Christopher Cheung

Clinical Profile

Dr. Christopher Cheung is a staff cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist at the Schulich Heart Program at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. He specializes in treating complex arrhythmias, including atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter, and ventricular tachycardia. Specific techniques include endocardial and epicardial catheter ablation, novel ablation techniques, and implantable cardiac devices.

His expertise also includes treating patients with inherited arrhythmias, such as Brugada syndrome, arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy, and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. He implants pacemakers, defibrillators, and cardiac resynchronization devices, including conduction system pacemakers and subcutaneous defibrillators.
Dr. Cheung earned his medical degree at the University of British Columbia and Masters of Public Health at Harvard University. He completed Cardiology fellowship at UBC and an Advanced Electrophysiology fellowship at the University of California San Francisco with a focus on complex ablations and device implantation.

He serves on the Editorial Board of the Canadian Journal of Cardiology and Canadian Journal of Cardiology Open, and is a Scholar In Residence for the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Clinical Electrophysiology. He serves as a Primary Panel member of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society/Canadian Heart Rhythm Society Atrial Fibrillation Guidelines and Canadian Cardiovascular Society Fitness to Drive Guidelines. He is co-chair of the Heart Rhythm Society Persistent Atrial Fibrillation Think Tank Proceedings. He serves on the Health Canada Scientific Advisory Committee on Medical Devices Used in the Cardiovascular System. He also serves on the Education Council of the Heart Rhythm Society, and Board Member of the Canadian Heart Rhythm Society.

Research Profile

Dr. Christopher Cheung’s research program focuses on atrial fibrillation and complex arrhythmia management, wearable devices, and digital health. He leads clinical trials and registries in the monitoring of atrial fibrillation, and also participates in numerous randomized clinical trials in the field of atrial fibrillation and implantable cardiac device. His work has been recognized at the Canadian Cardiovascular Society-Bayer Vascular Award, Cardiovascular Network of Canada CHAT Discovery Award and SEED Grants, and the American College of Cardiology Young Investigator Award. His work has been presented at national and international conferences.

In addition, Dr. Cheung’s research extends into the field of wearable devices and digital health. He is interested in evaluating novel devices for arrhythmia monitoring and has worked with various start-up companies to test their technologies. His research lab also focuses on evaluating the use of artificial intelligence (machine learning) for arrhythmia detection, wearable devices to facilitate decentralized clinical studies, and health outcomes in patients with complex arrhythmias and devices. He is a member of the Cardiovascular Network of Canada and executive committee for VIRTUES, a comprehensive digital health platform for the management of cardiovascular conditions.

Education

• MD, University of British Columbia
• MPH (Epidemiology), Harvard University, Boston, USA
• FRCPC (Internal Medicine), University of British Columbia
• FRCPC (Cardiology), University of British Columbia
• FRCPC (Clinician Investigator Program), University of British Columbia
• Cardiac Electrophysiology, University of British Columbia and University of California San Francisco
• Clinical Informatics & Data Science Pathway, University of California San Francisco
• Board Certified by Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and American Board of Internal Medicine (Cardiology and Cardiac Electrophysiology)

Appointments & Affiliations

• Associate scientist, Evaluative Clinical Sciences, Schulich Heart Research Program, Sunnybrook Research Insitute
• Staff cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist, Schulich Heart Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre,
• Assistant professor, University of Toronto
• Adjunct assistant professor, Western University