Providence Health Care

Dr. Walley received his MD from the University of Manitoba in 1981, trained in Internal Medicine at McGill University, and subsequently trained in Critical Care Medicine at the University of Chicago. He has been a practicing Intensivist at St. Paul's Hospital ICU and investigator at the Centre for Heart Lung Innovation since 1988.

The focus of Dr. Walley's research is to investigate 1) the mechanism of decreased left ventricular contractility and other organ failure during sepsis and 2) the impact of genotype on patient outcomes in sepsis and systemic inflammatory states. Dr. Walley translates basic discoveries into clinical practice in the ICU. Together with Drs. Russell and Boyd, he recently demonstrated that blocking the function of PCSK9, an enzyme that inhibits the clearance of endogenous cholesterol from blood, is associated with increased pathogen clearance via the LDL-receptor, a decreased inflammatory response, and improved septic shock outcome. This important discovery facilitated the emergence of anti-PCSK9 therapies as one of the most promising treatments for sepsis. This discovery has led to further investigation into the role of lipoproteins in sepsis. Training the next generation of clinician scientists is the other passion in my career. I led a multicentre CIHR Strategic Training in Health Research project over the course of 12 years. This led to over 50 postdoctoral trainees launching prominent academic and industry careers.