obtained her Diploma in Respiratory Therapy in 1999 at the Michener Institute for Applied Health in Toronto, followed by her BHA studies in Health Administration at Ryerson University. She is the Co-Chair of the Acute Resuscitation Committee and a member the MOHTLC Emergency Medical Assistant Team. Her interests include quality improvement, for which she has led several local initiatives. Most recently she is leading a city wide initiative discussing the harmonization of several weaning approaches to standardize patient care and better facilitate research in weaning from mechanical ventilation. Vagia is currently completing her MSc at the University of Toronto with a focus in Quality Improvement and Patient Safety.

Dr Andre Amaral is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto and has a lead role in Quality Improvement in the Department of Critical Care at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. He graduated from the State University of Sao Paulo, Brazil and trained in Internal Medicine and Critical Care. His research interests include process re-engineering, communication in the ICU and the improvement of quality at a local level.

Vincent Lo is a critical care physiotherapist working in MSICU at the University Health Network, Toronto General Hospital. He has 17 years experience working in critical care units across Toronto including Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, St. Michael’s Hospital and has been at Toronto General Hospital since 2007.Vincent holds a status appointment at the University of Toronto at the rank of Lecturer and has been involved in teaching in the Physical Therapy Program as a lecturer, lab instructor, and clinical skills examiner. Vincent was awarded the Exceptional Achievement Award from the University of Toronto, Department of Physical Therapy in 2006-2007. Vincent is currently pursuing and co-leading a clinical research trial in the specialty area as a principal investigator. Vincent graduated from the University of Toronto in 1996 with a Bachelors of Science degree in Physical Therapy.

Elizabeth Wilcox received her medical degree from the University of Calgary, and completed her training in internal medicine and adult critical care medicine at the University of Toronto. After completing research training at the at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the United Kingdom, she returned to join the critical care faculty at the University of Toronto and the Toronto Western Hospital. Her research is focused on the organization of critical care services and long-term outcomes from critical illness. She is currently conducting a large, externally-funded, multicentre cohort study which is evaluating the association of genetic markers, EEG and sleep to cognitive outcomes in survivors of critical illness (COGWELL study).

Dr. Mehta is a Critical Care Physician and Respirologist at Mount Sinai Hospital. She completed medical school at McGill University in Montreal, Internal Medicine training at the University of Toronto, and Respirology and Critical Care training at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. She is a Professor in the Department of Medicine, and a Clinician Scientist in the Division of Respirology and Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care, at the University of Toronto; and Clinician Scientist in the Lunenfeld Tanenbaum Research Institute. She has over 160 peer-review publications.

Eddy Fan is an Associate Professor in the Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care Medicine and the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto and a Staff Intensivist at the University Health Network/Mount Sinai Hospital. Dr. Fan received his undergraduate degree from the University of Toronto, his medical degree from the University of Western Ontario and a PhD in Clinical Investigation from Johns Hopkins University. He is currently the Medical Director of the Extracorporeal Life Support Program at the Toronto General Hospital, and the Director of Critical Care Research at the University Health Network/Mount Sinai Hospital. Dr. Fan’s research has focused on advanced life support for acute respiratory failure and patient outcomes from critical illness.

Alberto Goffi, MD, is a Staff Physician at Toronto Western Hospital – University Health Network and Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto, Department of Medicine and Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care Medicine (IDCCM). After graduating from the University of Torino (Italy) and completing his internal medicine/emergency medicine training in the same city, he moved to Toronto in 2010 for a fellowship in adult critical care medicine. His clinical and academic interests include neurocritical care and point-of-care ultrasound in acute care medicine, with a focus on the clinical utility of ultrasound in critical care medicine and optimal teaching strategies for its competency achievement. Alberto loves travelling for teaching; he has already taught ultrasound and neurocritical care in five different continents. In 2015, he won the Young Lecturer Award at the ESICM annual meeting. Outside of work, Alberto has a passion for creating logos and drawings using his computer; the IDCCM logo is one of his creations.

