Beth Potter

Biography

Dr. Potter has been a faculty member in the School of Epidemiology and Public Health since 2007 and was a post-doctoral fellow in the department from 2004 to 2007. She holds a PhD in epidemiology from the University of Western Ontario (2003) and an MSc in applied human nutrition from the University of Guelph (1998).  

Research Interest

   Dr. Potter has a long-standing interest in maternal and child health. For the past several years she has been working in the field of public health genomics, with research in two related areas: 1. Rare childhood diseases: epidemiology, interventions, and outcome Dr. Potter leads a research program that focuses on the development and evaluation of interventions (both clinical, and health system-level) to improve outcomes for children with rare diseases, particularly those identified by newborn screening. Currently, she co-leads the Canadian Inherited Metabolic Diseases Research Network a multidisciplinary practice-based research network designed to develop an evidence-informed approach to health care for pediatric inborn errors of metabolism (IEM). CIMDRN will address many of the complexities associated with studying these diseases and aims to support health care providers and decision makers in providing the best health care possible to patients with IEM. 2. Newborn and prenatal screening: health technology assessment, policy development, and education Dr. Potter is leading and collaborating on several research projects related to pre-screening parental education about newborn screening; has studied health technology assessment methods for prenatal and newborn screening; and led an international comparison of newborn screening policy development. Finally, Dr. Potter teaches Introductory Epidemiology and Survey Research Methods in the graduate program in Epidemiology at the University of Ottawa, and leads a research seminar series for PhD students.