Clinical Research Units

Unit Presentation

The Unit’s research team focuses on studying the risks and benefits of drug utilization during pregnancy and lactation in the hope of providing valuable evidence-based data to health care professionals and pregnant women who have to deal with this complex decision.

The team is a meeting of collaborators from various scientific areas such as pharmacy, medicine, biology, biostatistics, epidemiology and pharmacoeconomics who work in the laboratory of Dr. Anick Bérard at the CHU Sainte-Justine Research Centre affiliated with the University of Montreal. The various research projects conducted by the team that relate to drugs, pregnancy and lactation translate into concrete action within the scope of the wider purpose of the CHU Sainte-Justine Research Centre’s mission, which is to promote the development of knowledge in the field of maternal, pediatric and adolescent health and thereby ensure a better future for today’s children.

Affiliated with the Faculty of Pharmacy at the Université de Montréal, the team also participates in the Medication and Population Health research group, which is interested in the utilization, determinants, risks and benefits of drugs and the evaluation of interventions to optimize their use.

Quelques études majeures en cours

• Antidepressant use during pregnancy: Mother's health and development of the child
• Anti-epileptic drug use during pregnancy: Risks and benefits for the mother and child
• Antihypertensive drugs use during pregnancy: Risks and benefits for the mother and child
• Antibiotic use during pregnancy: Risks and benefits for the mother and child
• Parental stress, attachment and development of the child
• Oral contraception use before pregnancy and the risk of gestational hypertension, pre-eclampsia and eclampsia
• Diabetes and pregnancy: Interventions, glycemia control, and risks for the fetus