The Respiratory Epidemiology and Clinical Research Unit (RECRU) brings together clinician-scientists, epidemiologists, biostatisticians, rehabilitation researchers, and other health researchers working to improve respiratory health through clinical, epidemiological, population health, and health outcomes research.
RECRU is part of the broader respiratory research community at McGill University and the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC), working closely with the Translational Research in Respiratory Diseases (RESP) Program. With clinician-scientists based at the Montreal Chest Institute and the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), RECRU provides a collaborative environment for clinical research, clinical trials, observational and population-based studies, and multidisciplinary research spanning major areas of respiratory medicine.
RECRU research is conducted locally, nationally, and internationally and uses a broad range of approaches, including epidemiology, clinical trials, cohort and observational studies, implementation research, health services and outcomes research, economic evaluation, decision modelling, biostatistics, digital health, and data-driven methods.
RECRU also contributes to the education and training of medical students, graduate students, clinical trainees, postdoctoral fellows, and other emerging researchers.
Areas of Research
Research spans a broad range of respiratory health and methodological areas, including:
- Tuberculosis, global health and Indigenous health – epidemiology, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis; drug-resistant TB; implementation research; and community-based approaches to TB prevention and care.
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – epidemiology, pulmonary rehabilitation, exacerbations, disease management and self-management, exercise physiology, digital health, and remote patient monitoring.
- Asthma and airway disease – clinical research and clinical trials examining asthma, airway disease, treatment, and patient outcomes.
- Interstitial lung disease and pulmonary fibrosis – epidemiology, prognosis, autoimmune-related lung disease, treatment, and disparities and delays in care.
- Lung cancer – screening, epidemiology, outcomes research, diagnosis and staging, comparative effectiveness, and interventional pulmonary procedures.
- Sleep and respiratory disorders – obstructive sleep apnea and sleep-disordered breathing in the general population and in specific populations, including pregnancy and neurological disease, as well as neuromuscular respiratory disease and non-invasive ventilation.
- Critical care – risk prediction in the intensive care unit, prolonged mechanical ventilation, and outcomes in critically ill populations.
- Occupational and population lung health – respiratory health at the population level, including occupational exposures and health disparities.
- Health services, outcomes and research methods – epidemiology, biostatistics, comparative effectiveness, implementation science, health economics and cost-effectiveness, decision analysis, artificial intelligence, and other data-driven approaches to respiratory health research.