Dr. Denis O’Donnell is a Professor of Medicine (Emeritus) at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario. He is the founder and first director of the Respiratory Investigation Unit (RIU), a research group at Queen’s University and Kingston Health Sciences Centre that enjoys 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 still maintains an active appointment to the Department of Medicine as an adjunct professor where he maintains and active research program that continues to advance our understanding of dyspnea mechanisms and management in patients with chronic lung diseases.
Dr. O’Donnell completed his medical training at the University of Galway, Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland, and Trinity College, Dublin. He later at the University of Manitoba where he completed a Doctorate in Medicine under the supervision of Dr. Magdy Younes, a renowned expert in clinical respiratory physiology. He joined Queen’s University and Kingston General Hospital in 1990 as a physician-scientist where he assembled a highly productive clinical research team (the Respiratory Investigation Unit) focused on clinical integrative physiology in chronic lung disease including the physiologic mechanisms of dyspnea and exercise limitation. Dr. O’Donnell’s Respiratory Investigation Unit was high successful at securing support from various local, provincial, national and international granting agencies. He has lectured and published extensively, contributing over 400 peer-reviewed publications to date, including many in high impact journals such as the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine (the “Blue Journal”), the European Respiratory Journal, Chest, Thorax, the Journal of Physiology and the Journal of Applied Physiology. His publications have an h-index of 106 and have been cited over 44,000 times.
Dr. O’Donnell has contributed and continues to contribute to the national and international scientific community. He is the former Chair of the Canadian Thoracic Society COPD Guidelines Committee and Past President of the Ontario and Canadian Thoracic Societies. He has served on several national and international scientific committees as well as on editorial panels of leading respiratory journals. Dr. O’Donnell has received numerous national and international awards in recognition of his contribution to Research in Respiratory Diseases.