Addressing the impact of the changing environment on respiratory health

Dr Joseph Blondeau

Joseph M. Blondeau, MSc, PhD, RSM(CCM), SM(AAM), SM(ASCP), FCCP is a Clinical Microbiologist and Head of Clinical Microbiology at Royal University Hospital and the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. He is also the provincial clinical lead for clinical microbiology with the Saskatchewan Health Authority. He holds a Masters of Sciences in Microbiology from Dalhousie University (1985) and a Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Microbiology from the University of Manitoba (1989). Following completion of his PhD, he completed 1½ years of post-doctoral training in an infectious diseases research laboratory at Dalhousie University and following which he completed a 2 year post-doctoral residency training program in Clinical Microbiology, also at Dalhousie University and the Victoria General Hospital. He holds appointments as a Professor of Pathology, Clinical Associate Professor of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology and Clinical Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Saskatchewan. He teaches to undergraduate and graduate students in the areas of microbiology, infectious diseases, antimicrobial agents and pharmacology. Dr. Blondeau’s main research interests are in the area of antimicrobial agents and antimicrobial resistance, clinical microbiology and clinical outcomes associated with antimicrobial therapy in both human and veterinary medicine. His research program has evolved to have a One Health focus. Key areas of research are the mutant prevention concentration (MPC) – a novel in vitro measurement that determines the likelihood for resistance selection/prevention when an antibiotic is exposed to high density bacterial populations – such as those seen during infection and a 2nd area is the transmission of bacterial pathogens from animals to humans. He has a keen interest in respiratory tract infections. To date, in excess of 4.5 million dollars has been raised as part of his research program.

To date, he has published 225 manuscripts (208 peer-reviewed), 280 abstracts at international meetings, 6 book chapters and 5 books. Dr. Blondeau has given 689 invited presentations around the world in some 51 countries. Dr. Blondeau is a reviewer for many prestigious journals and he is the current Editor-in-Chief for Expert Review of Respiratory Medicine. Dr. Blondeau was a previous University of Saskatchewan’s nominee for the Henry Friesen Award and Lecture, an award given by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and the Canadian Society for Clinical Investigation. Dr. Blondeau was twice nominated for a University of Saskatchewan student union teacher of the year award.