Researchers

Dr. Maberley performs research in population health and the medical and surgical management of macular disease, diabetic retinopathy, and high myopia. He has most recently co-led the Diabetic Retinopathy Goal Group of Diabetes Action Canada (a CIHR SPOR initiative), assisted in the development of the Preceyes Robotic Vitreo-retinal Surgical System (Technical University of Eindhoven) and in modelling blood flow through retinal microvascular pathologies (University of Amsterdam).

His laboratory, located within the Alberta Diabetes Institute, works to understand the cellular machinery that controls production of the important blood sugar controlling hormones insulin and glucagon by islet cells from human organ donors. Dr. MacDonald directs the Alberta Diabetes Institute IsletCore, one of the world’s largest sources of human pancreas research tissue, and co-founded the Canadian Islet Research and Training Network.

Dylan MacKay is an Assistant Professor of Nutrition and Chronic Disease in the Department of Food and Human Nutritional Sciences and the Department of Internal Medicine Section Endocrinology at the University of Manitoba. He is also a person who lives with type 1 diabetes.

Dr. Mahmud’s research focuses on clinical and lifestyle-based interventions in youth with diabetes, including the early evaluation and prevention of diabetes-related complications. He is the lead investigator for the Adolescent Type 1 diabetes Treatment with SGLT2i for hyperglycEMia & hyPerfilTration (ATTEMPT) study, a double-blind, randomized control trial evaluating adjunct-to-insulin therapy using Sodium-glucose transport protein 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors on renal and glycemic outcomes.

Dr. Manca’s research is focused on obtaining and using data for research and to improve care through prevention, screening and better management. She is the Director of the Northern Alberta Primary Care Research Network (NAPCReN), a network contributing data to the Canadian Primary Care Research Network (CPCSSN). Dr. Manca is also a Co-Founder of the BETTER Program and a Director of the BETTER Institute, a non-profit organization aimed to improve chronic disease prevention and screening in primary care.

Dr. Despoina Manousaki received her MD from the University of Athens, Greece, her post-graduate training in pediatrics in Switzerland (University Hospitals of Geneva) and in pediatric endocrinology in Canada (Sainte-Justine Hospital in Montreal). Subsequently, she obtained a PhD in genetic epidemiology from McGill University. Dr. Manousaki’s research focuses on the genetics of complex disease in childhood.

Robin Mason is committed to enhancing the understanding of, and commitment to, the integration of an intersectional sex and gender lens (SGBA+) in all health research. To this end, she has designed educational materials and activities to engage students, trainees, patients and other community members, as well as established researchers in considering the impact of sex, gender and other identity-related factors in their studies. Dr. Mason has been working on issues of gender-based violence and medical education for 20 years and has contributed to the development of policies at the local, provincial and national level.

Dr. McGavock’s research program focuses on the prevention and management of type 2 diabetes in youth, with a particular focus on physical activity. Studies in his lab range from studying the effectiveness and implementation of urban trails on cardiometabolic disease, to clinical trials of novel behavioral interventions for adolescents living with diabetes to the application of causal methods to uncover early life origins of adolescent cardiometabolic diseases.

She has over 25 years of experience, working in both hospitals and private practice-based settings managing foot related complications. She is currently a member of the St. Michael’s Hospital Interdisciplinary Wound Care Team, specializing in the high-risk foot, limb salvage and advanced wound care. She enjoys teaching health care professionals from all disciplines and actively teaches Masters’ students from University of Western Ontario, chiropody students from Michener Institute Chiropody Program and medical fellows from University of Toronto.

Her primary research focuses on the integration of telehealth treatments for mental health and addictive disorders into everyday clinical practice. One of her key areas of interest involves investigating the incorporation of remote health coaching into the care of individuals with diabetes. Her goal is to provide support for healthy behaviors and emotional well-being in this population. Furthermore, Dr. Melamed has contributed as a co-author to the Mental Health chapter of the 2023 Clinical Practice Guidelines published by Diabetes Canada.