Juan Rivera

Biography

Dr. Rivera obtained his M.D. degree from Universidad Central de Venezuela in Caracas, where he also completed his residency in Internal Medicine. After this he came to McGill where he trained for 2 years to become endocrinologist. Subsequently he completed 2 years of postdoctoral research training in the lab of the late Dr. Yogesh Patel, a world-renowned authority in the field of somatostatin receptors biology. He carried out research on the modulation of the expression of somatostatin receptors in cancer cells. The focus of his clinical work and research is endocrine tumors. He runs a busy general neuro-endocrine teaching clinic at the RVH and participates at the Skull base Multidisciplinary Clinic at the MNI. At the MGH he has specialized Endocrine Tumor Clinics twice a week, thyroid nodules and thyroid ultrasonography with ultrasound guided fine needle cytologies, adrenal tumor multidisciplinary clinic and a diabetic clinic. He is a member of McGill’s Skull Base Tumors Group, the Head and Neck Cancer Center, the GI-NET Group, and the Thyroid Cancer group. Dr. Rivera developed and directs the McGill Endocrine Tumors Fellowship program. He is part of the group of experts who developed Canadian Guidelines for the management of Acromegaly and neuroendocrine tumors. He is currently Associate Professor with the department of Internal Medicine of McGill University and Site Director for the division of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the MGH. His current research focus on Cancer and acromegaly, ultrasonography in thyroid cancer, no-functioning pituitary adenomas and, in collaboration with endocrine surgery, Conn's disease.

Research Interest

My current research interest focuses on improving our understanding of the epidemiology and clinical presentation, of endocrine tumors in the Canadian context. I am also working on projects that aim to improve our diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic approaches to endocrine tumors with particular emphasis on pituitary and GI-NET tumors. My general aims are: 1. To better define the epidemiology of endocrine tumours in Quebec. 2. To better understand different clinical manifestations of endocrine tumours in regards to their different stages of development. 3. To study potential correlations between hormonal over-secreting syndromes and other medical conditions. Examples of this include the potential link between hyperprolactinemia and autoimmune conditions, acromegaly and thyroid cancer. 4. In the case of pituitary tumors I am looking at improving our ability to detect early pituitary dysfunction and to predict potential for tumor growth.