Johane Allard

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Other Academic and Clinical Appointments

Professor, Department of Medicine, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto (2007 - present)

Associate Member, Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Toronto (1990 - present)

Staff Physician, Division of Gastroenterology, University Health Network (1989 - present)

At a Glance

• Dr. Johane Allard is a Gastroenterologist and a Professor of Medicine, cross-appointed to the Department of Nutritional Sciences, the Institute of Medical Sciences and the School of Graduated Studies of the University of Toronto. She is a Senior Scientist at the Toronto General Research Institute.
• Dr. Allard's research interest is nutrition related to obesity, metabolic syndrome, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), malnutrition and nutrition support. She conducted previous studies on dietary intakes, gene expression, fatty acid composition, micronutrients and oxidative stress. 

About Dr. Johane Allard

Dr. Johane P. Allard is Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada and is crossed-appointed at the Department of Nutritional Sciences and Institute of Medical Sciences. She is also a Senior Scientist at the Toronto General Research Institute and a member of the School of Graduate Studies at University of Toronto. She trained in gastroenterology at McGill University before completing a research fellowship funded by the National Institute of Nutrition at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Allard is a clinician-investigator, with a research focus in nutrition and gastrointestinal disorders. She is currently conducting several studies funded by peer-reviewed agencies in patients requiring nutrition support, people with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and patients with morbid obesity undergoing bariatric surgery. She is also conducting research on malnutrition in Canadian hospitals and has developed a research program on the intestinal microbiome related to the Metabolic-Syndrome. She is the recipient of several CIHR grants looking at the association between the intestinal microbiome and obesity/metabolic syndrome which include assessing the effect of fecal microbiota transplant on the outcomes of these patients. Her publications are primarily in the area of micronutrients, oxidative stress, malnutrition, nutrition support and NAFLD that includes non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). For NAFLD, she has published on nutrition, gene expression, intestinal microbiota, metabolic syndrome, morbid obesity and bariatric surgery.

Dr. Allard is the Director of the Nutrition Support Program at the University Health Network (UHN). She works with a multidisciplinary nutrition support team and is the Chair of the Nutrition Review Committee. She is also the past-chair the Royal College of Physician and Surgeon Examining Board in Gastroenterology and co-founder of the Canadian Nutrition Society and member of its Advisory Board. She has been the co-chair of the Canadian Malnutrition Task Force. She was the Department Division Director of Gastroenterology at the University of Toronto from 2006 to 2018 as well as the Division Head of the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center from 2009 to 2014.

Research Synopsis

Gut microbiome in bariatric care
Many people who are severely obese have high blood sugar levels and type 2 diabetes. Both obesity and type 2 diabetes are growing health problems in Canada. The only reliable and effective treatment for severe obesity is weight loss surgery, which also remarkably improves type 2 diabetes and blood sugar control, even before weight loss occurs. New studies show that changes in the gut bacteria can play an important role in this process. The purpose of this project is to examine the gut bacteria of patients undergoing bariatric surgery in order to clarify their role in improvements of blood sugar control.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and nutrition-related factors that could contribute to the pathogenesis, including:

• Diet and lifestyle (dietary intake, obesity, physical activity)
• Oxidative stress and antioxidants
• Lipid profile of liver and other tissues (lipid classes, fatty acid composition)
• Hepatic gene expression (genes related to oxidative stress, lipid metabolism, insulin resistance)
• Intestinal microbiota

Home Parenteral Nutrition
Dr. Allard's team is managing the Canadian Home Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN) Registry, which collects demographic information, medical history, and health status of patients in Home TPN programs across Canada. Dr. Allard’s team is also conducting a multicentre, randomized, controlled trial to examine the effects of fish-oil based lipid emulsion on parenteral nutrition-associated liver disease. Dr. Allard's areas of expertise also include inflammatory bowel disease, celiac disease, and short bowel syndrome. In addition, she and her team have conducted studies on patients with HIV infection or chronic Hepatitis C infection, as well as lung and liver transplant patients.

Nutrition Care in Canadian Hospitals
Dr Allard is one of the co-chairs of the recently founded Canadian Malnutrition Task Force . The aim of the task force is to create a knowledge base and close the gaps between research and practice in the prevention, detection, and treatment of malnutrition in Canadians through the continuum of care. Their first study ‘Nutrition Care in Canadian Hospitals’ is currently conducted at multiple hospitals across Canada, including the University Health Network with Dr. Allard as a site investigator. Dr. Allard's areas of expertise also include inflammatory bowel disease, celiac disease, and short bowel syndrome. In addition, she and her team have conducted studies on patients with HIV infection or chronic hepatitis C infection, as well as lung and liver transplant patients.

More information on Dr. Allard's clinical trials can be found in her publications and in the clinical trials registry ClinicalTrials.gov.

