Medicine care team
Clinical pharmacology & toxicology
Scientist
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
2075 Bayview Ave., Room V1 49
Toronto, ON
M4N 3M5
Clinical profile
Research Administrative Assistant: Tilley Creary
Fax: 416-480-6048
Email: tilley.creary@sunnybrook.ca
For media or interview inquiries, please contact Sunnybrook's Communications and Stakeholder Relations office: 416-480-4040. The 24-hour media contact number is 416-480-4244.
- B.Phm., 1990, pharmacy, Dalhousie University, Canada
- MD, 1994, Dalhousie University, Canada
- FRCPC, 1998, internal medicine, University of Toronto, Canada
- FRCPC, 2000, clinical pharmacology, U of T, Canada
- Fellowship, 2002, medical toxicology, U of T, Canada
- PhD, 2003, clinical epidemiology, U of T, Canada
Appointments and Affiliations:
- Scientist, Evaluative Clinical Sciences, Integrated Community Research Program, Sunnybrook Research Institute
- Senior scientist, Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences
- Professor, departments of medicine and pediatrics, U of T
- Staff physician, divisions of general internal medicine and clinical pharmacology, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
- Medical toxicologist, Ontario Poison Information Centre, Hospital for Sick Children
Dr. Juurlink is a staff internist and head of the division of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto. He is also a medical toxicologist at the Ontario Poison Centre at the Hospital for Sick Children and a scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences. He received degrees in Pharmacy (1990) and Medicine (1994) from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and completed postgraduate training in Internal Medicine (1998) followed by residency in Clinical Pharmacology (2000), a fellowship in Medical Toxicology (2002), and a PhD in Clinical Epidemiology (2003), all at the University of Toronto. He has received certification from the American Board of Internal Medicine, the American Board of Emergency Medicine (Medical Toxicology), and the American Board of Clinical Pharmacology.
He is presently the Sunnybrook site director for the program in Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology and is Chair of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons Examinations Committee in Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology
In addition to his clinical, teaching, and administrative activities, Dr. Juurlink maintains an active research program in the field of drug safety. His areas of particular interest include drug safety, adverse drug events, the consequences of drug-drug interactions in clinical practice, the safety of prescription opioids, and the epidemiology of suicide and deliberate self-poisoning.
Research profile
Research Administrative Assistant: Tilley Creary
Email: tilley.creary@sunnybrook.ca
For media or interview inquiries, please contact Sunnybrook's Communications and Stakeholder Relations office: 416-480-4040. The 24-hour media contact number is 416-480-4244.
Education:
- B.Phm., 1990, pharmacy, Dalhousie University, Canada
- MD, 1994, Dalhousie University, Canada
- FRCPC, 1998, internal medicine, University of Toronto, Canada
- FRCPC, 2000, clinical pharmacology, U of T, Canada
- Fellowship, 2002, medical toxicology, U of T, Canada
- PhD, 2003, clinical epidemiology, U of T, Canada
Appointments and Affiliations:
- Scientist, Evaluative Clinical Sciences, Integrated Community Research Program, Sunnybrook Research Institute
- Senior scientist, Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences
- Professor, departments of medicine and pediatrics, U of T
- Staff physician, divisions of general internal medicine and clinical pharmacology, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
- Medical toxicologist, Ontario Poison Information Centre, Hospital for Sick Children
Research Focus:
- Drug safety
- Epidemiology of adverse drug events
- Poisoning
- Suicide
Research Summary:
Well-intended prescribing by physicians can often have unintended consequences for patients. This is sometimes because the patients in real-world clinical practice are less healthy (or less closely monitored) than those enrolled in the premarketing studies used to characterize drug safety and effectiveness. However, some drug-related side effects are sufficiently uncommon that they only become apparent after a drug has enjoyed widespread use by large numbers of patients.
Dr. Juurlink’s research explores the epidemiology of adverse drug events using anonymized population-based health care data to explore the complex interrelationships between drug therapy and harm. One of his primary interests is the clinical consequences of drug-drug interactions, which typify avoidable drug-related injury. As a medical toxicologist, he also studies the epidemiology of deliberate self-harm, including drug overdose and suicide.
Selected Publications:
See current publications list at PubMed
Related News and Stories:
- Opioid-maker Purdue is bankrupt, but its global counterparts make millions (The Washington Post, Sept. 17, 2024)
- Caffeine's dirty little secret (The Atlantic, Jan. 26, 2024)
- Small chloroquine study halted over risk of fatal heart complications (The New York Times, Apr. 12, 2020)
- A suspected poisioning at Markham eatery sent 4 to ICU (CBC News, Aug. 24, 2022)
- Kremlin sees no need to investigate suspected poisioning of Putin critic Alexei Navalny (CBC News, Aug. 25, 2020)
- 12 diners sent to hospital from likely aconite poisioning (BBC, Sept. 1, 2022)
- Canadian doctors urge caution on repurposing malaria medication to fight COVID-19 (CBC News, Mar. 24, 2020)
- A cut above: Amid funding pressures, SRI scientists post stellar results (Feb. 1, 2019)
- Opioids: Whatever happened to 'first, do no harm'? (Globe and Mail, Aug. 25, 2016)
- Is there still a place for opioids? Doctors are grappling with how to relieve acute pain while minimizing opioid use and averting descent into chronic pain (SRI Magazine, 2016)
- It's time to end Canada's opioid epidemic—an open letter to Canada's new minister of health (Ottawa Life, Nov. 30, 2015)
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