Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table

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A Collective Lens.

Informing Ontario’s response to COVID-19

About the Science Table

The Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table is a group of scientific experts and health system leaders who evaluate and report on emerging evidence relevant to the COVID-19 pandemic, to inform Ontario’s response. 

The Science Advisory Table’s mandate is to provide summaries of relevant scientific evidence to public health and health care professionals, as well as the general public, by integrating information from existing scientific tables, Ontario’s universities and agencies, and the best global evidence. 

The Science Advisory Table is hosted by Public Health Ontario (PHO). Aligned with PHO’s mandate, the Science Advisory Table provides credible and independent scientific and technical advice to inform government and the broader public as Ontario transitions to recovery and to help prepare for and respond to future public health emergencies.

Terms of Reference of the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table

Science Table Members

Leadership

  • Upton Allen

    MBBS, FRCPC

    Co-Chair Professor of Paediatrics, University of Toronto

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    Upton Allen

    MBBS, FRCPC

    Co-Chair Professor of Paediatrics, University of Toronto

    Upton Allen is a professor at the University of Toronto. He is Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids). Dr. Allen is also a Senior Associate Scientist in the Child Health Evaluative Sciences program at SickKids. His primary appointment is with the Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Paediatrics. He is cross-appointed as a professor in the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto.

    Dr. Allen is a past director of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and a Fellow of the Society. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and the Royal College of Physicians (UK). In 2018, he was awarded the Order of Ontario, which is the highest honor awarded by the province of Ontario, Canada.

    Publications:
    PubMed
    Affiliated with:
    IHPME, University of Toronto, SickKids
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2022-04-07 (PDF), 2021-02-12 (PDF), 2020-07-30 (PDF)

  • Brian Schwartz

    MD, MScCH

    Co-Chair Vice-President, Public Health Ontario Professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

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    Brian Schwartz

    MD, MScCH

    Co-Chair Vice-President, Public Health Ontario Professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

    Brian Schwartz provides executive leadership for PHO’s public health science and population health programs including environmental and occupational health, health promotion, chronic disease and injury prevention, and research and ethics services.  Previous portfolios include health protection, emergency preparedness, communicable diseases and infection prevention and control.  Dr. Schwartz served as Scientific Advisor to the Emergency Management Branch of the Ministry of Heath and Long Term Care from 2004 to 2011, and was Public Health Ontario’s inaugural Chief of Emergency Management Support. He acted as Vice-chair of the Ontario SARS Scientific Advisory Committee in 2003 and was Chair of the Scientific Response Team for the 2009 H1N1 pandemic.

    Before entering public health Dr. Schwartz practiced emergency medicine for over 30 years in community and academic settings.  He held the position of Director of the Sunnybrook Centre for Prehospital Care from 1996 to 2009, and has published extensively in emergency medicine, prehospital/paramedic care, and health emergency preparedness and response.  He has been a member of the Canadian Pandemic Influenza Plan Working Group since its inception.

    Brian obtained his medical degree and Master of Science in Community Health from the University of Toronto. He received his certification in emergency medicine from and is a Fellow of the College of Family Physicians of Canada.

    Publications:
    Pubmed , ResearchGate
    Affiliated with:
    Public Health Ontario, DLSPH, University of Toronto
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2022-06-28 (PDF), 2021-08-23 (PDF), 2021-05-25 (PDF), 2021-01-02 (PDF), 2020-07-19 (PDF)

  • Fahad Razak

    MD, MSc, FRCPC

    Scientific Director Internist and Assistant Professor, St. Michael’s Hospital, University of Toronto; Assistant Professor, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto; Research Scientist, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute; Provincial Lead, Quality Improvement in General Medicine, Ontario Health

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    Fahad Razak

    MD, MSc, FRCPC

    Scientific Director Internist and Assistant Professor, St. Michael’s Hospital, University of Toronto; Assistant Professor, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto; Research Scientist, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute; Provincial Lead, Quality Improvement in General Medicine, Ontario Health

    Dr. Fahad Razak an internist and epidemiologist, with training in health services research and global health. His research focuses on improving the care of hospitalized patients through application of advanced analytic methods to hospital big data. He co-founded  GEMINI (https://www.geminimedicine.ca/), the largest hospital research network in Canada, and one of few such examples globally. GEMINI covers ~60% of Ontario’s medical hospital beds making it a living laboratory to study hospital care.

    Dr. Razak completed an Engineering Science degree, Medical Doctorate, and Residency at the University of Toronto. He was the first physician to be appointed the David E. Bell Fellow at Harvard University. Notable research recognitions include the Canadian Society of Internal Medicine’s New Investigator Award and the Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation Fellowship from the PSI Foundation. He has received  >$25 million in grant funding (>$17 million as Principal Investigator) from sources such as CIHR, NSERC, NIH, and the Canadian Cancer Society. He has published 82 peer-reviewed publications (h-index 28, 40 as first/senior author).

    Dr. Razak is passionate about communicating science to the public. He co-founded the Rounds Table, a free podcast about new research in medicine that has been downloaded more than 350,000 times in 150 countries, and has written Op-Eds including in the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star and Maclean’s.

    Dr. Razak cares for patients admitted to general medical wards at St Michael’s Hospital and has been a front-line physician providing care for hospitalized COVID-19 patients since the start of the pandemic. His clinical work has been recognized through the Sopman Humanitarian Award and Golden Stethoscope Award. He teaches clinical trainees on the general medical awards and received the Teaching Award for Excellence at the University of Toronto.

    Publications:
    Google Scholar
    Affiliated with:
    IHPME, University of Toronto, St Michael’s Hospital
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2022-05-12 (PDF), 2021-08-27 (PDF), 2021-01-29 (PDF), 2020-07-22 (PDF)

Members

  • David Earn

    CASM, MSc, PhD

    Professor of Mathematics, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, McMaster University

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    David Earn

    CASM, MSc, PhD

    Professor of Mathematics, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, McMaster University

    David Earn is a Professor of Mathematics and the Faculty of Science Research Chair in Mathematical Epidemiology at McMaster University. His primary research interests are in infectious disease dynamics, from the time of the Black Death to the present.

    He was an undergraduate in mathematics at the University of Toronto, and received his PhD in theoretical astrophysics from the University of Cambridge, where he was a Commonwealth Scholar and held an Isaac Newton Studentship. As a postdoctoral fellow in Cambridge and Princeton, he shifted focus to biological problems, especially the epidemiology of infectious diseases.

    He is a recipient of a CIHR New Investigator Award, an Ontario Premierʼs Research Excellence Award, and the Canadian Applied and Industrial Mathematics Society Research Award. He is a member of the executive committee of the M. G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research at McMaster, and co-leads the Canadian Network for Modelling Infectious Diseases (CANMOD, https://canmod.net/).

    Web site: http://davidearn.mcmaster.ca

    Publications:
    Google Scholar
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-10-14 (PDF)

  • Gerald Evans

    MD, FRCPC

    Professor of Medicine, Biomedical & Molecular Sciences and Pathology & Molecular Medicine, Queen’s University Medical Director, Infection Prevention & Control, Kingston Health Sciences Centre

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    Gerald Evans

    MD, FRCPC

    Professor of Medicine, Biomedical & Molecular Sciences and Pathology & Molecular Medicine, Queen’s University Medical Director, Infection Prevention & Control, Kingston Health Sciences Centre

    Dr. Gerald Evans is the Chair of the Division of Infectious Diseases and a Professor in the Departments of Medicine, Biomedical & Molecular Sciences and Pathology & Molecular Medicine at Queen’s University He was initially appointed to a faculty position at Queen’s University in 1990.

    He is an attending physician in Infectious Diseases at Kingston Health Sciences Centre and Providence Care Hospital. Dr. Evans has been Medical Director of Infection Prevention & Control at Kingston Health Sciences Centre and Providence Care Hospital since 2011. He is an Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) consultant physician with Public Health Ontario, and an Affiliate Scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES-Queens).

    He was the President of AMMI Canada from 2009-2011 and is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the Official Journal of the Association of Microbiology and Infectious Disease Canada.

    Publications:
    NCBI
    Affiliated with:
    Department of Medicine, Queen’s University
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-27 (PDF), 2021-02-02 (PDF), 2020-07-22 (PDF)

  • Jennifer Gibson

    PhD

    Director, Joint Centre for Bioethics, University of Toronto Sun Life Financial Chair in Bioethics Associate Professor, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto

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    Jennifer Gibson

    PhD

    Director, Joint Centre for Bioethics, University of Toronto Sun Life Financial Chair in Bioethics Associate Professor, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto

    Professor Gibson is Sun Life Financial Chair in Bioethics and Director of the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics. She is Associate Professor in the Division of Clinical Public Health and the Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. Jennifer has a PhD in Philosophy with a focus on ethical issues in contemporary health institutions and systems. Jennifer has advised governments and policymakers on topics such as medical assistance in dying, public health emergency preparedness, health technology assessment, drug funding and supply, and resource allocation. Jennifer is Chair of the COVID-19 Bioethics Table in the Ontario health system response structure.

    At the Joint Centre for Bioethics, Jennifer founded and leads the ‘Ethics and AI for Good Health’ program to explore and engage emerging ethical and social issues associated with AI-enabled technologies in health care and public health.

    Publications:
    Pubmed
    Affiliated with:
    Joint Centre for Bioethics, University of Toronto
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-02-04 (PDF), 2020-08-14 (PDF)

  • Michael Hillmer

    PhD

    Assistant Deputy Minister, Capacity Planning and Analytics Division, Ministries of Health and Long-Term Care Assistant Professor, Institute for Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation, University of Toronto

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    Michael Hillmer

    PhD

    Assistant Deputy Minister, Capacity Planning and Analytics Division, Ministries of Health and Long-Term Care Assistant Professor, Institute for Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation, University of Toronto

    Michael is responsible for the development and implementation of strategic, coordinated approaches to health workforce and capacity planning ensuring that an optimal supply, mix, and distribution of health professionals. He leads the data and analytics portfolio for the ministries of health and long-term care providing insights to improve planning, programming, and accountability.

    He is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto’s Institute for Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation where he teaches and publishes in the areas of health services research and knowledge translation.

    Publications:
    PubMed
    Affiliated with:
    IHPME, University of Toronto
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2022-06-23 (PDF), 2021-10-14 (PDF), 2021-02-01 (PDF), 2020-08-14 (PDF)

  • Jessica Hopkins

    MD, MHSc, CCFP, FRCPC, FCFP

    Deputy Chief, Health Protection, Public Health Ontario Assistant Professor (part-time), Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact, McMaster University Adjunct Lecturer, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

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    Jessica Hopkins

    MD, MHSc, CCFP, FRCPC, FCFP

    Deputy Chief, Health Protection, Public Health Ontario Assistant Professor (part-time), Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact, McMaster University Adjunct Lecturer, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

    Dr. Jessica Hopkins is the Deputy Chief, Health Protection, Medical and System Support at Public Health Ontario (PHO) and provides leadership to PHO’s infection prevention and control Regional Support and Research, Evaluation and CQI Support Teams, and physicians in the areas of communicable diseases, emergency preparedness and response, and infection prevention and control.

    Dr. Hopkins has 10 years of experience in local public health and previously worked as the Medical Officer of Health for Peel Region, and as an Associate Medical Officer of Health In Hamilton and Niagara Region. She works as a family doctor and is an Assistant Professor (part-time) with the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact, McMaster University and Adjunct Lecturer with the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto.

