Allgemein- und Familienmedizin

Biography and research interests

Dr. Svetlana Puzhko is a clinician-researcher with international work experience in fundamental and clinical medical science. Svetlana has obtained her PhD degree at the Department of Family Medicine of McGill University, Montreal, Canada (2015-2021), where she studied advanced epidemiology and biostatistics, pharmacoepidemiology, knowledge translation, knowledge synthesis, and participatory research. Her PhD project concerns individualization of pharmacological treatment of depression in primary care, based on body weight and other characteristics. During her earlier studies for MSc degree (2013-2015; at the Department of Family Medicine, McGill University, in collaboration with University of Montreal), Svetlana acquired knowledge of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research in primary care, and gained hands-on experience with a cohort data (HEPCO, Montreal) analysis. Her research interests are: Application of large database (electronic medical records, medical claims data) analysis and advanced modeling onto evaluation of drug safety and effectiveness for patients in primary care; Improvement of prescribing in patients with multimorbidity and polypharmacy, with a focus on psychotropic and anticholinergic drugs; Reducing infectious complications in patients with chronic pain treated with opioids; Patients’ involvement in shared decision making

Professional career:

• Head of Research, AG Allgemein- und Familienmedizin / Medizinische Fakultät OWL / Universität Bielefeld (Febr 2022- presently)
• Postdoctoral Research Fellow. The University of British Columbia, School of Population and Public Health, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (2021- 2022)
• National Program Research Manager, OECD PaRIS project. Primary and Integrated Health Care Innovations Network (PIHCIN), Montreal, Canada (2020-2022)
• Research Associate . Centre of Genomics and Policy, McGill University, Montreal, Canada (2015-2016)
• Research Assistant. Université de Montréal Health Centre, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Canada (2004-2013)
• Researcher. Div. of Pulmonary Medicine, Hospital of Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe University, Frankfurt/M, Germany (1998-2000)
• Consulting Physician. Profit Company Ltd, Moscow, Russia (1994-1998)

Licenses and qualifications:

• Certificate of completion of the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR)-funded Drug Safety and Effectiveness Training program (DSECT) (2019, 2020)
• Licentiate of the Medical Council of Canada . LMCC registration # 118768 (2012)
• Medical Council of Canada (MCC) Licensing Examinations (Medical Doctor degree) (2011-2012):
1. MCC Qualifying Examination part 2: pass
2. National Assessment Collaboration OSCE: pass
3. MCC Qualifying Examination part 1: pass
4. MCC Evaluating Examination: pass

Education and training:

• Doctoral (PhD) student, Family Medicine and Primary Care Research, with distinction. McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (2015-2021)
• Trainee, CIHR-funded Drug Safety and Effectiveness Training program (DSECT), Montreal, Canada (2018-2020)
• Master student, Family Medicine, with distinction, McGill University, Montreal, Canada (2013-2015)
• Trainee, National CIHR-funded Research Training Program in Hepatitis C (NCRTP), Montreal, Canada (2014-2015)
• Resident in Clinical Allergy, Div. of Clinical Allergy, Medical Academy of Post-Graduate Education, Moscow, Russia (1991-1994)
• Medical Doctor, Diploma with Honours. First Tashkent State Medical Institute, Tashkent, Uzbekistan

• Leading research projects
• Supervising doctoral students
• Teaching research methods in general medicine

Projects:

• PARTNER
• LLKVP
• BRUNA+

• Effectiveness of Interventions for Prevention of Common Infections Among Opioid Users: A Systematic Review of Systematic Reviews. Puzhko S, Eisenberg MJ, Filion KB, Windle SB, Hébert-Losier A, Gore G, Paraskevopoulos E, Martel MO, Kudrina I. Front Public Health. 2022 Feb 22;10:749033. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.749033. PMID: 35273933; PMCID: PMC8901608.

• Effectiveness of interventions for prevention of common infections in people who use opioids: a protocol for a systematic review of systematic reviews. Kudrina I, Puzhko S, Filion KB, Gore G, Paraskevopoulos E, Windle S, Martel MO, Eisenberg MJ. Syst Rev. 2021 Nov 15;10(1):298. doi: 10.1186/s13643-021-01852-w. PMID: 34782008; PMCID: PMC8591821.

