Dr. André Carpentier

Dr. Carpentier is an endocrinologist and Assistant Professor in the Division of Endocrinology of the Department of medicine at the Université de Sherbrooke since July 2001. After his training in internal medicine and endocrinology at the Université de Sherbrooke, Dr Carpentier completed his training in lipidology at the Sherbrooke Clinical research Centre, at the Clinical Research Institute of Montreal and the Lipid Research Centre of the Université Laval. Dr. Carpentier was the recipient of a Fellowship of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation International (NY, 1997 to 1999) and of the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Medical Research Council of Canada (1999 to 2001) to complete a four year training in research on lipid metabolism and the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes at University of Toronto under the supervision of Dr Gary F. Lewis. A pure product of the canadian medical education system, Dr Carpentier is a New Investigator of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research since his return to the Université de Sherbrooke in July 2001.

The focus of Dr Carpentier’s work is the investigation of the abnormalities of post-prandial free fatty acids metabolism very early in the natural history of Type 2 diabetes. Dr Carpentier is currently testing the hypothesis that free fatty acids storage in the adipose tissue during the post-prandial period is impaired in healthy subjects at a very high risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Such anomaly, if present, could contribute to the development of insulin resistance and impaired insulin secretion, the two essential pathophysiologic features of type 2 diabetes. Dr Carpentier uses sophisticated integrated physiology methods to study in vivo lipid metabolism both in humans and in animal models. He actively collaborates with many members of the Metabolic Imaging Centre of the Université de Sherbrooke and of the Department of Clinical Biochemistry of the Centre hospitalier universitaire de Sherbrooke to develop innovative in vivo non-invasive investigation techniques using positron emission tomography and stable isotopic methods to further our understanding of energy substrate metabolism during the postprandial period in humans. Dr Carpentier’s work is supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canadian Diabetes Association (grant in honor of the late Marion L. Munro) and by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Quebec and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (New Opportunities Grant).

Dr Carpentier is the Director of the Centre de recherche en endocrinologie, métabolisme et signalisation de l’Université de Sherbrooke since March 2004 and the Assistant Director of the Clinical Research Centre of the Centre hospitalier universitaire de Sherbrooke since September 2003. A dynamic teacher, Dr. Carpentier is involved at all levels of teaching from graduate to post doctoral students in Medicine, Endocrinology and Physiology. He has been successful in setting up a collaboration between the Company Merck Frosst, the Department of Medicine, and the Faculté de médecine de l’Université de Sherbrooke to create the Merck Frosst-Université de Sherbrooke Fellowship to stimulate the development of young promising clinician scientists.

Dr. Carpentier has published 22 original research articles, 5 reviews, and has presented 62 scientific communications at National and International Scientific Meetings. He is a member of many peer-reviewed committees for national granting agencies. In 2004, he received the Award for Excellence in medical research of the Centre hospitalier universitaire de Sherbrooke and the Jonathan-Ballon Award of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Quebec.

For further information, please contact Dr. André Carpentier using the Email contact form or by phone at 819 820-6868 ext 14066