Researchers

Dr. Charles de Mestral’s goal is to pursue population-based health services research focusing on people living with diabetes who undergo lower limb amputation. He is interested in better characterizing the epidemiology, outcomes, health-resource use and costs of lower limb amputation in people living with diabetes as well as limb preservation therapies. The purpose of this work is to inform population-level interventions to reduce diabetes-related foot complications.

Dr. Jean-Pierre Després is a professor at the Department of Kinesiology at Université Laval in Québec City, Canada. Dr. Després’ research interests include obesity, adipose tissue distribution, visceral obesity, type 2 diabetes, lipids, lipoproteins, cardiovascular disease and their prevention through physical activity and healthy living. More than 30 years ago, he was the first to report that an excess of fat in the abdominal cavity (visceral obesity), was particularly harmful to health. He is personally involved in major education and mobilization activities to prevent chronic societal diseases.

Dr Sophie Desroches, PhD, RD, is Professor at Université Laval School of Nutrition, in Quebec City, Canada. She is also a research scientist at the Centre Nutrition, santé et société (NUTRISS) at the Institute of Nutrition and Functional Foods of Laval University. Her research program aims to identify, develop and evaluate knowledge translation strategies that will optimize adherence to dietary advice for preventing and managing chronic diseases. Her more recently funded research projects have explored the use of social media, and more specifically blogs, as knowledge translation strategies to enhance adherence to evidence-based dietary advice for preventing and managing chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes.

Dr. Joyce Dogba is trained as a physician in Togo. She holds a Master degree in health economics and a PhD in Public Health. She is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Family and Emergency Medicine at Laval University. Her research agenda comprises evaluation of collaborative practices with patients-users in research and the education of health professionals. She is also interested in advancing stakeholders engagement science regarding how to meaningfully involve the underserved including immigrants in patient-oriented research. Joyce Dogba is a co-lead on patient engagement within the SRAP/SPOR Network in Diabetes and Related Complications.

Neil is a professor emeritus in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Alberta, with adjunct appointments in the UA School of Public Health and the Departments of Family Medicine and Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary. He continues to research health care provision and health outcomes in primary care, including for diabetes.

Arnaud Duhoux worked 6 years as a Registered Nurse, mainly with the homeless population. He is trained in epidemiology and public health and is an expert in quantitative analysis of administrative health data to measure performance in primary care. He is also the director of the strategic grouping on population mental health of the Quebec Population Health Research Network.

Dr. El-Defrawy is Nanji Family Chair in Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences, Professor and Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences at the University of Toronto and the Ophthalmologist-in-Chief at Kensington Eye Institute. He is a Past President of the Canadian Ophthalmological Society and the Association of Canadian University Professors of Ophthalmology, and most recently was co-Chair of the Eye Health Council of Ontario. He was the Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at Queen’s University, and Ophthalmologist-in-Chief at the University Hospitals in Kingston, Ontario from 2004 to 2012.

Dr Jean-François Ethier is a clinician scientist and an associate professor in the Department of Medicine and the Department of Computer Science at the Université de Sherbrooke. He also practices as a general internal medicine attending physician at the Sherbrooke University Health Centre.

Dr. Mahyar Etminan’s area of research is focused on drug safety. He uses large population-based databases from Canada and the United States as well as epidemiologic methods to quantify adverse drug reactions in the area of ophthalmology as well as other therapeutic areas. He is also interested in causal inference methods and its application in epidemiological research. Recently, Dr. Etminan has co-authored a paper looking at the risk of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor inhibitors, a new class of antidiabetic medications, and risk of diabetic retinopathy. Another area of interest for Dr. Etminan is looking at diabetic outcomes in patients with age related macular degeneration and diabetic macular edema.

Dr. Michael Farkouh is internationally known for his work in cardiovascular prevention and acute coronary syndromes. He has a special interest and expertise in the field of cardiovascular disease in patients with diabetes. He is currently the project officer for numerous clinical trials on questions related to diabetes and heart disease including the NIH-sponsored FREEDOM trial. He chairs the committee on diabetes and heart disease at the Banting and Best Diabetes Centre at the University of Toronto and serves as Section Editor for Diabetes and Metabolism at the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.