Ellen Freeman

Ellen Freeman is an Associate Professor in the School of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Medicine. She also serves as a Scientist in Ophthalmology and has been a Researcher at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital in Montreal since 2007. Her research focuses on uncovering novel risk factors for eye diseases, assessing their burden in marginalized populations, and exploring the physical, psychological, and socioeconomic consequences of age-related vision loss.

Freeman holds a PhD and MS in Epidemiology from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health (2005 and 2001) and a BA in Biology from the College of Wooster (1997). Her work integrates epidemiological methods with clinical data to address global health challenges, particularly in aging populations.

Her research interests span Ocular Epidemiology, Social Determinants of Health, and Chronic Diseases in Elderly. She has extensively studied how visual impairment impacts cognitive decline, mobility limitations, and mental health, often employing large-scale datasets like the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.

Publications highlight themes such as environmental factors (e.g., air pollution, alcohol consumption) influencing eye diseases, genetic modifiers of cognitive-visual interactions, and the socioeconomic repercussions of vision loss. Recent work leverages artificial intelligence for retinal vasculometry analysis and explores pandemic-related mental health challenges in healthcare providers and patients.

Labs/Teams: Collaborates with interdisciplinary teams at University of Ottawa and Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, focusing on aging-related eye disease research.