Dena Zeraatkar

Hamilton, Canada

Dena  Zeraatkar

Biography

Dena Zeraatkar, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Anesthesia and Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact (HEI) at McMaster University. She earned her doctoral degree at McMaster University in the Health Research Methodology graduate program. Following her doctoral training, she pursued postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School, for which she was awarded a Banting scholarship.

Her research centers on evidence synthesis and evaluation—identifying and appraising research to optimally inform healthcare and public health decisions. She often works in areas in which the evidence is complex or conflicting, examples of which include nutrition, COVID-19 therapeutics, and ME/CFS and long COVID. For her research, in 2023, she was awarded a Gairdner Early Career Investigator Award.

Affiliations

Departments of Anesthesia and Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact (HEI) at McMaster University

Area of expertise

Evidence synthesis and evaluation—identifying and appraising research to optimally inform healthcare and public health decisions

Abstract

Observational Research – Valid For Guidelines?

Randomized trials represent the optimal design for investigating the health effects of medical interventions. They pose important challenges, however, when it comes to studying the health effects of food and nutrition. Hence, investigators commonly perform nutritional epidemiology studies. These studies are observational in design, collect information from large groups of people, and look for patterns between their diet and their health. There are, however, concerns about the trustworthiness of nutritional epidemiology studies, exemplified by cases where they have produced inconsistent results or have failed to replicate in randomized trials.

This lecture will describe the advantages and limitations of observational research to inform national and international dietary guidance.