Dr. Brandon Chalazan MD, PhD

I am currently a Medical Geneticist and Biochemical Geneticist at Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital and Royal University Hospital. I completed my medical school and PhD in Genetics at Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. My clinical training consisted of 5-years of residency in Medical Genetics and 1-year of clinical fellowship in Biochemical Genetics at BC Children’s Hospital through University of British Columbia. My research training consisted of a 3-year research fellowship in Cardiovascular Genetics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center through Vanderbilt University in Nashville and Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System through University of Illinois in Chicago under the mentorship of Dr. Dawood Darbar. My research training also consisted of visiting scientist sabbaticals in Boston at Broad Institute through Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University and in Spain at Biomedical Research Institute of Girona through University of Girona under the supervisions of Drs. Patrick Ellinor and Ramon Brugada, respectively. After completing my clinical and research training, I took my first clinical appointment as an Attending Physician at Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago and faculty appointment as an Assistant Professor at Northwestern University. While I was there, I established a Cardiovascular Genetics clinic within our division and worked closely with the world class Cardiovascular Genetics Center and established a Pharmacogenomics Program for our hospital. These past experiences have made me passionate toward translational medicine and innovative therapies for rare diseases. I have been extremely fortunate to cross paths with so many wonderful colleagues and mentors who have supported my journey so far and I hope I can do the same for others in the future.

• Atrial Fibrillation
• Arrhythmias
• Cardiomyopathies
• Sudden Cardiac Death
• Inherited Cardiovascular Disease

I specialize in diagnosing, managing and screening fetuses, children, and adults with rare diseases that are either genetic or metabolic (inborn errors of metabolism). I also have a specific interest toward inherited cardiovascular disease such as sudden death, sudden cardiac death, arrhythmias, cardiomyopathies, aortopathies, lipidopathies, congenital heart defects as well as other forms of inherited cardiovascular disease. In my clinical practice, I combine my past clinical and research training in genetics, metabolics and cardiovascular genetics and metabolics to provide tailored care for individuals and families dealing with rare disease.

I have been studying the genetic aspects of atrial fibrillation for the past decade. I have a passion towards better understanding the monogenic culrpits underlying atrial fibrillation and other overlapping cardiovascular phenotypes. I have experience with recruiting many families with atrial fibrillation, sequencing clinically relevant and candidate genes related to atrial fibrillation, establishing a stem cell laboratory and biorepository and generating induced pluripotent stem cells from peripheral blood mononuclear cells, differentiating stem cells into cardiomyocytes and enriching cardiomyocytes into atrial fate, functionally characterizing atrial-like cardiomyocytes with molecular and electrophysiological techniques. I am interested in further exploring the genetic underpinnings in atrial fibrillation through dissecting underlying mechanisms, identifying novel therapeutic targets and finding creative ways to translate these findings from bench to bedside for improving patient care.

• 2022-2023 - Clinical Fellowship, Biochemical Genetics, BC Children’s Hospital, University of British Columbia.
• 2021-2022 - Residency (Chief), Medical Genetics, BC Children’s Hospital, University of British Columbia.
• 2018-2021 - Residency, Medical Genetics, BC Children’s Hospital, University of British Columbia.
• 2017-2018 - Internship, Medical Genetics, BC Children’s Hospital, University of British Columbia.
• 2015-2017 - Research Fellowship, Cardiovascular Genetics, University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System, University of Illinois.
• 2014-2015 - Research Fellowship, Cardiovascular Genetics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Vanderbilt University.
• 2014-2020 - Genetics (PhD), Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Leinster, Ireland.
• 2006-2014 – Pre-Medicine / Medicine (MD), Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Leinster, Ireland.

