Cheri Deal, PhD, MD, FRCPC just finished her second mandate as the Chief of Endocrinology and Diabetes and tenured Full Professor at the Sainte-Justine Mother-Child University of Montreal Hospital, where she has worked since 1992. She is currently a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the Université de Montréal.
Dr Deal has completed mandates as the President of the Canadian Society of Endocrinology and Metabolism (CSEM), as Council Member for the Growth Hormone Research Society, as the Training Director for the Royal College program in Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes for the University of Montreal, as site leader for the pan-Canadian Child Health Clinical Scientist Training Program (CCHCSP), as a member of the Steering Committee for the Endocrine Society and as a council member of the International Society of Endocrinology for whom she continues to act as co-chair of their Education Committee. She was honored in 2006 with the Prix Recherche, Programme de reconnaissance HSJ, as well as the 2013 Harvey Guyda CSEM Educator of the year award and the 2017 Robert Volpé CSEM Distinguished Service Award for her contributions in clinical care, research, administration and teaching. In addition to recently (Oct 2019) co-editing the first comprehensive textbook dedicated to Maternal-Fetal and Neonatal Endocrinology, she has published over 150 articles and 190 abstracts, often with her more than 50 previous students as first authors. She has given 180 talks nationally and internationally.
Dr. Deal’s research interests have included the genetics and the epigenetics of the growth hormone-insulin-like growth factor (GH-IGF) axis. She has contributed to the elucidation of the molecular defects associated with a wide range of rare pediatric endocrine disorders, as well as participated in clinical studies and in the elaboration of clinical practice guidelines aimed at ameliorating outcomes in endocrine diseases including congenital hypopituitarism/GH deficiency, APECED, Prader-Willi Syndrome and Turner Syndrome/SHOX deficiency.
Most recently, Dr. Deal assumed the clinical lead on an OPKO-Pfizer International Phase 3 pediatric trial of long-acting GH, which successfully demonstrated that weekly injections with a biochemically modified GH are as effective and safe as the traditional daily GH injections.