Dr. Deborah Assayag – Biography

Pulmonologist
Junior Scientist, RI-MUHC , Montreal General Hospital
Translational Research in Respiratory Diseases Program
Centre for Innovative Medicine
Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University
Department of Medicine, Division of Respiratory Medicine, MUHC

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.