Bruno da Costa
PhD
Senior Scientist
Dr. Bruno R. da Costa is a senior scientist at the Clinical Trial Service Unit & Epidemiological Studies Unit (CTSU) and an Associate Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Toronto.
In 2023, he joined CTSU, where he co-leads the development of a clinical trial methods research programme and serves as trial statistician for various clinical trials. His research focuses on the comparative effectiveness of interventions in cardiovascular and musculoskeletal medicine and on clinical research methods. He has led several influential studies that impacted clinical practice guidelines for osteoarthritis care.
Since 2009, Bruno has worked as a methodologist and statistician, contributing to the design and analysis of numerous clinical trials, observational studies, and meta-analyses. He was a research fellow at the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine and a statistician at CTU Bern, the University of Bern’s clinical trials unit from 2009 to 2014. Later, he served as the head of statistics and methodology at the Institute of Primary Health Care and the Department of Cardiology at the University of Bern from 2015 to 2017.
In 2017, Dr. da Costa moved to Toronto to become the Associate Director of the Applied Health Research Centre (AHRC) and Assistant Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Toronto. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2019 and served as the Acting Director of the AHRC between 2020 and 2022.
He holds a PhD in Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics from the University of Bern in Switzerland, along with MSc degrees in Medical Statistics from the University of Leicester in the UK and Physiotherapy from the University of Alberta in Canada.
Recent publications
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Canadian Adaptive Platform Trial of Treatments for COVID in Community Settings (CanTreatCOVID): protocol for a randomised controlled adaptive platform trial of treatments for acute SARS-CoV-2 infection in community settings.
Journal article
Hosseini B. et al, (2025), BMJ Open, 15
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Worldwide and time trends in sodium and potassium intakes in children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Journal article
Rios-Leyvraz M. et al, (2025), BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health, 8, 295 - 305
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2024 Revision of the level of evidence grading system for ESC clinical practice guideline recommendations I: therapy and prevention.
Journal article
Jüni P. et al, (2025), Eur Heart J
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Titanium-nitride-oxide-coated vs. drug-eluting stents in acute coronary syndromes: an individual patient data meta-analysis.
Journal article
Mahendiran T. et al, (2025), Eur Heart J
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Comparative effectiveness of manual therapy, pharmacological treatment, exercise therapy, and education for neck pain (COMPETE study): protocol of a systematic review with network meta-analysis.
Journal article
de Oliveira-Souza AIS. et al, (2025), Syst Rev, 14