Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences

Experts: Declining physical activity among youth

keila.depape@mcgill.ca — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 18:50:14 +0000

Youth aged 12 to 17 are less likely than any other age group to meet recommended physical activity levels, according to 

Expert: Mental health care access in Canada

keila.depape@mcgill.ca — Fri, 23 May 2025 13:21:09 +0000

More than half of Canadian girls and young women ages 15 to 29 with a mental health or substance use disorder received formal supports in 2022, but many are deterred by wait times and cost, according to a new Statistics Canada report. The report highlights a need to improve care, especially for racialized youth, who were less likely to find the support helpful.

Expert: Preventing measles in pregnancy

keila.depape@mcgill.ca — Tue, 10 Jun 2025 17:43:59 +0000

As measles cases surge in Canada, six babies have been born with congenital measles to unvaccinated mothers in Ontario since last fall. The MMR vaccine isn’t safe during pregnancy, so doctors urge anyone who could become pregnant to check their immunity now. In addition to being dangerous to newborns, measles can cause pneumonia, miscarriage and other life-threatening complications for expectant mothers.

Here is an expert from ��Ǿ�Ʒ�� who can provide comment on this issue:

Expert: Obesity

keila.depape@mcgill.ca — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 16:39:58 +0000

About one-third of Canadians are now obese, with women and young adults most affected, according to a new study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. It found obesity rates accelerated significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This expert from ��Ǿ�Ʒ�� is available to comment:

Experts: GLP-1 drugs beyond weight loss

keila.depape@mcgill.ca — Wed, 06 Aug 2025 17:46:33 +0000

Ozempic and Wegovy are widely used to support weight loss and manage diabetes. But could this class of drugs, known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, also help treat heart failure, liver disease and even addiction?

A new study by researchers at ��Ǿ�Ʒ�� and the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research at the Jewish General Hospital takes a closer look at their growing list of potential uses beyond diabetes and obesity.

Expert: Health consequences of wildfire smoke

keila.depape@mcgill.ca — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 16:11:25 +0000

Canada’s 2023 wildfire season caused the country’s worst air pollution levels since 1998, according to a new report. It warns that if such pollution levels persist, Canadians could lose about two years of life expectancy.

Gender bias holds back female surgeons, study finds

keila.depape@mcgill.ca — Thu, 10 Jul 2025 13:52:28 +0000

Women now make up over half of medical students in Canada, but only one-third of practising surgeons. A new study suggests part of the gap stems from gender norms embedded in workplace culture. The researchers at ��Ǿ�Ʒ�� say subtle but persistent biases may be driving women out of the field.

Study reveals trained immunity may cause lung damage

keila.depape@mcgill.ca — Thu, 10 Jul 2025 15:09:15 +0000

Trained immunity – a process being explored in vaccine and therapy development to boost immune defences – appears be counterproductive in certain contexts, researchers at ��Ǿ�Ʒ�� and the Research Institute of the ��Ǿ�Ʒ�� Health Centre (The Institute) have found.

Trained immunity is when the body’s first line of defence remembers past threats and becomes more reactive, responding more strongly to future infections even if they are different, by changing how immune cells behave.

Ancient viruses in our DNA may hold clues to what makes us human

keila.depape@mcgill.ca — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 13:41:55 +0000

Fragments of ancient viral DNA once dismissed as “junk” may play a role in controlling our genes, according to a new international study.

Using a novel method to trace the evolutionary history of viral DNA, researchers from ��Ǿ�Ʒ�� and Kyoto University uncovered sequences that had been overlooked in earlier genome annotations.

Youth at risk of suicide show early warning signs that adults often miss

keila.depape@mcgill.ca — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 18:40:04 +0000

Drawing on a landmark 25-year study that followed Quebec children into adulthood, ��Ǿ�Ʒ�� researchers have identified two distinct patterns in how suicidal thoughts emerge and the early signs that are often missed.

Suicidal thoughts are increasingly common among youth, but how they begin and what mental health symptoms often precede them are poorly understood, the researchers said.

Study linking depression to specific altered brain cells opens door to new treatments

keila.depape@mcgill.ca — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 19:24:20 +0000

Researchers at ��Ǿ�Ʒ�� and the Douglas Institute have identified two specific types of brain cells that are altered in people with depression.

The study, published in Nature Genetics, opens the door to developing new treatments that target these cells and deepens our understanding of depression, a leading cause of disability worldwide that affects more than 264 million people.

Researchers at The Neuro show a brain exercise yields benefits

keila.depape@mcgill.ca — Thu, 09 Oct 2025 17:44:22 +0000

A ��Ǿ�Ʒ��-led clinical trial is the first in humans to show online brain training exercises can improve brain networks affecting learning and memory.

The study found 10 weeks’ use of the game-like app BrainHQ by older adults enhanced cholinergic function, a chemical system in the brain that typically declines with age and influences attention, memory and decision-making.

Expert: COVID-19 and flu vaccine rollout

keila.depape@mcgill.ca — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 15:17:18 +0000

As respiratory virus season kicks off and COVID-19 cases continue to rise, provinces and territories are launching their vaccination campaigns. In Quebec, free vaccines will be available only to members of high-risk groups and health-care workers.

A ��Ǿ�Ʒ�� expert is available to comment on this topic:

Availability of respite care almost triples a palliative care patient’s chance of dying at home

keila.depape@mcgill.ca — Fri, 19 Sep 2025 16:40:19 +0000

Access to respite services for family caregivers increases a palliative care patient’s probability of dying at home almost threefold, according to a ��Ǿ�Ʒ��-led study.

Previous surveys suggest most Canadians with a serious illness would prefer to spend the end of their lives at home. In Quebec, fewer than one-in-10 palliative care patients die at home, a rate that has remained largely unchanged for two decades and lags behind the Canadian average of 15 per cent.

Expert: Suicide prevention

keila.depape@mcgill.ca — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 14:11:01 +0000

Sept. 10 is World Suicide Prevention Day. A new World Health Organization report underscores the urgency of suicide prevention, estimating that 727,000 people died by suicide in 2021 alone.