Research

Hakim Louati, MASC – Research Engineer

Mr. Louati received his BASc in Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in Biomedical Design from the University of Ottawa in 2009 and his MASc in Mechanical Engineering in 2014 from Carleton University. His research focuses on experimental biomechanics and the development and evaluation of innovative surgical procedures, implants and diagnostic tools for improved MSK treatment options. Areas of interest include: in-vitro simulation of joint pathology and treatment, development and evaluation of surgical techniques, implant design and assessment and tendon-bone healing and rehabilitation.

Location: Carleton University

Guy Trudel, MD MSC FRCPC – Professor of Medicine, Surgery and Biochemistry and Direction of the Bone and Joint Research Laboratory

A native of Quebec City, Dr Trudel completed his medical school training at Laval University in Quebec City, in 1988. He was certified as a Fellow by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (FRCPC) in Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine in 1993 at Dalhousie University. He earned a MSc degree in Anatomy and Neurobiology at Dalhousie University as a Fellow of the Rich Hansen Man-in-Motion Foundation. In 1995, he arrived in Ottawa to establish his clinical practice and research program. His tertiary academic rehabilitation unit delivers rehabilitation care to people after polytrauma and serious / complex medical and surgical complications. For the past 20 years, as Director of the Bone and Joint Research Laboratory, Dr Guy Trudel has pursued clinical and laboratory-based research on 3 areas related to the musculoskeletal complications of immobility: joint contractures, tendonopathies and fat accumulation in the bone marrow. His team has published over 60 original research papers during this time. Dr Trudel has received more than 6 million dollars as Principal Investigator, chiefly from CIHR and 23 millions in Co-Investigations.

Location: University of Ottawa

Marcos Sampaio, MD FRCPC – MSK Radiologist and Assistant Professor

Dr. Marcos Loreto Sampaio has been a MSK radiologist at the Ottawa Hospital and assistant professor of the University of Ottawa since 2009, when he arrived in Canada from Brazil. Dr. Sampaio did his electronic engineering, medical and radiological studies at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil and a MSK research fellowship at the Hospital of Joint Diseases (New York University). Dr. Sampaio has special interest in sports medicine, rheumatology, marrow imaging and particularly in the use of ultrasound and MRI in MSK imaging. Dr. Sampaio is also interested in medical education and he was awarded as best clinical teacher by undergraduate, residents and fellows in the last years. Currently, he is the MSK fellowship director, and is involved in various research projects in his department.

Location: University of Ottawa and the Ottawa Hospital

Ryan Foster, MD, FRCPC – MSK Radiologist

Dr. Ryan Foster is a musculoskeletal radiologist in the Department of Radiology at The Ottawa Hospital and an assistant professor at the University of Ottawa. He completed his fellowship at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. His clinical and research interests include sports injuries, osteoarthritis, and peripheral neuropathy.  He has authored peer reviewed publications on image guided MSK interventions and gadolinium safety. Dr. Foster has presented at national and international conferences on topics of quality control in radiology, subtle osseous pelvic pathology and hamstring syndrome. He was awarded an ARRS Certificate of Merit for his collaborative efforts on the electronic exhibit entitled “Extraspinal Causes of Sciatica”.

Location: The Ottawa Hospital

Mario Lamontagne, PhD – Vice Dean of Research

Mario Lamontagne received his PhD in biomedical engineering from the École Polytechnique at the University of Montreal. He is currently a professor in biomechanics at the School of Human Kinetics of the University of Ottawa, with a cross-appointment to the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Dr. Lamontagne’s research focuses on biomedical sciences and biomechanics, particularly on numerical and musculoskeletal modelling of human joints, design and adaptive technology of prosthetics and orthotics, injury prevention and neuromuscular adaptation. His major research programs focus on the mechanics of the human healthy and pathological hip and knee joint, as well as on the biomechanical assessment of the mobility of patients who have undergone a total hip and knee arthroplasty. His research interests include biomedical sciences, biomechanics, numerical and musculoskeletal modeling, injury prevention, assisted technology design (prosthetics and orthotics), and neuromuscular adaptation. His current research program funded by NSERC is to develop a numerical and musculoskeletal model of the hip joint for patients suffering from the femoroacetabular deformity.

Location: University of Ottawa and the Ottawa Hospital

Website: http://www.biomech.uottawa.ca/

Gerd Melkus, PhD – MRI Physicist

Gerd Melkus, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Radiology with a cross-appointment to the Division of Orthopedic Surgery at the University of Ottawa. Dr. Melkus obtained his PhD in Physics, specializing in Medical Imaging, from the University of Würzburg, Germany in 2010. Before coming to Ottawa, he spent three years as a postdoctoral fellow at the Musculoskeletal Quantitative Imaging Research Group and as director of the 7 Tesla preclinical Magnetic Resonance Imaging facility at the University of California in San Francisco. He joined the Department of Medical Imaging at the Ottawa Hospital in July 2013. Dr. Melkus’ research interests include technical developments and applications of new Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy methods and advance image data processing algorithms. The clinical focus of his work is on musculoskeletal diseases and most notably non-invasive quantitative characterization of cartilage, tendon and muscle tissues.

Location: The Ottawa Hospital

Greg O. Cron, PhD – MRI Physicist

Dr. Cron is an MRI physicist in the Department of Medical Imaging at The Ottawa Hospital.  He is also the facility manager of the University of Ottawa Preclinical Imaging Core.  Dr. Cron has affiliations with the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, The University of Ottawa, Carleton University, and the Ottawa Medical Physics Institute. His MSK-related research interests have included perfusion measurements around hip implants, perfusion measurements in MSK tumours, differentiation of lipoma from liposarcoma, and high-field high-resolution MRI of animal and human MSK tissue.

