Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

Research News

	New therapy helps cancer patients find strength in shared experience June 5, 2025 - A cancer diagnosis is a life-changing moment. While the physical effects often take priority, the emotional and mental toll can be just as profound. A new study published in Psychooncology explores a novel approach to addressing this gap in care: Ada
	Stopping COVID-19 with behavioral science and artificial intelligence June 8, 2020 - Dr. Justin Presseau and colleagues plan to use state-of-the-art behavioural science and artificial intelligence to develop an app that can help people reduce how much they touch their eyes, nose and mouth.
	Engaging patients in research every step of the way November 28, 2018 - CMAJ's new supplement on engaging patients in health research features commentaries led by Drs. Dean Fergusson, Simon Hatcher and Christian Vaillancourt, as well as 14 other teams affiliated with Ontario’s SPOR SUPPORT Unit (OSSU). As co-Scientific D
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	The cancer’s gone but the fear remains: psychology researchers tackle fear of cancer recurrence August 16, 2018 - A pilot study by Drs. Christina Tomei, Sophie Lebel, Christine Maheu, Monique Lefebvre, and Cheryl Harris suggests that specialized psychological services could help cancer survivors manage their fear of cancer returning. While this is a realistic fe
	Fighting back against chronic nerve pain: researchers get $295K to test combination therapy March 9, 2016 - During their war with cancer, it’s common for survivors to find themselves in a new battle with chronic nerve pain. Either damaged by the disease or the treatments used, some of their nerves start sending incorrect signals causing shooting, burni

Researchers

Name	Scientific appointment	Diseases, conditions and populations of interest	Research and clinical approaches
Beaulac, Julie PhD	Clinician Investigator (Inflammation and Chronic Disease)		Clinical research, Health promotion, Health services research, Psychology, Shared decision making
Boet, Sylvain MD, PhD	Affiliate Investigator (Acute Care Research)	COVID-19	Anesthesiology, Behaviour, Clinical trials, Knowledge translation and implementation research, Patient engagement, Psychology, Qualitative methods, Quality Improvement, Surgery, Systematic reviews, Translational research
Brehaut, Jamie PhD	Senior Scientist (Methodological and Implementation Research)		Behaviour, Health professional behaviour change, Health services research, Knowledge translation and implementation research, Patient decision aids, Patient engagement, Psychology, Psychometrics, Qualitative methods, Shared decision making, Surveys
Dargel, Aroldo M.D., Ph.D.	Associate Scientist (Neuroscience)	Anxiety, Bipolar, Dementia, Depression, Diabetes, Hypertension, Mental health, Obesity, Population health, Suicide, Vascular, heart and metabolic disease	Artificial intelligence and data science, Behaviour, Big data, Biomarkers, Biostatistics, Clinical research, Clinical trials, Digital and mobile health, Epidemiology, Health technology, Prevention, Psychology, Quality Improvement, Rapid reviews, Systematic reviews, Translational research
Hatcher, Simon BSc MBBS MMedSc MD FRCPC FRANZCP MRCPsych	Scientist (Neuroscience)	Anxiety, Brain and neuromuscular disease, COVID-19, First Nations, Inuit and Métis Health, Health equity, Mental health, Traumatic brain injury, Depression, Health in disadvantaged peoples, Suicide	Clinical research, Digital and mobile health, Health economics, Health professional behaviour change, Health research methods, Health services research, Health technology, Knowledge translation and implementation research, Patient engagement, Prevention, Public health, Qualitative methods, Clinical trials, Cluster randomized trials, Epidemiology, Psychology, Systematic reviews
MacPherson, Paul PhD, MD, FRCPC	Scientist (Methodological and Implementation Research)	Gay men's health, HIV, Infectious disease, Men's health, Sexually transmitted infections	Behaviour, Cohort studies, Epidemiology, Health promotion, Health services research, Knowledge translation and implementation research, Prevention, Psychology, Qualitative methods, Surveys
Poulin, Patricia C. Psych.	Associate Scientist (Neuroscience)	Addiction, Anxiety, Cancer, Chronic pain, Depression, Health equity, Musculoskeletal conditions, Pain	Anesthesiology, Behaviour, Biomarkers, Clinical research, Clinical trials, Emergency medicine, Epidemiology, Health professional behaviour change, Health services research, Knowledge translation and implementation research, Palliative care, Patient decision aids, Patient safety, Peri-operative medicine, Pragmatic trials, Psychology, Qualitative methods, Quality Improvement, Systematic reviews
Presseau, Justin PhD	Senior Scientist (Methodological and Implementation Research)	Chronic pain, COVID-19, Diabetes, Health equity, Hepatitis C, Immigrant and refugee health, Inflammatory bowel syndrome, Retinal disease, Vision	Artificial intelligence and data science, Health services research, Patient engagement, Psychometrics, Public health, Qualitative methods, Quality Improvement, Rapid reviews, Transfusions, Transplantation, Behaviour, Psychology, Health professional behaviour change, Knowledge translation and implementation research, Health promotion, Cluster randomized trials, Surveys
Ramsay, Timothy PhD	Senior Scientist (Methodological and Implementation Research)	Addiction, Alzheimer's, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Anxiety, Ataxia, Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Autism, Bipolar, Brain and neuromuscular disease, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Colorectal cancer, Concussion, Cystic fibrosis, Dementia, Depression, First Nations, Inuit and Métis Health, HIV, Immigrant and refugee health, Influenza, Kidney disease, Lung cancer, Macular degeneration, Men's health, Multiple sclerosis, Muscular dystrophy, Myasthenia gravis, Obesity, Ovarian cancer, Parkinson's, Pulmonary hypertension, Septic shock, Spinal cord injury	Artificial intelligence and data science, Behaviour, Biomaterials, Biostatistics, Cell therapy, Clinical decision rules, Clinical research, Clinical trials, Cohort studies, Critical care, Drug development, Emergency medicine, Epidemiology, Health professional behaviour change, Health promotion, Health research methods, Health services research, Health technology, Immunization, Immunotherapy, Palliative care, Patient decision aids, Pharmacology, Pharmacy, Prevention, Psychology, Psychometrics, Public health, Qualitative methods, Quality Improvement, Regenerative medicine, Rehabilitation, Risk assessment, Shared decision making, Surgery, Surveys, Systematic reviews, Transfusions, Translational research, Transplantation, Viral therapy
Walker, Lisa PhD, C.Psych	Clinician Investigator (Neuroscience)	Anxiety, Autoimmune disease, Autoimmune diseases of the nervous system, Brain and neuromuscular disease, Dementia, Depression, Mental health, Multiple sclerosis	Behaviour, Biomarkers, Clinical research, Exercise, Imaging, Psychology, Psychometrics, Rehabilitation, Stem cells, Systematic reviews, Translational research
Boet, Sylvain MD, PhD	Affiliate Investigator (Acute Care Research)	COVID-19	Anesthesiology, Behaviour, Clinical trials, Knowledge translation and implementation research, Patient engagement, Psychology, Qualitative methods, Quality Improvement, Surgery, Systematic reviews, Translational research
Harris, Cheryl PhD	Clinician Investigator (Neuroscience)	Anxiety, Cancer, Depression, Mental health, Pain	Behaviour, Clinical trials, Digital and mobile health, Psychology