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The (CSM) sadly shares the loss of Dr. Edward O’Brien, MD, a renowned cardiologist and expert in vascular function and regeneration. He is remembered as a physician leader, expert clinician and scientist who made key discoveries to improve the treatment and care of atherosclerosis, a hardening of the arteries, especially in post-menopausal women.

Edward was a clinical professor in the departments of Cardiac Sciences and Medicine from 2011 to 2021 and held leadership roles at the CSM’s and the Vascular Biology Research Lab. He passed away Jan. 29, 2026, at the age of 65 following a year-long journey with prostate cancer.

Edward led research discoveries that identified a certain protein (Heat Shock Protein 27 or HSP27) which helps protect against inflammation and atherosclerosis. His research identified how anti-HSP27 IgG antibodies are higher in healthy subjects compared to patients with heart disease. With his wife, Dr. Michelle Gagnon, PhD, he established Pemi31Therpeutics Inc., a biotech company incorporated in Alberta in 2017 to advance therapies based on his lab’s discoveries.

Edward was born in Ottawa in 1960 and graduated from medical school at the University of Ottawa in 1985. He completed specialty training in internal medicine and cardiology, followed by advanced vascular research, at the University of Washington in Seattle. He spent more than two decades at the as an interventional cardiologist and clinician-scientist, contributing to advances in coronary interventions and stent safety.

Edward returned to Ottawa a few years prior to his passing where he provided expert outpatient care at Capital Cardiology while continuing to co-lead Pemi31Therapeutics.

Edward was a member of the Women’s Heart and Brain Health Research Steering Committee for the and a senior co-author of a section of The Science of Sex & Gender in Human Health, an online course developed by the U.S. in conjunction with the Office of Women’s Health at the .

He is remembered for deep connections with family and friends in Calgary, Ottawa and across the country, as a loving father and grandfather, and for his joy of spending quality time at his cottage in Quebec.