Dr. Daria Trojan
Associate Professor
Dr. Trojan is a Physiatrist or specialist in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Her clinical work focuses on the management of patients with neurological disease, including multiple sclerosis. She is also a clinical researcher in the area of fatigue and sleep abnormalities in multiple sclerosis. Dr. Trojan holds a B.A. degree in Chemistry from Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA, an MD degree from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, CT, and an MSc degree in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from McGill University, Montreal, Qc. She completed her residency training in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, Columbia University, New York, NY, and the University Hospital, Boston University, Boston, MA. Following clinical training, she completed a three-year clinical research fellowship at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital. Dr. Trojan has continued to be a part-time clinical researcher since starting as a staff member at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, McGill University. Her research work first focused on post-poliomyelitis syndrome, but since 2002 has also expanded to multiple sclerosis.
Learn more about Dr. Trojan
How did you become interested in MS research? What inspires you to continue advancing research in this field?
I became interested in MS research through my patients who have significant difficulties with fatigue and my colleagues at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital. We have a strong MS research group and they have been supportive of my MS research. My patients inspire me to continue advancing this field.
What do you enjoy most about doing research and what are some of the challenges you face?
What I enjoy the most about my MS research is my collaboration with colleagues which has the aim of improving the care and quality of life of MS patients. Some challenges are the organization necessary to complete such a study and difficulty finding potential subjects for the study due to the study requirements.
Describe the importance and level of collaboration in your research?
Collaboration between different investigators with different areas of expertise is essential in completing my research. Our study involves the collaboration between two Universities, McGill University and the University of Montreal, and between several medical specialties and a Statistician. I am a Physiatrist and my co-principal investigator is Dr. John Kimoff, Sleep and Pulmonary specialist. Other investigators working on the project are Dr. Pierre Duquette, Neurologist, Drs. Vincent Jobin and Marta Kaminska, Sleep and Pulmonary specialists, Drs. Amit Bar-Or and Yves Lapierre, Neurologists, and Dr. Andrea Benedetti, Statistician. This research project would be impossible without their collaboration.
How important is the support from the MS Society in enabling you to conduct research?
The support of the MSSC is crucial to enable me and my co-investigators to conduct the work that we are doing. Without the MSSC, it would have been virtually impossible to complete this research study.
If you could ask any question(s) to a person living with MS that would help you design your study, what would it be?
What is the most important MS symptom that you would like us to address in our research work?