Dr. Miguel Cortel-LeBlanc - Dual Practice in Headache and Emergency Medicine in Ottawa

Focus and interests

Dr. M. Cortel-LeBlanc is particularly interested in optimizing acute headache treatments, and improving transition of care from the emergency department to the outpatient setting. He launched a Rapid Access Headache Clinic for the ED to provide expedited headache consultations to patients discharged from the ED for headache complaints. Beyond improving migraine care, his particular interests also lie in CSF-leaks and spontaneous intracranial hypotension (SIH), trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias (TACs), and secondary headache disorders.

Appointments

He is an Assistant Professor at the University of Ottawa, Clinician Investigator at The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Clinician Researcher at Institut du Savoir Montfort, and staff emergency physician at The Ottawa Hospital and Queensway Carleton Hospital. He is completing a thesis-based Master of Headache Disorders at the University of Copenhagen and Danish Headache Center, and pursuing a Headache Fellowship at the Ottawa Headache Centre.

Training and credentials

• Headache Fellowship Subspecialty, University of Ottawa, 2026 (expected)

• Master of Headache Disorders, University of Copenhagen, 2026 (expected)

• Certified Medicolegal Expertise, Canadian Society of Medical Evaluators, 2024

• Emergency Medicine Specialist, University of Ottawa, 2019

• Certificate of Quality Improvement and Patient Safety, University of Toronto, 2018

• Doctor of Medicine, McMaster University, 2014

• Master of Health Administration, Dalhousie University, 2011

• Bachelor of Science (Honours), University of Ottawa, 2009

Affiliations

• University of Ottawa - Assistant Professor

• The Ottawa Hospital - Staff Physician

• Queensway Carleton Hospital - Staff Physician

• The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute - Clinician Investigator

• Institut du Savoir Montfort - Clinician Researcher

Publications

Full list of publications can be accessed in Google Scholar.

Highlighted publications:

Chhabra S, Cortel-LeBlanc A, Cortel-LeBlanc M. Just the facts: transient global amnesia-clues and controversies in the emergency department. CJEM. 2026 Feb 19. doi: 10.1007/s43678-026-01102-9.

Cortel-LeBlanc A, Cortel-LeBlanc M, Webster RJ, et al. Post-traumatic headache phenotypes and clinical characteristics. Cephalalgia. 2025;45(12). doi:10.1177/03331024251404912

Robblee J, Minen MT, Friedman BW, Cortel-LeBlanc MA, Cortel-LeBlanc A, Orr SL. 2025 guideline update to acute treatment of migraine for adults in the emergency department: The American Headache Society evidence assessment of parenteral pharmacotherapies. Headache. 2025 Dec 1. doi: 10.1111/head.70016. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 41321235.

Cortel-LeBlanc M, Lemay K, Chhabra S, Yang Q, Ji J, Woods S, El Sherif R, Garber G. (2025). Medico-legal risk in the emergency department. CJEM. 2025 Nov 7. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43678-025-01066-2.

Dodd A, Silverberg N, Yeates K, Chen K, Kutcher S, Webster R, Johnston S, Cortel-LeBlanc M, Terekhov I, Zemek R. (2025). Concussion Classification in a Multicentre Patient Cohort: The Updated ACRM Diagnostic Criteria and Concordance with Physician Impression of Injury. JHTR. 2025 Oct 9. DOI: 10.1097/HTR.0000000000001125.

Sivadasan A, Cortel-LeBlanc MA, Cortel-LeBlanc A, Katzberg H. Peripheral nervous system and neuromuscular disorders in the emergency department: A review. Acad Emerg Med. 2024 Feb 28. doi: 10.1111/acem.14861. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38419365.

Cortel-LeBlanc MA, Orr SL, Dunn M, James D, Cortel-LeBlanc A. Managing and Preventing Migraine in the Emergency Department: A Review. Ann Emerg Med. 2023 Dec;82(6):732-751. doi: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2023.05.024. Epub 2023 Jul 11. PMID: 37436346.

Cortel-LeBlanc MA, Sharma M, Cortel-LeBlanc A, Sivilotti MLA, Émond M, Stiell IG, Stotts G, Lee J, Worster A, Morris J, Cheung KW, Jin AY, Oczkowski WJ, Sahlas DJ, Murray HE, Mackey A, Verreault S, Camden MC, Yip S, Teal P, Gladstone DJ, Boulos MI, Chagnon N, Shouldice E, Atzema C, Slaoui T, Teitelbaum J, Abdulaziz KE, Wells GA, Taljaard M, Perry JJ. Predictors of neurologists confirming or overturning emergency physicians' diagnosis of TIA or stroke. CJEM. 2021 Nov;23(6):812-819. doi: 10.1007/s43678-021-00181-0. Epub 2021 Sep 1. PMID: 34468970.

Viau JA, Patel D, Cheng W, Cortel-LeBlanc M, Nath A, Perry JJ. Sodium Valproate Versus Dopamine Antagonists for Acute Migraine in the Emergency Department: A Systematic Review. Can J Neurol Sci. 2022 Sep;49(5):688-695. doi: 10.1017/cjn.2021.195. Epub 2021 Aug 12. PMID: 34382533.

Finkelstein SA, Cortel-LeBlanc MA, Cortel-LeBlanc A, Stone J. Functional neurological disorder in the emergency department. Acad Emerg Med. 2021 Jun;28(6):685-696. doi: 10.1111/acem.14263. Epub 2021 May 6. PMID: 33866653.