Dean’s Lecture Series
Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto

 Evidence-based medicine, past, present and future: a McMaster perspective

 Presented by:

 Dr. Gordon Guyatt

MD, FRCP(C), Order of Canada

Distinguished Professor, McMaster University, Faculty of Health Sciences

Departments of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics; and Medicine

Hamilton, Ontario

Tuesday, April 21, 2015, 12:00 pm

Room 170, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto, 124 Edward Street, Toronto, ON, M5G 1G6

Professor Guyatt is a Distinguished Professor of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McMaster University. He coined the term “evidence based medicine” (EBM) in 1991, and since then has been a leading advocate of evidence-based approaches to clinical decision-making.  His over 950 publications have been cited over 70,000 times. Recognition for his work includes, in 2012, his becoming an Officer of the Order of Canada and in 2013 the Canadian Institute of Health Research Researcher of the Year.

His talk will offer a look into the evolution of EBM and its future focusing on four individuals who have made critical contributions and two others who are leading EBM into the future. 

–     David Sackett led the development of the first Readers’ Guides to the medical literature and championed the notion of hierarchies of evidence.

–     Iain Chalmers was instrumental in the development of systematic review methodology and was primarily responsible for the creation of the Cochrane Collaboration.

–     Brian Haynes helped promote the idea of values and preferences in clinical decision making and has led the world in the synthesis and dissemination of evidence from clinical research.

–     Andy Oxman led the development of the GRADE approach to rating confidence in estimates of intervention effects from systematic reviews and the translation of evidence into recommendations.

–     Victor Montori is championing shared decision making, minimally intrusive medicine, and the use of decision aids.

–     Per Vandvik has developed an electronic platform for dissemination of practice guidelines and is studying ways of optimizing the presentation of research and guideline information.

By the end of the session, participants should understand:

i) the conditions necessary for optimal evidence-based clinical decision-making
ii) the evolution of our understanding of “best evidence”
iii) the role of patients’ values and preferences in clinical decision-making

Light refreshments will be served 

 Amir Azarpazhooh, DDS, MSc, PhD, FRCD(C)

Assistant Professor, Disciplines of Dental Public Health and Endodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto
Adjunct Clinical Professor in Endodontics, Schulich school of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario
Assistant Professor, Clinical Epidemiology & Health Care Research, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto
Head, Division of Endodontics, Department of Dentistry, and Clinician Scientist, Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto
Investigator, Toronto Health Economics and Technology Assessment Collaborative, University of Toronto
Office: 515-C, 124 Edward St, Toronto, ON, M5G 1G6, Canada;  T: +1 (416) 979-4900 ext. 4429; F: +1 (416) 979-4936; amir.azarpazhooh@dentistry.utoronto.ca