- Medications and pregnancy
- Medications and pediatrics
- Pharmacoepidemiology
- Big Data
- Learning models
My research pertains to the study of risks and benefits associated with medications during pregnancy and lactation in the fields of mental health, particularly depression, anxiety, bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorders and attention deficit disorders; infections during pregnancy; assisted procreation technologies; treatment of fever; use of opioids; and more recently, the impact of COVID-19 on mothers and children.
The advent of real world evidence (RWE), larger cohorts such as CAMCCO, and artificial intelligence (AI) methods allow us to analyze the data exhaustively, which was not possible previously. This is important in pandemics such as COVID-19 to inform political decision-makers in a timely manner.
My research activities have had a direct impact on health policies and care for pregnant women. More specifically :
A) Antidepressants (i) guidelines on depression during pregnancy; ii) antidepressants and pulmonary hypertension in the newborn (Health Canada); iii) treatment of mental disorders during pregnancy (Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux du Québec);
B) Antibiotics, antiretrovirals, corticosteroids (i) macrolides and malformations (Department of Health, Norway), ii) triamcinolone and adverse pregnancy outcomes (APO), iii) antiretroviral drugs (Health Canada), iv) fluconazole (Health Canada)
C) Dihydroergotamine, a migraine drug (FDA)
D) Leflunomide, an antirheumatism drug (FDA)
E) Isotretinoin, an acne drug (Health Canada)
F) Nausea prevention drug – ondansetron (Health Canada)
G) Assisted procreation technologies (Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux du Québec)
At the provincial level, I participating in writing the Notice on Assisted Procreation Activities in Québec published in June 2014 by the Québec Health and Welfare Commissioner, and in writing the INESSS Notice on the Opioid Crisis in 2018.
Career Summary
Researcher Anick Bérard was trained in epidemiology and genetics at McGill University, Harvard Medical School and Stanford University. She is a Full Professor of Perinatal Epidemiology at the Université de Montréal for the Faculty of Pharmacy and at CHU Ste-Justine in Montréal, and an Associate Professor with the Faculty of Medicine at Université Claude Bernard in Lyon, France. Anick Bérard holds a Canada Research Chair on Medications and Pregnancy Tier 1 and the UdeM Louis-Boivin Family Pharmaceutical Chair on “Medications, Pregnancy and Lactation”.
Anick Bérard is also Director of the Research Unit on Medications and Pregnancy at CHU Ste-Justine; Director of the Réseau québécois de recherche sur les médicaments of FRQS; a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences; a Fellow of the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology; and a voting member of the Teratology Society. Anick Bérard is the Principal Investigator of the studies of i) the Canadian Mother-Child Cohort (CAMCCO) Active Surveillance Initiative, ii) the Canadian Mother-Child Collaborative Training Platform (CAMCCO-L); iii) the cross-Canada CONCEPTION Study – COVID-19 and Pregnancy, iv) the Quebec Pregnancy/Children Cohort, v) the AMerican PREGNANcy/Child CohorT (AM-PREGNANT), and v) the French National Pregnancy Cohort, PregMed-France. The researcher Anick Bérard has published over 600 scientific articles, abstracts and patents, and has obtained over $33 million in funding from the CIHR, CFI and FRQS as Principal Investigator. She recently received the Distinguished Scientist Award from the Society for Birth Defects Prevention and Research for her work on antidepressants, maternal depression and pregnancy; she also recently received a Career Research Award from the Association of Faculties of Pharmacy of Canada.
Laboratory
Medications and pregnancy
Website to consult