Paul MacPherson profile picture

Contact Information

Paul MacPherson, PhD, MD, FRCPC
613-737-8899 ex 73917
pmacpherson@toh.ca

ORCID logo https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7348-6775

Paul MacPherson

Scientist, Methodological & Implementation Research
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

Research Interests

Dr.  MacPherson has an active practice in infectious diseases with a particular interest in HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. Dr. MacPherson's active research projects are targeted to ensure that through research, clinical care and education, gay and other men who have sex with men in Ontario have access to and are engaged and retained in informed, relevant, and comprehensive healthcare.  Dr. MacPherson works with community groups, community members, clinicians, mental health professionals and researchers to drive change. 

Current Projects include:
- Health survey of GMSM in the Champlain LHIN 
- Ontario GMSM health survey       
- Ottawa survey of gay men on PrEP 
- Optimizing strategies for targeting and delivering PrEP   
- Development of clinical practice Guidelines for Gay Men's Health
- Development of Health Information focused on needs of Gay men: HUGO on line portal for gay men and healthcare providers    
- Point-of-care STI testing in men who have sex with men
- Sexual Anxiety in Men Who have Sex with Men       
- Developing and user-testing a patient decision aid for HIV-negative persons at high risk for infection: a strategy for HIV-prevention and patient-centered care. 

Brief Biography

 Dr. MacPherson received his PhD from the University of California at Berkeley in 1991 and his MD from McMaster University in 1998. He completed his residency in internal medicine at the University of Toronto and subspecialty training in infectious diseases at the University of Ottawa. Dr MacPherson runs an active practice in infectious diseases with a particular interest in HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. Dr MacPherson is a Clinician Scientist who works as a staff physician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Ottawa Hospital General Campus and a research scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (Chronic Disease Program)where he is involved in both clinical and fundamental research projects. Dr. MacPherson is also an Associate Professor in Clinical Epidemiology,  Department of Medicine and the Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Ottawa .

Selected Publications

O’Byrne P, MacPherson P, Orser L, Jacob JD, Holmes D (2019) Clinical considerations and protocols for nurse-led PrEP.  J. Assoc Nurses AIDS Care. 30(3):301-311   5.       

Singh A, Tan D, Hull M, Bogoch, I, MacPherson P, Tremblay C, Shafran S, (2018) Canadian guidelines on HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and non-occupational post-exposure prophylaxis (nPEP): Discussion beyond guidelines and commentary on the role of infectious disease specialists, JAMMI. 3(4):165-177.  

Morrison SA, Yoong D, Hart TA, MacPherson P, Bogoch I, Sivarajah V, Gough K, Naccarato M, Tan DHS. (2018) High prevalence of syndemic health problems in patients seeking post-exposure prophylaxis for sexual exposures to HIV. PLoS One. 23;13(5):e0197998.    

O’Byrne P, MacPherson P, Orser L. (2018) Nurse-Led PEP program used by men at high risk for HIV seroconversion. J Assoc Nurses AIDS Care. 29(4):550-559.

Grace D, Jollimore J, MacPherson P, Strang MJP, Tan DHS. The Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP)-Stigma Paradox: Learning from Canada's First Wave of PrEP Users. (2018) AIDS Patient Care STDS. 32(1):24-30.  

Tan DHS, Hull MW, Yoong D, Tremblay C, O'Byrne P, Thomas R, Kille J, Baril JG, Cox J, Giguere P, Harris M, Hughes C, MacPherson P, O'Donnell S, Reimer J, Singh A, Barrett L, Bogoch I, Jollimore J, Lambert G, Lebouche B, Metz G, Rogers T, Shafran S. (2017) Canadian guideline on HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis and nonoccupational postexposure prophylaxis. CMAJ. 2017 27;189(47):E1448-E1458.  

Durand M, Chartrand-Lefebvre C, Baril JG, Trottier S, Trottier B, Harris M, Walmsley S, Conway B, Wong A, Routy JP, Kovacs C, MacPherson PA, Monteith KM, Mansour S, Thanassoulis G, Abrahamowicz M, Zhu Z, Tsoukas C, Ancuta P, Bernard N, Tremblay CL. (2017) The Canadian HIV and aging cohort study - determinants of increased risk of cardio-vascular diseases in HIV-infected individuals: rationale and study protocol. BMC Infect Dis. 17(1):611.     

Nama N, MacPherson P, Sampson M, McMillan HJ. (2017) Medical students' perception of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) discrimination in their learning environment and their self-reported comfort level for caring for LGBT patients: a survey study. Med Educ. Online. 22(1):1368850.  

Balfour, L., Wiebe, S., Cameron, W.D., Sandre, D., Pipe, A., Cooper, C., Angel, J., Garber, G., Holly, C., Dalgleish, D., Tasca, G.A. and MacPherson, P. (2017) An HIV tailored quit-smoking counselling pilot intervention targeting depressive symptoms plus Nicotine Replacement Therapy. AIDS Care. 29 (1):24-31




Diseases, conditions and populations of interest





Research and clinical approaches