O'Donnell | Department of Medicine | School of Medicine

Dr. Denis O'Donnell

Position(s)

Professor Emeritus

Dr. Denis O'Donnell is Professor of Medicine (Emeritus) at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. He is the founder and inaugural director of the Respiratory Investigation Unit (RIU), a research group at Queen’s University and Kingston Health Sciences Centre that has earned international recognition for scientific excellence and training in clinical physiology. Dr. O’Donnell retired from his position as a senior clinician-scientist and Director of the RIU in 2022 but maintains an adjunct staff position in the Department of Medicine, where he continues his research to advance understanding of dyspnea mechanisms and management in patients with various chronic lung diseases.

Dr. O'Donnell completed his medical training at the University of Galway, Ireland, and undertook postgraduate clinical positions at the Royal College of Surgeons and Trinity College in Dublin. He later completed a research fellowship in respiratory physiology at the University of Manitoba, where he earned a Doctorate in Medicine under the supervision of Drs. Magdy Younes and Nicholas Anthonisen, world-renowned experts in pulmonary physiology.

He joined the faculty at Queen’s University and Kingston General Hospital in 1988 as a clinician-scientist in the Division of Respirology, Department of Medicine. There, in close collaboration with his long-time research colleague Katherine Webb, he assembled a highly productive clinical research team, the Respiratory Investigation Unit. The program focused on clinical integrative physiology in chronic lung disease, including the neurophysiological mechanisms of dyspnea and exercise limitation. Today, the RIU continues to thrive under the leadership of Dr. Alberto Neder.

Under Dr. O’Donnell’s leadership, the RIU was highly successful in securing continuous financial support from local, provincial and national granting agencies, including Queen’s University, the Ontario Thoracic Society, the Canadian Lung Association and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, as well as through investigator-initiated pharmaceutical collaborations. He has accepted invitations to present his scientific work at numerous destinations around the world.

Dr. O’Donnell has published extensively, contributing more than 450 peer-reviewed publications, many of which have appeared in high-impact journals, including the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, European Respiratory Journal, CHEST, Thorax, The Journal of Physiology and Journal of Applied Physiology. As of August 2026, his work has been cited more than 50,000 times, and his h-index is 112.

Dr. O'Donnell is a former Chair of the Canadian Thoracic Society COPD Guidelines Committee and Past President of the Ontario and Canadian Thoracic Societies. He was also a founding member of the CIHR Canadian Respiratory Research Network. He has received numerous local, national and international awards in recognition of his contributions to research in respiratory diseases.

Team

Faculty & Staff