01/09/2026
Today, we want to highlight Dr. Philip St. John, a dedicated gerontologist, professor, and Section Head of geriatric medicine here at the Department of Internal Medicine.
Dr. St. John's research centers on understanding how people age and how health changes over time. He participates in and uses long term, population based cohort studies that track individuals across many years to reveal patterns in health, function, and disease.
Dr. St. John's journey in cohort studies began in the mid-1990s with the Manitoba Study of Health and Aging. This study was notable because it sampled participants from the entire province, unlike many other studies at the time that focused only on urban areas. This approach sparked Dr. St. John's interest, as he grew up in Minnedosa, Manitoba, and was interested in using the cohort data to explore differences in aging and health trajectories between rural and urban populations.
His other research affiliations include several other cohort studies and research groups, including the Centre on Aging at the University of Manitoba and the Manitoba Follow-Up Study, where he serves as the medical director and co-investigator. Dr. St. John emphasized that cohort studies and research rely heavily on collaboration with dedicated researchers across the world. "Everything I've done has been collaboratively within groups...you can't do a big cohort study without a lot of different investigators, and I've been very fortunate in people with whom I've been able to collaborate," explained Dr. St. John.
A central theme throughout Dr. St. John's career is his commitment to a long-term perspective. He often compares the patience required for cohort research to planting an orchard. As he thoughtfully puts it, "You need to plant an orchard if you want apples. One of the challenges with a cohort study is that it takes a long time and a lot of patience. And a lot of people don't have the time and patience to wait for results. But if you want to have apples, you have to wait four or five years for the tree to mature and produce fruit."
Dr. St. John's commitment to cohort research continues to shape how we understand, support, and plan for healthy aging across Manitoba.
