Biography
Dr. Vidhya Nair is an Anatomical Pathologist with a special focus on Cardiovascular Pathology, at the Ottawa Hospital, affiliated to the University of Ottawa since 2018. She is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine. She is currently the Deputy Chief of the Division of Anatomical Pathology and the Regional Director for the Grossing Service for Eastern Ontario Regional Laboratory Association. She is an advocate for quality and patient centered care in the region.
She is the new Chair of Department of PALM, the University of Ottawa, Head of Departments of PALM at TOH and at CHEO, and Chief Medical and Scientific Officer at the EORLA since June 1st, 2021.
Dr. Nair moved to Canada in 2002 after completing her medical training and residency in Anatomical Pathology in India. She subsequently completed her residency in Anatomical Pathology and earned FRCPC (Pathology) from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. She then completed a Fellowship in Cardiovascular Pathology under the mentorship of Dr. Jagdish Butany from the University of Toronto.
Prior to moving to Ottawa, Dr. Nair was a staff pathologist at Hamilton Health Sciences and an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster University. She served as the Director of Residency Training Program for General Pathology for the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC) at McMaster University (2011-2018). She was one of the founding members involved in designing the “Competence-By- Design” based General Pathology curriculum for the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons Canada. Dr. Nair has also collaborated with the McMaster Postgraduate Educational Committee to build “Competence-By- Design” e-modules for the Faculty of Health Sciences. She was also a member of the committee that created the Competency Model document in Cardiovascular pathology for the College of American Pathologists. She is also an invited content developer for the Kuwait Institute for Medical Specialization -Royal College Histopathology & Cytology Examinations, an academic outreach program, supported by the Royal College Canada International.
Dr. Nair is a Clinical Investigator at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, and her current research interests include cardiac transplant biopsies for rejection, temporal artery biopsies and the molecular characteristics of sudden cardiac death. She has been Co-PI and Co- Investigator on research grants funded by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, and the Canadian Diabetic Association. She has authored 55 peer reviewed manuscripts and 6 book chapters. She is a member of the Executive committee of the Society for Cardiovascular Pathology. She is also a member of the Editorial board of the Journal of Cardiovascular Pathology and the Section Editor of Human Pathology Case reports.
She is the recipient of several awards, including the Young Investigators' award in 2010 for the Society for Cardiovascular Pathology, Excellence in Teaching Award in 2017 by the Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, award for outstanding contribution to the General Pathology Program, McMaster University and inaugural recipient of the 2020 Margaret Billingham Award for the most important review in Cardiovascular Pathology in 2020 by the Society for Cardiovascular Pathology.
Publications
- Birnie DH, Nair V, Veinot JP. Cardiac Sarcoidosis and Giant Cell Myocarditis: Actually, 2 Ends of the Same Disease? J Am Heart Assoc. 2021;10:e020542.
- Nair V, Belanger EC, Veinot JP. Lysosomal storage disorders affecting the heart: a review. Cardiovascular pathology : the official journal of the Society for Cardiovascular Pathology. 2019;39:12-24.
- Wentzell S, Nair V. Rare case of infective endocarditis involving mitral annular calcification leading to hemopericardium and sudden cardiac death: a case report. Cardiovascular pathology : the official journal of the Society for Cardiovascular Pathology. 2018;33:16-18.
- Ainsworth CD, Salehian O, Nair V, Whitlock RP. A bloody mass: rare cardiac tumor as a cause of symptomatic ventricular arrhythmias. Circulation. 2012;126:1923-1931.
- Butany J, Feng T, Luk A, Law K, Suri R, Nair V. Modes of failure in explanted mitroflow pericardial valves. Ann Thorac Surg. 2011;92:1621-1627.