News

MAY 2024

St. Mary’s Research Centre is pleased to announce our recent recruitment of Dr. Harmehr Sekhon, Associate Professor within the Division of Geriatrics at McGill University’s Department of Medicine. She will be joining the SMRC team as an Associate Scientist within the Older Adult Care research domain on May 1^st, 2024.

Dr. Sekhon’s recruitment marks a notable stride forward in SMRC’s goal of bolstering our Older Adult Care research domain, whilst simultaneously strengthening ties with our key partner and associated academic institution, McGill University. Her expertise aligns closely with SMRC’s research emphasis on improving the accessibility of care for all ages and communities, and we eagerly anticipate the valuable contributions she will bring upon joining our research community in May.

APRIL 2024

St. Mary’s Research Centre, affiliated with McGill University, is pleased to announce that Dr. Talía Malagón, Associate Scientist at SMRC and Assistant Professor in the Gerald Bronfman Department of Oncology at McGill University has been selected for the “chercheuses-boursières Junior 1” award from the Fonds de Recherche du Québec - Santé (FRQS).

This competitive funding will support Dr. Malagón’s work on her current project titled: Health Decision Models and Data Matching for Cancer Prevention, Multiple Cancer Screening and Assessing the Resilience of Cancer Care.

SMRC is very proud of this important milestone for Dr. Talía Malagón as well as the recognition she has received for her work in epidemiology since joining the SMRC in 2023. Her accomplishments reinforce SMRC’s commitment to seeing its researchers grow and generate direct impact for better, safer care.

NOVEMBER 2023

On November 20, the McPeak-Sirois Group acknowledged the commitment of CIUSSS de l'Ouest-de-l'Île-de-Montréal - Hôpital de St-Mary as an affiliate member of the Group at a plaque unveiling ceremony.

CIUSSS de l'Ouest-de-l'Île-de-Montréal - Hôpital de St-Mary's senior management, represented by Mrs. Najia Hachimi-Idrissi, President and Assistant General Manager, and Dr. Ari Meguerditchian, Scientific Director of St. Mary's Research Centre, welcomed CIUSSS de l'Ouest-de-l'Île-de-Montréal - Hôpital de St-Mary's participation in the Group.

As Dr. Meguerditchian pointed out, "Clinical research is essential. It enables us to offer patients innovative alternatives to traditional treatments. By taking part in this research consortium, we are giving our patients better access to breast cancer research protocols."

JUNE 2023

St. Mary’s Hospital Centre (CIUSSS-ODIM) and McGill University are thrilled to announce the appointment of Dr. Anita Koushik as the inaugural holder of the Research Chair in Community Oncology.

As the Chairholder, Dr. Koushik will lead our efforts to enhance the quality of cancer care in our community. Her multidisciplinary approach, combined with her expertise in epidemiology and cancer-related risk factors, will enable her to identify and address key issues affecting patients.

With a BSc in Pharmacology from the University of Alberta, an MSc in Community Health and Epidemiology from Queen's University, and a PhD in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from McGill University, Dr. Koushik has demonstrated her commitment to academic excellence and the pursuit of expertise. She completed her postgraduate training in the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, expanding her knowledge into the field of nutrition and its impact on health.

Welcome to Tracy Jean Brice !

Welcome to Tracy Jean Brice, the new Executive Assistant of the St. Mary's Research Centre. Tracy is responsible for the administrative operations and internal and external relations of the centre. She will also be responsible for assisting management in strategic matters. Tracy graduated from UQAM with a B.A. in Public Management. Prior to joining us, she acquired several years of experience in administrative support in the health and procurement fields.  

APRIL 2023

Wolfe Chair Graduate Fellowship 2023-2024

Congratulations To Nina Morena on being selected for a Wolfe Chair Graduate Fellowship 2023-2024 in the amount of $8,570. Nina Morena is a PhD student in Communication Studies. She holds an MA in Media Studies from Concordia University and a BA in English Literature from McGill University. Her doctoral research explores the ways in which breast cancer patients seek and share health information on social media and how this impacts their disease management.

FRQs doctoral scholarship

Congratulations to Antoine Przybylak-Brouillard on receiving a three year scholarship through FRQs for his research with the eIMPAQc program. Antoine is a PhD student in the McGill Institute of Health Sciences Education and is supervised by Drs. Peter Nugus and Sylvie Lambert. His thesis title is: Learning to implement eHealth technologies: Healthcare professionals’ perceptions and experiences of embedding Patient Reported Outcomes (PROs) in cancer care.

Dr.  Talía Malagón will be joining St. Mary’s Research Centre as an Associate Scientist as of May 1^st, 2023. Dr. Malagón is an epidemiologist and mathematical modeller who will be sharing her time between the Research Centre and the Gerald Bronfman Department of Oncology at McGill University where she is an assistant professor.

We welcome Dr. Malagón to the team and look forward to working with her!

The Digital Research Services (DRS) team at McGill University has notified the Tri-Agency  (Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)),  about the completion of the McGill Institutional Research Data Management Strategy on February 24, 2023.  

The Tri-Agency have acknowledged receipt of this strategy. Therefore, given the SMRC's affiliation with McGill University, the Research Data Management Strategy therefore applies to St. Mary's Research Centre.

For more information please visitMcGill Institutional RDM Strategy | Digital Research Services Hub - McGill University

Congratulations to Dr. Sylvie Lambert and her team who received funding of $100,000 for 1 year from the Canadian Institutes Health Research (CIHR) to continue the TEMPO project. Follow TEMPO on Facebook.

Shant Donabedian is a site coordinator at Lakeshore Hospital for the e-IMPAQc Program under the supervision of Dr. Sylvie Lambert. His job involves recruiting and guiding patients through the e-IMPAQc study program. Shant graduated from McGill with a B.A. in Psychology, and has worked as a study coordinator for the SCNLab.

We are welcoming Helen Alder, new research assistant in the e-IMPAQc team under the supervision of Mona Magalhaes & Dr. Sylvie Lambert. Helen is responsible for tasks in Health Equity documents & Education factsheets progress. She will be graduating from McGill University in Psychology in the Spring of 2023.

We are delighted to announce  Dr. Isabelle Leblanc, family physician, was awarded a Competition Attracting Research Excellence (CARE) grant for the project “Too much pain doctor!": Training clinicians to detect expressions of psychological distress in patients of diverse ethnocultural groups”.

This report presents the latest information on elder abuse and its various forms and types and highlights the importance of its members adopting it in their practice. Read the report (in French)

A study to which researchers of St Mary's Research Centre contributed assessed publicly available resources for older cancer survivors. Results have been published in the Journal of Cancer Survivorship. Resechers found that quality and suitability are fair, whereas readability exceeds recommended levels. The most pressing need is to develop resources for cancer survivors that address their unmet needs and are accessible in terms of literacy.  Read the article