LDI - Azoulay, Laurent

Tel.: 514-340-8222 ext. 28396

laurent.azoulay@mcgill.ca

Senior Investigator, Lady Davis Institute
Associate Professor, Department of Oncology, McGill University

Professor Azoulay's Publications Indexed on PubMed

Professor Laurent Azoulay is an Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health and Gerald Bronfman Department of Oncology, McGill University. After receiving his PhD in 2007 from the Université de Montréal, he completed a post-doctoral fellowship in pharmacoepidemiology at the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health, McGill University. He then joined the Gerald Department of Oncology as an Assistant Professor in 2009. In 2016, he was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor with a cross-appointment with the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health.

Professor Azoulay is the recipient of a Chercheur-Boursier Award from the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Santé.

Major Research Activities

Professor Azoulay’s research program is in cancer pharmacoepidemiology. This program aims to provide much needed information on the long-term effects of commonly-prescribed drugs on the incidence of cancer, as well as to assess the safety of cancer treatments in the real-world setting. Over the years, Professor Azoulay developed a strong interest on the potential effects of anti-diabetic drugs on the development of cancer. Examples include studies assessing the association between pioglitazone (a drug belonging to the thiazolidinedione class) and the risk of bladder cancer, and more recently, the association between newer antidiabetic agents (such as incretin-based drugs) and their association with pancreatic and breast cancer. With respect to the safety of cancer treatments, he has been particularly interested in the pleiotropic effects of androgen deprivation therapy, a common treatment used in advanced prostate cancer. His research program is funded by a Foundation Scheme Grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Recent Publications

Hicks BM, Yin H, Yu OH, Pollak MN, Platt RW, Azoulay L. Glucagon-like peptide-1 analogues and risk of breast cancer in women with type 2 diabetes: population based cohort study using the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink. BMJ 2016 355:i5340.

Tuccori M, Filion KB, Yin H, Yu OH, Platt RW, Azoulay L. Pioglitazone use and bladder cancer risk: a population-based cohort study. BMJ 2016 30;352:i1541.

Filion KB, Azoulay L, Platt RW, Dahl M, Dormuth CR, Clemens KK, Hu N, Paterson JM, Targownik L, Turin TC, Udell JA, Ernst P, and the CNODES Investigators. A multi-center observational study of incretin-based drugs and the risk of heart failure. N Engl J Med 2016 24;374(12):1145-54.

Azoulay L, Filion KB, Platt RW, Dahl M, Dormuth CR, Clemens KK, Durand M, Juurlink DN, Targownik LE, Turin TC, Paterson JM, Ernst P; Canadian Network for Observational Drug Effect Studies Investigators. Incretin based drugs and the risk of pancreatic cancer: international multicentre cohort study. BMJ 2016 17;352:i581.

Snapshot

Professor Azoulay has an active cancer research program with a number of pharmacoepidemiological studies in the area of prostate and breast cancer.

Professor Azoulay is the recipient of Chercheur-Boursier and Établissement de jeunes chercheurs awards from the Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec (FRSQ).

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