• Difference in patterns of prescribing antidepressants known for their weight-modulating and cardiovascular adverse effects for patients with obesity compared to patients with normal weight. S Puzhko, Tibor Schuster, Tracie A. Barnett, Christel Renoux, Kimberly Munro, David Barber, Gillian Bartlett. J Affect Disord. 2021 Dec 1;295:1310-1318. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2021.08.018. Epub 2021 Aug 12. PMID: 34706445.
• Excess body weight as a predictor of response to treatment with antidepressants in patients with depressive disorder. Svetlana Puzhko, Sarah A. E. Aboushawareb, Irina Kudrina, Tibor Schuster, Tracie A. Barnett, Christel Renoux, Gillian Bartlett. J Affect Disord. 2020 Apr 15;267:153-170. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2020.01.113. Epub 2020 Feb 1.PMID: 32063567.
• Evaluating prevalence and patterns of prescribing medications for depression for patients with obesity using large primary care data (Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network ). Svetlana Puzhko, Tibor Schuster, Tracie A. Barnett, Christel Renoux, Ellen Rosenberg, David Barber, Gillian Bartlett. Front Nutr, 2020. 7: p. 24.
• Health professionals’ perspectives on breast cancer risk stratification: understanding evaluation of risk versus screening for disease. Svetlana Puzhko, Justin Gagnon, Jacques Simard, Bartha Maria Knoppers, Sophia Siedlikowski, Gillian Bartlett. Public Health Rev. 2019 Feb 28;40:2.
• Québec’s Emergency Room Overcrowding and Long Wait Times: Don’t Apply „Band Aids“, Treat the Underlying Disease! S Puzhko. McGill Journal of Medicine, special issue focused on primary care in Québec, July 2017 (15), 23-26 https://www.mjmmed.com/article?articleID=19.
• High hepatitis C incidence in relation to prescription opioid injection and poly-drug use: Assessing barriers to hepatitis C prevention. Puzhko S, Roy É, Jutras-Aswad D, Artenie AA, Fortier E, Zang G, Bruneau J. Int J Drug Policy. 2017 Sep;47:61-68. doi: 10.1016/ j.drugpo. 2017.05.027. Epub 2017 Jun 27.
• Deliberative stakeholder consultations: creating insights into effective practice-change in family medicine. Bartlett G, Longo C, Puzhko S, Gagnon J, Rahimzadeh V. Fam Pract. 2018 Dec 12;35(6):749-752. doi:10.1093/fampra/cmy056. PubMed PMID: 30541124.
• In their words:children’s perspectives on an El Sistema music program’s effects on their wellbeing. Nickoo Merati, Sophia Siedlikowski, Svetlana Puzhko, Joshua Hamzeh, Nadege Wary, Ruby Clark, Habib Zekri, Cristina Longo. Accepted for publication in the Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education and Action in June 2019.
• Short-term injection drug use changes following hepatitis C virus (HCV) assessment and treatment among persons who inject drugs with acute HCV infection. Artenie AA, Zang G, Daniel M, Fortier E, Jutras-Aswad D, Puzhko S, Bruneau. Int J Drug Policy. 2017 Sep;47:239-243. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2017.05.033. Epub 2017 Jun 4.
• Hepatitis C Virus seroconversion among persons who inject drugs in relation to primary care physician visiting: The potential role of primary healthcare in a combined approach to Hepatitis C prevention. AA Artenie, É Roy, G. Zang, D Jutras-Aswad, J-M Bamvita, S Puzhko, M Daniel. Int J Drug Policy. 2015 Oct;26(10):970-5.
• Exploration des mécanismes potentiels sous-jacents aux troubles liés à l’usage de substances chez les personnes atteintes de troubles de la personnalité. A Clément, K Raymond, S Puzhko, J Bruneau, D Jutras-Aswad. Sante Ment Que. 2014 Fall;39(2):99-115.
• Parathyroid hormone signaling via Galpha-s is selectively inhibited by an NH2-terminally truncated Galpha-s: implications for pseudohypoparathyroidism. Puzhko S, Goodyer CG, Kerachian MA, Canaff L, Misra M, Jüppner H, Bastepe M, Hendy GN. J Bone Miner Res 2011;26(10):2473-85.
• Human growth hormone receptor gene expression. Kenth G, Puzhko S, Goodyer CG. Mol Cell Endocrinol 2011;335(2):135-47.
• Structure and activity of the human growth hormone receptor (hGHR) gene V2 promoter. Wei Y, Puzhko S, Wabitsch M, Goodyer CG. Mol Endocrinol 2009 Mar;23(3):360-72.
• Transcriptional regulation of the human growth hormone receptor (hGHR) gene V2 promoter by transcriptional activators and repressor. Wei Y, Puzhko S, Wabitsch M, Goodyer CG. Mol Endocrinol 2009 Mar;23(3):373-87.