Dr. Lu Chen graduated from Xiangya Medical School (Hunan, China) in 2004. He completed his specialist training in Intensive Care Medicine, supervised by Dr. Jian-Xin Zhou in Beijing Tiantan Hospital (Beijing, China). He worked with Dr. Marco Ranieri as a visiting scholar in Molinette hospital (Turin, Italy) for one year since 2010. Afterwards, he returned to China and worked as an intensivist for three years. He currently works at St Michael’s Hospital (Toronto, Canada) as a research fellow supervised by Dr. Laurent Brochard, focusing on respiratory physiology and mechanical ventilation, predominantly in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Dr. Scales obtained his MD from the University of Toronto (UofT,1997). He then completed residencies in Internal Medicine and Critical Care Medicine (CCM) and a PhD in Clinical Epidemiology. He is an Associate Professor of Medicine (UofT) and an Intensivist at Sunnybrook HSC.His research evaluates interventions and system-factors that influence outcomes of critically ill patients; he has conducted several large quality improvement RCTs. Dr. Scales serves as a member of many international committees, including the organizing committee of the Critical Care Canada Forum.

Dr Irene Telias was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She completed medical school at the University of Buenos Aires. She is specialist in Internal and Critical Medicine. She has been a fellow in Toronto since 2015, initially as a clinical fellow and currently as a combined research and clinical fellow

Thomas Piraino is the Clinical Specialist – Mechanical Ventilation for the Centre of Excellence in Mechanical Ventilation at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto Ontario, and a Lecturer (Adjunct) for the Department of Anesthesia, Division of Critical Care at McMaster University. He has spoken internationally at various respiratory and critical care conferences, he is a published researcher and author on the subjects of invasive and noninvasive mechanical ventilation, and monitoring in the critical care environment. He is also a member of the Editorial Board of the Respiratory Care Journal, and the Canadian Journal of Respiratory Therapy.

Dr. Niall Ferguson is Head of Critical Care Medicine at the University Health Network and Sinai Health System, and full Professor in the Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care Medicine at the University of Toronto, with appointments in the Departments of Medicine and Physiology, and the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. He is a Senior Scientist in the Toronto General Research Institute, and the Critical Care Lead for the Toronto-Central Local Health Integration Network. He received his M.D. with honours from the University of Toronto, and went on to complete post-graduate training in Internal Medicine, Respirology, and Critical Care Medicine. Dr. Ferguson completed a Master’s degree in Clinical Epidemiology and Health Care Research at the University of Toronto and subsequently undertook a CIHR Post-doctoral Fellowship in Madrid, Spain. He receives research funding from local, provincial, and national agencies, including the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Dr. Ferguson’s research, which is published in high-impact journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, and the American Journal of Respiratory & Critical Care Medicine focuses on: (1) mechanical ventilation (epidemiology; weaning and liberation; extubation and tracheostomy); (2) acute respiratory distress syndrome (definitions; ventilatory management; trial design); and (3) novel modes of mechanical ventilation, including extra-corporeal life support. Dr. Ferguson is the Scientific Programme Chair for Critical Care Canada Forum, Canada’s premier critical care conference. He is a frequent invited-speaker at national and international meetings, having given over 300 such talks.

Dr. Kavanagh graduated from University College Dublin (Ireland) in 1985. Following residency in Internal Medicine in Dublin and in Anaesthesia (residency and fellowship) in Toronto, he trained in Critical Care Medicine in Stanford. He returned to the Toronto General Hospital in 1994 and in 1999 moved to the Hospital for Sick Children where he is a clinician-scientist and holds the Dr. Geoffrey Barker Chair in Critical Care Medicine. His laboratory investigates mechanisms of ventilator-induced lung injury and the actions of carbon dioxide in the lung. Dr. Kavanagh is the chair of Critical Care Canada Forum; he is an associate editor (Critical Care) and an executive editor (Anesthesiology). In 2017 he completed two terms as Chair, Department of Anesthesia, University of Toronto.

