Description
Dr. Sonia Butalia is a Clinician-Scientist in the Departments of Medicine and Community Health Sciences. Her research interests are in innovative tools and strategies to improve diabetes and other cardiovascular risk factors in the community. Her multi-method research program includes epidemiology (i.e., the use of large clinical and administrative data sources), health services research, and pragmatic clinical trials. Her award-winning program of work importantly engages and is informed by people (i.e., patient partners), health care providers and decision makers. She has received funding from the CIHR, Diabetes Canada, and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.
Dr. Butalia is also a co-author of several national guidelines in diabetes and high blood pressure (i.e. hypertension) and has contributed to several textbooks. She also teaches at the University of Calgary’s medical school, supervises trainees, and was awarded a Gold Star Resident Teaching Award for her contributions. She is the recipient of a Diabetes Canada New Investigator Award.
She subsequently completed her clinical and research training at the University of Calgary with a fellowship in endocrinology and metabolism and a Master’s degree in Clinical Epidemiology. She is involved in national guidelines including those from the Diabetes Canada (2013, 2018) and Hypertension Canada (2017, 2018). Her research interests are in innovative tools and strategies to improve diabetes care and cardiometabolic disorders. Her research program is supported by funding from The Lawson Foundation and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
She earned a Master’s degree in Clinical Epidemiology from the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary supported by highly competitive fellowship awards from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Alberta Innovates–Health Solutions (AIHS).
She was also awarded two research fellowship salary awards (total $80K), but respectively declined them in lieu of accepting her CIHR and AIHS research fellowship awards. Her thesis work resulted in four publications, a strong skill set (i.e., in methodology, health services and population health) and forming important collaborations.
She is an academic endocrinologist, clinical informatician, and population-health researcher. I previously earned a Master’s degree in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health in conjunction with a three-year research fellowship at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School under the supervision of Dr. David Bates. Her previous work was focused on evaluating how clinical decision support can be used to influence decision making, optimize physician ordering behavior, and improve adoption of proven and effective medical therapies. I have also worked with clinical registries and administrative databases to further quality improvement and research.
