Dr. Sitar completed his university degrees at the University of Manitoba. Subsequently, he was an MRC Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Pharmacology, University of Minnesota. Dr. Sitar then accepted academic positions at McGill University in 1973 in the Division of Experimental Medicine (Clinical Pharmacology Section), and in the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, where he was appointed a Monat Scholar. 

In 1978, Dr. Sitar was recruited back to the University of Manitoba to the Department of Internal Medicine (Clinical Pharmacology) and the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, where he participated in the development of the first Geriatric Clinical Pharmacology Research Program in Canada. 

Dr. Sitar served as Head of the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics from 1999 until 2008. His research area can broadly be described as drug disposition and effects at extremes of age, and encompasses both basic and clinical studies. From 1989-90 he was appointed Rosenstadt Professor at the University of Toronto in the Faculty of Pharmacy. 

Dr. Sitar has served on many research grant and advisory panels in various capacities, both in Canada and in the USA. He has served on several Editorial Boards of scientific research journals, including terms as Associate Editor and then Editor in Chief of the Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.

Dr. Sitar’s research contributions have been recognized by a number of awards in Canada, including the Piafsky Young investigator Award, and the Senior Investigator Award from the Canadian Society for Clinical Pharmacology. 

He is also a recipient of the Senior Scientist Award from the Pharmacological Society of Canada. In the USA, his research has been recognized by Fellowship awards from the Gerontological Society of America and the American College of Clinical Pharmacology.