Dr. Johanna Ospel
Affiliations
Neuroradiologist
University of Calgary
Clinical Associate Professor
University of Calgary
Principal Member
Libin Cardiovascular Institute
Principal Member
Hotchkiss Brain Institute
Principal Member
O'Brien Institute for Public Health
Background
Credentials
Swiss Board Certification Radiology, Swiss Institute for Medical Education/ Swiss Ministry of Health, 2022
PhD, Amsterdam University Medical Centre, Department of Neuroradiology, 2021
MD, Friedrich Schiller Universitaet Jena, Faculty of Medicine (Germany), 2017
Biography
Johanna Ospel is an Interventional Neuroradiologist, and Neurovascular/ Stroke Researcher at the University of Calgary Department of Clinical Neurosciences.
She completed her medical studies and MD at the Friedrich-Schiller University (Germany), a PhD in Neurosciences at the University of Amsterdam (Netherlands), and a 5-year residency in Radiology and at the University of Basel (Switzerland), followed by a Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology Fellowship at the University of Calgary.
She still holds a teaching and research positions at the University of Basel where she was appointed a “Privatdozentin” (Senior Lecturer) in 2023.
She has co-authored over 300 editorials & peer-reviewed research articles on various topics in Cerebrovascular Diseases, Interventional Neuroradiology and Stroke Medicine.
Her ongoing research aims to expand the indications of endovascular thrombectomy, notably to patients with medium vessel occlusions (MeVO) as well as patients with minor stroke, investigate associations between imaging biomarkers and post-stroke clinical outcomes, and to explore strategies for cerebroprotection in patients with acute ischemic stroke.
She is co-Principal investigator of several CIHR-funded studies and trials, including ESCAPE-CORE, ESCAPE-OPTIMUS and ESCAPE-MeVO.
Dr. Johanna Ospel is member of several scientific societies and committees. She is Section Editor of the Journal Stroke and Reviewer numerous scientific journals, including Stroke, The Lancet, and The Lancet Neurology.
She is part of several ESO/ESMINT guideline committees and currently leads the ESMINT/EYMINT research and survey committee. Furthermore, she is a master student supervisor for the Master of Advanced Stroke Studies in Medicine, a post-graduate master program at the University of Bern, Switzerland.
Projects
ESCAPE-CORE is a hybrid animal-human retrospective and prospective serial magnetic resonance imaging cohort study (CIHR-funded). The goal of ESCAPE-CORE is to establish key imaging signatures of ischemic tissue damage in human AIS for more informed cerebroprotection trial design by (1) confirming the radiology-pathology correlation of said imaging signatures from non-primate animal models in higher-order primates, (2) characterizing their prevalence and temporal evolution in human AIS patients undergoing EVT, (3) investigating their associations with patient characteristics and outcomes.
ESCAPE-OPTIMUS is a retrospective province-wide cohort study that includes all patients who underwent CT head and neck angiogram imaging in the province of Alberta, Canada.
The study aims to determine the proportion of patients with intracranial vessel occlusions among all patients undergoing emergent acute stroke imaging in the province, the proportion of acute ischemic stroke patients with confirmed vessel occlusion that undergo treatment (intravenous thrombolysis, endovascular treatment or both), and to describe and summarize the clinical characteristics of acute stroke patients that did not undergo treatment.
REAL-MeVO aims to to quantify the number of endovascular thrombectomies for medium vessel occlusion stroke (MeVO) performed in Alberta within and outside randomized controlled trials. The study assess how MeVO patients enrolled in the trial differed from those not enrolled, and identifies demographic, socio-economic and geographic factors associated with trial enrolment and treatment. Using ESCAPE-MeVO as an exemplary trial, the study will generate critical evidence on the impact of enrolment bias in clinical trials, and identify gaps in trial recruitment and stroke care delivery. These insights will inform future trial design and improve efficiency, validity and ethical integrity of clinical stroke research in Alberta and Canada.
BIOSTROKE is an international, multidisciplinary initiative advancing biomarker science in stroke. The project brings together experts in clinical stroke care, imaging, fluid biomarkers, cardiovascular medicine, neuroscience, and data science to identify key research priorities, strengthen collaborations, and accelerate translation of biomarkers into clinical trials and patient care. The initiative is jointly coordinated by the Ludwig Maximilian University Munich (Dr. Steffen Tiedt), the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital Dublin (Dr. John McCabe) and the University of Calgary (Dr. Johanna Ospel), and supported by consortium public and industry funding. Researchers interested in collaborating and joining the BIOSTROKE network are invited to attend the annual BIOSTROKE meeting (for meeting updates and registration see https://biostroke.de).
Awards
- JNIS Reviewer of the Year, Journal of Neurointerventional Surgery. 2024
- RSNA Research Fellow Award, Radiological Society of North America. 2024
- Stroke Outstanding Reviewer Award, American Heart Association/ American Stroke Association. 2023
- Denyse Lajoie Lake Fellowship, University of Calgary. 2023
- Magna Cum Laude Swiss Radiology Board Exams Award, Swiss Institute for Medical Education/ Swiss Ministry of Health. 2022
- European Society of Neuroradiology Springer Award , European Society of Neuroradiology. 2022
- Peter Huber Award , Swiss Society of Neuroradiology. 2021
- ESO/WSO Young Investigator Award, European Stroke Association/ World Stroke Association. 2020
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