February 2026
Dear colleagues,
It’s my honour to be writing this President’s Message as 2026 is underway. Many exciting things happened at CHFS in 2025, and this coming year promises to be full of even more growth, education, research, and advocacy as we come together to exchange ideas and improve patient care.
It is time to renew your commitment to the CHFS! Your membership renewal invoice has been sent to you by email from membership@ccs.ca. It is our hope that you will renew your membership and encourage your colleagues to join the CHFS as well.
Highlights from 2025 include:
- Heart Failure Update: HF Update 2025 was in-person in Toronto with 2-days of great content and 327 attendees! This represents a 22% increase in attendance over 2024 indicating the conference is continuing to grow. Look forward to the Heart Failure Update 2026 in Montreal, May 1-2, 2026. Register early for the best rates!
- Membership: CHFS continues to grow, with 363 members.
- Lifetime Achievement: The CHFS Annual Achievement Award was presented to Dr. Shelley Zieroth.
- Trainee Achievement: The annual CHFS/CCTN Research Competition at CCC 2025 had four finalists. Congratulations to Mitchell Wagner, University of Alberta (winner), Massine Fellouah, Université de Montréal (runner-up), Petko Makedonski, St. Paul's Hospital (finalist), and Mohammed Albaghdadi, London Health Sciences Centre (finalist).
- Global Representation: The CHFS was represented at HFA (Belgrade, May 2025), AAHFN Annual Meeting (Savannah, June 2025), ESC Congress (Madrid, August 2025) and the HFSA ASM (Minneapolis, September 2025).
- Canadian Meetings: CHFS was well represented at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress (CCC) 2025 with our Spotlight Session (standing room only!), CHFS Accredited Symposia and the annual CCTN/CHFS Research Competition.
- Committee Work: The CHFS Workforce Committee continues to strategize opportunities to explore the challenges and solutions to address the physician heart failure/advanced heart failure workforce and retention in the Canadian landscape. The CHFS 2024 Heart Failure Workforce Report is now in press and will be published in the JCF soon. Stay tuned!
- Advocacy and Awareness: The 7th National Heart Failure Awareness Week for Canada engaged people across Canada with local, provincial, and national awareness, with the tag line of “It’s not normal to be breathless”. Coming soon: the 8th National Heart Failure Awareness Week for Canada, May 3-9, 2026.
Sincerely,
Margot Davis, MD, SM, FRCPC, FCCS
President, Canadian Heart Failure Society