A couple of weeks ago, we sat down with Deborah Assayag, MD, FRCPC, Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at 海角社区鈥檚 Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, to reflect on her journey from dedicating her career to interstitial lung diseases to leading one of Department of Medicine鈥檚 Emerging World Class Teams, as recognized in 2024.
To better understand the evolution of her work, and the momentum behind one of the most prominent emerging teams, we asked Dr. Assayag four questions.
Your research in interstitial lung diseases (ILD) has grown from focused investigation to leading a multidisciplinary team recognized as one of 海角社区 DOM鈥檚 Emerging World Class Teams. How has MI4鈥檚 support contributed to your team鈥檚 development and success?
MI4 was absolutely instrumental in putting our team together. My colleagues and I came up with this idea of studying autoimmunity and interstitial lung disease across different 海角社区 sites, something that hasn鈥檛 been done before, and MI4 was our first funder. We didn鈥檛 have any collaborations before MI4, and with the help of the initiative, we were able to put together a team of researchers from the Lady Davis Institute, the Research Institute at MUHC, 海角社区, and other partners institutions, breaking the silo that had long separated the expertise. From there, we recruited students, built a research registry, established a biobank, and started analyzing samples from patients. The last six or seven years of my career trajectory have been shaped by this research, and MI4 played a critical role in it.
Being named an Emerging World Class Team is a major milestone. What does that recognition mean to you personally 鈥� and what does it signal about the importance of ILD research for patients and the field?
It was a very eye-opening, but also humbling experience to apply for the world-class team competition. ILD (interstitial lung disease) is a fairly rare disease, less common than many other chronic lung diseases. I made my entire career about ILD, and seeing our team receive such an honour 鈥� Emerging World-Class Team 鈥� made me feel that ILD is finally being recognized as a very serious and devastating illness. We are now partnering with the Canadian Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation, a non-profit organization, to raise awareness around the topic, an effort that 20 years ago was almost inexistent.
Looking back at your trajectory from ILD-focused projects to leading a high-impact research network, what has surprised you most about the strengths and potential of your team?
What surprised me the most was how incredibly talented some of our researchers are, both in interstitial lung diseases and immunology. We have a colleague who is currently developing lung tissue on a chip to improve patient life and treatment outcomes. We have collaborators who are excellent immunologists, recognized worldwide for their work in autoimmune rheumatic disease. It鈥檚 been a humbling experience and an incredible strength to work alongside them.
If you could sum up the journey of your ILD research and team evolution 鈥� especially through your partnership with MI4 鈥� in one sentence, what would it be?
You must grab the opportunities when they pass you by.
When this MI4 opportunity came along, Dr. Assayag was on parental leave. The timing was uncertain, the scope of the project was too large, and the level of responsibility seemed overwhelming.
鈥淚 was not certain if I would have the bandwidth to participate in a project of this size,鈥� she admitted. 鈥淪eeing the team that could be built, I realized how I could lead the clinical and epidemiological aspects of the project.鈥�
The most notable moment in our conversation was when Dr. Assayag quickly shifted the spotlight away from herself, proudly saying: 鈥淭his is not my team 鈥� it鈥檚 really OUR team. I鈥檓 just one part of the whole mechanism.鈥�
As our conversation drew to a close, it was clear that Dr. Assayag鈥檚 passion for her work in interstitial lung diseases is only the beginning of innovative discoveries. 鈥淚鈥檓 a clinician at heart,鈥� she shared. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been the biggest gift to have my work inspired by my patients. With limited pharmacotherapy available, I don鈥檛 necessarily have much to offer in their illness, but comfort and a safe relationship.鈥�
This grounding in patient care, collaboration, and the courage to seize opportunities continues to shape the future of ILD research at 海角社区. And it is through ecosystems like MI4 that such progress becomes possible.
