Dr. Thombs is Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, McGill University and a Senior Investigator, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, Quebec. Dr. Thombs' research
focuses on developing strategies to improve quality of life and reduce disability among people living with the rare autoimmune disease scleroderma, on evaluating depression screening tools and screening programs, and on meta-research studies of how research conduct and reporting may influence outcomes. Dr. Thombs is the Founder and Director of the Scleroderma Patient-centered Intervention Network (SPIN). SPIN maintains an ongoing cohort of more than 2,000 people with the rare autoimmune disease scleroderma who are recruited from over 50 sites in 7 countries and conducts trials of patient-centered interventions to support disease self-management. He founded and leads the DEPRESSD Project, which conducts individual patient data meta-analyses of depression screening tools. Dr. Thombs is the Chair of the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care, which develops guidelines to support prevention activities in primary care across Canada.