    Dr. Hopkins obtained her Doctor of Medicine from the University of Western Ontario and her Master of Health Science from the University of Toronto in the field of Community Health and Epidemiology. She completed residencies in Family Medicine and Public Health and Preventive Medicine at McMaster University.

    Publications:
    Investigation and management of psittacosis in a public aviary: a One Health approach., Raccoon rabies outbreak in Hamilton, Ontario: a progress report, A cohort study of factors associated with LTBI treatment initiation and completion in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, Hamilton Supervised Injection Site Needs Assessment and Feasibility Study, Supervised Consumption Site Needs Assessment and Feasibility Study for the Region of Peel. Region of Peel – Public Health
    Affiliated with:
    Public Health Ontario
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-23 (PDF), 2021-05-25 (PDF), 2021-01-29 (PDF), 2020-11-09 (PDF)

  • Peter Jüni

    MD, FESC

    Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology, Department of Medicine and Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto Director, Applied Health Research Centre, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael’s Hospital

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    Peter Jüni

    MD, FESC

    Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology, Department of Medicine and Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto Director, Applied Health Research Centre, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael’s Hospital

    Peter is a general internist and epidemiologist, and the Director of the Applied Health Research Centre (AHRC) at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael’s Hospital. He holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Clinical Epidemiology of Chronic Diseases, and is a Professor of Medicine at the Department of Medicine and a Professor of Epidemiology at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. He is a graduate of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Bern in Switzerland, completed his training in internal medicine at various hospitals in Switzerland, and was a Research Fellow at the Department of Social Medicine at the University of Bristol, UK. Prior to joining St. Michael’s Hospital, Peter was the Director of the Institute of Primary Health Care and Professor of Primary Care and Clinical Epidemiology at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Bern in Switzerland. He held previous appointments as Director of the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine at the University of Bern and Founding Director of CTU Bern, the University’s clinical trials unit.

    Peter is internationally renowned for his methodological work and for his clinical research on the management of cardiovascular and musculoskeletal disorders. A Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology, he has had leading roles in several major cardiovascular trials, including SIRTAX, LEADERS, FAME 2 and MATRIX, served as a member of several task forces of the European Society of Cardiology and co-authored the European guidelines on myocardial revascularization and on the management of acute myocardial infarction. Peter was Editor of two Cochrane Review Groups, and contributed to the Cochrane Risk of bias tools for randomized and non-randomized studies. Since March 2020, he has worked nearly exclusively on clinical trials, observational studies, basic research and science communication related to COVID-19. From July 2020 to May 2022, he served as the Scientific Director of the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table. He contributed to over 500 papers, which were cited more than 150,000 times. Since 2015 he has been recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher.

    Publications:
    PubMed Profile, Google Scholar
    Affiliated with:
    IHPME, University of Toronto, AHRC, St. Michael’s Hospital
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2022-03-02 (PDF), 2022-02-25 (PDF), 2022-02-07 (PDF), 2021-11-04 (PDF), 2021-07-02 (PDF), 2021-05-12 (PDF), 2021-02-07 (PDF), 2020-08-11 (PDF)

  • Fiona Kouyoumdjian

    MD, MPH, PhD, CCFP, FRCPC

    Associate Chief Medical Officer of Health, Ontario Ministry of Health; Adjunct Scientist, ICES Central Populations & Public Health Research Program

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    Fiona Kouyoumdjian

    MD, MPH, PhD, CCFP, FRCPC

    Associate Chief Medical Officer of Health, Ontario Ministry of Health; Adjunct Scientist, ICES Central Populations & Public Health Research Program

    Dr. Fiona Kouyoumdjian is an Associate Chief Medical Officer of Health in the Ontario Ministry of Health. She is a Public Health Physician, Family Physician, and Epidemiologist.

    Publications:
    Google Scholar
    Affiliated with:
    McMaster University, ICES
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-10-27 (PDF), 2021-05-26 (PDF), 2021-03-02 (PDF)

  • Audrey Laporte

    BA, MA, PhD

    Professor and Director, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto Director, Canadian Centre for Health Economics

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    Audrey Laporte

    BA, MA, PhD

    Professor and Director, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto Director, Canadian Centre for Health Economics

    Professor Audrey Laporte is an economist whose research focuses in general on the development of dynamic theory and the application of econometric methods to address questions of policy interest to health and health care. More specifically her work has centred on a set of themes: modelling of individual health capital accumulation and addictive behaviours; health human resource modelling, e.g. nurse, physician and personal support labour markets; and modelling the impact of policy changes on the performance of health care organizations, e.g. institutional long-term care, hospitals. Her more recent work in collaboration with her students has focused on the impact of health conditions and socio-economic circumstance in early life on later life outcomes. Professor Laporte is President-Elect of the International Health Economics Association and Director of the Canadian Centre for Health Economics. She is an incoming Associate Editor of Health Economics, International co-Editor of the International Journal for Reviews in Empirical Economics and incoming co-Editor of Healthcare Papers.

    Publications:
    PubMed , Google Scholar
    Affiliated with:
    IHPME, University of Toronto
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-10-14 (PDF), 2021-05-26 (PDF), 2021-02-25 (PDF), 2020-07-22 (PDF)

  • Linda Mah

    MD, MHSc, FRCPC

    Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Division of Geriatric Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto Associate Member, Institute of Medical Science, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto Senior Scientist, Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Health Sciences Staff Psychiatrist, Baycrest Health Sciences

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    Linda Mah

    MD, MHSc, FRCPC

    Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Division of Geriatric Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto Associate Member, Institute of Medical Science, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto Senior Scientist, Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Health Sciences Staff Psychiatrist, Baycrest Health Sciences

    Dr. Linda Mah is a Clinician Scientist at the Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Health Sciences, an Associate Professor in Psychiatry, Division of Geriatric Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, and an Associate Member of the Institute of Medical Science, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto. Dr. Mah obtained her MD at the University of Calgary and completed a psychiatric residency at McGill University, followed by clinical neuropsychiatry specialty training at the University of Massachusetts and formal research training in cognitive and affective neurosciences at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA. She has a Master of Health Sciences degree from Duke University, USA.

    Dr. Mah’s research program focuses on understanding the relationship between cognition and emotion and their neuroanatomical correlates in healthy aging and in disorders of the elderly, including late-life depression (LLD), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Her research employs converging methods including behavioural paradigms, neuropsychological assessment, neuroimaging, and more recently, psychophysiology. She has a particular interest in examining emotion dysregulation and other neuropsychiatric symptoms as potential biomarkers of AD risk, and in understanding the link between stress and development of AD. Dr. Mah is also the PI or site PI on clinical trials focused on treatment-refractory depression in older adults and studies using brain stimulation as an intervention for cognitive decline in older adults at risk for developing AD, including those with remitted depression, subjective cognitive decline (SCD) or MCI.

    Dr. Mah’s work has been funded by the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada, Brain Canada, and the Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovation. She is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

    Publications:
    Pubmed , ResearchGate
    Affiliated with:
    Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-27 (PDF), 2021-05-26 (PDF), 2021-02-02 (PDF), 2020-07-30 (PDF)

  • Doug Manuel

    MD, FRCPC, MSc

    Distinguished University Professor, Department of Family Medicine, School of Epidemiology and Public Health Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa Senior Scientist, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

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    Doug Manuel

    MD, FRCPC, MSc

    Distinguished University Professor, Department of Family Medicine, School of Epidemiology and Public Health Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa Senior Scientist, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

    Dr. Manuel is a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Ottawa in the Departments of Family Medicine and School of Epidemiology and Public Health. He is a Senior Scientist at The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, a Clinical Scientist with C.T. Lamont Primary Health Care Research Centre, Bruyère Research Institute, a Senior Core Scientist at ICES and a Senior Medical Advisor for Statistics Canada.

    Dr. Manuel’s research combines interests in public health, health care systems and primary care. He collaborates to develop advanced predictive algorithms and microsimulation models to assess population health and the health impact of health strategies. He has written on how societies with the best population health have achieved their success. He has published over 250 studies, including papers in the leading medical journals. For over 25 years, Dr. Manuel has been a primary care doctor in rural, remote and underserved Canadian communities.

    Publications:
    Google Scholar , ORCiD
    Affiliated with:
    University of Ottawa, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-11-04 (PDF), 2021-02-08 (PDF), 2020-07-22 (PDF)

  • Allison McGeer

    MSc, MD, FRCPC

    Microbiologist and Infectious Disease Consultant, Mount Sinai Hospital Professor, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

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    Allison McGeer

    MSc, MD, FRCPC

    Microbiologist and Infectious Disease Consultant, Mount Sinai Hospital Professor, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

    Dr. McGeer completed an undergraduate and master’s degree in biochemistry, then her medical degree at the University of Toronto. She specialized in internal medicine and infectious diseases followed by a fellowship in hospital epidemiology at Yale New Haven Hospital.

    She returned to Mount Sinai Hospital in 1989 and worked as a microbiologist and the director of infection prevention and control until March of 2019. In April of 2019 she moved to full time research as a Senior Clinician Scientist at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute of the Sinai Health System. Her major research interests are in the prevention of infection in hospitals and nursing homes, the use of surveillance to advance the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases, and emerging infectious diseases including antimicrobial resistance. She is the principal investigator of the Toronto Invasive Bacterial Diseases Network, a collaborative surveillance network that performs surveillance for serious bacterial and viral diseases, including COVID19, in south central Ontario.

    Dr. McGeer is a Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology and at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. She currently serves as an external expert to the influenza working group of Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization and is a meeting of Canada’s COVID19 Immunity Task Force Leadership Group. She was the lead for the hospital investigation of SARS-CoV-1 in Ontario in 2003, investigated the first outbreak of MERS in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2013, and worked for the World Health Organization as the infection prevention and control focal point in Liberia during the 2014/15 West African Ebola Outbreak.

    Publications:
    Google Scholar
    Affiliated with:
    IHPME
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-23 (PDF), 2021-01-29 (PDF), 2020-08-15 (PDF)

  • Andrew Morris

    MD SM (Epi)

    Professor, Infectious Diseases, University of Toronto; Director, Antimicrobial Stewardship Program, Sinai Health and University Health Network

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    Andrew Morris

    MD SM (Epi)

    Professor, Infectious Diseases, University of Toronto; Director, Antimicrobial Stewardship Program, Sinai Health and University Health Network

    Dr. Andrew Morris is a Specialist in Infectious Diseases, and a Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto. He is the Director of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program at Sinai Health and University Health Network.

    He is Past Chair of the Antimicrobial Stewardship and Resistance Committee for the Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Canada and of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Committee for the Society for Hospital Epidemiology of America.

    His academic interests overlap the fields of epidemiology, behaviour change techniques, implementation science, and quality improvement as they relate to antimicrobial use and resistance.

    Publications:
    PubMed , Google Scholar
    Affiliated with:
    Sinai Health
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-10-14 (PDF), 2021-05-26 (PDF), 2021-02-12 (PDF)

  • Samira Mubareka

    MD

    Clinician-Scientist, Sunnybrook Research Institute and Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology

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    Samira Mubareka

    MD

    Clinician-Scientist, Sunnybrook Research Institute and Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology

    Samira completed her MD at Dalhousie University in 1999 and Internal Medicine training in 2002 at McGill University in Canada. She specialized in Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology at the University of Manitoba (2005). She went on to a research fellowship at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York City, in the laboratory of Dr. Peter Palese, Department of Microbiology (2009). Since then she continued to pursue themes of viral transmission and spread.

