Dr. Laura Arbour is a Clinical Geneticist and a Professor in the Department of Medical Genetics at the University of British Columbia. Her clinical practice and research focuses on northern and aboriginal health issues as they pertain to genetics.
She received her medical degree at McMaster University in 1991, and followed that with a paediatrics residency and genetics fellowship at McGill University, having already received two Masters degrees in Medical Genetics at McGill (1988). Dr. Arbour's research interests in the north developed during her residency, fellowship and as a paediatrician in Inuit communities in Nunavik. It was during those times that it became apparent that the genetic component of health and disease in the north has been often neglected.
The work of her team has three main themes:
- Exploring the genetic causes and understanding the clinical presentation of genetic conditions (Long QT Syndrome and Primary Biliary Cirrhosis, PBC) prevalent in BC First Nations;
- Enhancing maternal and early child health system information in Nunavut and Yukon territories;
- Understanding the effects of the environment and other determinants on birth outcomes in BC, Yukon, Alberta, and Nunavut.
Dr. Arbour is funded by a Career Investigator-Scholar Research award, through the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research.
For more information on Dr. Arbour's research interest please visit her research website at: http://www.uvic.ca/medsci/faculty/arbour.php
Select Publications limited to Northern, Aboriginal Health and birth outcomes
Papers:
Arbour L, Rupps R, Field L, Ross P, Erikson A, Henderson H, Hill W, Yoshida E. Characteristics of primary biliary cirrhosis in British Columbia's First Nations people. Can J Gastroenterol (5):305-310, 2005. (Winner of the Thompson Williams award for the most significant contribution to the CJG 2005.)
Gair JL, Arbour L, Rupps R, Jiang R, Bruyere H, Robinson WP. Recurrent trisomy 21: four cases in three generations. Clin Genet 68(5):430-435, 2005.
Arbour L, Cook D. DNA on loan: issues to consider when carrying out genetic research with Canadian Aboriginal populations. Community Genet 9(3):153-160, 2006.
Yoshida EM, Riley M, Arbour LT. Autoimmune liver disease and the Canadian First Nations Aboriginal communities of British Columbia's pacific northwest. World J Gastroenterol 12(23):3625-3627, 2006.
Ko HH, Chung H, McMahon B, Hurlburt K, Arbour L, Yoshida E. Liver disease in the indigenous communities of the arctic, sub-arctic and pacific northwest: an approach to investigations of Alaska Natives and the First Nations of British Columbia. BC Medical Journal 48(5):216-221, 2006.
Chung H, Riley M, Ho JK, Leung B, Jevon PG, Arbour LT, Barker C, Schreiber R, Yoshida EM. Retrospective review of pediatric and adult autoimmune hepatitis in two quaternary care centres in British Columbia: increased prevalence seen in British Columbia's First Nations. Can J Gastroenterology 21(9):565-568, 2007.
Godwin K, Sibbald B, Lowry RB, Bedard T, Kuzeljevic B, Arbour L. Changes in frequencies of select congenital anomalies since the onset of folic acid fortification in a Canadian birth defect registry. Canadian Journal of Public Health 99(4): 271-275, 2008.
Arbour L, Rezazadeh S, Eldstrom J, Weget-Simms G, Rupps R, Dyer Z, Tibbits G, Accili E, Casey B, Kmetic A, Sanatani S, Fedida D. A KCNQ1 V205M missense mutation causes a high rate of long QT syndrome in a First Nations community of northern British Columbia: a community-based approach to understanding the impact. Genetics in Medicine 10(7): 545-550, 2008.
Caulfield T, Fullerton SM, Ali-Khan SE, Arbour L, Burchard EG, Cooper RS, Hardy BJ, Harry S, Hyde-Lay R, Kahn J, Kittles R, Koenig BA, Lee SJ, Malinowski M, Ravitsky V, Sankar P, Scherer SW, Séguin B, Shickle D, Suarez-Kurtz G, Daar AS, Race and ancestry in biomedical research: exploring the challenges. Genome Medicine 1:8. 2009.
Arbour L, Melnikov V, McIntosh S, Olsen B, Osborne G, Vaktskjold A: The Current State of Birth Outcome and Birth Defect Surveillance in Northern Regions of the World. International Journal of Circumpolar Health Int J Circumpolar Health. Dec;68(5):443-58 2009.
Arbour L, Beking K, Le N, Ratner P, Spinelli J, Teschke K, Gallagher R, Abanto Z, Dimich-Ward H . Rates of congenital anomalies and other adverse birth outcomes in an offspring cohort of registered nurses from British Columbia, Canada. Can J Public Health 2010;101(3)230-234.
Teschke K, Abanto Z, Arbour L, Beking K, Chow Y, Gallagher RP, Jong B, Le ND, Ratner PA, Spinelli JJ, Dimich-Ward H. Exposure to anesthetic gases and congenital anomalies in offspring of female registered nurses. American Journal of Industrial Medicine 54(2):118-27. 2011.
Sorcha A. Collins, Graham Sinclair, Sarah McIntosh, Fiona Bamforth, Isaac Sobol, Geraldine Osbourne, Andre Corriveau, Maria Santos, Brendan Hanley, Cheryl R. Greenberg, Hilary Vallance, Laura Arbour. Carnitine Palmitoyltransferase I P479L prevalence in live newborns in Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut. Molecular Genetics and Metabolism. 2010 Oct-Nov;101(2-3):200-4. Epub 2010 Jul 24.
Mehaffey K, Higginson A, Cowan J, Osborne GM, Arbour LT. Maternal smoking at first prenatal visit as a marker of risk for adverse pregnancy outcomes in the Qikiqtaaluk (Baffin) Region. Rural and Remote Health 10 (3): 1484. 2010.
Arbour L, Parkinson A, Kulig JC. Human health at the ends of the earth. Rural and Remote Health 10(2):1534. 2010.
Jackson H, Huisman LA, Sanatani S, Arbour LT. Long QT syndrome. CMAJ 183(11):1272-5. 2011.
S Lauson, G Osborne, G Healey, N Obed, L Arbour. The development of a comprehensive maternal child health surveillance system for Nunavut. International Journal of Circumpolar Health –2011:70(4)362-374.
Proceedings:
Peters S, Cowan J, Osborne G, Sobol I, Arbour L, Rates of Hospitalization for Lung Infection of Inuit Infants from the Baffin Region and Association with Heart Defects 2000-2004: Proceedings of the 14th International Congress of Circumpolar Health, Circumpolar Health Supplements 2010 (7) 258-262.
Reports:
Collins S, Arbour L, Report on Infant Mortality in Nunavut 1999-2009: submitted to Department of Health and Social Services, Nunavut. (June 2009).
Asuri S, Arbour L. Looking to the Future: Report on prevention of SIDS in Inuit regions - report to Health Canada and ITK - July 2010. (posted on ITK website and Uvic website Dec 2011)
Asuri S, Arbour L. Looking to the Future: Report on determinants of Breastfeeding in the Inuit Regions of Canada-October 1, 2010 (posted on ITK and Uvic website Dec 2011).
email: larbour@uvic.ca |
