Senior Scientist, Inflammation & Chronic Disease
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine, School of Epimediology, Public Health and Preventive Medicine
University of Ottawa

Staff Respirologist, Division of Respirology & Infections Disease; Department of Medicine
The Ottawa Hospital

Dr. Alvarez’s career aim is to study pulmonary health in disadvantaged populations specifically among Canadian Inuit and in new Canadians. He has concentrated his efforts on pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) research in these populations. He is currently leading the Taima TB program of research.. Taima (means stop in Inuktitut) TB is a group of research projects aimed at helping Inuit in Canada stop the transmission of TB in their communities. He has recently completed several studies in Nunavut with funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada, the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, the Canadian High Arctic Research Station, and the Ontario Thoracic Society focused on the implementation of innovative screening, diagnostic and education tools in the remote communities of Nunavut. These innovations have made a lasting improvement to TB care in Nunavut. At the moment, he is leading a study funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and Health Canada to improve TB treatment capabilities for vulnerable people in Iqaluit, Nunavut and in Ottawa, Ontario.

Dr. Alvarez is an Associate Professor of Medicine at The University of Ottawa and a Scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI). He was appointed to the Division of Respirology in 2006 and cross appointed to the Division of Infectious Diseases at The Ottawa Hospital after completing 2 years as a clinical scholar during which he obtained his Masters of Public Health at Harvard University. In 2020, he was awarded a Tier 1 Clinical Research Chair in Tuberculosis in Aboriginal Communities at the University of Ottawa and The Ottawa Hospital, Department of Medicine.

He has published 65 peer-reviewed journal articles. He has obtained over 3 million dollars in peer reviewed grants as either principle investigator or co-principle investigator, including 7 CIHR grants. His work has been featured on CBC TV and CBC radio as well as local, provincial and national newspapers.

In addition to his work serving the Ottawa region as a respirologist at The Ottawa Hospital, Dr. Alvarez is the respirology and tuberculosis consultant for the Nunavut Department of Health. Since 2007 he has been providing pulmonary care for Nunavummiut through the Qikiqtani General Hospital and in his Ottawa Hospital respirology and tuberculosis clinics.

• Molecular epidemiology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to describe the transmission dynamics among Inuit residing in Iqaluit Nunavut using whole genome sequencing, Alvarez GG, Zwerling AA, Duncan C, Pease C, Van Dyk D, Behr MA, Lee RS, Mulpuru S, Pakhale S, Cameron DW, Aaron SD, Patterson M, Allen J, Sullivan K, Jolly A, Sharma MK, Jamieson FB. Clinical Infectious Diseases. April 2020

• The implementation of rifapentine and isoniazid (3HP) for the treatment of latent TB infection in two remote Arctic communities with a predominantly Inuit population, the Taima TB 3HP study, Alvarez GG, Van Dyk D, Mallick R, Lesperance S, Demaio P, Finn S, Edmunds-Potvin S, Patterson M, Pease C, Amaratunga K, Hui C, Cameron DW, Mulpuru S, Aaron SD, Momoli F, Zwerling A. International Journal of Circumpolar Health. April 2020.

• The latent tuberculosis infection cascade of care in Iqaluit, Nunavut, 2012-2016, Pease C, Zwerling A, Mallick R, Patterson M, Demaio P, Finn S, Allen J, Van Dyk D, Alvarez GG. BMC Infect Dis. 19(1):890. doi: 10.1186/s12879-019-4557-3. PMID: 31651260. October 2019.

• The potential impact and cost-effectiveness of tobacco reduction strategies for tuberculosis prevention in Canadian Inuit communities, N’Diaye DS, Nsengiyumva NP, Uppal A, Oxlade O, Alvarez GG, Schwartzman K. BMC Medicine. February 2019.

• Social determinants of health among residential areas with a high tuberculosis incidence in a remote Inuit community, Kilabuk E, Momoli F, Mallick R, Van Dyk D, Pease C, Zwerling A, Edmunds-Potvin S, Alvarez GG. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.  Senior author, student first author. January 2019.

• Cost-effectiveness of 3 months of weekly rifapentine and isoniazid in a Canadian arctic setting, Pease C, Alvarez GG, Mallick R, Patterson M, Habis Y, Schwartzman K, Kilabuk E, Mulpuru S, Zwerling A. BMJ Open. April 2021.

• Latent tuberculosis infection cascade of care among adults in a low incidence country: a seven-year retrospective study, Sullivan K, Pease C, Zwerling A, Mallick R, Van Dyk D, Mulpuru S, Allen C, Alsdurf H, Alvarez GG. BMC Public Health. April 2021.

• A systematic review of adverse events of rifapentine and isoniazid compared to other treatments for latent tuberculosis infection, Pease C, Hutton B, Yazdi F, Wolfe D, Hamel C, Barbeau P, Skidmore B, Alvarez GG. 
  Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf. 557-566. Senior author, student first author. June, 2018.

• Determinants of tuberculosis trends in six Indigenous populations of the USA, Canada, and Greenland from 1960 to 2014: a population-based study, Dehghani K, Lan Z, Li P, Michelsen SW, Waites S, Benedetti A, Lejeune P, Torrie J, Robinson E, Vejvoda B, Mullah M, Redwood D, Cooper M, Fanning A, Yacoub W, Alvarez GG, Søborg B, Long R, Menzies. D. Lancet Public Health. 3(3):e133-e142. March, 2018.

• Efficacy and completion rates of rifapentine and isoniazid (3HP) compared to other treatment regimens for latent tuberculosis infection: a systematic review with network meta-analyses, Pease C, Hutton B, Yazdi F, Wolfe D, Hamel C, Quach P, Skidmore B, Moher D, Alvarez GG. BMC Infectious Diseases 17:265. Senior author, student first author.  April, 2017.
  
  

First Nations, Inuit and Métis Health; Health in disadvantaged peoples; Infectious disease; Lung disease; Population health; Tuberculosis

Clinical research; Epidemiology; Public health