    Early in the pandemic Samira and colleagues isolated the SARS-CoV-2 virus in containment level 3 (CL3) and is the principle source of SARS-CoV-2 to most academic CL3 laboratories across the country. She serves on the Chief Science Advisor of Canada’s COVID-19 Panel, the Implementation Committee of the Canadian COVID-19 Genomics Network (CanCOGeN) Viral Seq project (Genome Canada) and Ontario Genomics’ Steering Committee for the Ontario COVID-19 Genomics Rapid Response Coalition.

    Publications:
    PubMed
    Affiliated with:
    Sunnybrook Research Institute
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-10-14 (PDF), 2021-02-08 (PDF), 2020-07-22 (PDF)

  • Michelle Murti

    BASc, MD, MPH, CCFP, FRCPC

    Associate Chief Medical Officer of Health, Ministry of Health; Assistant Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

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    Michelle Murti

    BASc, MD, MPH, CCFP, FRCPC

    Associate Chief Medical Officer of Health, Ministry of Health; Assistant Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

    Dr. Murti is a specialist in both Family Medicine and Public Health and Preventive Medicine from the University of Toronto. She is currently an Associate Chief Medical Officer of Health in the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, Public Health in the Ministry of Health with a focus on Emergency Preparedness. She has previously worked as a Public Health Physician at Public Health Ontario and as a Medical Health Officer-Medical Director at Fraser Health Authority, British Columbia. She has practiced clinically in Ontario and New Zealand. She has completed fellowships at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security. She is also an Assistant Professor with the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto.

    Publications:
    Google Scholar
    Affiliated with:
    University of Toronto Institute for Pandemics, University of Toronto
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-11-18 (PDF)

  • Christopher Mushquash

    PhD, CPsych

    Professor, Department of Psychology, Lakehead University, and the Northern Ontario School of Medicine; Psychologist, Dilico Anishinabek Family Care; Director, Centre for Rural and Northern Health Research, Lakehead University, Interim Executive Vice President Research, Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre; Chief Scientist, Thunder Bay Regional Health Research Institute

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    Christopher Mushquash

    PhD, CPsych

    Professor, Department of Psychology, Lakehead University, and the Northern Ontario School of Medicine; Psychologist, Dilico Anishinabek Family Care; Director, Centre for Rural and Northern Health Research, Lakehead University, Interim Executive Vice President Research, Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre; Chief Scientist, Thunder Bay Regional Health Research Institute

    Dr. Christopher Mushquash is a registered clinical psychologist and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Mental Health and Addiction, with expertise in rural and northern clinical practice and the development of culturally appropriate interventions for mental health and addiction difficulties in First Nations children, adolescents, and adults. He is an academic researcher and Indigenous scholar who was born and raised in rural Northwestern Ontario. He is Ojibway, and a member of Pays Plat First Nation.

    Publications:
    Personal Publication Profile
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-03-02 (PDF), 2020-07-22 (PDF)

  • Menaka Pai

    MSc MD FRCPC

    Associate Professor of Medicine, McMaster University; Head of Service, Benign Hematology, Hamilton Health Sciences; Transfusion Medicine Quality Lead, Hamilton Regional Laboratory Medicine Program

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    Menaka Pai

    MSc MD FRCPC

    Associate Professor of Medicine, McMaster University; Head of Service, Benign Hematology, Hamilton Health Sciences; Transfusion Medicine Quality Lead, Hamilton Regional Laboratory Medicine Program

    Menaka Pai is an Associate Professor of Medicine at McMaster University, and a hematologist and thrombosis medicine physician at Hamilton Health Sciences. She is Head of Service for Benign Hematology at Hamilton Health Sciences, and Quality Lead for Transfusion Medicine in the Hamilton Regional Laboratory Medicine Program.

    Dr. Pai completed her medical training at McMaster University and the University of Toronto. She holds a Masters degree in Health Research Methodology from McMaster University, and her graduate work was supported by fellowships from Thrombosis Canada and the Canadian Hemophilia Society.

    Dr. Pai is a member of the McMaster Centre for Transfusion Research (MCTR) and the Thrombosis and Atherosclerosis Research Institute (TAARI). As a benign hematologist, her clinical interests focus on thrombosis and bleeding disorders. Her research interests include venous thromboembolism, transfusion medicine, research methods in rare diseases, and clinical practice guideline development. She is currently Chair of the American Society of Hematology’s Guideline Oversight Subcommittee.

    Publications:
    Google Scholar
    Affiliated with:
    McMaster University, Thrombosis and Atherosclerosis Research Institute
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-27 (PDF), 2021-05-25 (PDF), 2021-02-06 (PDF)

  • Samir Patel

    PhD, FCCM, (D) ABMM

    Deputy Chief, Microbiology, Public Health Ontario Clinical Microbiologist, Public Health Ontario Associate Professor, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto 

    Read More

    Samir Patel

    PhD, FCCM, (D) ABMM

    Deputy Chief, Microbiology, Public Health Ontario Clinical Microbiologist, Public Health Ontario Associate Professor, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto 

    Dr. Samir Patel is a clinical microbiologist and deputy chief of microbilogy at Public Health Ontario where he provides clinical expertise in various areas, including bacterial vector borne diseases, antibiotic susceptibility testing, and hospital associated infections. Dr. Patel is also an associate professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at the University of Toronto. Dr Patel is a member of various provincial and national and international working groups including Lyme disease diagnostic working group, antimicrobial resistance working group (co-chair), Institute of Quality Management in Healthcare, Clinical Laboratory and Standards Institute, and Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology mentorship committee (co-chair). Dr. Patel has been awarded number of CIHR funded grants (co-PI) including CIHR-PHAC funded Canadian Lyme Disease Research Network.

    Affiliated with:
    Public Health Ontario, University of Toronto
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-23 (PDF), 2021-02-10 (PDF), 2020-07-22 (PDF)

  • Justin Presseau

    PhD

    Associate Professor, School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa Scientist, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

    Read More

    Justin Presseau

    PhD

    Associate Professor, School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa Scientist, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

    Dr. Justin Presseau is an Associate Professor in the School of Epidemiology and Public Health and the School of Psychology at the University of Ottawa, and a Scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute where he leads the Psychology and Health Research Group and is core faculty in the Centre for Implementation Research. He is the Scientific Lead for Knowledge Translation at the Ottawa Methods Centre SPOR Support Unit.

    His research program operates at the intersection between health psychology and implementation science. His research draws on behavioural science to understand factors that promote and undermine behaviour change in healthcare, and in patients and the general public. He is the recipient of early career awards from the UK Society for Behavioural Medicine, the International Society of Behavioral Medicine, and the European Health Psychology Society, and a mid-career award from the Canadian Psychological Association. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and is Associate Editor for the journals Implementation Science, as well as being chair of the Canadian Psychological Association’s Health Psychology and Behavioural Medicine section.

    Publications:
    Pubmed
    Affiliated with:
    Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-01-31 (PDF), 2021-01-27 (PDF)

  • Paula Rochon

    MD, MPH, FRCPC

    Senior Scientist and Geriatrician Women’s College Hospital; Professor, Division of Geriatric Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto; RTOERO Chair in Geriatric Medicine, University of Toronto.

    Read More

    Paula Rochon

    MD, MPH, FRCPC

    Senior Scientist and Geriatrician Women’s College Hospital; Professor, Division of Geriatric Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto; RTOERO Chair in Geriatric Medicine, University of Toronto.

    Dr. Rochon is a geriatrician and senior scientist at Women’s College Hospital. She is a professor in the Department of Medicine and is the inaugural RTOERO Chair in Geriatric Medicine at the University of Toronto.

    Dr. Rochon’s research focuses on understanding the unique needs of older adults, particularly older women, and promotes their health and wellness. She has contributed to our understanding of aging and its impact both on individual patients and the healthcare system. These contributions include highlighting the need to consider sex, gender and age in research so that results are more relevant to older women and men and tailoring prescribing strategies to reduce adverse drug events.

    Dr. Rochon has a strong record of federal funding and has published more than 300 papers in peer-reviewed journals. She is the Vice-Chair of the CIHR Institute of Aging Advisory Board and has received research distinctions, including being elected to the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and being awarded the Eaton Clinical Researcher of the Year Award for 2020 from the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto. In January of 2020, she was invited to participate on an Advisory Group to support the Ministry of Long-Term Care in developing a long-term care staffing study; in April 2020 she was invited to join a national Task Group on COVID-19 in long-term care homes. This task group was convened to provide practical advice to the federal government on the topic of long-term care homes.

    Publications:
    Google Scholar
    Affiliated with:
    Women’s College Hospital
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2022-05-10 (PDF), 2021-08-27 (PDF), 2021-05-27 (PDF), 2021-02-10 (PDF)

  • Beate Sander

    RN, MBA, MEcDec, PhD

    Canada Research Chair in Economics of Infectious Diseases Scientist and Director, Population Health Economics Research, University Health Network Director, Health Modeling and Health Economics, Toronto Health Economics and Technology Assessment collaborative Associate Professor and Faculty Co-Lead Health Technology Assessment program, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto Adjunct Scientist, Public Health Ontario Adjunct Scientist, ICES

    Read More

    Beate Sander

    RN, MBA, MEcDec, PhD

    Canada Research Chair in Economics of Infectious Diseases Scientist and Director, Population Health Economics Research, University Health Network Director, Health Modeling and Health Economics, Toronto Health Economics and Technology Assessment collaborative Associate Professor and Faculty Co-Lead Health Technology Assessment program, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto Adjunct Scientist, Public Health Ontario Adjunct Scientist, ICES

    Beate Sander, RN MBA MEcDev PhD, is an internationally recognized leader in infectious disease economics with extensive expertise in health economics and simulation modeling. Dr. Sander holds a Canada Research Chair in Economics of Infectious Diseases and is principal investigator of several multidisciplinary projects funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and other funders, including an evaluation of Zika virus – and recently COVID-19 – interventions using computer simulation. She has developed novel approaches to evaluate intersectoral interventions and pioneered research on the burden of infectious diseases in Canada using linked population-based data. Dr. Sander has received several awards for research excellence. She contributes substantively to federal/provincial policy decision-making, serving as an expert to national and international advisory bodies, including Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI), where she also chairs the Economics Task Group and co-chairs the Economic Guidelines Task Group. Dr. Sander is the Faculty Co-Lead for the Health Technology Assessment emphasis at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, and teaches a popular graduate course on decision-analytic modeling and cost-effectiveness.