Selected Presentations:

• Burden and Outcomes of Hospitalization in Inherited Metabolic Disorders: Insight from a Single Center. International Congress of Inborn Errors of Metabolism. Kyoto, JPN.
• Implementation of a Ketogenic Diet to Manage Severe Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy in an infant with Glycogen Storage Disease Type IIIa. International Congress of Inborn Errors of Metabolism. Kyoto, JPN.
• A novel variant and treatment modality in TANGO2 deficiency. American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics. Los Angeles, USA.
• Cardiac Manifestations from Patients with Propionic Acidemia. Society for the Study of Inborn Errors of Metabolism. Portugal, PRT.
• Comprehensive Gene Evaluation in Early-Onset Atrial Fibrillation using Whole Exome Sequencing. American Heart Association Conference. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

 

Selected Publications:

• Pavel MA, Chen H, Hill M, Sridhar A, Barney M, DeSantiago J, Owais A, Sandu S, Darbar FA, Ornelas-Loredo A, Al-Azzam B, Chalazan B, Rehman J, Darbar D. A Titin Missense Variant Causes Atrial Fibrillation. medRxiv [Preprint]. 2024 Dec 8:2024.12.06.24318402. doi: 10.1101/2024.12.06.24318402. PMID: 39677424; PMCID: PMC11643245.
• Roberts JD, Chalazan B, Andrade JG, Macle L, Nattel S, Tadros R. Clinical Genetic Testing for Atrial Fibrillation: Are We There Yet? Can J Cardiol. 2024 Apr;40(4):540-553. doi: 10.1016/j.cjca.2023.11.022. Epub 2024 Mar 28. PMID: 38551553.
• Chalazan B, Freeth E, Mohajeri A, Ramanathan K, Bennett M, Walia J, Halperin L, Roston T, Lazarte J, Hegele RA, Lehman A, Laksman Z. Genetic testing in monogenic early-onset atrial fibrillation. Eur J Hum Genet. 2023 Jul;31(7):769-775. doi: 10.1038/s41431-023-01383-z. Epub 2023 May 22. PMID: 37217627; PMCID: PMC10325969.
• Ly OT, Chen H, Brown GE, Hong L, Wang X, Han YD, Pavel MA, Sridhar A, Maienschein-Cline M, Chalazan B, Ong SG, Abdelhady K, Massad M, Rizkallah LE, Rehman J, Khetani SR, Darbar D. Mutant ANP induces mitochondrial and ion channel remodeling in a human iPSC-derived atrial fibrillation model. JCI Insight. 2022 Apr 8;7(7):e155640. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.155640. PMID: 35393944; PMCID: PMC9057627.
• Hong L, Zhang M, Ly OT, Chen H, Sridhar A, Lambers E, Chalazan B, Youn SW, Maienschein-Cline M, Feferman L, Ong SG, Wu JC, Rehman J, Darbar D. Human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived atrial cardiomyocytes carrying an SCN5A mutation identify nitric oxide signaling as a mediator of atrial fibrillation. Stem Cell Reports. 2021 Jun 8;16(6):1542-1554. doi: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2021.04.019. Epub 2021 May 20. PMID: 34019817; PMCID: PMC8190590.
• Chalazan B, Mol D, Darbar FA, Ornelas-Loredo A, Al-Azzam B, Chen Y, Tofovic D, Sridhar A, Alzahrani Z, Ellinor P, Darbar D. Association of Rare Genetic Variants and Early-Onset Atrial Fibrillation in Ethnic Minority Individuals. JAMA Cardiol. 2021 Jul 1;6(7):811-819. doi: 10.1001/jamacardio.2021.0994. PMID: 33950154; PMCID: PMC8100900.
