Clinical Investigator, Chronic Disease, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

He received his medical degree from the National University of Singapore and undertook postgraduate and research training in endocrinology and metabolism at Auckland University, New Zealand, and the University of Ottawa.

Dr. Ooi is a fellow of the Australasian and Canadian Royal Colleges of Physicians. He is also an elected fellow of the American College of Endocrinology and the American Heart Association. Dr. Ooi has been a member of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa since 1981, serving as head of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism from 1999 to 2006.

Dr. Ooi has played a leadership role in undergraduate and postgraduate medical education at the University of Ottawa and makes research contributions in the field of lipoprotein disorders, focusing on postprandial lipemia, remnant lipoproteins and the role of proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) in lipid metabolism. He is director of the Clinical Research Laboratory at The Ottawa Hospital – Riverside Campus. Dr. Ooi is the immediate past-president of the Canadian Society for Atherosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology and a past-president of the Canadian Lipoprotein Conference.

Current Funding

• Physicians Services Inc. Foundation, Improving the assessment of hypothalamic pituitary adrenal function in acute stress, Principal Investigator (2007 – 2009)
• Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, Human Studies on Gender Differences in PCSK9 Function in Lipoprotein Metabolism, Principal Investigator (2008 – 2010)
• Novo Nordisk and Lifescan, Canada,  Merck Frosst Canada, Schering-Plough and Merck Frosst/Schering Canada, Tools for TransitionTM of diabetes care from specialist to primary care program (Investigator-initiated), Project Initiator and Principal Investigator and Chair, Steering Committee (2005-2010)
• Merck Frosst Canada, Schering-Plough and Merck Frosst/Schering Canada, Management of Dyslipidemia in Chronic Kidney Disease, (Investigator-initiated), Project Initiator and Principal Investigator (2009-2010)
• Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario, PCSK9 genetic variants, hypocholesterolemia and diabetes in African-Canadians, Co-investigator (PI: Dr. M Mbikay) (2008-2010)

Current Research Group Members

Favreau, Colette, Research Nurse Coordinator
Cousins, Marion, Research Laboratory Technologist
Maranger, Julie, Research Nurse Coordinator
Harley, Melissa, Research Coordinator and Dietitian  

Recent Publications

Mayne J, Dewpura T, Raymond A, Cousins M, Chaplin A, Lahey KA, LaHaye SA, Mbikay M, Ooi TC and Chretien M, Plasma PCSK9 levels are significantly modified by statins and fibrates in humans, Lipids in Health and Disease, Jun 2008, 7:22

Malcolm JC, Liddy C, Rowan M, Maranger J, Keely E, Harrison C, Brez S, Izzi S, Ooi TC, Transition of patients with diabetes from specialist to primary care: A survey of primary care physicians on the usefulness of tools for transition, Canadian Journal of Diabetes, 2008, 32:37-45

Gavin C, Meggison H, Ooi TC, Proposing a Causal Link Between Thyroid Hormone Resistance and Primary Autoimmune Hypothyroidism, Medical Hypotheses, 2008;70(5):1024-8

Janice Mayne, Angela Raymond, Anna Chaplin, Marion Cousins, Nadine Kaefer, Charles Gyamera-Acheampong, Nabil G. Seidah, Majambu Mbikay, Michel Chrétien, TC Ooi, Plasma PCSK9 levels correlate with cholesterol in men but not in women, Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 361(2):451-456, 2007

Gutschi M, Malcolm J, Favreau C, Ooi TC, Paradoxically Decreased HDL Cholesterol Levels Associated With Rosiglitazone Therapy, The Annals of Pharmacotherapy; 40:1672-1676, Sep 2006

Wong RWG, Ooi TC, Benoit B, Zackon D, Jansen G, Telner A, Lymphocytic hypophysitis with a long latent period before rapid growth of a pituitary mass, Can J Neurol Sci. 31(3):406-8, 2004

Ooi TC, Cousins M, Ooi DS, Nakajima K, Edwards AL, Effect of fibrates on postprandial remnant-like particles in patients with combined hyperlipidemia, Atherosclerosis, 172:395-402, 2004