    Publications:
    PubMed, Google Scholar , ORCiD
    Affiliated with:
    Theta Collaborative, University of Toronto, UHN Research, IHPME, University of Toronto, ICES
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-02-23 (PDF), 2020-07-20 (PDF)

  • Michael Schull

    MD, MSc, FRCPC

    CEO and Senior Core Scientist, ICES Professor and Clinician-Scientist, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto Senior Scientist, Evaluative Clinical Sciences, Sunnybrook Research Institute Professor, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto Staff emergency physician, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

    Read More

    Michael Schull

    MD, MSc, FRCPC

    CEO and Senior Core Scientist, ICES Professor and Clinician-Scientist, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto Senior Scientist, Evaluative Clinical Sciences, Sunnybrook Research Institute Professor, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto Staff emergency physician, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

    Michael Schull is CEO and Senior Scientist at ICES, Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto, and a Senior Scientist at the Sunnybrook Research Institute. His research focuses on health service utilization, quality of care, health system integration and patient outcomes, and the evaluation of health policy. Under his leadership, ICES has expanded the types of data available for researchers, created a virtual data platform where researchers can access and analyze linked datasets, launched a health artificial intelligence data and analysis platform, and engaged the public in the work of ICES to ensure it remains aligned with public values. Schull leads the participation of ICES in the Health Data Research Network, a pan-Canadian initiative to build a national health and social data platform. He practices as an Emergency Medicine specialist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

    Publications:
    Google Scholar
    Affiliated with:
    ICES, Sunnybrook Research Institute, IHPME, University of Toronto
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-10-29 (PDF), 2021-05-26 (PDF), 2021-02-02 (PDF), 2021-01-21 (PDF)

  • Arjumand Siddiqi

    ScD

    Associate Professor and Division Head of Epidemiology, University of Toronto Canada Research Chair in Population Health Equity

    Read More

    Arjumand Siddiqi

    ScD

    Associate Professor and Division Head of Epidemiology, University of Toronto Canada Research Chair in Population Health Equity

    Arjumand Siddiqi is Associate Professor and Division Head of Epidemiology at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, where she also holds the Canada Research Chair in Population Health Equity. She is also appointed to the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, the Department of Sociology, and the Hospital for Sick Children/Department of Paediatrics at the University of Toronto, in addition to an adjunct appointment at the Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. Dr. Siddiqi is interested in understanding how societal conditions produce and resolve inequities in population health and human development across the lifespan. Her research focuses primarily on the roles of resource inequities and social policies, the methods and metrics that enable scientific inquiry on health inequities, and mechanisms related to public and political uptake of evidence. Dr. Siddiqi is an alumnus of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research Global Academy and former Associate Member of its Program on Successful Societies. She was also a member of the World Health Organization’s Commission on Social Determinants of Health Knowledge Hub on Early Child Development, and has consulted to several international agencies including the World Bank and UNICEF. Dr. Siddiqi received her doctorate in Social Epidemiology from Harvard School of Public Health.

    Publications:
    Google Scholar
    Affiliated with:
    DLSPH, University of Toronto
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-23 (PDF), 2021-05-25 (PDF), 2021-01-29 (PDF), 2020-07-22 (PDF)

  • Chris Simpson

    MD, FRCPC, FACC, FHRS, FCCS, FCAHS

    Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Queen’s University

    Read More

    Chris Simpson

    MD, FRCPC, FACC, FHRS, FCCS, FCAHS

    Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Queen’s University

    Dr. Chris Simpson is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology (Heart Rhythm Service) at Queen’s University as well as Vice-Dean (Clinical) of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Medical Director of the Southeastern Ontario Academic Medical Organization (SEAMO).  He is a member of the Queen’s School of Policy Studies Health Policy Council.

    Dr. Simpson’s primary non-clinical professional interest is health policy – particularly access to care, seniors’ care, wait times and medical fitness to drive.  He served as the Chair of the Wait Times Alliance (WTA) and is a past chair of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society’s (CCS) Standing Committee on Health Policy and Advocacy.  He has severed on the Cardiac Care Network of Ontario (CorHealth) Board of Directors, is a past member of the CCS executive and a former governor of the American College of Cardiology.  In 2014-15, he served as President of the Canadian Medical Association.

    Dr. Simpson is currently the Clinical Science Lead, Ontario Health COVID-19 Health System Response Oversight Table, which has developed a suite of guidance for health sectors as they navigate the pandemic.

    He is the CMIO of Novari Health.  In 2015, Dr. Simpson was elected to fellowship in the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and will assume the presidency of CAHS in the Fall of 2020.

    Publications:
    Google Scholar
    Affiliated with:
    Queen’s University
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-23 (PDF), 2021-02-01 (PDF), 2020-08-14 (PDF)

  • Arthur Slutsky

    CM, FRSC, MD

    Scientist, St. Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health Toronto Professor of Medicine, Surgery and Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto

    Read More

    Arthur Slutsky

    CM, FRSC, MD

    Scientist, St. Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health Toronto Professor of Medicine, Surgery and Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto

    Dr. Arthur Slutsky is a Scientist at St. Michael’s Hospital, and Professor of Medicine, Surgery and Biomedical Engineering (University of Toronto). His research has been highly translational, focusing on : (1) importance of atelectrauma (injury caused opening-closing of lung units), (2) discovery of biotrauma (pulmonary mediators released during mechanical ventilation can lead to distal organ dysfunction), (3) acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and (4) COVID-19. Many of these findings were followed by clinical research and multi-centered randomized clinical trials addressing lung protective mechanical ventilation.

    Dr. Slutsky has published >550 original papers, 70 books/chapters, and many randomized controlled trials which have changed clinical guidelines and practice. He has a (Google Scholar) H-index of 130, and his work has received >90,000 citations.

    He has won numerous awards including:
    • ATS Critical Care Lifetime Achievement Award (2012)
    • Dame Margaret-Turner Warwick Respiratory Lecturer Award of the U.K. National Heart and Lung Institute (2014)
    • Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) Health Researcher of the Year (2014)
    • Election to the Royal Society of Canada (2015)
    • Appointed to the Order of Canada (2018)

    Publications:
    Pubmed
    Affiliated with:
    St. Michael’s Hospital
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2022-07-14 (PDF), 2021-08-30 (PDF), 2021-05-25 (PDF), 2021-03-25 (PDF), 2021-01-29 (PDF), 2020-08-10 (PDF)

  • Janet Smylie

    MD MPH

    Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health and Department of Family and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto Research Scientist and Staff Physician, St. Michael’s Hospital

    Read More

    Janet Smylie

    MD MPH

    Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health and Department of Family and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto Research Scientist and Staff Physician, St. Michael’s Hospital

    Dr. Smylie is the Director of the Well Living House Action Research Centre for Indigenous Infant, Child, and Family Health and Wellbeing, Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Advancing Generative Health Services for Indigenous Populations in Canada, and Professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. Dr. Smylie’s research focuses on addressing Indigenous health inequities in partnership with Indigenous communities. She is particularly focused on ensuring all First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples are counted into health policy and planning wherever they live in ways that make sense to them; addressing anti-Indigenous racism in health services; and advancing community-rooted innovations in health services for Indigenous populations. She maintains a part-time clinical practice at Seventh Generation Midwives Toronto and has practiced and taught family medicine in a variety of Indigenous communities both urban and rural. A Métis woman, Dr. Smylie acknowledges her family, traditional teachers, and ceremonial lodge.

    Publications:
    PubMed , Google Scholar
    Affiliated with:
    Well Living House, DLSPH, University of Toronto, St. Michael’s Hospital
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-02-09 (PDF), 2020-08-14 (PDF)

  • Tania Watts

    PhD

    Professor and Associate Chair, Post-doctoral program Department of Immunology, Temerty Faculty of Medicine University of Toronto

    Read More

    Tania Watts

    PhD

    Professor and Associate Chair, Post-doctoral program Department of Immunology, Temerty Faculty of Medicine University of Toronto

    Dr. Tania Watts received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry at the University of Alberta in 1983, followed by post-doctoral studies in Chemistry at Stanford University, California from 1983-1986. Dr. Watts joined the University of Toronto as an Assistant Professor in Immunology in 1986. Dr. Watts has had a long-term interest in immunity to viruses, focusing on how T lymphocytes respond to and are regulated during acute and chronic infections, such as influenza virus or HIV. More recently she has studied T cell responses to SARS-CoV-2 in COVID-19 convalescent patients. Dr. Watts is also involved in a study of immunity to COVID19 vaccines in the immunocompromised. Dr. Watts is a former President of the Canadian Society for Immunology and has published 132 scientific papers.

    Publications:
    PubMed
    Affiliated with:
    Department of Immunology, University of Toronto
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2022-01-19 (PDF), 2021-10-29 (PDF), 2021-05-26 (PDF), 2021-01-29 (PDF), 2020-07-22 (PDF)

  • Scott Weese

    DVM, DVSc, DACVIM

    Professor, Ontario Veterinary College and Director, Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses, University of Guelph

    Read More

    Scott Weese

    DVM, DVSc, DACVIM

    Professor, Ontario Veterinary College and Director, Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses, University of Guelph

    Dr. Weese is a veterinary internist and a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine. He is a Professor at the Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Director of the University of Guelph Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses, and Chief of Infection Control at the Ontario Veterinary College Teaching Hospital.

    Affiliated with:
    Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-23 (PDF), 2021-06-07 (PDF), 2021-05-26 (PDF), 2021-01-29 (PDF), 2020-07-22 (PDF)

Secretariat

  • Karen Born

    MSc, PhD

    Assistant Scientific Director Assistant Professor, University of Toronto Knowledge Translation Lead, Choosing Wisely Canada

    Read More

    Karen Born

    MSc, PhD

    Assistant Scientific Director Assistant Professor, University of Toronto Knowledge Translation Lead, Choosing Wisely Canada

    Karen Born is knowledge translation lead for the Choosing Wisely Canada campaign. She holds an MSc in international health policy the London School of Economics and a PhD in health services research from the University of Toronto. Research interests include supporting international communities of practice on Choosing Wisely and de-implementation, resource stewardship education and sustainable health systems. She is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Health Policy, Management & Evaluation (University of Toronto) and teaches on knowledge translation, qualitative research methods, quality improvement, value and sustainability.

    Publications:
    PubMed Profile
    Affiliated with:
    DLSPH, University of Toronto
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-23 (PDF), 2021-05-25 (PDF), 2021-04-08 (PDF)

  • Nicolas Bodmer

    MMed

    Managing Senior Research Associate Resident Physician, Cantonal Hospital St. Gallen Doctoral student, University of Zurich

    Read More

    Nicolas Bodmer

    MMed

    Managing Senior Research Associate Resident Physician, Cantonal Hospital St. Gallen Doctoral student, University of Zurich

    Nicolas S. Bodmer completed his master’s degree in medicine at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and started his residency in emergency medicine. He is also a senior research associate in a private research and med-tech company, working as a methodologist. He focuses on research synthesis and cost-effectiveness analyses. In the past, he participated in the development of digital health products in the healthcare sector.

    Nicolas Bodmer was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Blizard Institute, Barts & The London School of Medicine and Dentistry in London (2014) and at the Applied Health Research Centre (AHRC) at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto (2019). He is currently planning his Ph.D. in clinical epidemiology.

    Publications:
    Google Scholar
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2022-05-17 (PDF), 2021-10-05 (PDF), 2021-05-26 (PDF), 2021-02-01 (PDF), 2020-11-03 (PDF)

  • Sarah Baert

    DVM, MSc

    Senior Research Associate Resident, American College of Animal Welfare

    Read More

    Sarah Baert

    DVM, MSc

    Senior Research Associate Resident, American College of Animal Welfare

    Sarah Baert holds a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and an MSc in Population Medicine (Epidemiology) from the Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph. She is a veterinary resident with the American College of Animal Welfare and has clinical experience in both primary care and emergency medicine.

    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-10-13 (PDF)

  • Ayodele Odutayo

    MD, DPhil

    Senior Research Associate Resident Physician, University of Toronto

    Read More

    Ayodele Odutayo

    MD, DPhil

    Senior Research Associate Resident Physician, University of Toronto

    Ayodele Odutayo completed General Internal Medicine residency training at the University of Toronto (UofT) and is now an Adult Nephrology Fellow at UofT. He has an interest in epidemiology and clinical trials and has completed an MSc in Global Health Science and a DPhil in Epidemiology, both at the University of Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. In the future, his aim is to pursue a career as a clinical scientist.

