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SickKids

Osami Honjo

Title: Surgical Director, Heart Transplantation and Mechanical Circulatory Support
Designations: MD, PhD
Email: osami.honjo@sickkids.ca
Alternate Contact Name: Eryn Milton
Alternate Phone: 416-813-7654 ext. 403068
Alternate Email: eryn.milton@sickkids.ca
U of T Positions: Professor, Department of Surgery
Chair Positions: Watson Family Chair

Hospital Positions

Cardiovascular Surgeon
Cardiovasular Surgery

Research Positions

Senior Associate Scientist
Translational Medicine

Biography

Dr. Osami Honjo became a staff cardiovascular surgeon at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in July 2010 after completing fellowship at SickKids and St. Michael’s Hospital, University of Toronto.

Dr. Honjo’s clinical practice focuses on open heart surgery in neonates and infants with complex congenital heart diseases, surgical palliation for single ventricle patients, mechanical cardiopulmonary support in paediatric population, and surgery for patients with adult congenital heart diseases. Dr. Honjo serves as the surgical director of heart transplantation and mechanical circulatory support since 2012 and served as an interim head of the division from 2018 to 2019.

As a senior associate scientist in Translational medicine, Dr. Honjo’s academic focuses include the ex-vivo heart perfusion for optimizing heart transplant donor hearts and development of a novel mechanical circulatory support for neonates and infants with single ventricle physiology, which he obtained multiple national funding. Dr. Honjo holds Watson Family Chair in Cardiovascular Science since 2019.

Dr. Honjo’s academic interests in clinical research have been preoperative and intraoperative decision making on critically ill patients. His research primarily focuses on seeking for clinical predictors/factors that influences outcome, which improve the quality of surgeons’ decision making and patients’ outcome.

Dr. Honjo obtained medical degree at Shimane Medical University and PhD at Okayama University, Japan. He is a diplomat of Japan Surgical Society, and Japanese board of cardiovascular surgery.

Education and experience

  • 2010–Present: Staff Cardiovascular Surgeon, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada
  • 2010–Present: Staff Cardiovascular Surgeon, Toronto Congenital Cardiac Centre for Adults, Toronto General Hospital, Toronto, Canada
  • 2000–2005: Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine and Dentistry, Okayama, Japan (PhD, Cardiovascular Surgery/Physiology)
  • 1992–1997: MD, Shimane Medical University, Shimane, Japan

Achievements

  • Dec. 2019: President’s Award, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada
  • Nov. 2019: Jim Wright Innovation Award, Perioperative Services, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada
    Creation of a Novel Surgical Technique for the Management of Nutcracker Syndrome
    Presented to: Joao Amaral, Osami Honjo, Armando Lorenzo
  • Jan. 2019–Present: Watson Family Chair, Cardiovascular Sciences, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada

Publications

  1. Can We Still Improve Survival Outcomes of Neonatal Biventricular Repairs? Luo S, Haller C, Fan CS, Moss K, Manlhiot C, Xie W, Moinshaghaghi A, Haranal M, Schwartz S, Caldarone C, Van Arsdell GS, Honjo O.Ann Thorac Surg. 2020 Apr 5:S0003-4975(20)30502-6. 
  2. Flow-targeted pediatric ex vivo heart perfusion in donation after circulatory death: A porcine model. Kobayashi J, Luo S, Akazawa Y, Parker M, Wang J, Chiasson D, Friedberg MK, Haller C, Honjo O.J Heart Lung Transplant. 2020 Mar;39(3):267-277. 
  3. Computational fluid dynamic simulations of a cavopulmonary assist device for failing Fontan circulation. Lin WCP, Doyle MG, Roche SL, Honjo O, Forbes TL, Amon CH.J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2019 Nov;158(5):1424-1433.e5. 
  4. Fontan Failure and Death in Contemporary Fontan Circulation: Analysis From the Last Two Decades. Kotani Y, Chetan D, Zhu J, Saedi A, Zhao L, Mertens L, Redington AN, Coles J, Caldarone CA, Van Arsdell GS, Honjo O.Ann Thorac Surg. 2018 Apr;105(4):1240-1247.
  5. Mechanically assisted bidirectional cavopulmonary shunt in neonates and infants: An acute human pilot study. Honjo O, Merklinger SL, Poe JB, Guerguerian AM, Zhang H, Taylor KL, Van Arsdell GS.J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2017 Feb;153(2):441-447. 

  • 2019–2022: Reanimation of pediatric donor hearts by novel ex-vivo heart perfusion. Principal Investigator. Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research. Innovation Fund – Seed Grant 2018.
  • 2018–2021: Development of mechanical circulatory assist system for failing single ventricle Fontan physiology. Principal Investigator. Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada (HSFC). 2018/19 Grant-in-Aid (GIA) Application.
  • 2018: Design of mechanical circulatory support for failing Fontan circulation.
    Principal Investigator. Saving tiny Hearts Society Foundation.
  • 2016–2018: Death after circulatory death transplant and ex-vivo heart perfusion project. Principal Investigator. James Cummings Foundation.
  • 2016–2018: Development of computational models to aid in the diagnosis and treatment of failing Fontan circulation. Co-Principal Investigator (PI: Dr. Christina Amon). Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).
  • 2016–2017: Development of a novel device for treatment of failing Fontan circulation. Principal Investigator. Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research (TRCHR). Innovation Fund Seed Grant/New Ideas Award.

Relevant pages

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Congratulations to the winners of the 2019 President’s Award

The President's Award recognizes staff, teams, students and/or volunteers who demonstrate superior leadership and collaboration resulting in major contributions to the organization.

Podcast: SickKids VS Broken Hearts

Fifty kids in Canada are waitlisted for a new heart each year. Of those, 30 to 35 will get one. Others continue waiting. But SickKids surgeon Dr. Osami Honjo thinks he has a solution. A way to expand the donor pool by keeping hearts beating outside the body. He calls it the Heart in a Box.

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