Dr. David Birnie was appointed staff cardiac electrophysiologist (EP) at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI) in May 2002. He was educated in Scotland and received his medical degree (MB ChB) from Glasgow University in 1990. He spent three years as a cardiology research fellow at Glasgow University from 1993 studying the immunology of atherosclerosis and was awarded his PhD equivalent (MD) in 1996. Between 1996 and 2001 he completed cardiology training in Glasgow and spent a year in 1999-2000 as an EP fellow at UOHI. His clinical focus is on all aspects of cardiac EP including radiofrequency ablation of simple and complex arrhythmias and implantation and follow-up of device therapy. He also has a major clinical interest in Cardiac Sarcoidosis and co-initiated (in 2008) and still co-leads Canada’s first dedicated Cardiac Sarcoidosis clinic. His major ongoing research interests are cardiac sarcoidosis and investigating optimal strategies for anticoagulation around EP procedures. To date he has been involved in over 400 peer- reviewed publications with a current h-index = 86; He has had continuous peer reviewed funding since 2004. In 2020 he was elected to the executive committee of the World Association of Sarcoidosis (WASOG). In 2025 he hosted the annual WASOG meeting in Ottawa and is president-elect. He has managed to combine work with his major passion/hobby; serving as cardiologist for the medical advisory committee of the Canadian Soccer Association.