    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-27 (PDF), 2021-05-25 (PDF), 2021-01-29 (PDF), 2020-07-22 (PDF)

  • Alyssa Parpia

    PhD, MPH

    Senior Research Associate Applied Public Health Science Specialist in Communicable Diseases, Public Health Ontario; Affiliate, Center for Infectious Disease Modeling and Analysis, Yale School of Public Health

    Read More

    Alyssa Parpia

    PhD, MPH

    Senior Research Associate Applied Public Health Science Specialist in Communicable Diseases, Public Health Ontario; Affiliate, Center for Infectious Disease Modeling and Analysis, Yale School of Public Health

    Dr. Alyssa Parpia is an infectious disease epidemiologist, transmission modeler, and researcher at Public Health Ontario. She is also an affiliate of the Center for Infectious Disease Modeling and Analysis (CIDMA) at the Yale School of Public Health. Dr. Parpia’s work aims to quantify the impact of public health interventions on curtailing infectious disease spread and identify drivers of disease transmission, with an overarching goal of providing policy recommendations in the support of evidence-based decision-making.
    She received her PhD in Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases from Yale University, her MPH in Epidemiology from the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, and her BAH in Global Development Studies with a minor in Biochemistry from Queen’s University.

    Publications:
    Google Scholar
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2022-05-12 (PDF)

  • Pavlos Bobos

    MSc, PhD

    Research Associate Applied Health Research Centre, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael’s Hospital

    Read More

    Pavlos Bobos

    MSc, PhD

    Research Associate Applied Health Research Centre, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael’s Hospital

    Pavlos Bobos is a clinical epidemiologist and received education in physiotherapy and in exercise physiology. His graduate studies were conducted at the Bone and Joint Institute at Western University and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at University of Toronto. His graduate studies were supported by a Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship CIHR Doctoral Award. Currently, he is a Postdoctoral fellow at the Applied Health Research Centre of Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto funded by The Arthritis Society of Canada.

    Publications:
    Google Scholar Profile
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-11-22 (PDF)

  • Yoojin Choi

    PhD, MD Student

    Research Associate MD Student, The University of British Columbia (UBC)

    Read More

    Yoojin Choi

    PhD, MD Student

    Research Associate MD Student, The University of British Columbia (UBC)

    Yoojin Choi is a medical student at the University of British Columbia. She received an Honours BSc degree in Microbiology and Immunology from McGill University and a PhD in Immunology from the University of Toronto. During her graduate studies, Yoojin received CIHR’s Canada Graduate Scholarship – Doctoral program and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship/Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarship in Science and Technology program.
    Publications:
    Google Scholar Profile
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-27 (PDF), 2021-05-25 (PDF), 2021-01-29 (PDF), 2020-07-30 (PDF)

  • Roisin McElroy

    MD, MPH, CCFP(EM)

    Research Associate Emergency Medicine Physician, St. Joseph’s Health Centre, Unity Health Toronto Lecturer, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto

    Read More

    Roisin McElroy

    MD, MPH, CCFP(EM)

    Research Associate Emergency Medicine Physician, St. Joseph’s Health Centre, Unity Health Toronto Lecturer, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto

    Roisin McElroy is an emergency medicine physician and researcher at St. Joseph’s Health Centre, Unity Health Toronto. She completed an MPH in Clinical Epidemiology at Columbia University. She is the recent recipient of a FAFM COVID-19 Pandemic Response and Impact Grant (Co-RIG) for her work investigating therapeutics for COVID-19 outpatients at risk of complicated illness. Dr. McElroy is an Investigator within the  Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael’s Hospital.

    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-10-29 (PDF), 2021-02-08 (PDF), 2021-01-18 (PDF)

  • Ashini Weerasinghe

    MPH

    Research Associate Epidemiologist, Public Health Ontario

    Read More

    Ashini Weerasinghe

    MPH

    Research Associate Epidemiologist, Public Health Ontario

    Ashini Weerasinghe is an epidemiologist within the Health Promotion, Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention Program at Public Health Ontario. She holds a master’s degree in epidemiology from the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. Within her role as an epidemiologist at Public Health Ontario, she has provided analytical expertise to examine the impact of alcohol warning labels on adult drinkers’ awareness of alcohol-related health risks and ability to make more informed and safer drinking choices, which has resulted in six peer-reviewed publications. She also advises staff within Public Health Ontario on matters related to statistical and epidemiological methods. She has previous experience preparing scientific manuscripts and presentations within the Ontario Breast Screening Program at Cancer Care Ontario. In addition, she has worked as a research coordinator within the Nicotine Dependence Clinic at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, where she established, maintained and managed a database of health care practitioners providing smoking cessation counselling in Ontario.

    Publications:
    Pubmed
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-23 (PDF), 2021-05-25 (PDF), 2021-01-29 (PDF), 2020-07-30 (PDF)

  • Diana Yan

    HBSc Student

    Research Associate HBSc Data Science & Pharmacology Student, University of Toronto

    Read More

    Diana Yan

    HBSc Student

    Research Associate HBSc Data Science & Pharmacology Student, University of Toronto

    Shujun (Diana) Yan is a fifth year undergraduate student studying data science and pharmacology in University of Toronto. She spent a year working at Applied Health Research Center (AHRC) as a research assistant in the biostatistics team, where she provided data collection, processing, and statistical analysis for both randomized controlled trials and observational studies. AHRC is also where she gradually developed her interests in health care research work and gained experience using R. Shujun is also a teaching assistant of an undergraduate data structure course.

    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-10-29 (PDF), 2021-05-25 (PDF), 2021-02-09 (PDF), 2020-11-09 (PDF)

  • Anna Perkhun

    OCD

    Research Assistant

    Read More

    Anna Perkhun

    OCD

    Research Assistant

    Anna Perkhun is the Project and Research Assistant for the Science Table and is a recent Biotechnology-Health program graduate. Before joining the Science Table she worked as a Research Assistant in clinical trials in a private Dermatology Centre. Anna is aspiring to pursue a career in the biomedical field and wants to study neuroscience in the future.

     

    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2022-05-17 (PDF), 2021-08-28 (PDF), 2021-05-31 (PDF), 2021-01-26 (PDF)

  • Victoria Chechulina

    Administrative Assistant

    Read More

    Victoria Chechulina

    Administrative Assistant

    Victoria Chechulina is the Administrative Assistant for the Science Table. She is a student in the International Baccalaureate program in Toronto. She has worked with numerous youth organizations, including Ontario DECA, and recently completed a project examining the digital safety of marginalized communities at the UofT Global Ideas Institute. She is passionate about biomedical sciences and hopes to pursue a career in healthcare.

    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2022-05-24 (PDF), 2021-08-23 (PDF), 2021-06-02 (PDF)

Observers

About the Working Groups

The Science Table has set up Working Groups to bring together a smaller, more focused group of experts to address topics in a particular COVID-19-related field. Working Group members were selected by drawing upon existing Science Table members, who are joined by additional subject-matter experts.

The Working Groups regularly report their findings to the Science Table, which are then published as Science Briefs to our website.

Behavioural Science Working Group

The Behavioural Science Working Group is a group of behavioural science experts and public health leaders who summarise behavioural science evidence in the context of COVID-19 and identify actionable guidance for Ontario’s pandemic response.

Behavioural science experts were selected based on their specific expertise in behaviour change, spanning behavioural medicine, health, clinical and social psychology, behavioural economics, and implementation science. Public Health leaders joining the group were invited based on their expertise in promoting health-protective behaviours and vaccination.

Leadership

  • Justin Presseau

    PhD

    Chair Associate Professor, School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa Scientist, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

    Read More

    Justin Presseau

    PhD

    Chair Associate Professor, School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa Scientist, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

    Dr. Justin Presseau is an Associate Professor in the School of Epidemiology and Public Health and the School of Psychology at the University of Ottawa, and a Scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute where he leads the Psychology and Health Research Group and is core faculty in the Centre for Implementation Research. He is the Scientific Lead for Knowledge Translation at the Ottawa Methods Centre SPOR Support Unit.

    His research program operates at the intersection between health psychology and implementation science. His research draws on behavioural science to understand factors that promote and undermine behaviour change in healthcare, and in patients and the general public. He is the recipient of early career awards from the UK Society for Behavioural Medicine, the International Society of Behavioral Medicine, and the European Health Psychology Society, and a mid-career award from the Canadian Psychological Association. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and is Associate Editor for the journals Implementation Science, as well as being chair of the Canadian Psychological Association’s Health Psychology and Behavioural Medicine section.

    Publications:
    PubMed Profile
    Affiliated with:
    Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-01-31 (PDF), 2021-01-27 (PDF)

Members

  • Upton Allen

    MBBS, FRCPC

    Professor of Paediatrics, University of Toronto

    Read More

    Upton Allen

    MBBS, FRCPC

    Professor of Paediatrics, University of Toronto

    Upton Allen is a professor at the University of Toronto. He is Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids). Dr. Allen is also a Senior Associate Scientist in the Child Health Evaluative Sciences program at SickKids. His primary appointment is with the Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Paediatrics. He is cross-appointed as a professor in the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto.

    Dr. Allen is a past director of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and a Fellow of the Society. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and the Royal College of Physicians (UK). In 2018, he was awarded the Order of Ontario, which is the highest honor awarded by the province of Ontario, Canada.

    Publications:
    PubMed
    Affiliated with:
    IHPME, University of Toronto, SickKids
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2022-04-07 (PDF), 2021-02-12 (PDF), 2020-07-30 (PDF)

  • Judy Buchan

    RN, BScN, MN, PMP

    Director of Public Health Emergencies, Region of Peel

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    Judy Buchan

    RN, BScN, MN, PMP

    Director of Public Health Emergencies, Region of Peel

    She has a Bachelor of Political Science degree from McMaster University, a Baccalaureate of Nursing Science from the University of Toronto, and a Master of Nursing from Ryerson University. She has also completed the Advanced Health Leadership Program at the Joseph L Rotman School of Management – University of Toronto and well as a Project Management Professional certification.

    Publications:
    Google Scholar
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-02-01 (PDF)

  • Rachel Burns

    PhD

    Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Carleton University

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    Rachel Burns

    PhD

    Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Carleton University

    Dr. Rachel Burns is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Carleton University. She received a PhD in Psychology from the University of Minnesota in 2014. She complemented this training with a postdoctoral fellowship in mental health epidemiology at McGill University and the Douglas Mental Health University Institute in Montreal.

    Dr. Burns’ research leverages psychological theory to identify the social and psychological processes that shape health behaviour and outcomes with an eye towards understanding how these processes unfold over time. Her work has appeared in journals such as Health Psychology and Annals of Behavioral Medicine. She is currently an Associate Editor for Applied Psychology: Health and Wellbeing.

    Publications:
    Google Scholar
    Affiliated with:
    Carleton University Health Psychology Lab
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-27 (PDF), 2021-05-25 (PDF), 2021-02-18 (PDF)

  • Kim Corace

    PhD, CPsych

    Vice President, Innovation & Transformation, The Royal Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Ottawa Clinical Investigator, Institute of Mental Health Research Adjunct Research Professor, Carleton University President, Canadian Psychological Association

    Read More

    Kim Corace

    PhD, CPsych

    Vice President, Innovation & Transformation, The Royal Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Ottawa Clinical Investigator, Institute of Mental Health Research Adjunct Research Professor, Carleton University President, Canadian Psychological Association

    Dr Kim Corace is the Vice President of Innovation and Transformation at The Royal Ottawa Health Care Group. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at University of Ottawa, an Adjunct Research Professor at Carleton University, a Clinical Investigator with the Institute of Mental Health Research, and a Clinical Health Psychologist. She has expertise in health behavior change, including how behaviour change theories can be used to guide and inform novel interventions to improve healthcare worker vaccination uptake and hand hygiene adherence. Dr. Corace is a founding member of the Canadian Network for Health Behavior Change and Promotion. She works at regional, provincial, and national levels to develop innovative interventions that lead to improved healthcare access and outcomes for priority populations (specifically people living with substance use and mental health co-morbidities), with a focus on developing collaborative care models. She contributes her expertise to numerous standards and guidelines committees as well as policy development initiatives to improve mental health and addictions care. Dr. Corace is currently the President of the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA).

