Dr. Madhukar Pai is a Canada Research Chair in Epidemiology & Global Health and inaugural Chair of the Department of Global & Public Health at ºÚÁÏÍø±¬³Ô¹Ï. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada as well as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. His international research program uses translational epidemiology, implementation science and health equity expertise to enhance tuberculosis care and control and strengthen global health practice. Part of his goal is to translate products, knowledge and policies into saved lives, and ultimately, population-level impact, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
His research topics include a) improving TB diagnosis through studies on the accuracy of TB diagnostic tests, their implementation and scale-up, and cost and availability in high-burden countries; b) improving the quality of TB care using approaches such as standardized patients and provider engagement and training, to assess care pathways, service disruptions, or integrated testing, for example; c) advancing knowledge synthesis and translation of TB tests and interventions by conducting systematic reviews on topics such as rapid molecular tests, centralized molecular tests, digital X-ray algorithms, cascade of TB care, and sputum scarcity, which in turn inform evidenced-based policies; and d) health equity in global health, including identifying and examining policy exemplars addressing structural discrimination.
Current Research Projects:
- 2025-2030: Why are women at greater risk for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis?, CIHR. This project examines MDR risk factors by gender and will inform efforts in targeted active case finding in India, the country with the highest global burden of MDR-TB.
- 2024-2028: Evaluating the Impact and Implementation Outcomes of Engaging Informal Healthcare Providers for Tuberculosis Detection Using Tongue Swabs in India: A Mixed-Methods Pre-Post Pilot Study, CIHR. This project is a mixed-methods study involving Informal Providers (IPs) with a concurrent design in the South Delhi district (India). The quantitative component of the study will employ a pre-post design with an interrupted time-series approach to compare outcomes before and after the intervention (using tongue swabs to detect TB). The qualitative component, conducted post-intervention, will involve in-depth interviews with IPs, patients, and stakeholders to explore feasibility, satisfaction, and implementation research outcomes. The findings will provide evidence on whether training IPs will improve TB case diagnosis, and whether enabling them to collect tongue swabs for TB testing can amplify this impact.
- 2024-2025: The O’Neill-Lancet Commission on Racism, Structural Discrimination and Global Health – Structural change for health equity, Georgetown University. This commission aims to address racism, discrimination, oppression, and other forms of structural inequality as it relates to health equity in a global context, using targeted research and collaborations to foster policy dialogue within and across sectors that impact health.
- 2024-2025: Critical path analysis & TA for new TB diagnostics in priority countries, Gates Foundation. To support the introduction of novel TB diagnostics (e.g. POC molecular, tongue swabs, low-cost PCR kits, LAM), this project aims to create country-specific guide roadmaps in 8 Asian and African countries for the initial introduction and early uptake of new diagnostics. We will also integrate across countries to generate usable information for funders, manufacturers and global stakeholders.
Email: madhukar.pai [at] mcgill.ca
