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null Deborah Assayag, MD, MAS

Scientist, RI-MUHC, Montreal General Hospital site

Translational Research in Respiratory Diseases Program

Centre for Outcomes Research and Evaluation

Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill University

Department of Medicine, Division of Respiratory Medicine, MUHC

 

Keywords

Interstitial lung diseases • pulmonary fibrosis • autoimmunity • epidemiology • prognosis

Research Focus

My research focuses on interstitial lung diseases (ILD), a group of progressive, devastating lung diseases characterized by inflammation and scarring (fibrosis) of the lung tissue. The burden of disease is heavy: idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, the most devastating form of ILD, has a median survival of only three to five years. The incidence and societal burden of ILD are increasing over time. Unfortunately, the right diagnosis is often initially missed or delayed, which will affect long term prognosis. Certain medications have been shown to slow the decline in lung function, but differences in treatment initiation can occur for reasons that remain largely unknown. My research program aims to identify discrepancies and delays in the care of patients with ILD from diagnosis to management, identify the risk factors for those delays, predict disease progression and explore the use of certain medications in understudied populations.

Selected Publications

Click on Pubmed to see my current publications list

  • Marino A, Fisher JH, Johannson KA, Khalil N, Kolb M, Manganas H, Marcoux V, Ryerson CJ, Assayag D. Sex and Racial Differences in Lung Biopsies for Interstitial Lung Diseases in Canada. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2024 Mar;21(3):516-519. doi: 10.1513/AnnalsATS.202308-703RL. PMID: 38426827.

  • Assayag D, Adegunsoye A, Sheehy R, Morisset J, Khalil N, Johannson KA, Marcoux V, Kolb M, Fisher JH, Manganas H, Wrobel J, Wilsher M, De Boer S, Mackintosh J, Chambers DC, Glaspole I, Keir GJ, Lee CT, Jablonski R, Vij R, Strek ME, Corte TJ, Ryerson CJ. Sex- and Race-Based Differences in the Treatment of Interstitial Lung Diseases in North America and Australasia. Chest. 2023 May;163(5):1156-1165. doi: 10.1016/j.chest.2022.12.039. Epub 2023 Jan 5. PMID: 36621759.

  • Jalbert AC, Siafa L, Ramanakumar AV, Assayag D. Gender and racial equity in clinical research for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Eur Respir J. 2022 Mar 3;59(3):2102969. doi: 10.1183/13993003.02969-2021. PMID: 35058247.

  • Assayag D, Garlick K, Johannson KA, Fell CD, Kolb M, Cox G, Hambly N, Manganas H, Morisset J, Fisher JH, Shapera S, Gershon AS, To T, Sadatsafavi M, Wilcox PG, Halayko AJ, Khalil N, Ryerson CJ. Treatment Initiation in Patients with Interstitial Lung Disease in Canada. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2021 Oct;18(10):1661-1668. doi: 10.1513/AnnalsATS.202009-1122OC. PMID: 33493425.

  • Assayag D, Morisset J, Johannson KA, Wells AU, Walsh SLF. Patient gender bias on the diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Thorax. 2020 May;75(5):407-412. doi: 10.1136/thoraxjnl-2019-213968. Epub 2020 Feb 13. PMID: 32054644.