Lawrence Alan Leiter

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Other Academic and Clinical Appointments

Associate Scientist, Keenan Research Centre, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute (2008 - present)

Scientific Director, St. Michael’s Hospital, Canadian Cardiometabolic Risk Initiative (2007 - present)

Professor, Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto (1998- present)

Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto (1998 - present)

Associate Director, Nutritional & Risk Factor Modification Centre, St. Michael’s Hospital (1990 - present)

Director, Lipid Clinic, St. Michael’s Hospital (1990 - present)

Associate Physician, Mount Sinai Hospital (1990 - present)

Staff Physician, St. Michael’s Hospital (1990 - present)

At a Glance

• Dr. Leiter conducts clinical trials on the prevention of atherosclerosis, especially in diabetes
• He also investigates dietary and pharmacologic treatment of diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and obesity.
• Dr. Leiter is an investigator in many of the landmark diabetes trials including the DCCT, ACCORD, and ADVANCE and is on the Executive/Steering Committees of many ongoing outcome trials in both the diabetes and lipid areas.

About Dr. Lawrence Leiter

Dr. Lawrence A. Leiter is Director of the Lipid Clinic; Associate Director of the Clinical Nutrition and Risk Factor Modification Centre; and Associate Scientist, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto where he was also the Head of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism from 2000-2010. He is a Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Leiter is a Past-President of the Canadian Society of Endocrinology & Metabolism (CSEM) and a past Chair of the Clinical and Scientific Section of the Canadian Diabetes Association (CDA). He has been involved in many national and international committees and consensus conferences including those of the International Diabetes Federation, CDA, Canadian Hypertension Education Program (CHEP), Canadian Cardiovascular Society (Dyslipidemia), and Obesity Canada. He is an Associate Editor of the journal Diabetes Care.

For his work, Dr. Leiter has received a number of awards including the CDA Frederick G. Banting Award and the American Diabetes Association Charles H Best Award (awarded to DCCT investigators), both for Distinguished Service, the 2005 CSEM Educator of the Year Award, and the 2006 CDA Gerald S. Wong Award in recognition of significant contributions to the diabetes community. He was the inaugural winner of the St. Michael’s Hospital Complete Physician Award in 2009. He is also the 2016 recipient of both the CDA Lifetime Achievement Award for Research Excellence and the CSEM Robert Volpe Distinguished Service Award. In 2019 was elected as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.

Research Synopsis

Dr. Leiter has several research interests including clinical trials on the prevention of atherosclerosis, especially in diabetes, and the dietary and pharmacologic treatment of diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and obesity. He has over 800 publications in peer-reviewed journals. He was an investigator in many of the landmark diabetes trials including the DCCT, ACCORD, and ADVANCE and has had leadership roles in many past and ongoing outcome trials in both the diabetes and lipid areas. In 2018, 2019, and 2020 he was a Clarivate Analytics Top 1% Highly Cited Researcher.

Recent Awards and Distinctions (Selected)

Award for Top 1% Highly Cited Researchers, Clarivate Analytics (2020, 2019, 2018)

Research Laureate Award, American College of Physicians - Ontario Chapter (2020)

Fellow, Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (2019)

Fellow, American College of Cardiology (2018)

Lifetime Achievement Award for Research Excellence, Canadian Diabetes Association (2016)

Robert Volpe Distinguished Service Award, Canadian Society of Endocrinology and Metabolism (2016)

Charles H Best Lecture Award / U of T, Toronto Diabetes Association (2016)

National and International Committee Memberships (Current)

Member, Executive Committee VESALIUS Trial. Effect of Evolocumab in patients at high cardiovascular risk without prior myocardial infarction or stroke (2019 – present)

Member, Executive Committee SCORED Trial. Effect of Sotagliflozin on cardiovascular and renal events in patients with type 2 diabetes and moderate renal impairment who are at cardiovascular risk (2017 – present)

Member, Executive Committee SOLOIST-WHF Trial. Effect of Sotagliflozin on cardiovascular events in patients with type 2 diabetes post worsening heart failure (2017 – present)

Member, Canadian Cardiovascular Society Lipid Guidelines (2015 – present)

Member, International Hypoglycemia Study Group (2012 – present)

Member, Canadian Harmonized Cardiovascular Risk Factor Management Guidelines (2009 – present)

Chair, Canadian Cardiometabolic Risk Working Group (2008 – present)