Recent Awards and Distinctions (Selected)

Canadian Nutrition Society Fellow (2023)

Khursheed Jeejeebhoy Award for Best Application of Clinical Nutrition Research Findings to Clinical Practice, Canadian Nutrition Society (2022)

Mid-Career Bridge Funding Award, American College of Gastroenterology (2021)

Award for Outstanding Contribution in Clinical Practice, Education and Research, Ontario Association of Gastroenterology (2019)

Fellow, Canadian Association of Gastroenterology (2016)

National and International Committee Memberships (Current)

Member, National Board of Physician Nutrition Specialists, USA (2018 - present)

Member, Short Bowel Syndrome International Registry (2016 - present)

Member, Advisory Board, Canadian Nutrition Society (2010 - present)

Chair, Canadian Home Total Parenteral Nutrition Registry (2005 - present)

Recent Publications

1. Schwenger KJP, Alali M, Ghorbani Y, Fischer SE, Jackson TD, Okrainec A, Allard JP. Reliability of Non-invasive Liver Fibrosis Assessment Tools Versus Biopsy in Pre- and Post-bariatric Surgery Patients with Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease. Obes Surg. 2023 Jan;33(1):247-255. doi: 10.1007/s11695-022-06380-7. Epub 2022 Dec 5. PMID: 36464738.
2. Ghorbani Y, Schwenger KJP, Sharma D, Jung H, Yadav J, Xu W, Lou W, Poutanen S, Hota SS, Comelli EM, Philpott D, Jackson TD, Okrainec A, Gaisano HY, Allard JP. Effect of faecal microbial transplant via colonoscopy in patients with severe obesity and insulin resistance: A randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 2 trial. Diabetes Obes Metab. 2023 Feb;25(2):479-490. doi: 10.1111/dom.14891. Epub 2022 Oct 28. PMID: 36239189.
3. Pasricha SV, Allard JP, Alqarni KA, Davis MJ, Chan CT. Case Studies of Intradialytic Total Parenteral Nutrition in Nocturnal Home Hemodialysis. J Ren Nutr. 2022 Jul 4:S1051-2276(22)00118-2. doi: 10.1053/j.jrn.2022.06.009. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35798187.
4. Pettinelli P, Arendt BM, Schwenger KJP, Sivaraj S, Bhat M, Comelli EM, Lou W, Allard JP. Relationship between hepatic gene expression, intestinal microbiota and inferred functional metagenomic analysis in NAFLD. Clin Transl Gastroenterol. 2022 Feb 10. doi: 10.14309/ctg.0000000000000466. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35166723.
5. Sivaraj S, Copeland JK, Malik A, Pasini E, Angeli M, Azhie A, Husain S, Kumar D, Allard J, Guttman DS, Humar A, Bhat M. Characterization and predictive functional profiles on metagenomic 16S rRNA data of liver transplant recipients: A longitudinal study. Clin Transplant. 2021 Nov 15:e14534. doi: 10.1111/ctr.14534. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34781411.
6. Schwenger KJP, Kiu A, AlAli M, Alhanaee A, Fischer SE, Allard JP. Comparison of bioelectrical impedance analysis, mass index, and waist circumference in assessing risk for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. Nutrition. 2021 Sep 20;93:111491. doi: 10.1016/j.nut.2021.111491. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34739937.
7. Cooke NCA, Bala A, Allard JP, Hota S, Poutanen S, Taylor VH. The safety and efficacy of fecal microbiota transplantation in a population with bipolar disorder during depressive episodes: study protocol for a pilot randomized controlled trial. Pilot Feasibility Stud. 2021 Jul 14;7(1):142. doi: 10.1186/s40814-021-00882-4. PMID: 34261526; PMCID: PMC8278713.
8. Clermont-Dejean NM, Schwenger KJP, Salazar E, Colombo FF, Lu Z, Lou W, Gramlich L, Whittaker S, Armstrong D, Jurewitsch B, Raman M, Duerksen DR, McHattie JD, Murthy S, Allard JP. Home parenteral nutrition patients on mixed oil lipid emulsion have a higher rate of hospitalizations compare to those on soybean oil- a prospective 2-year cohort study. Clin Nutr. 2021 Jul;40(7):4616-4623. doi: 10.1016/j.clnu.2021.06.012. Epub 2021 Jun 17. PMID: 34229267.
9. Salazar E, Alenezi S, Schwenger KJP, Casselman S, Somlaw N, Kim P, Adjemian D, Lu Z, Lou W, Ma D, Allard JP. Olive oil-based lipid emulsion is noninferior to soybean oil-based lipid emulsion in the acute care setting: A double-blind randomized controlled trial. Nutrition. 2021 Sep;89:111283. doi: 10.1016/j.nut.2021.111283. Epub 2021 Apr 18. PMID: 34090216.
10. Daoud DC, Cartagena EMS, Schwenger KJP, Somlaw N, Gramlich L, Whittaker S, Armstrong D, Jurewitsch B, Raman M, Duerksen DR, McHattie JD, Allard JP. Home parenteral nutrition in older vs younger patients: Clinical characteristics and outcomes. JPEN J Parenter Enteral Nutr. 2021 Apr 3. doi: 10.1002/jpen.2117. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33811677.