CAN-AIM is a team of members that form a CAnadian Network for Advanced Interdisciplinary Methods for comparative effectiveness research.

Our CAN-AIM DSEN team is a national, highly interdisciplinary network of 48 researchers from 12 universities and research centres from 6 Canadian provinces providing complementary clinical and methodological expertise. We are lucky to have international collaborators’ expertise from some of the most prestigious institutions in the United States.

Stages of Academic Career


This coast-to-coast Team represents all stages of an academic career, from a post-doctoral fellows and recently Assistant Professors, to mid-career Associate Professors, and Full Professors, including Canada Research Chairs, Chairs of University Departments and Hospital Divisions.

Scientific Expertise


The Team members provide expertise in all areas of research essential for the conduct of prospective studies of comparative effectiveness and safety of medications, including:

  • Administrative data research
  • Pharmacoepidemiology & pharmacovigilance
  • Adverse drug events
  • Epidemiological methods
  • Biostatistics
  • Health services research
  • Health economics & pharmacoeconomics
  • Pharmacology
  • Clinical psychology & treatment adherence
  • Bioinformatics
  • Sex and gender research
  • Therapeutic risk management
  • Patient preference and decision making
  • Genetic and environmental determinants of disease

Clinical expertise in areas including:

  • Arthritis and autoimmune rheumatic diseases
  • Hypertension and cardiovascular disease
  • Inflammatory bowel disease
  • Infectious disease/vaccination
  • Hepatitis C/HIV
  • Multiple sclerosis
  • Ocular diseases
  • Cancer treatment
  • Pregnancy
  • Reproductive issues in chronic disease
  • Emergency medicine

And more …

Principal Investigators

Sasha Bernatsky, MD PhD is a rheumatologist, a James McGill professor and a senior scientist in the Centre for Health Outcomes Research and Division of Clinical Epidemiology at the Research Institute of the MUHC. Dr. Bernatsky is the CAN-AIM Nominated Principal Investigator.

Dr. Louise Pilote is a Professor of Medicine at McGill University where she holds a James McGill chair. She is a practicing general internist and led the McGill division of general internal medicine from 2006-2016.

Michal Abrahamowicz is a Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McGill University. He holds the James McGill Chair in Biostatistics and is a Senior Scientist at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Center.