“My research program focuses on improving the quality of care and healthcare outcomes of people with peripheral artery disease, which affects 10% of Canadians over age 65,” -Dr. Derek RobertsAs a vascular and endovascular surgeon who has seen too many patients lose toes, legs, or their lives due to peripheral artery disease, Dr. Derek Roberts wants to improve care and outcomes for this treatable condition. 

Caused by plaque build-up in the arteries of the arms or legs, it can usually be treated with exercise, healthy diet, and medications like aspirin, cholesterol-reducing drugs, and blood pressure pills. However, Dr. Roberts suspects these medications are being under-prescribed to people with this condition. He is looking at why that might be, and plans to develop and test a way to improve prescription of these medications.

If peripheral artery disease goes untreated, patients may need surgery to restore blood flow in the arteries, or need an amputation. Dr. Roberts is investigating how to improve patient outcomes after these surgeries. This includes the best surgical and anesthesia techniques to use, and how to prevent surgical site infection after leg bypass surgery. Unfortunately, peripheral artery disease still leads to 3,000 leg amputations in Ontario every year. 

In collaboration with The Ottawa Hospital’s unique-in-Canada Multi-Specialist Limb Preservation Clinic, Dr. Roberts is researching how to improve limb-preservation efforts in Ottawa, in Ontario, and around the world.

“My research program focuses on improving the quality of care and healthcare outcomes of people with peripheral artery disease, which affects 10% of Canadians over age 65,” he says.

Dr. Roberts was recently appointed as an associate scientist in the Clinical Epidemiology Program at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. He is a vascular and endovascular surgeon at The Ottawa Hospital, and an assistant professor in the Department of Surgery and School of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Ottawa. He is also a member of the O’Brien Institute of Public Health at the University of Calgary.

The Ottawa Hospital is a leading academic health, research and learning hospital proudly affiliated with the University of Ottawa and supported by The Ottawa Hospital Foundation.