Faculty Profiles
Eric Benchimol, MD, PHD, FRCPC
Dr. Benchimol is an adjunct scientist at ICES-uOttawa, as well as a pediatric gastroenterologist at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) and Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Ottawa. He completed an undergraduate degree in biology at York University and his medical degree at the University of Western Ontario. He completed a residency in pediatrics at CHEO, followed by a clinical fellowship in pediatric gastroenterology and research fellowship in inflammatory bowel disease at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. He joined ICES in Toronto in 2006 as a graduate student while completing his PhD in clinical epidemiology in the Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. His thesis consisted of developing and validating the Ontario Crohn's and Colitis Cohort, a large surveillance cohort of patients with childhood-onset inflammatory bowel disease. In 2010, he was appointed as an adjunct scientist at ICES-uOttawa.
Dr. Benchimol's primary research focus is the epidemiology, outcomes and health care of children and adults with inflammatory bowel disease. He also conducts clinical and health services research in other pediatric gastrointestinal illnesses.
Eric Crighton PhD.
ICES Adjunct Scientist
Dr. Crighton is an Assistant Professor in the Geography Dept at the University of Ottawa and an ICES adjunct scientist. His research focuses on the themes of environment and health, the geography of health and healthcare, psychosocial health and environmental risk perception. His Ph.D. work looked at spatial and temporal patterns of pneumonia and influenza hospitalizations in Ontario, and the environmental, socioeconomic, and healthcare factors that determine these patterns. Currently, he is involved in a number of related projects, one developing a respiratory disease surveillance program for Ontario, and one examining socioeconomic determinants of asthma and asthma severity among Canadian Aboriginals. Dr. Crighton has also had a strong interest in environmental risk perception and psychosocial health. Of note is his work on the psychosocial impacts of the SARS outbreak on Toronto hospital workers as well as a study investigating psychosocial impacts and self-reported health in the context of the Aral Sea disaster in Uzbekistan where he worked with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). More recently he conducted an assessment of the Uzbek health care system’s capacity to address child environmental health problems. He is the director of the newly built CFI funded Health and Environment Analysis Laboratory (HEAL).
Research Interests
- Health geography
- Environment and health
- Psychosocial health
- Environmental risk perception
- Aral Sea
- Health services research
- Spatial analysis
- Time-series analysis
Tel: 613-562-5800, ext. 1065
Alan Forster, MD, FRCPC, MSc
ICES Adjunct Scientist
Dr. Alan Forster joined ICES in October 2009 as an Adjunct Scientist. He is a general internist and Scientific Director of Clinical Quality and Performance Management at the Ottawa Hospital. He is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Ottawa and Scientist in the Clinical Epidemiology Program at The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, where his research focuses on patient safety and quality improvement.
Dr. Forster received his MD from the University of Ottawa in 1994. He has been the recipient of several prestigious awards recognizing his work within the field of health services research, including a Career Scientist Award with the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care and an Early Research Award from the Ontario Government’s Ministry of Research and Innovation.
He has performed seminal work evaluating the incidence of adverse events following discharge from hospital. This work has lead to the development of strategies to improve care during the transition home from hospital. He is also leading in the development of a hospital data warehouse, which will serve as a supporting infrastructure for a research program in patient safety and quality of care.
Key Research Interests
- Patient Safety
- Epidemiology
- Health Services
- Quality of Care
Tel: 613-798-5555 ext 12777
Doug Manuel, MD, MSc. FRCPC
ICES Adjunct Scientist
Dr. Manuel joined ICES in 1999 and is currently an Adjunct Scientist. He is a community medicine specialist, a Senior Scientist of The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, an Associate Professor in the Departments of Family Medicine and Epidemiology and Community Medicine at the University of Ottawa and a Senior Medical Advisor at Statistics Canada. He holds a Canadian Institute for Health Research Chair in Applied Public Health. He is the co-lead for population health intervention research at Ontario’s Population Health Improvement Research Network. For the past 20 years, he has been a primary care clinician in rural and remote Canadian communities.
Key Research Interests:
- Population health impact assessment of health interventions
- Assessment of population health status
- Health services research
- Epidemiology
Tel: 613-798-5555 ext 19108
Beth Potter, PhD.
ICES Adjunct Scientist
Beth Potter is Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine, and ICES adjunct scientist. She completed her PhD in epidemiology at the University of Western Ontario in 2003. She has a long-standing interest in maternal and child health with research experience in several areas (e.g., prenatal and newborn screening, adolescent health, infant feeding). She has been working in the area of public health genomics for the past few years, having completed post-doctoral work related to health technology assessment in prenatal and newborn screening. Beth’s current research focus is on outcomes evaluation in newborn screening. She is interested in knowledge synthesis and primary research in three main areas:
1) The epidemiology of rare metabolic diseases being considered for inclusion in newborn screening programs;
2) The efficacy and effectiveness of early interventions for these conditions; and
3) The impact of screening programs on various stakeholder communities (for example, affected infants and their families, infants identified as carriers of hereditary conditions through screening programs, infants with false positive screening results, health care professionals, policy makers).
Research Interests
- Maternal and child health
- Evaluation of screening programs
- Public health genomics
Tel: 613-562-5800, ext. 8718
Dr. Kumanan Wilson, MD, MSc.
ICES Adjunct Scientist
Dr. Wilson is a specialist in General Internal Medicine at the Ottawa Hospital and an ICES adjunct scientist. He is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Ottawa and a scientist at The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. He holds a Canada Research Chair in public health policy.
Dr. Wilson's research has focused on studying policy making in areas of health protection and public health security. His work has included analyses of Canadian blood policy, pediatric immunization policy and pandemic preparedness. Dr. Wilson has also conducted research into the impact of intergovernmental relations on public health policy.
Dr. Wilson received his MD from the University of Western Ontario and completed his fellowship training in general internal medicine at McMaster University. He received his MSc. in Health Research Methods from McMaster University.
Areas of Expertise
- Blood policy
- Pediatric Immunization policy
- Public health security
- Intergovernmental relations in health care and public health
Tel: 613-798-5555 ext 17921
Carl van Walraven, MD, MSc, FRCP
ICES Adjunct Scientist and ICES@uOttawa Site Director
Dr. van Walraven joined ICES as a Scientist in December 1999 and is currently an Adjunct Scientist. He is a Staff Member of the Department of Medicine at The Ottawa Hospital. He also holds cross-appointments at the University of Ottawa as an Assistant Professor with the Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine and with the Department of Communications in the Faculty of Arts. In addition, Dr. van Walraven is a Scientist in the Clinical Epidemiology Program at The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute.
Key Research Interests:
- Health services research using administrative databases
- Effects of communication on health care
- Laboratory utilization
Tel: 613-798-5555 ext 14903