Sherry L. Grace, PhD, CRFC, FCCS, FAACVPR

Faculty & School/Dept.

Faculty of Health - School of Kinesiology & Health Science

Degrees

PhD - 2001

Biography

Sherry L. Grace, PhD, FCCS, FAACVPR, CRFC holds her primary appointment as Full Professor in the Faculty of Health at York University, Canada. She is also appointed at the University Health Network, University of Toronto, as Sr. Scientist with KITE-Toronto Rehabilitation Institute’s Cardiovascular Rehabilitation & Prevention Program, and is Director of Cardiac Rehabilitation Research with their Peter Munk Cardiac Centre.

Prof. Grace’s research centers on optimizing post-acute cardiovascular care in low-resource settings, to improve patient outcomes (including mental health). She has held >65 grants and contracts worth ~$20 million to support this research. She has led the development of cardiac rehabilitation clinical practice guidelines, quality indicators, randomized trials and global surveys. She has published >330 papers, achieving an h-index of 73 and is among the top 2% most-cited researchers globally.

Prof. Grace has earned awards from the American and Canadian Associations of Cardiovascular Rehabilitation, among other societies. She has served with the World Health Organization. Finally, she co-founded the International Council on Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation, leading their Global Audit, Certification program and Registry.

Selected Publications

Grace, S.L., Hagström, E., Harrison, A.S., Phillips, S., Bovin, A., Yokoyama, M.N., Niebauer, J., Makita, S., Raidah, F.*, Back, M. & ICRR Investigators. (ePub; May 22, 2024). Cardiac rehabilitation registries around the globe: Current status and future needs. EJPC.

Stewart, C.*, Ghisi, G.L.M, Davis, E.*. & Grace, S.L. (2023). Cardiac Rehabilitation Barriers Scale (CRBS). (2023). In Krageloh, C.U., Alyami, M., & Medvedev, O.N. (Eds.) International Handbook of Behavioral Health Assessment. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-89738-3_39-1.  https://link.springer.com/referencework/10.1007/978-3-030-89738-3

Taylor, R.S., Fredericks, S., Jones, I., Neubeck, L., Sanders, J., de Stoutz, N., Thompson, D.R., Wadhwa, D.N., & Grace, S.L. (2023). Global perspectives on heart disease rehabilitation and secondary prevention: A scientific statement from the Association of Cardiovascular Nursing and Allied Professions (ACNAP), European Association of Preventive Cardiology (EAPC), and International Council of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation (ICCPR). European Heart Journal;44(28):2515-2525. 

Chowdhury, M., Turk-Adawi, K., Babu, A., Ghisi, G.L.M., Seron, P., Yeo, T-J., Uddin, J. Heine, M., Saldivia, M.G., Kouidi, E., Sadeghi, M., Aljehani, R., & Grace, S.L. (2022). Development of the International Cardiac Rehabilitation Registry including variable selection and definition process. Global Heart;17(1):1. January. http://doi.org/10.5334/gh.1091

Ghisi, G.LM., Marzolini, S., Price, J., Beckie, T., Mamataz, T.*, Naheed, A., & Grace, S.L. (2022). Women-focused cardiovascular rehabilitation: An International Council of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation Clinical Practice Guideline. Canadian Journal of Cardiology;38:1786-1798. 

Ghisi, G.L.M., Xu, Z., Liu, X., Mola, A., Gallagher, R., Babu, A.S., Yeung, C., Buckley, J., Marzolini, S., Oh, P., Contractor, A., & Grace, S.L. (2021). Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on cardiac rehabilitation delivery around the world. Global Heart;16(1):43. 

Ivers, N., Schwalm, J-D., Bouck, Z., McCready, T., Taljaard, M., Grace, S.L., Cunningham, J., Bosiak, B., L., Presseau, J., Witteman, H.O., Suskin, N., Wijeysundera, H., Atzema, C., Bhatia, S., Natarajan, M., & Grimshaw, J.M. (2020). Interventions supporting long term adherence and decreasing cardiovascular events after myocardial infarction (ISLAND): pragmatic randomized trial. BMJ;369:m1731

Santiago de Araujo Pio, C.*, Chaves, G.S.*, Davies, P., Taylor, R.S. & Grace, S.L. (2019). Interventions to promote patient utilisation of cardiac rehabilitation. Cochrane Database Syst Rev; Issue 2; Art. No.: CD007131. Doi: 10.1102/14651858.CD007131.pub4.

Turk-Adawi, K., Supervia, M., Lopez Jimenez, F., Pesah, E.*, Rongjing, D., Britto, R., Bjarnason-Wehrens, B., Derman, W., Abreu, A., Babu, A., Santos, C.,  Khiong, J.S., Cuenza, L., Yeo, T.J., Scantlebury, D.,  Andersen, K., Gonzalez, G., Giga, V., Vulic, D., Vataman, E., Cliff, J., Kouidi, E., Yagci, I., Kim, C., Benaim, B., Rivas-Estany, E., Fernandez, R., Radi, B., Gaita, D., Simon, A., Chen, S.Y., Roxburgh, B. Castillo Martin, J., Maskhulia, L., Burdiat, G., Salmon, R., Lomelí, R., Sadeghi, M., Sovova, E., Hautala, A., Tamuleviciute-Prasciene, E., Ambrosetti, M., Neubeck, L., Asher, E., Kemps, H., Eysymontt, Z., Farsky, S., Hayward, J., Prescott, E., Dawkes, S., Santibanez, C., Zeballos, C., Pavy, B., Kiessling, A., Sarrafzadegan, N., Baer, C., Thomas, R., Hu, D., & Grace, S.L. (2019). Cardiac rehabilitation availability and density around the globe. EClinicalMedicine;13:31-45. 