    Publications:
    PubMed
    Affiliated with:
    The Royal Mental Health – Care & Research , uOttawa Department of Psychiatry , Psychology – Carleton University, Canadian Psychological Association
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-10-14 (PDF), 2021-05-25 (PDF), 2021-02-01 (PDF)

  • Vinita Dubey

    MD, MPH, FRCPC

    Associate Medical Officer of Health, The Vaccine Preventable Disease Program, Toronto Public Health; Adjunct Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

    Read More

    Vinita Dubey

    MD, MPH, FRCPC

    Associate Medical Officer of Health, The Vaccine Preventable Disease Program, Toronto Public Health; Adjunct Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

    Dr. Vinita Dubey works as an Associate Medical Officer of Health for Toronto Public Health specializing with the Vaccine Preventable Disease program. She also works as an emergency medicine physician outside the GTA. She holds an Adjunct Professor appointment with the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health.

    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-10-14 (PDF), 2021-08-23 (PDF), 2021-01-28 (PDF)

  • Gerald Evans

    MD, FRCPC

    Professor of Medicine, Biomedical & Molecular Sciences and Pathology & Molecular Medicine, Queen’s University; Medical Director, Infection Prevention & Control, Kingston Health Sciences Centre

    Read More

    Gerald Evans

    MD, FRCPC

    Professor of Medicine, Biomedical & Molecular Sciences and Pathology & Molecular Medicine, Queen’s University; Medical Director, Infection Prevention & Control, Kingston Health Sciences Centre

    Dr. Gerald Evans is the Chair of the Division of Infectious Diseases and a Professor in the Departments of Medicine, Biomedical & Molecular Sciences and Pathology & Molecular Medicine at Queen’s University He was initially appointed to a faculty position at Queen’s University in 1990.

    He is an attending physician in Infectious Diseases at Kingston Health Sciences Centre and Providence Care Hospital. Dr. Evans has been Medical Director of Infection Prevention & Control at Kingston Health Sciences Centre and Providence Care Hospital since 2011. He is an Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) consultant physician with Public Health Ontario, and an Affiliate Scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES-Queens).

    He was the President of AMMI Canada from 2009-2011 and is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the Official Journal of the Association of Microbiology and Infectious Disease Canada.

    Publications:
    NCBI
    Affiliated with:
    Department of Medicine, Queen’s University
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-27 (PDF), 2021-01-25 (PDF)

  • Leandre Fabrigar

    PhD, CPsych

    Professor of Psychology, Queen’s University

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    Leandre Fabrigar

    PhD, CPsych

    Professor of Psychology, Queen’s University

    Leandre R. Fabrigar is a Professor of Psychology at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. Dr. Fabrigar’s primary research interests fall within the domain of attitude and persuasion research. Within this domain, his research has investigated the effects of attitude structure and social context in regulating the susceptibility of attitudes to persuasion and the impact of attitudes on behavior, judgment, and information processing. His research has also explored methods of measuring attitudes and their underlying structural properties. Other research interests include the psychological mechanisms underlying social influence tactics and methodological issues in the application of statistical methods (e.g., factor analysis and structural equation modeling) to psychological research. From 2003-2005, he served as an associate editor of Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. From 2013-2016, he served as co-editor of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. He was elected to the Society of Multivariate Experimental Psychology (SMEP) in 2002 and to the Society of Experimental Social Psychology (SESP) in 2003. He is a fellow of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology, Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP), Association for Psychological Science (APS), and Midwestern Psychological Association (MPA). Dr. Fabrigar has served as principal investigator on research projects sponsored by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and Ontario Problem Gambling Research Centre (OPGRC).

    Affiliated with:
    Queen’s University – Department of Psychology
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-23 (PDF), 2021-01-26 (PDF)

  • Jeremy Grimshaw

    MBChB, PhD

    Senior Scientist, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute Professorof Medicine, University of Ottawa

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    Jeremy Grimshaw

    MBChB, PhD

    Senior Scientist, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute Professorof Medicine, University of Ottawa

    He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and a Corresponding Fellow of the Royal College of Edinburgh. He has received the CIHR Knowledge Translation award twice; in 2004, he received the inaugural award for his personal contribution to the field and in 2013 Cochrane Canada (under his leadership) also received the award. In 2018, he received the CIHR Barer-Flood career achievement award for Health Services and Policy Research. He has over 600 peer reviewed publications. Since 2015, he has consistently ranked as a Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researcher, based on the high citation rate of his published work.

    Publications:
    The Ottawa Hospital
    Affiliated with:
    The Ottawa Hospital
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-23 (PDF), 2021-05-26 (PDF), 2021-01-26 (PDF)

  • Julian House

    PhD

    Behavioural Scientist, Ontario Public Service Research Fellow, Behavioural Economics in Action at Rotman, University of Toronto

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    Julian House

    PhD

    Behavioural Scientist, Ontario Public Service Research Fellow, Behavioural Economics in Action at Rotman, University of Toronto

    Julian House is a scientist in the Ontario government’s Behavioural Insights Unit (BIU). He also teaches behavioural economics and marketing at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, where he is a research fellow. His research into how behavioural science can be applied to advance public policy and social welfare aims appears in top academic journals, including the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Management Science, and the Behavioural Science and Policy Journal.

    Publications:
    Google Scholar
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-23 (PDF), 2021-01-27 (PDF)

  • Doug Manuel

    MD, FRCPC, MSc

    Distinguished University Professor, Department of Family Medicine, School of Epidemiology and Public Health Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa Senior Scientist, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

    Read More

    Doug Manuel

    MD, FRCPC, MSc

    Distinguished University Professor, Department of Family Medicine, School of Epidemiology and Public Health Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa Senior Scientist, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

    Dr. Manuel is a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Ottawa in the Departments of Family Medicine and School of Epidemiology and Public Health. He is a Senior Scientist at The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, a Clinical Scientist with C.T. Lamont Primary Health Care Research Centre, Bruyère Research Institute, a Senior Core Scientist at ICES and a Senior Medical Advisor for Statistics Canada.

    Dr. Manuel’s research combines interests in public health, health care systems and primary care. He collaborates to develop advanced predictive algorithms and microsimulation models to assess population health and the health impact of health strategies. He has written on how societies with the best population health have achieved their success. He has published over 250 studies, including papers in the leading medical journals. For over 25 years, Dr. Manuel has been a primary care doctor in rural, remote and underserved Canadian communities.

    Publications:
    Google Scholar, ORCiD
    Affiliated with:
    University of Ottawa, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-11-04 (PDF), 2021-02-08 (PDF), 2020-07-22 (PDF)

  • Rhiannon Mosher

    PhD

    Senior Policy Advisor, Ontario Public Service

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    Rhiannon Mosher

    PhD

    Senior Policy Advisor, Ontario Public Service

    Dr. Rhiannon Mosher is a Senior Policy Advisor for the Ontario government’s Behavioural Insights Unit (BIU). In this role, she works with partners in ministries across Ontario and other public sector organizations to help improve program and service delivery through evidence-based, human-centred solutions. Rhiannon has helped design and test solutions to improve programs and service in health, labour, and transportation. Most recently, she has been supporting work to inform the province’s response to COVID-19.

    Rhiannon holds a PhD in Social Anthropology from York University. Her past academic research has focused on issues of citizenship, civic participation, structural inequality and diversity in the context of immigration and settlement.

    Publications:
    Google Scholar
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-23 (PDF), 2021-02-22 (PDF)

  • Michelle Murti

    BASc, MD, MPH, CCFP, FRCPC

    Associate Chief Medical Officer of Health, Ministry of Health; Assistant Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

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    Michelle Murti

    BASc, MD, MPH, CCFP, FRCPC

    Associate Chief Medical Officer of Health, Ministry of Health; Assistant Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

    Dr. Murti is a specialist in both Family Medicine and Public Health and Preventive Medicine from the University of Toronto. She is currently an Associate Chief Medical Officer of Health in the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, Public Health in the Ministry of Health with a focus on Emergency Preparedness. She has previously worked as a Public Health Physician at Public Health Ontario and as a Medical Health Officer-Medical Director at Fraser Health Authority, British Columbia. She has practiced clinically in Ontario and New Zealand. She has completed fellowships at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security. She is also an Assistant Professor with the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto.

    Publications:
    Google Scholar
    Affiliated with:
    University of Toronto Institute for Pandemics, University of Toronto
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-11-18 (PDF)

  • Brian Schwartz

    MD, MScCH

    Vice-President, Public Health Ontario; Professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

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    Brian Schwartz

    MD, MScCH

    Vice-President, Public Health Ontario; Professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

    Brian Schwartz provides executive leadership for PHO’s public health science and population health programs including environmental and occupational health, health promotion, chronic disease and injury prevention, and research and ethics services.  Previous portfolios include health protection, emergency preparedness, communicable diseases and infection prevention and control.  Dr. Schwartz served as Scientific Advisor to the Emergency Management Branch of the Ministry of Heath and Long Term Care from 2004 to 2011, and was Public Health Ontario’s inaugural Chief of Emergency Management Support. He acted as Vice-chair of the Ontario SARS Scientific Advisory Committee in 2003 and was Chair of the Scientific Response Team for the 2009 H1N1 pandemic.

    Before entering public health Dr. Schwartz practiced emergency medicine for over 30 years in community and academic settings.  He held the position of Director of the Sunnybrook Centre for Prehospital Care from 1996 to 2009, and has published extensively in emergency medicine, prehospital/paramedic care, and health emergency preparedness and response.  He has been a member of the Canadian Pandemic Influenza Plan Working Group since its inception.

    Brian obtained his medical degree and Master of Science in Community Health from the University of Toronto. He received his certification in emergency medicine from and is a Fellow of the College of Family Physicians of Canada.

    Publications:
    PubMed , ResearchGate
    Affiliated with:
    Public Health Ontario, DLSPH, University of Toronto
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2022-06-28 (PDF), 2021-08-23 (PDF), 2021-05-25 (PDF), 2021-02-06 (PDF), 2020-07-19 (PDF)

  • Gilla Shapiro

    MA(Cantab), MPP/MPA, PhD, CPsych

    Psychologist, Department of Supportive Care, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network; Psychologist, Evidence-Based Therapy, Training and Testing (EBT3); Research Consultant, World Health Organization; Postdoctoral Fellow, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network

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    Gilla Shapiro

    MA(Cantab), MPP/MPA, PhD, CPsych

    Psychologist, Department of Supportive Care, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network; Psychologist, Evidence-Based Therapy, Training and Testing (EBT3); Research Consultant, World Health Organization; Postdoctoral Fellow, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network

    Dr. Gilla Shapiro is a Clinical and Health Psychologist. Her clinical and research interests include vaccination, psychosocial oncology, the determinants of health, health services, equity, and policy. Dr. Shapiro has published over 45 papers in peer-reviewed journals, multiple book chapters, and patient education booklets. She has conducted research for the World Health Organization, Hospital for Sick Children, St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto Western Hospital, the Global Public Policy institute, the Social Science Research Center Berlin, among others. Her research is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute. She is a member of the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA), Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC), International Psycho-Oncology Society (IPOS), and Canadian Association of Psychosocial Oncology (CAPO).

