Marc-Olivier Deguise is currently a pediatric resident physician at Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario and has been involved with the SMA community through a research lens for the past eight years. He obtained his MD/PhD combined degree at the University of Ottawa under the supervision of Dr. Rashmi Kothary. During his PhD in Dr. Kothary’s laboratory, he significantly developed the idea of SMA as a systemic disease rather than merely a motor neuron disease. He either led or contributed to the identification of muscle defects, immune system dysfunction, defective amino acid and fatty acid metabolism in SMA as well as the development of a new type IV-like mild model of SMA mice. His latest work focuses on satellite cell impairments, metabolic defects in SMA and translation of basic SMA research in the patient population. The breadth of his work was recognized by multiple accolades, most notably the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame Award for medical student (2018) and the Dr. Ronald G. Worton Researcher in Training Award of the Ottawa Hospital (2017), amongst others.
Marc-Olivier recently joined Dr. Lochmüller’s Lab to contribute to the clinical research aspect of the research program.
