Dr. Alexis F. Turgeon
MD, MSc (Epid), FRCPC

Dr. Alexis Turgeon practices critical care medicine and anesthesiology at the CHU de Québec – Université Laval (Hôpital de l’Enfant-Jésus) in Québec City, Québec. He graduated from medical school at Université Laval in 1999, and following his residency training in anesthesiology, he completed a master’s degree in clinical epidemiology. He pursued training in critical care medicine at the University of Ottawa, as well as a research fellowship at the Clinical Epidemiology Unit of the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI). He is a clinician-scientist in the Traumatology – Emergency – Critical Care Medicine Unit of the Population Health and Optimal Health Practices Axis at the CHU de Québec-Université Laval Research Centre.

Dr. Turgeon leads the Critical Care Neurology and Trauma research group created in 2007. His work is rigorous and innovative, ground breaking, of high clinical relevance to change practices and health outcomes, and is recognized at an international level. He currently leads the CIHR-funded TBI-Prognosis multicenter prospective study, a pan-Canadian study aiming to develop a prognostic model of long-term prognosis following severe traumatic brain injury. He also leads the TBI-QualE Study aiming to understand the determinants of the decision to withdraw life-sustaining therapies in critically ill patients with traumatic brain injury. He has also developed a comprehensive research program on blood tranfusions in traumatic brain injury, and on the use of blood products in critically ill patients. He leads the HEMOTION trial, a CIHR-funded multicenter randomized clinical trial that will establish the optimal red blood cell transfusion threshold for victims of moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (co-Pls F Lauzier, D Fergusson). He also has a strong methodological interest and expertise in systematic reviews and meta-analyses, and conducts a vast research program in knowledge synthesis of prognostic markers and interventions in critically ill patients with traumatic brain injury. Dr. Turgeon recently obtained a CIHR Foundation Scheme grant on Optimal Practices in Critical Care Neurology and Trauma, and a Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) grant to develop the Patient-Oriented Practice-Based Research Unit for Optimal Practices in Critical Care Neurology and Trauma. He is the recipient of the Canada Research Chair in Critical Care Neurology and Trauma.

His patient-oriented research work is rigorous, innovative and practice-changing. Dr. Turgeon’s research is informed by his experience caring for neurocritically ill and trauma patients. His previous research showed that mortality and long-term outcomes following traumatic brain injury vary greatly across treatment centres, as do decisions to withdraw life support.

Doctor Turgeon is a Full Professor and the Director of Research in the Division of Critical Care Medicine and the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, at Université Laval. He is the Co-founder and Co-Chair of the Canadian Traumatic Brain Injury Research Consortium (CTRC) and the Director of Cochrane Canada Francophone.

Research themes

Trauma, traumatic brain injury and critical care neurology
Level of care and withdrawal of life-sustaining therapies
Transfusions, blood and replacement products
Knowledge synthesis, systematic reviews and metanalyses
Knowledge transfer, outcome research
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