    Publications:
    Google Scholar Profile, ORCID Profile
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-10-14 (PDF), 2021-06-02 (PDF)

  • Sarah Wall

    MA

    Behavioural Science Fellow, Public Health Agency of Canada and Privy Council Office, Government of Canada; Doctoral Candidate, Social Psychology, Wilfrid Laurier University

    Read More

    Sarah Wall

    MA

    Behavioural Science Fellow, Public Health Agency of Canada and Privy Council Office, Government of Canada; Doctoral Candidate, Social Psychology, Wilfrid Laurier University

    Sarah Wall is a Behavioural Science Fellow through the Impact Canada Fellowship Program. She joined the Federal government in January 2021 and has since been working at the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) actively supporting the COVID-19 pandemic response. Her work primarily focuses on public health measures, and she works with interdisciplinary partners to generate and apply behavioural science evidence to public health guidance, communications, and decision-making. She has also been helping to build capacity for behavioural science across the Agency and broaden its application across other public health priorities within PHAC’s new Office of Behavioural Science.

    Sarah is also a PhD Candidate in Social Psychology at Wilfrid Laurier University where her research focuses on judgement and decision making in romantic relationships and experiences during singlehood. She is trained in quantitative, experimental methods but is keen to learn and apply more qualitative methods to her work.

    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2022-06-17 (PDF)

  • Emre Yurga

    M.Arch, M.P.P, PhD

    Manager of the Economic Analysis and Evaluation Unit, Ontario Ministries of Health and Long-Term Care

    Read More

    Emre Yurga

    M.Arch, M.P.P, PhD

    Manager of the Economic Analysis and Evaluation Unit, Ontario Ministries of Health and Long-Term Care

    Emre is working as Manager of the Economic Analysis and Evaluation Unit at the Strategic Policy and Planning Division of the Ontario Ministries of Health and Long-Term Care (MOH/LTC). He has  a Master of Public Policy degree from the School of Public Policy and Governance (SPPG) at the University of Toronto, where he focused on polices related to governance, economics and public health. During that time, he was a CIHR (Canadian Institute for Health Research) Fellow in Public Health Policy at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and a Lupina Fellow in the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto. Currently, he is a PhD Candidate in Health Economics in IHPME, University of Toronto.

    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-12-20 (PDF)

Secretariat

  • Gail McMillan

    PhD

    Research Associate Methodologist, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

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    Gail McMillan

    PhD

    Research Associate Methodologist, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

    Dr. Gail McMillan is methodologist within the Psychology and Health Research Group at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. Her past and current work is focused on applying behavioural science theory and methods to understand determinants of behaviour change and maintenance. She has a particular interest in translating behavioural science insights into guidance and materials for stakeholders and the public.

    Dr. McMillan holds an MSc in Clinical Health Psychology and a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Strathclyde, as well as previously holding post-doctoral research fellowships at the University of Aberdeen and Carleton University.

    Publications:
    ResearchGate
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2022-06-17 (PDF)

  • Ashini Weerasinghe

    MPH

    Research Associate Epidemiologist, Public Health Ontario

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    Ashini Weerasinghe

    MPH

    Research Associate Epidemiologist, Public Health Ontario

    Ashini Weerasinghe is an epidemiologist within the Health Promotion, Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention Program at Public Health Ontario. She holds a master’s degree in epidemiology from the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. Within her role as an epidemiologist at Public Health Ontario, she has provided analytical expertise to examine the impact of alcohol warning labels on adult drinkers’ awareness of alcohol-related health risks and ability to make more informed and safer drinking choices, which has resulted in six peer-reviewed publications. She also advises staff within Public Health Ontario on matters related to statistical and epidemiological methods. She has previous experience preparing scientific manuscripts and presentations within the Ontario Breast Screening Program at Cancer Care Ontario. In addition, she has worked as a research coordinator within the Nicotine Dependence Clinic at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, where she established, maintained and managed a database of health care practitioners providing smoking cessation counselling in Ontario.

    Publications:
    PubMed
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-23 (PDF), 2021-05-25 (PDF), 2021-02-07 (PDF), 2020-07-30 (PDF)

Observers

Congregate Care Setting Working Group

The Congregate Care Setting Working Group is a group of scientific experts and public health leaders who summarise emerging evidence related to the congregate settings of vulnerable older adults, such as long-term care and retirement homes, to inform Ontario’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Working Group members are internationally recognized researchers with expertise in older people living in congregate care settings, who come from diverse backgrounds and geographic areas of Ontario.

Leadership

  • Paula Rochon

    MD, MPH, FRCPC

    Chair Senior Scientist and Geriatrician Women’s College Hospital; Professor, Division of Geriatric Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto; RTOERO Chair in Geriatric Medicine, University of Toronto.

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    Paula Rochon

    MD, MPH, FRCPC

    Chair Senior Scientist and Geriatrician Women’s College Hospital; Professor, Division of Geriatric Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto; RTOERO Chair in Geriatric Medicine, University of Toronto.

    Dr. Rochon is a geriatrician and senior scientist at Women’s College Hospital. She is a professor in the Department of Medicine and is the inaugural RTOERO Chair in Geriatric Medicine at the University of Toronto.

    Dr. Rochon’s research focuses on understanding the unique needs of older adults, particularly older women, and promotes their health and wellness. She has contributed to our understanding of aging and its impact both on individual patients and the healthcare system. These contributions include highlighting the need to consider sex, gender and age in research so that results are more relevant to older women and men and tailoring prescribing strategies to reduce adverse drug events.

    Dr. Rochon has a strong record of federal funding and has published more than 300 papers in peer-reviewed journals. She is the Vice-Chair of the CIHR Institute of Aging Advisory Board and has received research distinctions, including being elected to the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and being awarded the Eaton Clinical Researcher of the Year Award for 2020 from the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto. In January of 2020, she was invited to participate on an Advisory Group to support the Ministry of Long-Term Care in developing a long-term care staffing study; in April 2020 she was invited to join a national Task Group on COVID-19 in long-term care homes. This task group was convened to provide practical advice to the federal government on the topic of long-term care homes.

    Publications:
    Google Scholar Profile
    Affiliated with:
    Women’s Collage Hospital
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2022-05-10 (PDF), 2021-08-27 (PDF), 2021-05-27 (PDF), 2021-02-10 (PDF)

Members

  • Pat Armstrong

    MA, PhD, FRSC

    Distinguished Research Professor of Sociology, York University

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    Pat Armstrong

    MA, PhD, FRSC

    Distinguished Research Professor of Sociology, York University

    Pat Armstrong is Distinguished Research Professor in Sociology at York University and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. She held a CHSRF/CIHR Chair in Health Services and Nursing Research and chaired Women and Health Care Reform, a group funded for over a decade by Health Canada. She has served as Chair of the Department of Sociology at York, Director of the School of Canadian Studies at Carleton University and as a board member of both the Canadian Health Coalition and of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. She was Principal Investigator of the 10-year study “Reimagining Long-term Residential Care: An International Study of Promising Practices” as well as of numerous other research projects’, including a current one on families and COVID.

    Affiliated with:
    York University
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-23 (PDF), 2021-01-28 (PDF)

  • Kevin Antoine Brown

    MS, PhD

    Scientist, Infection Prevention and Control, Public Health Ontario Assistant Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto Adjunct Scientist, ICES

    Read More

    Kevin Antoine Brown

    MS, PhD

    Scientist, Infection Prevention and Control, Public Health Ontario Assistant Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto Adjunct Scientist, ICES

    Kevin Brown is an infectious disease epidemiologist and health services researcher at Public Health Ontario and the University of Toronto. He received his PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Toronto and his MSc in Biostatistics from the University of North Carolina. He studies healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial resistance, with a specialty in Clostridiodes difficile. His research has focused on creating reproducible indexes of antibiotic risk, understanding the role of built environment in infectious disease transmission, and documenting geographic variation in diagnosis of infections, prescribing of antibiotics, and outcomes.

    Publications:
    Google Scholar Profile
    Affiliated with:
    ICES, DLSPH, UofT, Public Health Ontario
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-10-14 (PDF), 2021-02-12 (PDF)

  • Andrew Costa

    PhD

    Associate Professor & Schlegel Chair in Clinical Epidemiology & Aging; Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact; Department of Medicine, McMaster University. Research Director, Centre for Integrated Care, St. Joseph’s Health System Adjunct Scientist, ICES

    Read More

    Andrew Costa

    PhD

    Associate Professor & Schlegel Chair in Clinical Epidemiology & Aging; Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact; Department of Medicine, McMaster University. Research Director, Centre for Integrated Care, St. Joseph’s Health System Adjunct Scientist, ICES

    Andrew Costa is the Schlegel Research Chair in Clinical Epidemiology & Aging and an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact as well as Department of Medicine at McMaster University. He serves as the Scientific Director of the St. Joseph’s Centre for Integrated Car, Research Director of the McMaster School of Medicine (Waterloo Campus), and is an Associate Scientific Director of the Canada Longitudinal Study on Aging. His program of research makes use of health information (‘big data’) to target, develop, and evaluate models of care in home and community care, emergency departments, hospitals, and long-term care (https://bdg.mcmaster.ca/). He also leads work on digital tools for health care, including caregivers (https://www.yourcareplus.ca). He is leading or co-leading large federally funded teams to answer questions how COVID-19 is impacting older adults, including long-term care, retirement homes, and hospital inpatients (https://www.coregontario.ca/).

    Publications:
    Google Scolar
    Affiliated with:
    HEI, McMaster University, BDG, McMaster
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-10-14 (PDF), 2021-01-26 (PDF)

  • Sudeep Gill

    MD MSc FRCPC

    Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, Queen’s University Senior Adjunct Scientist, ICES

    Read More

    Sudeep Gill

    MD MSc FRCPC

    Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, Queen’s University Senior Adjunct Scientist, ICES

    Geriatrician and health services researcher with interest in optimizing prescribing for frail older adults and transitions across different settings of care.

    Publications:
    PubMed
    Affiliated with:
    Queen’s University, ICES
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-27 (PDF), 2021-06-02 (PDF), 2021-01-26 (PDF)

  • Michael Hillmer

    PhD

    Assistant Deputy Minister, Capacity Planning and Analytics Division, Ministries of Health and Long-Term Care Assistant Professor, Institute for Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation, University of Toronto

    Read More

    Michael Hillmer

    PhD

    Assistant Deputy Minister, Capacity Planning and Analytics Division, Ministries of Health and Long-Term Care Assistant Professor, Institute for Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation, University of Toronto

    Michael is responsible for the development and implementation of strategic, coordinated approaches to health workforce and capacity planning ensuring that an optimal supply, mix, and distribution of health professionals. He leads the data and analytics portfolio for the ministries of health and long-term care providing insights to improve planning, programming, and accountability.

    He is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto’s Institute for Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation where he teaches and publishes in the areas of health services research and knowledge translation.

    Publications:
    PubMed Profile
    Affiliated with:
    IHPME, University of Toronto
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2022-06-23 (PDF), 2021-10-14 (PDF), 2021-02-10 (PDF), 2020-08-14 (PDF)

  • Jennie Johnstone

    MD, PhD, FRCPC

    Associate Professor, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto

    Read More

    Jennie Johnstone

    MD, PhD, FRCPC

    Associate Professor, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto

    Dr. Johnstone is an Infectious Diseases Physician at UHN/Sinai Health and is the Medical Director of Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) at Sinai Health. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at the University of Toronto. Her research interests focus on prevention of healthcare associated infections and she has published more than 90 peer reviewed research articles in the field. She has been involved in the COVID-19 pandemic response locally as Medical Director at Sinai Health and as an IPAC Hub providing support to Congregate Care settings and through her roles as Vice Chair of the Public Health Agency of Canada’s National Advisory of IPAC, as Chair of the Ontario’s Provincial Expert Testing Strategy Panel, and as Chair of the Toronto Region IPAC Hub Coordination Table.

