Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I am Doaa Farid, a registered clinical dietitian and PhD candidate at the Department of Family Medicine at McGill University. I completed two undergraduate degrees in dietetics and human nutrition at McGill and Université de Montréal and a Master’s degree in nutrition and metabolism from Boston University.
I love to travel and explore world cultures. I speak four languages and have always been passionate about minorities’ health, access, and inequities in health care. Currently, my doctorate thesis is exploring the intersection between mental health and immigration status using CLSA data.
My parents are originally from Egypt, and I am proud to be a Montrealer. Many of my family members are clinicians and researchers. My dream job as a kid was to become a professional calligrapher and artist. In my spare time, I paint on large canvases, bike, bake and take professional photos of different sceneries. Outside of work and hobbies, I joyfully spend my time with my husband and three kids.
What interested you about the CLSA?
Compared to other databases that I previously worked on such as NHANES and NPHS, I have to say that the CLSA dataset is a straightforward and comprehensive longitudinal database. It is a dream come true for any Canadian epidemiologist. What interested me the most is that it had a multitude of questions on the social and well-being of its participants. With my supervisors’ guidance, we have chosen the CLSA to be my PhD database.
What type of research are you doing with CLSA data? Have you published? If so, what are the findings?
I am doing research on mental health, access, and immigration. With the guidance of my supervisors, I am happy to have published a paper titled “Undiagnosed depression, persistent depressive symptoms and seeking mental health care: analysis of immigrant and non-immigrant participants of the Canadian Longitudinal Study of Aging” in the Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences journal. For this publication, I am pleased to have received the “Best paper of the year” 2020 Award from the Quebec Network on Suicide, Mood Disorders, and Related Disorders (RQSHA).
Among our CLSA participants (23,002), one-fifth had immigrated to Canada, and the majority (86%) had immigrated over 20 years ago. Female immigrants were more likely to have undiagnosed depression than female non-immigrants, but no difference was observed in men. The risk of undiagnosed depression was higher in immigrants who arrived in Canada at age 40 years and older and among those who resided in Canada for less than 20 or great than 40 years. Persistent depressive symptoms at 18 months and seeking mental health care for these symptoms did not differ between immigrants and non-immigrants. We found that only 17% of immigrants and 15% of non-immigrants with persistent depressive symptoms had consulted a mental health- care professional in the previous month.
Based on our results, it is clear that there needs to be further work in mental health awareness and screening of vulnerable populations. This is more so relevant in these pandemic times.
What is the most interesting or surprising thing you’ve learned from your work with the CLSA?
The possibilities are endless and using large databases helps answer big questions. It is great to have such a comprehensive and well-thought-through Canadian cohort. It is much needed. Thank you to the CLSA team.
How do you think the CLSA will help you grow as a student or in your future?
Having gained further experience in analysis tools (SAS) and methodology, I am looking forward to using my expertise in my clinical setting and as a future aspiring professor. I am looking forward to creating the next Canadian database with a large representation of visible minority populations.
How do you think the findings using CLSA data will be useful to you, or others, in the future?
The CLSA data will help us evaluate the health trajectory of the Canadian population and how well they are aging. It will answer much needed questions on the inequities and access to health care, and more importantly, the availability of such data will translate into better health policies that will improve the health of Canadians.
Do you have any idea about what kind of job you’d like to do when you finish school?
My goal is to develop my career and give back to the community as a clinician academic. I am looking for a role in the clinical field as a practitioner and also for an academic position to conduct research and inspire the next generation of young graduates.
What is a non-career related thing that you are grateful for because of your work with the CLSA?
The human being is complex and I am grateful to be able to have the tools and support from CLSA to disentangle its complexity. Working with the CLSA has increased my passion for social good. The effort that hundreds of people have put to create this dataset throughout the past decades is humbling. Their contribution to society creates ripple effects in the lives of millions of people. Working with the CLSA makes you think of questions, solutions, and strategies in a large scale. Dealing with data on this scale has helped me learn essentials of database management improved my database querying skills. Aside from that, I am grateful that my work is online during this COVID pandemic.
