Career Summary
I am a junior clinician-investigator. I devote approximately 50% of my time to clinical hematology and the remaining 50% to clinical research. My main interest and expertise is in hemostasis and bleeding disorders, particularly in women. I am the current clinical director of the Women's Bleeding Disorders Program of the Haemophilia Treatment Centre at CHU Sainte-Justine. I am also the co-director of the Haemophilia Treatment Center.
I have a particular interest in von Willebrand Disease (VWD), hemophilia and other rare coagulation factor deficiencies. Clinical issues pertaining to the assessment and treatment of gynecological and obstetrical problems in hematology have been the focus of my clinical research. I was the co-investigator and project director of two studies, one examining the effect of exercise on the level of coagulation factor VIII (FVIII:C) and von Willebrand factor (VWF:AG) and the second examining the effect of physical exercise on menorrhagia in women with VWD. I collaborated on a third study designed to assess the utility of a semi-quantitative tool for measuring menorrhagia in women who use different brands of pads and tampons has been conducted and presented as a poster at the World Federation of Hemophilia Meeting held in July 2002, in Seville, Spain.
Our center is also participating in two multi-center studies, one examining the effect of Mirena® on menorrhagia in adolescent girls and the other examining the changes in VWF:Ag and FVIII:C during pregnancy and in the postpartum period for which I am the designated local investigator. I am the principal investigator of a study on the use of cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors in the treatment of menorrhagia which has been submitted to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. I have also been involved in a study concerning (i) the long term carcinogenic risk of radioactive synovectomy in hemophilia, (ii) the use of filter-paper dried specimens on the measurement of inhibitors, and (iii) the determination of an optimal storage solution of dilute porcine factor VIII for use in the Bethesda assay to measure inhibitor titers of congenital and acquired hemophilia.