From ‘dunce’s corner’ to top medical award
Doctor overcame dyslexia to become one of top epidemiologists in world
David Moher grew up in Dublin, Ireland, where his teachers were convinced that he would not amount to much.
In elementary school, Moher struggled with undiagnosed dyslexia, a learning disorder that made it impossible for him to decipher the patterns of language.
It wasn’t until he was 13 years old that he began to read and write after a headmaster recognized the dramatic disparity between his math and English marks, and sent him for tests that would give a name to his learning disability.
“I spent many, many days in the dunce’s corner,” remembers Moher, 58. “I think the teachers thought I was a challenge sent by the devil … They were not themselves particularly educated about learning disabilities.”
Moher has overcome his literacy deficits — and those who doubted him — in spectacular fashion. Now a senior scientist at The Ottawa Hospital and a University of Ottawa research chair, Moher will be honoured Saturday evening at a hospital gala with the Dr. J. David Grimes career achievement award.
A clinical epidemiologist, Moher has written and published more than 500 research papers, which have been referenced more than 25,000 times by other scientists. That places him among the top one per cent of the world’s most highly cited researchers, according to a 2014 study by Thomson Reuters.
The publication named Moher — he’s an expert in the systematic review of medical studies — as one of the world’s most influential scientific minds.
It’s a mind that remains challenged by dyslexia.
“I have no understanding of grammar and I can only spell words I can visualize,” he says.
Moher attributes his success to a combination of inquisitiveness, perseverance and luck. An epidemiologist for whom he worked as a research assistant encouraged him to apply for graduate school despite poor marks, and recommended him for a placement.
He later embraced systematic reviews because the concept made so much sense to him: “Instead of reading 10 articles about the effectiveness of a drug or a device, why not read one study that aggregates those 10 studies?”
Moher has published more than 70 systematic reviews on a wide range of topics including cancer, diabetes, stroke, HIV and Ebola. He also published an important systematic review of systematic reviews, which concluded that the quality of those studies varies dramatically.
In response, Moher developed what has become a widely used set of guidelines for systematic reviews, known as PRISMA.
Systematic reviews play a critical role in heath care because they offer physicians a summary of the current evidence about how to diagnose and treat specific diseases. The reviews identify all of the clinical studies on a given topic, analyze the data they contain, and synthesize their findings.
“Systematic reviews are part of the DNA of providing best practice guidelines, and that impacts the care we give to patients,” explains Dr. Moher. “That’s why it’s so important that they’re done right and reported correctly.”
In the course of analyzing thousands of clinical trials, Moher also identified some common shortcomings that made research results unusable. He developed reporting guidelines and a 25-point checklist that is now in use by clinical trials researchers around the world.
Two other researchers will also be honoured Saturday night at The Ottawa Hospital Gala, a black-tie affair for 600 at The Westin Hotel.
Dr. Marc Carrier will receive the researcher of the year award for his work on a potentially fatal disease, venous thromboembolism (VTE), that leads to the formation of blood clots that can lodge in the veins of the leg or lungs. One of the clinical trials that Carrier conducted showed that many VTE patients receive unnecessary CT scans for cancer.
Also being honoured is Dr. Carolina Ilkow, a post-doctoral fellow with the research team that is testing the power of viruses as cancerfighting agents.
Ilkow will receive the researcher-in-training award for her work, which has concentrated on tailoring viruses to fight pancreatic cancer.