DAN Women & Babies Program

Research Administrative Assistant: Tilley Creary
Email: tilley.creary@sunnybrook.ca

Education:

• BSc, 2008, biochemistry, Queen’s University, Canada
• MD, 2012, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, USA
• FRCPC, 2016, internal medicine, University of Toronto, Canada
• FRCPC, 2018, clinical pharmacology and toxicology, University of Toronto, Canada
• PhD, 2022, clinical epidemiology and health care research, University of Toronto, Canada

Appointments and Affiliations:

• Scientist, Evaluative Clinical Sciences, DAN Women & Babies Program, Sunnybrook Research Institute
• Assistant professor, department of medicine, University of Toronto
• Adjunct scientist, chronic disease and pharmacotherapy, ICES
• Staff physician, divisions of general internal medicine and clinical pharmacology and toxicology, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

Research Foci:

• Drug safety in pregnancy and lactation
• Adverse drug events
• Pharmacoepidemiology

Research Summary:

More than 90% of pregnant individuals will use at least one medication during pregnancy, and at least half of those who breastfeed will continue to use medications. Despite this, there remains a paucity of data on the safety of drugs in pregnancy and lactation. Dr. Zipursky’s research uses population-based administrative health data to investigate the maternal and neonatal safety of drug use in pregnancy and postpartum. One of his primary interests is investigating controlled substance use in pregnancy and lactation.

Selected Publications:

See current publications list at PubMed.

1. Zipursky JS, Pang A, Paterson J, et al. Trends in postpartum opioid prescribing: A time series analysis. Clin Pharmacol Ther. May 2021:cpt.2307. doi:10.1002/cpt.2307
2. Zipursky JS, Stall NM, Silverstein WK, et al. Alcohol Sales and Alcohol-Related Emergencies During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Ann Intern Med. March 2021:M20-7466. doi:10.7326/M20-7466
3. Zipursky JS, Greenberg RA, Maxwell C, Bogler T. Pregnancy, breastfeeding and the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine: an ethics-based framework for shared decision-making. Can Med Assoc J. January 2021:cmaj.202833. doi:10.1503/cmaj.202833
4. Zipursky JS, Thiruchelvam D, Redelmeier DA. Prenatal electrocardiogram testing and postpartum depression: A population-based cohort study. Obstet Med. June 2021:1753495X2110125. doi:10.1177/1753495X211012502
5. Zipursky J, Juurlink DN. The Implausibility of Neonatal Opioid Toxicity from Breastfeeding. Clin Pharmacol Ther. June 2020:cpt.1882. doi:10.1002/cpt.1882
6. Zipursky JS, Yaphe H, Hudson H, Wong A, Thompson M. Acute poisoning in pregnancy: a province-wide perspective from a poison center. Clin Toxicol. 2020;58(7):736-741. doi:10.1080/15563650.2019.1676898

Related News & Stories:

• Sunnybrook study measures the impact of expanding critical care capacity beyond the ICU (January 20, 2023)
• Medical experts urge caution over use of acetaminophen-based painkillers during pregnancy (September 23, 2021)
• Study finds alcohol sales increased $2 million a day during first few months of COVID-19 pandemic (March 3, 2021)
• Doctors want national program offering medical advice to new and expectant mothers (May 27, 2019)