"It's unacceptable to just tell this poor patient, there's nothing I can do to help you... That's when I thought, okay, well, what about kind of pushing the boundaries a bit here and thinking about phage therapy?" - Dr. Marisa Azad

Join us for an inspiring conversation with Dr. Marisa Azad, a clinician-scientist at The Ottawa Hospital who is pioneering the treatment of chronic infections using phage therapy. Dr. Azad shares her journey from microbiology PhD to orthopedic infectious disease specialist, and how a desperate patient case led her to become the first in Canada to use phage therapy for prosthetic joint infections.

Here's a taste of what we covered:

1. 🦠 The challenges of treating orthopedic infections, and how the problem is typically being dealt with in Canada (hint: MULTIPLE repeated surgeries for years is normal)

2. 🧪 How Dr. Azad navigated regulatory hurdles to bring phage therapy to Canada, and what it was like working with Health Canada (Canada's FDA) to get approval

3. 💉 Insights on phage administration and patient immune responses: what she's learned and what barriers she sees

4. 🔬 The importance of collaboration in advancing phage therapy research, and what's left for researchers to figure out

5. 👩‍🔬 How crucial it is to support women in science and medicine, still in 2025, especially in innovative fields that require taking steps your field isn't taking (which require extra bravery and support systems!)

6. 🏥 Bridging the gap between basic science and clinical practice: how Dr. Azad weaves together both ways of thinking, all with patient benefit as her central driver

You can also watch the episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/5TKhgFplvfU

Want to learn more?

- CBC (Canada's national news outlet)'s coverage of Dr. Azad's successful case, and how patient Thea Turcotte recovered

- Dr. Azad's recent publication on phage therapy for PJI (an n-of-1 clinical trial)

- Our recent Podovirus interview with Cytophage CEO Steven Theriault, whose Winnipeg-based company prepared the phages for Dr. Azad's patient, and who is partnering with her as the phage manufacturer for future cases

- Since Dr. Azad's success last year, Health Canada is beginning to enable more phage therapy: a PJI phage treatment has just taken place in Calgary by a separate group — watch the news segment here