Born and raised in Newfoundland, Denis attended Memorial University to receive his Bachelor of Science degree in dietetics. After completing his internship with the Health Care Corporation of St. John ‘s to become a Registered Dietitian, he then went on to earn a Master of Science in kinesiology at Lakehead University. While a student-athlete, he competed at the varsity level in two sports: wrestling and track (60-meter sprints).
He has been a sessional lecturer in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto since 2015. That year he created the content for the course “Nutrition, Athletics, Performance and Behaviour” and has been teaching it ever since. In 2019 he won the “Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in Life Sciences Award”. To quote the Vice Dean of Graduate and Academic Affairs:
“The award recognizes your sustained excellence in teaching, coordination and development of undergraduate courses in Arts and Science offered by the Life Sciences Departments in the Faculty of Medicine. You have made significant contributions to the Life Sciences courses within the Department of Nutritional Sciences and you have overseen the development your course… which quickly resulted in it being the department’s most popular course”.
He's also taught courses at Toronto Metropolitan University, the University of Guelph-Humber and Humber College.
Past highlights of his sports nutrition career including being one of two dietitians to provide nutrition coaching services to athletes in the village at the Toronto PanAm Games. And being invited to Hockey Canada’s national women’s development program summer camps.
In fact, Denis has been nurturing a love affair with the sport of hockey since watching Wayne Gretzky pass the puck to Mario Lemieux to score the game winning goal of the 1987 Canada Cup. This includes 29 seasons as a player (including one season at the Junior B level), 5 seasons as a head coach, 4 seasons as an assistant coach and 5 seasons as a referee...
Yes, he keeps track of all this.