Affiliate Investigator, Neuroscience
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine Department of Ophthalmology
University of Ottawa

Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine
University of Ottawa

Director, Structural and Functional Retinal Imaging Unit
The Ottawa Hospital

My clinical research interests involve the study of retinal structure and function in patients with age-related macular degeneration and other macular diseases. Our laboratory is also involved in developing sensitive screening technologies to detect early retinal toxicity in patients taking chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, the drugs used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. Our basic research laboratory investigates retinal function in animal models of retinal degeneration and in gene therapy treatment for retinal diseases.

I completed my PhD in experimental psychology at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia in 1979. Following this, I was awarded the J.B.R. Cosgrove Research Fellowship at the Montreal Neurological Institute in the Department of Neuro-Ophthalmology with a cross-appointment in the Ophthalmology Department at McGill University. Following, I was awarded a 3-year postdoctoral fellowship from the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada which was also taken in the Department of Neuro-Ophthalmology at the Montreal Neurological Institute. In 1982, I moved to Calgary where I held academic appointments in the Departments of Pediatrics, Clinical Neurosciences and Surgery at the University of Calgary. During that time I was Director of the Sensory Physiology Laboratory at Alberta Children's Hospital for the next 16 years. In 1998 I accepted an appointment at the University of Ottawa as Associate Professor in Ophthalmology and became Director of Structural and Functional Imaging Unit at the University of Ottawa Eye Institute. In 2005 I received the American Academy of Ophthalmology Achievement Award. In 2012 I received a cross-appointment in the Cellular and Molecular Medicine Department.

CORDELL,WH, MATURI RK, COSTIGAN TM, MARMOR M F, WELEBER RG, COUPLAND SG, DANIS RP, MCGETTIGAN JW, JR, ANTOSZYK AN, KLISE S, SIDES G D. Retinal effects of 6 months of daily use of tadalafil or sildenafil. Arch Ophthalmol. 2009 Apr;127(4):367-73.

LEONARD KC, PETRIN D, COUPLAND SG, BAKER AN, LEONARD BC, LACASSE EC, HAUSWIRTH WW, KORNELUK RG, TSILFIDIS C. XIAP protection of photoreceptors in animal models of retinitis pigmentosa. PLoS ONE, 2007. 2: p. e314.

BEDDAOUI M, COUPLAND SG, TSILFIDIS C. Recovery of function following regeneration of the damaged retina in the adult newt, Notophthalmus viridescens. Doc Ophthalmol. 2012 Oct;125(2):91-100. Epub 2012 Jun23. PMID: 22729667.

KARANJIA R, TEN HOVE MW, COUPLAND SG: Electroretinograms and Normative Data in Electroretinograms. InTech. Chapter 2. pages 19-32. ISBN 978-953-307-383-5. Gregor Belusic (ed.) 2011.

KULKARNI S, COUPLAND SG, DAMJI K, HAMILTON J. Comparison of Efficacy of SLO-Microperimetry and Humphrey Visual Filed Analyzer for Evaluating Changes in Macular Sensitivity in Advanced Glaucoma. Can J Ophthalmol 2013 Oct;48(5):406-12. PMID:24093188.