Location: The Ottawa Hospital

Hanspeter Frei, PhD – Physicist

Dr. Frei is an Associate Professor in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Carleton University. Dr. Frei’s research focuses on hip and spine biomechanics. Particularly, his interests are the pathomechanism of hip osteoarthritis, the prediction, prevention and repair of osteoporotic hip fractures and spinal fusion surgery. He combines experimental and numerical research for a deeper understanding of pathomechanisms, which may lead to new treatment strategies. In addition, Dr. Frei explores additive manufacturing technologies to develop patient specific spinal and hip implants.

Location: Carleton University

Dr. Isabelle Catelas (Diplôme d’Ingénieur [UTC, France], MASc [Polytechnique Montréal], PhD [McGill] is an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Ottawa, with cross-appointments to the Department of Surgery and to the Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology at the Faculty of Medicine. She joined the University of Ottawa in 2008 after working in the biotechnology industry for a few years. Her current research focuses on hip implant failure mechanisms and the development of new bone substitutes. Since joining the University of Ottawa, Dr. Catelas has been collaborating closely with the Division of Orthopaedic Surgery at The Ottawa Hospital, and this ongoing collaboration has led to the establishment of a growing collection of clinical samples from patients undergoing hip implant revision surgery.

Location: University of Ottawa

Dr. Kawan Rakhra is the Head of the Musculoskeletal Imaging Section in the Department of Medical Imaging at The Ottawa Hospital (TOH), and Associate Professor in the Department of Radiology at the University of Ottawa with cross appointment to the Division of Orthopaedic Surgery. His clinical interests and research endeavors focus on MRI of hip disease including Femoroacetabular Impingement (FAI), advanced cartilage MRI techniques and sports medicine.

Location: The Ottawa Hospital

Dr. Leanne Ward is the Director of the Pediatric Bone Health Clinical and Research Programs at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, and an Associate Professor in the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism of the Department of Paediatrics. Dr. Ward’s research focus is on the mechanisms and treatment of bone and muscle injury secondary to chronic systemic illness, particularly osteoporosis arising from childhood cancer, glucocorticoid therapy, inflammatory diseases, and impaired mobility. She is the Principal Investigator of the STOPP (STeroid-induced Osteoporosis in the Pediatric Population) research program, a CIHR- funded, pan-Canadian initiative involving 12 paediatric, tertiary care centres coast to coast. She has published extensively on the mechanisms and epidemiology of bone morbidity in children. Dr. Ward is actively involved in the conduct of drug trials for children with bone disorders including bisphosphononate and denosumab therapy for primary and secondary osteoporosis, and anti-FGF-23 antibody for the treatment of hypophosphatemic rickets. Dr. Ward is particularly interested in cross-talk between muscle and bone, and the effect of bone-targeted therapy on underlying diseases including disorders affecting muscle health.

Location: CHEO

Stéphane Poitras obtained his BSc in physiotherapy from the University of Ottawa in 1995. He completed an MSc in clinical sciences from the University of Sherbrooke in 1998, and a PhD in public health (health care organization option) from the University of Montréal in 2005. He was a postdoctoral fellow in epidemiology and biostatistics at McGill University from 2005 to 2007. He is a professor at the University of Ottawa since May 2007. His research interests revolve around the efficacy, effectiveness and efficiency of musculoskeletal health problem management. He is also interested in health services research related to the management of these health problems.

Location: University of Ottawa

Associate Professor at the School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Dr. Daniel Benoit received his B.Sc. in Human Kinetics from the University of Ottawa and his M.Sc. in Human Biodynamics (Biomechanics) from McMaster University. He pursued his career in Europe as director of a clinical biomechanics laboratory in Perugia-Italy where, in addition to clinical responsibilities, he investigated in vivo ACL strain and knee joint loading. Dr. Benoit then moved to Stockholm-Sweden where he was awarded his Ph.D. in Sports Medicine from the Karolinska Institutet for his studies relating to knee joint neuromuscular control, in vivo tibiofemoral joint measurement, and the quantification of skin movement artifact during motion analysis. He then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Delaware-Center for Biomedical Engineering Research where he was involved in NIH funded research related to the prediction of muscle and joint forces in an ACL injured population, as well as a project involving the integration of robotics, FES and biomechanical modeling to improve gait in stroke patients. In addition to continuing his previous research interests, at the University of Ottawa Dr. Benoit’s current research focuses on understanding the role muscles play in creating dynamic joint stability and how this is affected by neurological and musculoskeletal disorders with the goals of preventing injury and improving rehabilitation.

Location: University of Ottawa, Canada
dbenoit@uottawa.ca  – http://www.dlbenoit.ca/

 Kathryn Culliton – Laboratory Technician

Ms. Culliton received her B.Eng in Biomedical and Mechanical Engineering from Carleton University in 2017. She has recently joined the division of Orthopaedics as a Laboratory Technician at the Orthopaedic Biomechanics Laboratory. Kathryn has previously worked as a research assistant at Carleton University in the department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and completed a one year internship at the Orthopaedic Biomechanics Laboratory. Her research focuses on development and evaluation of surgical procedures, hip morphology in patients with femoroacetabular impingement, and diagnostic tools for improved MSK treatment options. Areas of interest include: osteoarthritis, and the development and evaluation of surgical techniques.

Location: University of Ottawa, Canada