Moghei, M.*, Turk-Adawi, K., Isaranuwatchai, W., Sarrafzadegan, N., Oh, P., Chessex, C., & Grace, S.L. (2017). Cardiac rehabilitation costs. International Journal of Cardiology;244:322-32. 

Sumner, J., Grace, S.L. & Doherty, P. (2016). Cardiac rehabilitation utilization in England: Results from the National Audit. Journal of the American Heart Association. Oct 21;5(10). pii:e003903.

Samayoa, L.*, Grace, S.L., Gravely, S., Benz Scott, L., Marzolini, S. & Colella, T. (2014). Sex differences in cardiac rehabilitation enrolment: A meta-analysis. Canadian Journal of Cardiology, 30: 793-800. August.



Grace, S.L., Warburton, D.E.R., Stone, J.A., Sanderson, B., Oldridge, N., Jones, J., Wong, N., & Buckley, J.P. (2013). International charter on cardiovascular prevention and rehabilitation: A call for action. JCRP, 33(2):128-31. March/April. http://journals.lww.com/jcrjournal/Fulltext/2013/03000/International_Charter_on_Cardiovascular_Prevention.10.aspx



Polyzotis, P.*, Suskin, N., Unsworth, K., Reid, R., Jamnik, V., Parsons, C., & Grace, S.L. (2013). Primary care provider receipt of cardiac rehabilitation discharge summaries: Are they getting what they want to promote long-term risk reduction? Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality & Outcomes, 6:83-89. January.



Grace, S.L., Arthur, H.M., Chan, S., Cyr, C., Dafoe, W., Martin, J., Oh, P., Suskin, N., & Chessex, C. (2011). Systematizing Inpatient Referral to Cardiac Rehabilitation 2010: Canadian Association of Cardiac Rehabilitation and Canadian Cardiovascular Society Joint Position Paper. Canadian Journal of Cardiology, 27(2), 192-199. March/April. 10.1016/j.cjca.2010.12.007 and Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation and Prevention, 31(3): E1-E7. http://journals.lww.com/jcrjournal/Abstract/publishahead/Systematizing_Inpatient_Referral_to_Cardiac.99909.aspx



Grace, S.L., Russell, K.*, Reid, R., Oh, P., Anand, S., Rush, J., Williamson, K., Gupta, M., Alter, D.A., & Stewart D.E. (2011). Effect of cardiac rehabilitation referral strategies on utilization rates: A prospective, controlled study. JAMA Internal Medicine, 171(3), 235-241. 

Other Research Outputs

Grace, S.L. (2020). Outcomes assessment and utilization. American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation Guidelines (6th Ed). J. Ehrman & P. Savage. (Eds). Human Kinetics. 

Cardiac Rehabilitation Barriers Scale https://sgrace.info.yorku.ca/cr-barriers-scale/crbs-use-and-citation-information/; https://globalcardiacrehab.com/For-Patients

Grace, S.L., Turk-Adawi, K.I., Contractor, A., Atrey, A., Campbell, N., Derman, W., Ghisi, G.M.G.*, Hu, D., Mendis, S., Oh, P., Oldridge, N., Sarkar, B., & Yeo, T.J., Lopez, F., & Sarrafzadegan, N. (2016). Consensus statement: Cardiac rehabilitation delivery model for low-resource settings. Heart;102:1449-1455 (available on guideline clearinghouses http://www.ecri.org and http://psychu.org)

Certification program to train healthcare providers and trainees on how to deliver each core component in above low-resource model: https://globalcardiacrehab.com/Certification

Grace, S.L., Poirier, P., Norris, C.M., Oakes, G., Somanader, D.*, & Suskin, N. (2014). Pan-Canadian development of cardiac rehabilitation and secondary prevention quality indicators. Canadian Journal of Cardiology, 30(8): 945-948. ​http://ccs.ca/en/ccs-data-definitions-quality-indicators#Cardiac-Rehabilitation

Accredited, evidence-based, free, open-access online course for healthcare providers on how to encourage inpatients to participate in cardiac rehabilitation: http://learnonthego.ca/Courses/promoting_patient_participation_in_CR_2020/promoting_patient_participation_in_CR_2020EN/story_html5.html (available in 5 languages at: https://globalcardiacrehab.com/CR-Utilization)

Affiliations

KITE- Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, University Health Network
Sr. Scientist, Cardiorespiratory Fitness Team

University of Toronto
Assistant Professor, Psychiatry, Health, & Disease Program, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine

University Health Network – Peter Munk Cardiac Centre
Research Director, Cardiac Rehabilitation

Partnerships

International Council of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation

Service/Community Activities

International Council of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation
immediate past-chair; co-chair Cardiac Rehab Foundations Certification; co-chair International Cardiac Rehab Registry, co-chair Program Certification

Awards

Leadership Prize (Best Manuscript in Women's Health Issues), Jacob’s Institute of Women’s Health - 2003

Journal Paper Award, Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine - 2008

New Investigator Award, Canadian Institutes of Health Research - 2007

Outstanding Contributions to Health Psychology, American Psychological Association - 2010

Leadership Award - Knowledge Translation, Canadian Association of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation - 2012

Fellow, Canadian Cardiovascular Society - 2016

Established Investigator Award, American Association of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation - 2018

Terry Kavanagh Lecture, Canadian Association of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation - 2018

Fellow, American Association of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation - 2019

Supervision

Currently available to supervise graduate students: Yes

Currently taking on work-study students, Graduate Assistants or Volunteers: No

Available to supervise undergraduate thesis projects: No

Current Research

Leading the International Cardiac Rehab Registry: https://globalcardiacrehab.com/ICRR-Governance