Senior Investigator, Regenerative Medicine
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

Director, Cell Manufacturing, Biotherapeutics Core Facilities
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

Assistant Professor, Dept of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine
University of Ottawa

Dr. Courtman has developed and assessed, both biologically and biomechanically, novel tissue, protein, and cell based biomaterials for use in vascular grafts and heart valves. He has made fundamental contributions to field of vascular pathobiology furthering our understanding of disease progression and tissue material interactions. More recently he has been instrumental in the development of a number of cellular based gene therapies for the treatment of cardio-pulmonary disorders taking them from initial concept, through appropriate animal disease models, and into first in man clinical trials. He is currently directing the manufacturing of these cell products for trials treating patients suffering from pulmonary arterial hypertension, myocardial infarction, and sepsis.

Dr. Courtman is trained in cellular and molecular pathology and biophysics with extensive expertise in the development of novel therapies for cardiovascular disease. He obtained undergraduate and Master’s degrees in Medical Biophysics from the University of Western Ontario and a PhD in Cellular and Molecular Pathology at the University of Toronto. He completed postdoctoral training in the Vascular Pathobiology program at the University of Washington, Seattle and subsequently took up a position as scientist at St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, with an appointment as Assistant Professor in the departments of Surgery, Pathology and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto. In 2008 he moved to the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute to continue his research and take up the directorship the clinical cell manufacturing facility.

Vaka R, Khan S, Ye B, Risha Y, Parent S, Courtman DW, Stewart DJ, Davis DR. Direct comparison of different therapeutic cell types susceptibility to inflammatory cytokines associated with COVID-19 acute lung injury. Stem Cell Res Ther. 2022 Jan 15;13(1):20.

Yuan Y, Khan S, Stewart DJ, Courtman DW. Engineering blood outgrowth endothelial cells to optimize endothelial nitric oxide synthase and extracellular matrix production for coating of blood contacting surfaces. Acta Biomater. 2020 Jun;109:109-120.

McIntyre LA, Stewart DJ, Mei SHJ, Courtman D, Watpool I, Granton J, Marshall J, Dos Santos C, Walley KR, Winston BW, Schlosser K, Fergusson DA; Canadian Critical Care Trials Group and the Canadian Critical Care Translational Biology Group. Cellular Immunotherapy for Septic Shock (CISS): A Phase I Clinical Trial. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2018 Feb 1;197(3):337-347.

Granton J, Langleben D, Kutryk MB, Camack N, Galipeau J, Courtman DW, Stewart DJ. Endothelial NO-synthase gene-enhanced progenitor cell therapy for pulmonary arterial hypertension: The PHACeT Trial. Circ Res. 2015 Sept 11;117(7):645-54.

Yuan Y, Altalhi WA, Ng JJ, Courtman DW. Derivation of human peripheral blood derived endothelial progenitor cells and the role of osteopontin surface modification and eNOS transfection. Biomaterials. 2014 Jan;35(1):133-42.

Ormiston ML, Deng YP, Rundle N, Bendjelloul F, Tsoporis JN, Parker TG, Stewart DJ, Courtman DW. A lymphocyte-dependent mode of action of imatinib mesylate in experimental pulmonary hypertension. Am J Pathol. 2013 May:182(5):1541-51.

Suen RS, Rampersad SN, Stewart DJ, Courtman DW. Differential roles of endothelin-1 angiotensin II-induced atherosclerosis and aortic aneurysms in apolipoprotein E-null mice. Am J Pathol. 2011 Sep;179(3):1549-59.

Hakimzadeh N, Stewart DJ, Courtman DW. The role of transglutaminase 2 and osteopontin in matrix protein supplemented microencapsulation of marrow stromal cells. Biomaterials. 2010 Dec;31(35):9256-65.

Karoubi G, Ormiston ML, Stewart DJ, Courtman DW. Single-cell hydrogel encapsulation for enhanced survival of human marrow stromal cells. Biomaterials. 2009 Oct;30(29):5445-55.

Biomaterials; Cell therapy; Molecular and cellular biology; Regenerative medicine; Stem cells; Stem cells; Translational research