Dr. Yoshida is a graduate from Mie University School of Medicine in Japan. He completed his clinical training in Osaka and is board certified in Emergency Medicine and Critical Care Medicine. His graduate training (PhD) was completed in Osaka (Dr. Fujino) and focused on mechanisms of lung injury; during this time he demonstrated that lung injury can result from spontaneous effort during mechanical ventilation. Following this he completed a postdoctoral fellowship in São Paulo (Dr. Amato) where he described ‘Pendelluft’, a new mechanism of spontaneous breathing-associated lung injury. He is currently completing an additional 2-year post-doctoral fellowship in Toronto (Dr. Kavanagh) focusing on negative abdominal pressure, spontaneous breathing, and ARDS. Dr. Yoshida is supported by a RestraComp training award from the Hospital for Sick Children; he has published 35 papers and received multiple awards.

My major research interests relate to the lung injury caused by mechanical ventilation: so called ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI). Specifically, my lab is working on (1) biotrauma: the molecular mechanisms by which injurious forms of mechanical ventilation can lead to release of mediators; (2) the mechanisms by which these mediators can affect distal organs (e.g. kidney, liver, etc.) and lead to multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS); and (3) therapeutic approaches (ventilatory and non-ventilatory) to mitigate VILI and biotrauma. My laboratory makes use of a number of model systems including in vitro, ex vivo cell and various animal models. As well, I have an interest in clinical trials related to mechanical ventilation, acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).

Dr. McCredie received her undergraduate degree in medical sciences at the University of St. Andrews; her medical degree from University of Manchester; and her internal medicine training at University of Manchester. Dr. McCredie moved to Canada in 2009 to complete a critical care fellowship and then a further sub-specialized neurocritical care fellowship, both at the University of Toronto. Her certifications include internal medicine from Royal College of Physicians U.K., internal medicine and critical care medicine from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and neurocritical care medicine from the United Council for Neurological Subspecialties in the United States. She received additional doctoral research training in clinical epidemiology at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on clinical epidemiology methods to examine the relationship between process of care, structure and outcome for critically ill patients with acute brain injury. Her research also focuses on evaluating pathophysiologic mechanisms contributing to secondary brain injury processes during critical illness, looking specifically at the role of blood transfusions in traumatic brain injury and the effects on cerebral tissue oxygenation. She has also published on topics related to the withdrawal of life-sustaining therapies in severe traumatic brain injury, airway management strategies for acutely brain injured patients, and statistical modelling methods.

John Granton is a professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto and head of Respirology at University Health Network, Mount Sinai Hospital and Women’s College Hospital. He is a consultant in respirology, lung transplantation and critical care at the Toronto General Hospital. He established and remains the director of the pulmonary hypertension (PH) program at the University Health Network. He is chair of the board of the Ontario Lung Association and chair of the national fundraising advisory committee for the Canadian Lung Association. His research interests are in pulmonary hypertension, exercise physiology, and critical illness.

Laurent Brochard has been recently appointed as the new Interdepartmental Division Director for Critical Care in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto. He is Full Professor, Clinician scientist in the Division of Critical Care Saint Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. He was previously working in Geneva as Head of the Intensive Care Unit of the Geneva University Hospital, in Switzerland for three years. Most of his career took place at Henri Mondor Hospital, Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris, and at Paris EST University, France. He has a strong involvement in research, and especially clinical research about mechanical ventilation. He has been Editor-in-Chief of the journal Intensive Care Medicine from 2001 to 2007, and is currently serving as Deputy Editor for the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. He is leading a European Research Network dedicated to clinical studies in Mechanical Ventilation, called REVA.

Ewan Goligher studied medicine at the University of British Columbia and trained in internal medicine and critical care medicine at the University of Toronto. Upon completion of his clinical training, he undertook Doctoral studies in physiology at the University of Toronto, completing the PhD in 2016. His research aims to delineate mechanisms of injury from mechanical ventilation with a view to prevention and treatment in order to improve outcomes for patients with acute respiratory failure around the globe.