• Taliun D, Harris DN, Kessler MD, Carlson J, Szpiech ZA, Torres R, Taliun SAG, Corvelo A, Gogarten SM, Kang HM, Pitsillides AN, LeFaive J, Lee SB, Tian X, Browning BL, Das S, Emde AK, Clarke WE, Loesch DP, Shetty AC, Blackwell TW, Smith AV, Wong Q, Liu X, Conomos MP, Bobo DM, Aguet F, Albert C, Alonso A, Ardlie KG, Arking DE, Aslibekyan S, Auer PL, Barnard J, Barr RG, Barwick L, Becker LC, Beer RL, Benjamin EJ, Bielak LF, Blangero J, Boehnke M, Bowden DW, Brody JA, Burchard EG, Cade BE, Casella JF, Chalazan B, Chasman DI, Chen YI, Cho MH, Choi SH, Chung MK, Clish CB, Correa A, Curran JE, Custer B, Darbar D, Daya M, de Andrade M, DeMeo DL, Dutcher SK, Ellinor PT, Emery LS, Eng C, Fatkin D, Fingerlin T, Forer L, Fornage M, Franceschini N, Fuchsberger C, Fullerton SM, Germer S, Gladwin MT, Gottlieb DJ, Guo X, Hall ME, He J, Heard-Costa NL, Heckbert SR, Irvin MR, Johnsen JM, Johnson AD, Kaplan R, Kardia SLR, Kelly T, Kelly S, Kenny EE, Kiel DP, Klemmer R, Konkle BA, Kooperberg C, Köttgen A, Lange LA, Lasky-Su J, Levy D, Lin X, Lin KH, Liu C, Loos RJF, Garman L, Gerszten R, Lubitz SA, Lunetta KL, Mak ACY, Manichaikul A, Manning AK, Mathias RA, McManus DD, McGarvey ST, Meigs JB, Meyers DA, Mikulla JL, Minear MA, Mitchell BD, Mohanty S, Montasser ME, Montgomery C, Morrison AC, Murabito JM, Natale A, Natarajan P, Nelson SC, North KE, O'Connell JR, Palmer ND, Pankratz N, Peloso GM, Peyser PA, Pleiness J, Post WS, Psaty BM, Rao DC, Redline S, Reiner AP, Roden D, Rotter JI, Ruczinski I, Sarnowski C, Schoenherr S, Schwartz DA, Seo JS, Seshadri S, Sheehan VA, Sheu WH, Shoemaker MB, Smith NL, Smith JA, Sotoodehnia N, Stilp AM, Tang W, Taylor KD, Telen M, Thornton TA, Tracy RP, Van Den Berg DJ, Vasan RS, Viaud-Martinez KA, Vrieze S, Weeks DE, Weir BS, Weiss ST, Weng LC, Willer CJ, Zhang Y, Zhao X, Arnett DK, Ashley-Koch AE, Barnes KC, Boerwinkle E, Gabriel S, Gibbs R, Rice KM, Rich SS, Silverman EK, Qasba P, Gan W; NHLBI Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) Consortium; Papanicolaou GJ, Nickerson DA, Browning SR, Zody MC, Zöllner S, Wilson JG, Cupples LA, Laurie CC, Jaquish CE, Hernandez RD, O'Connor TD, Abecasis GR. Sequencing of 53,831 diverse genomes from the NHLBI TOPMed Program. Nature. 2021 Feb;590(7845):290-299. doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03205-y. Epub 2021 Feb 10. PMID: 33568819; PMCID: PMC7875770.
• Alzahrani Z, Ornelas-Loredo A, Darbar SD, Farooqui A, Mol D, Chalazan B, Villagrana NE, McCauley M, Lazar S, Wissner E, Bhan A, Konda S, Darbar D. Association Between Family History and Early-Onset Atrial Fibrillation Across Racial and Ethnic Groups. JAMA Netw Open. 2018 Sep 7;1(5):e182497. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.2497. PMID: 30646169; PMCID: PMC6324458.
• Argenziano M, Lambers E, Hong L, Sridhar A, Zhang M, Chalazan B, Menon A, Savio-Galimberti E, Wu JC, Rehman J, Darbar D. Electrophysiologic Characterization of Calcium Handling in Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Atrial Cardiomyocytes. Stem Cell Reports. 2018 Jun 5;10(6):1867-1878. doi: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2018.04.005. Epub 2018 May 3. PMID: 29731429; PMCID: PMC5989733.
• Chalazan B, Mol D, Sridhar A, Alzahrani Z, Darbar SD, Ornelas-Loredo A, Farooqui A, Argos M, Daviglus ML, Konda S, Rehman J, Darbar D. Genetic modulation of atrial fibrillation risk in a Hispanic/Latino cohort. PLoS One. 2018 Apr 6;13(4):e0194480. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0194480. PMID: 29624624; PMCID: PMC5889061.