
SAVE THE DATE!
Saturday, November 22, 2025.
The CathSHOCK Conference is a multidisciplinary event for physicians and allied health professionals. It showcases up-to-date approaches and management strategies for cardiogenic shock in the cath lab. Presentations focus on:
- The role of a Shock Team in the management of Cardiogenic Shock patients
- Percutaneous Mechanical Circulatory Support options
- MCS-assisted PCI - when and how to decide
- Support of the unstable patient in the cath lab
CathSHOCK provides a practice-based learning opportunity for the delivery of care when managing cardiogenic shock. Attendees will have the opportunity to participate in simulations with dedicated Proceduralist and Allied Health simulation streams.
Learning Objectives
- To understand the frontier of percutaneous MCS options
- To review current approaches and management of cardiogenic shock in the cath lab
- To provide a practice-based learning opportunity when managing cardiogenic shock patients

Dr. Ayaaz K. Sachedina
Chair, CathSHOCK Conference
Ayaaz is a Canadian Interventional Cardiologist at Foothills Medical Centre and the University of Calgary. He is the Director of CathSHOCK – Calgary Shock Symposium, the Lead for the Percutaneous Mechanical Circulatory Support Program in the Cardiac Catheterization Lab, and the coordinator of the Cardiogenic Shock Team Initiative at Foothills. He completed his medical training at the University of Toronto, the University of Western Ontario, and the University of Texas where he completed a fellowship in Interventional Heart Failure at the Center for Advanced Cardiopulmonary Therapeutics and Transplant, Texas Medical Center, Houston. His focuses include coronary intervention, percutaneous mechanical support in the management of cardiogenic shock, and TAVI.

Dr. Michael Tsang
Lead, Program Advisory Committee
Dr. Michael Tsang is an Interventional and Critical Care Cardiologist. He completed his Cardiology, Interventional Cardiology and Critical Care Cardiology at McMaster University. He holds a MSc. in Health Science Education and is the Assistant Program Director for the McMaster Adult Cardiology Residency Program. His clinical, educational and quality improvement work focus is on Cardiogenic Shock, the Shock Team, Mechanical Circulatory Support and Complex coronary artery disease. He is the Catheterization Laboratory Lead on Cardiogenic Shock and Mechanical Circulatory Support at Hamilton Health Sciences. He co-lead the McMaster Cardiogenic Shock Team model through which he continues to strive for excellence.

Samantha Morahan
Clinical Engagement Specialist
Samantha is a dedicated liaison to the Department of Cardiac Sciences, guiding clinical members in fostering collaborations and advancing impactful initiatives. She leads the planning and execution of the Clinical Innovation Initiatives such as Heart Failure, the Calgary Aortic Program, Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery, and Cardio-Oncology.

Dr. Sanjog Kalra
Dr. Sanjog Kalra is recognized nationally and internationally as an expert in advanced coronary revascularization techniques, intravascular imaging, modern hemodynamic support therapies and in the management of shock and critically ill heart patients. He served as the inaugural Director of Complex Coronary Therapeutics and the Associate Director of the Interventional Cardiology Fellowship Program at Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In September 2020, he returned to Canada to join the Peter Munk Cardiac Center at Toronto General Hospital as an Interventional Cardiologist and Cardiac Intensivist with a full-time academic appointment in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto.
Since he arrived in Toronto, Dr. Kalra has greatly expanded the breadth of care offered to patients with complex coronary artery disease. He has won numerous national and international teaching awards and was recently awarded the prestigious Brompton Funds Professorship in Interventional Cardiology by the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre and the University of Toronto. Dr. Kalra remains keenly interested in complex coronary artery disease management, chronic total occlusion revascularization, and temporary mechanical circulatory support use in both high-risk percutaneous coronary interventions and cardiogenic shock.

Dr. Derek So
Dr. Derek So, a professor at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, is an interventional cardiologist and director of the cardiac catheterization laboratory. He obtained his medical degree from the University of Toronto and completed residency in Cardiology and Interventional Cardiology in Ottawa. Dr. So holds a Master’s degree in clinical epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health. His research interests include: acute coronary syndromes, pharmacogenomics, personalized anti-platelet therapy and cardiogenic shock. He is the interventional cardiology lead at the UOHI Code Shock Program team. Dr. So also leads the Canadian Cardiovascular Research Collaboratory (C3) cardiogenic shock working group.

Dr. Daniel Kim
Dr. Daniel Kim is a Professor of Medicine and Interventional & Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiologist at the University of Alberta. He is the Medical Director of Advanced Heart Failure & Transplantation. He is a recognized educator, having received teaching awards for Undergraduate, Postgraduate and Peer Teaching. His clinical and research interests are on novel detection methods for rejection and cardiac allograft vasculopathy, cardiorenal physiology in heart failure, cardiogenic shock team implementation, invasive intracoronary imaging and coronary physiologic assessment. He has authored and co-authored numerous publications including guidelines and consensus statements from CCS and the ISHLT.

Dr. Jeff Shaw
Dr. Jeff Shaw is a cardiologist specializing in advanced echocardiography, critical care medicine, and critical care cardiology at the University of Calgary.
Dr. Shaw completed internal medicine, cardiology, and critical care medicine residencies at the University of Calgary, where he was the Chief Cardiology Resident. He completed fellowship training in Advanced Echocardiography at the University of Calgary.
Dr. Shaw’s research is published in national peer-reviewed scientific journals. Dr. Shaw leads the Cardiology Simulation program at the University of Calgary and has received teaching awards from the Division of Cardiology and the Department of Medicine. Dr. Shaw is a representative of cardiac critical care within the shock team.

Dr. Janine Eckstein
Dr. Janine Eckstein is an Interventional Cardiologist at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, SK. She completed her Internal Medicine and Cardiology training in Saskatoon prior to completing an Interventional/Structural Cardiology fellowship at St Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. She is Medical Director of the Structural Heart Program for Saskatoon and Northern SK. Her clinical interests include coronary intervention, structural heart disease and percutaneous management as well as percutaneous mechanical support.

Elissa Babe RN BN
Elissa Babe is the Unit Manager for the Cardiac Cath Lab, Electrophysiology and CPCR at Foothills Medical Centre. Elissa was a Cath Lab nurse for over 10 years, with experience in both the Foothills Medical Center and the Mazankowski Heart Institute Cath Labs. Her interest in team development and quality improvement inspired her to transition to a management role earlier this year. The Cath Lab team consists of 70 staff (Nurses, MRT’s, Physiological Tech’s and support staff) that provide service to Southern Alberta. Our Cath Lab performs around 7000 procedures per year 25% of which are emergency procedures. Elissa leads her team with a commitment to excellence and continuous growth. She is also passionate about fostering a collaborative environment that prioritizes innovation.

Dr. Iqbal Jaffer
Dr. Iqbal Jaffer is a cardiac surgeon and aspirational interventional cardiologist based at McMaster University in Hamilton. He completed all his training at McMaster including a PhD in Blood contacting medical devices which also makes him an aspirational hematologist. He is currently assistant professor in surgery, residency program director for cardiac surgery, surgical lead for the TAVR program and surgical lead for the ECLS program. He has developed the Future Leaders in Cardiac Surgery and Interventional Cardiology program with Edwards Lifesciences and he is currently undertaking a Royal College certificate as a clinician educator. He has a wife who is a palliative care physician and two sons who keep him humble and if there is any time left, he enjoys baking and playing golf.



