I am trained as an occupational and environmental epidemiologist. I obtained a B.Sc. in physics (1975), a MSc degree (1985) and PhD degree (1991) in epidemiology and biostatistics from McGill University. From 1990 until 1996, I worked in the Montreal public health department as an epidemiologist and from 1996-2000 I was a professor at the INRS-Institut Armand-Frappier, University of Quebec. I am currently professor at McGill University in the Department of Medicine and associate member in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Department of Occupational Health, in the Department of Oncology, and the McGill School of Environment. I held until 2008 a Chercheur-Boursier from the Fonds de recherche en santé du Québec and an Investigator Award from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research.
RESEARCH ACTIVITIES
Past
My research has and continues to be multi-faceted, including both clinical and environmental epidemiological studies. In the past, I have obtained grants, conducted studies, and/or published that includes: 1) the accuracy of assessing occupational exposure in case-control studies (my masters thesis); 2) cancer incidence and mortality in a cohort of synthetic textiles workers (my doctoral dissertation) and Australian textile manufacturing workers; 3) the long-term health effects of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis; 4) health effects arising from exposures to ambient biogas produced in municipal solid waste sites; 5) environmental and occupational causes of disease, including investigations of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, colon cancer, and lung cancer; 6) the long- and short-term health effects from exposures to pollutants in ambient air; 7) biostatistical and epidemiologic methodological investigations; 8) the effects of smoking on back pain; 9) the health effects of diagnostic radiographs in women diagnosed with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis; 10) health services related to treatment for breast cancer surgery; 11) stroke; 12) estimating the need for radiotherapy in cancer; 12) a cohort study to estimate age-, gender- and risk factor-specific incidence rates of stroke and heart disease using longitudinal cohorts; and 13) a study in palliative medicine of patterns of care among cancer patients in end-of-life (Bruno Gagnon, PI (McGill)).
Current
My current research program consists of completing a number of ongoing research projects as well as initiating new ones. The following projects are currently underway: 1) a case-control study of gene-environment interactions in postmenopausal breast cancer; 2) a longitudinal study of the acute effects of air pollution on health among persons potentially susceptible to urban air pollution; 3) a panel study in congestive heart failure to determine whether air pollution affects essential indicators of health status; 4) a cohort study of persons with implanted cardioverter defibrillators to identify triggers for interventions for ventricular tachycardia; 5) a population-based cohort study in Ontario (Paul Villeneuve, PI) and a nationwide study based on the 1991 Canadian Census (Rick Burnett, PI) both used to investigate the long-term effects of air pollution on health; 6) studies of traffic-related air pollution and the incidence of cancer; 7) a panel in childhood asthma to determine whether air pollution from refineries affects respiratory health; and 8) a panel study of bicyclists in Montreal investigating cardiovascular effects of traffic-related air pollution.