Senior Scientist,
Neuroscience Program – OHRI
Associate Professor,
Faculty of Medicine Department of Ophthalmology – uOttawa
Associate Professor,
Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine – uOttawa
Scientist,
Clinical Epidemiology Program – OHRI
Associate Professor,
Faculty of Medicine School of Epidemiology and Public Health – uOttawa
Scientist,
Regenerative Medicine Program – OHRI
Associate Professor,
Cellular and Molecular Medicine – University of Ottawa
RESEARCH INTERESTS
RESEARCH INTERESTS
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Anti-apoptotic therapy for the treatment of retinitis pigmentosa, combination therapy targeting apoptosis and oxidative stress for the treatment of retinal degenerations. Catherine Tsilfidis is a Senior Scientist in the Neuroscience Program of the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI), and an Associate Professor in the Departments of Ophthalmology and Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Ottawa. Her research is aimed at developing a gene therapy strategy that blocks apoptosis and slows down retinal disease progression. She has applied this approach to the treatment of animal models of retinal disease. Her laboratory is currently optimizing gene therapy parameters for application to human disease.
Dr. Tsilfidis is also the Director of the Office of Equity, Diversity and Gender Issues in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa. She organizes and delivers workshops to medical students, residents, graduate students and faculty on Harassment and Intimidation and Respect in the Workplace. Dr. Tsilfidis is passionate about promoting the advancement of women in science and is currently helping to create a mentoring program for female post-doctoral fellows in the basic sciences.
Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, Age-related disease and Cognitive Health
Dr. Freeman is a Scientist in the Clinical Epidemiology Program at OHRI. She is also an associate professor in the School of Epidemiology, Public Health, and Preventive Medicine at University of Ottawa and a scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. Dr. Freeman received her PhD in epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in the United States in 2005 where she trained with Sheila West in the field of ocular epidemiology. During Dr. Freeman’s training, she was a recipient of a 4-year training award from the National Institute on Aging. She currently is the principal investigator of a 5-year grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and is an author on over 40 peer reviewed publications. Her research is focused on the relationship of aging, eye disorders, cognitive functions and quality of life.
Visualizing epigenomics in real time; Molecular mechanisms controlling photoreceptor genome organization and neurodegeneration
Dr. Pierre Mattar is an assistant professor at the University of Ottawa in cellular and molecular medicine and a scientist in the the regenerative medicine program at the Ottawa Hospital Research Insititute. He is also the Clifford, Gladys and Lorna J. Wood Chair for research in vision. His research interests are focused on how retinal cell types are produced and maintained. His goal is to understand the degenerative process of these cells in order to find new approaches that could prevent or mitigate degeneration of vision.