Recent Publications

1. Gerstein HC, Ramasundarahettige C, Avezum A, Basile J, Conget I, Cushman WC, Dagenais GR, Franek E, Lakshmanan M, Lanas F, Leiter LA, Pogosova N, Probstfield J, Raubenheimer PJ, Riddle M, Shaw J, Sheu WH, Temelkova-Kurktschiev T, Turfanda I, Xavier D. A novel kidney disease index reflecting both the albumin-to-creatinine ratio and estimated glomerular filtration rate, predicted cardiovascular and kidney outcomes in type 2 diabetes. Cardiovasc Diabetol. 2022 Aug 22;21(1):158. doi: 10.1186/s12933-022-01594-6. PMID: 35996147.
2. Mancini GBJ, O'Meara E, Zieroth S, Bernier M, Cheng AYY, Cherney DZI, Connelly KA, Ezekowitz J, Goldenberg RM, Leiter LA, Nesrallah G, Paty BW, Piché ME, Senior P, Sharma A, Verma S, Woo V, Darras P, Grégoire J, Lonn E, Stone JA, Yale JF, Yeung C, Zimmerman D. 2022 Canadian Cardiovascular Society Guideline for Use of GLP-1 Receptor Agonists and SGLT2 Inhibitors for Cardiorenal Risk Reduction in Adults. Can J Cardiol. 2022 Aug;38(8):1153-1167. doi: 10.1016/j.cjca.2022.04.029. PMID: 35961754.
3. Lee JJ, Khan TA, McGlynn N, Malik VS, Hill JO, Leiter LA, Jeppesen PB, Rahelić D, Kahleová H, Salas-Salvadó J, Kendall CWC, Sievenpiper JL. Relation of Change or Substitution of Low- and No-Calorie Sweetened Beverages With Cardiometabolic Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies. Diabetes Care. 2022 Aug 1;45(8):1917-1930. doi: 10.2337/dc21-2130. PMID: 35901272; PMCID: PMC9346984.
4. Lee D, Chiavaroli L, Ayoub-Charette S, Khan TA, Zurbau A, Au-Yeung F, Cheung A, Liu Q, Qi X, Ahmed A, Choo VL, Blanco Mejia S, Malik VS, El-Sohemy A, de Souza RJ, Wolever TMS, Leiter LA, Kendall CWC, Jenkins DJA, Sievenpiper JL. Important Food Sources of Fructose-Containing Sugars and Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Controlled Trials. Nutrients. 2022 Jul 12;14(14):2846. doi: 10.3390/nu14142846. PMID: 35889803; PMCID: PMC9325155.
5. Miller M, Tokgozoglu L, Parhofer KG, Handelsman Y, Leiter LA, Landmesser U, Brinton EA, Catapano AL. Icosapent ethyl for reduction of persistent cardiovascular risk: a critical review of major medical society guidelines and statements. Expert Rev Cardiovasc Ther. 2022 Aug;20(8):609-625. doi: 10.1080/14779072.2022.2103541. Epub 2022 Jul 28. PMID: 35876118.
6. Oyama K, Raz I, Cahn A, Goodrich EL, Bhatt DL, Leiter LA, McGuire DK, Wilding JPH, Gause-Nilsson IAM, Mosenzon O, Sabatine MS, Wiviott SD. Efficacy and Safety of Dapagliflozin According to Background Use of Cardiovascular Medications in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes: A Prespecified Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Cardiol. 2022 Jul 20:e222006. doi: 10.1001/jamacardio.2022.2006. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35857296; PMCID: PMC9301591.
7. Schechter M, Melzer Cohen C, Yanuv I, Rozenberg A, Chodick G, Bodegård J, Leiter LA, Verma S, Lambers Heerspink HJ, Karasik A, Mosenzon O. Epidemiology of the diabetes-cardio-renal spectrum: a cross-sectional report of 1.4 million adults. Cardiovasc Diabetol. 2022 Jun 10;21(1):104. doi: 10.1186/s12933-022-01521-9. PMID: 35689214; PMCID: PMC9188046.
8. Hramiak I, Gerstein HC, Leiter LA, Yale JF, Bajaj HS, Stewart J, Toutounji MJ, Harris SB. Comparing a daily versus weekly titration algorithm in people with type 2 diabetes switching from basal insulin to iGlarLixi in the LixiLan ONE CAN randomized trial. Diabetes Obes Metab. 2022 Jun 7. doi: 10.1111/dom.14787. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35670659.
9. Strain WD, Frenkel O, James MA, Leiter LA, Rasmussen S, Rothwell PM, Sejersten Ripa M, Truelsen TC, Husain M. Effects of Semaglutide on Stroke Subtypes in Type 2 Diabetes: Post Hoc Analysis of the Randomized SUSTAIN 6 and PIONEER 6. Stroke. 2022 May 18:101161STROKEAHA121037775. doi: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.121.037775. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35582947.
10. Furtado RHM, Raz I, Goodrich EL, Murphy SA, Bhatt DL, Leiter LA, McGuire DK, Wilding JPH, Aylward P, Dalby AJ, Dellborg M, Dimulescu D, Nicolau JC, Oude Ophuis AJM, Cahn A, Mosenzon O, Gause-Nilsson I, Langkilde AM, Sabatine MS, Wiviott SD. Efficacy and Safety of Dapagliflozin in Type 2 Diabetes According to Baseline Blood Pressure: Observations From DECLARE-TIMI 58 Trial. Circulation. 2022 May 24;145(21):1581-1591. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.121.058103. Epub 2022 May 5. PMID: 35510542.

In the News

Inclisiran Lowers Cholesterol Across all BMI Groups. Physician’s Weekly. November 22, 2021.

Lawrence A. Leiter, MD: Inclisiran Lower Chosterol in Overweight Individuals. HCPLive. November 20, 2021.

Inclisiran Reduced LDL-C in Obese Patients. Diagnostic and Interventional Cardiology (DAIC). November 15, 2021.