Laurent Legault

Laurent Legault Assistant professor Department of Pediatrics Division of Endocrinology Université de Montréal Canada

Biography

Dr. Legault is an Assistant Professor specializing in endocrinology in the Department of Pediatry at McGill University and was head of the Diabetes Clinic from 2000 to 2011 and the Insulin Pump Centre of the Montreal Children’s Hospital. He specializes in clinical endocrinology and metabolism. The Diabetes Clinic treats over 600 youth with type 1 diabetes, 25% of which are on insulin pump therapy. Dr. Legault is recognized in Canada for his clinical work on children with type 1 diabetes and his pioneering role in the use of insulin pumps in Quebec. He was the first medical director of the Montreal Children's hospital's insulin pump centre, opened in 2005, a freestanding centre dedicated to the teaching of families and management of children on insulin pump therapy and staffed with 2 full time certified diabetes educators fully trained and certified for all currently available pump models in Canada. The pump centre has, through the leadership of its team, successfully mentored both pediatric and adult diabetes clinics to get their own pump clinics started as well as strives to improve knowledge in this rapidly evolving field. He was one of the leaders of a government mandated pilot project on the implementation of a provincial wide government sponsored pediatric insulin pump program. Dr. Legault has been involved as a PI in multicentre trials looking at prevention of type 1 diabetes (CanEndit, Trigr) and has been involved in exercise based interventions in the field of pediatric obesity and spearheaded a community based program on exercise and health for obese children in a low socio-economic neighborhood in the Montreal area. He is actively involved in the development of a closed loop (aka artificial pancreas) system since 2009 in collaboration with Dr Rémi Rabasa-Lhoret and Ahmad Haidar, phD.