    Publications:
    PubMed , ResearchGate
    Affiliated with:
    Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Laboratory Medicine & Pathobiology, University of Toronto
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-27 (PDF), 2021-05-25 (PDF), 2021-02-01 (PDF)

  • Kamil Malikov

    MD, MSc, MBA, CPA, CMA

    Senior Manager, Health Analytics Branch, Health System Information Management and Investment, Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care Toronto; Ontario Ministry of Health

    Read More

    Kamil Malikov

    MD, MSc, MBA, CPA, CMA

    Senior Manager, Health Analytics Branch, Health System Information Management and Investment, Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care Toronto; Ontario Ministry of Health

    Kamil was appointed as an inaugural director of Health Data Science Branch in the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care in April 2018. Before that Kamil worked as a Senior Manager, Methods and Modelling Unit in Health Analytics Branch since March 2009. In his current capacity, Kamil leads the predictive analytics, forecasting and artificial intelligence portfolio that supports decision making in the Ministries of Health and Long-Term Care. Prior to joining the Ministry, Kamil led large multicenter randomized clinical trial from McMaster University, worked in pharmaceutical industry, United Nations System. He also worked as a physician in hospitals and primary care in multiple jurisdictions and relief agencies. In addition to being international medial graduate, Kamil completed master’s degrees in health policy, planning and financing from London School Economics and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and business administration from McMaster University. Kamil is also chartered public accountant in Ontario. He also holds and appointment as an adjunct faculty with the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. In his role as a member of Modelling Consensus table Kamil led team efforts to provide administrative data to all members of the modeling table and led work on development of models to forecast LTC outbreaks, cases and death in LTC residents.

    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2022-01-07 (PDF)

  • Rachel Savage

    PhD

    Postdoctoral Fellow, Women’s College Hospital

    Read More

    Rachel Savage

    PhD

    Postdoctoral Fellow, Women’s College Hospital

    Dr. Savage received her MSc in epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and a PhD in epidemiology from the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. She has over ten years of local and provincial public health experience, and a proven track record in conducting impactful, applied, and collaborative public health research. Her research aims to improve the health of older adults, immigrants, and women. She is the principal investigator of a national study, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, that explores how loneliness and social isolation affects how older adults use the healthcare system. She is also a collaborator on a transnational initiative to explore medication safety in older women and men. Dr. Savage’s research is supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research postdoctoral fellowship.

    Publications:
    PubMed
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-10-14 (PDF), 2021-01-28 (PDF)

  • Peter Tanuseputro

    MHSc, MD

    Assistant Professor, Division of Palliative Care, Department of Medicine, University of Ottawa

    Read More

    Peter Tanuseputro

    MHSc, MD

    Assistant Professor, Division of Palliative Care, Department of Medicine, University of Ottawa

    Peter completed training as a Public Health and Preventive Medicine physician, and as a Family Physician at the University of Toronto. His current research includes using linked big data at ICES to develop population perspectives on aging and end of life in Ontario. Peter is involved in several provincial and national expert panels aimed at improving care for the aging. He holds a Tier 2 Clinical Research Chair in Palliative Care and Predictive Analytics, University of Ottawa. Peter also practices family medicine in the community including providing home visits to dying patients.

    Publications:
    PubMed
    Affiliated with:
    The Ottawa Hospital
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-27 (PDF), 2021-05-26 (PDF), 2021-01-26 (PDF)

Drugs & Biologics Clinical Practice Guidelines Working Group

The Drugs & Biologics Clinical Practice Guidelines Working Group is a group of scientists with recognized clinical or scientific expertise in drugs and biologics. The Working Group will evaluate existing scientific data, disease epidemiology, drug availability, and implementation issues in order to develop Clinical Practice Guidelines for the treatment of COVID-19 using medication and biologics.

The members are selected based on their recognized clinical and/or scientific expertise in drugs and biologics. Specifically, membership includes representation from academic and community medicine, critical care medicine, family medicine, general internal medicine, geriatrics, pediatrics, nursing, and pharmacy. The Working Group also includes a methodologist, epidemiologist, and knowledge translation and implementation science expert.

Leadership

  • Andrew Morris

    MD, SM

    Co-Chair Professor, Infectious Diseases, University of Toronto; Director, Antimicrobial Stewardship Program, Sinai Health and University Health Network

    Read More

    Andrew Morris

    MD, SM

    Co-Chair Professor, Infectious Diseases, University of Toronto; Director, Antimicrobial Stewardship Program, Sinai Health and University Health Network

    Dr. Andrew Morris is a Specialist in Infectious Diseases, and a Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto. He is the Director of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program at Sinai Health and University Health Network.

    He is Past Chair of the Antimicrobial Stewardship and Resistance Committee for the Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Canada and of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Committee for the Society for Hospital Epidemiology of America.

    His academic interests overlap the fields of epidemiology, behaviour change techniques, implementation science, and quality improvement as they relate to antimicrobial use and resistance.

    Publications:
    PubMed , Google Scholar
    Affiliated with:
    Sinai Health-University Health Network Antimicrobial Stewardship Program:
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-10-14 (PDF), 2021-05-26 (PDF), 2021-02-12 (PDF)

  • Menaka Pai

    MSc MD FRCPC

    Co-Chair Associate Professor of Medicine, McMaster University; Head of Service, Benign Hematology, Hamilton Health Sciences; Transfusion Medicine Quality Lead, Hamilton Regional Laboratory Medicine Program

    Read More

    Menaka Pai

    MSc MD FRCPC

    Co-Chair Associate Professor of Medicine, McMaster University; Head of Service, Benign Hematology, Hamilton Health Sciences; Transfusion Medicine Quality Lead, Hamilton Regional Laboratory Medicine Program

    Menaka Pai is an Associate Professor of Medicine at McMaster University, and a hematologist and thrombosis medicine physician at Hamilton Health Sciences. She is Head of Service for Benign Hematology at Hamilton Health Sciences, and Quality Lead for Transfusion Medicine in the Hamilton Regional Laboratory Medicine Program.

    Dr. Pai completed her medical training at McMaster University and the University of Toronto. She holds a Masters degree in Health Research Methodology from McMaster University, and her graduate work was supported by fellowships from Thrombosis Canada and the Canadian Hemophilia Society.

    Dr. Pai is a member of the McMaster Centre for Transfusion Research (MCTR) and the Thrombosis and Atherosclerosis Research Institute (TAARI). As a benign hematologist, her clinical interests focus on thrombosis and bleeding disorders. Her research interests include venous thromboembolism, transfusion medicine, research methods in rare diseases, and clinical practice guideline development. She is currently Chair of the American Society of Hematology’s Guideline Oversight Subcommittee.

    Publications:
    PubMed, Google Scholar , ResearchGate
    Affiliated with:
    McMaster University, Thrombosis and Atherosclerosis Research Institute
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-27 (PDF), 2021-05-25 (PDF), 2021-02-08 (PDF)

Members

  • Zainab Abdurrahman

    BSc, MMath, FRCPC

    Assistant Clinical Professor (Adjunct) of Pediatrics, McMaster University

    Read More

    Zainab Abdurrahman

    BSc, MMath, FRCPC

    Assistant Clinical Professor (Adjunct) of Pediatrics, McMaster University

    Dr. Zainab Abdurrahman is an adjunct assistant clinical professor in the Department of Pediatrics at McMaster University. She is a graduate of the University of Toronto Medical School and completed both her Pediatrics training as well as her subspecialty training in Clinical Immunology and Allergy at McMaster University. She also has a Masters degree in Statistics (Biostatistics) from the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Waterloo.

    At McMaster Children’s Hospital she is the allergy lead in the Special Immunization Clinic focusing on vaccine allergy. She also practices in the community in the Greater Toronto Area mainly in Mississauga.

    At a provincial level she is the Section Chair for the Section of Allergy and Clinical Immunology at the Ontario Medical Association as well as a member of the OMA Civility, Diversity, and Inclusion committee. She is also the Fellows in Training co-Supervisor for the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

    Affiliated with:
    McMaster University
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-30 (PDF), 2021-05-26 (PDF), 2021-02-08 (PDF)

  • Nisha Andany

    MD, MPH, FRCPC

    Physician, Division of Infectious Diseases, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre; Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto

    Read More

    Nisha Andany

    MD, MPH, FRCPC

    Physician, Division of Infectious Diseases, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre; Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto

    Dr. Andany completed medical school at the University of Toronto, followed by residency training in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, also at the University of Toronto. She has a Masters of Public Health (MPH) Degree from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Andany is an Infectious Diseases and HIV Specialist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and a member of the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto.

    Publications:
    PubMed Profile
    Affiliated with:
    Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-23 (PDF), 2021-05-25 (PDF), 2021-02-08 (PDF)

  • Martin Betts

    MD, FRCPC

    Chief, Department of Critical Care; Medical Director, Critical Care Program – Scarborough Health Network; Lecturer, Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care Medicine, University of Toronto

    Read More

    Martin Betts

    MD, FRCPC

    Chief, Department of Critical Care; Medical Director, Critical Care Program – Scarborough Health Network; Lecturer, Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care Medicine, University of Toronto

    Martin Betts is the inaugural Chief of the Department of Critical Care and Medical Director of the Critical Care Program at Scarborough Health Network and appointed in the Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care Medicine at the University of Toronto. In addition to critical care medicine he practices in internal medicine and adult sleep medicine and has advanced training in patient safety and quality improvement.

    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-23 (PDF), 2021-02-08 (PDF)

  • Stephanie Carlin

    PharmD, ACPR2

    Clinical Pharmacist, Hamilton Health Sciences

    Read More

    Stephanie Carlin

    PharmD, ACPR2

    Clinical Pharmacist, Hamilton Health Sciences

    Stephanie Carlin is a critical care pharmacist at Hamilton Health Sciences. She recently completed an advanced practice pharmacy residency in thrombosis at Sunnybrook Health Sciences. Dr. Carlin is an active student and resident preceptor. Her research interests include optimization of antithrombotic use in clinical practice.

    Publications:
    PubMed
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-23 (PDF), 2021-05-26 (PDF), 2021-02-10 (PDF)

  • William Ciccotelli

    MD

    Medical Director Infection Prevention and Control Infectious Diseases & Medical Microbiology, Grand River and St. Mary’s General Hospitals; Part time assistant professor – Department of Pathology & Molecular Medicine, McMaster University

    Read More

    William Ciccotelli

    MD

    Medical Director Infection Prevention and Control Infectious Diseases & Medical Microbiology, Grand River and St. Mary’s General Hospitals; Part time assistant professor – Department of Pathology & Molecular Medicine, McMaster University

    Dr. W. Ciccotelli has been practicing as an Infectious Diseases consultant and Medical Microbiologist since 2008.  He is currently serving as the Medical Director of Infection Prevention and Control for Grand River and St. Mary’s Hospitals.  A graduate of McMaster University, he remains a member of their faculty and is involved in post graduate medical education at the local campus.
    Over the years he has served on a number of working groups and professional committees related to best practice development in infection control, antimicrobial stewardship and resource utilization (Choosing Wisely Canada).

    Affiliated with:
    McMaster University
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-27 (PDF), 2021-05-26 (PDF), 2021-02-08 (PDF)

  • Wayne Gold

    Read More

    Wayne Gold

    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-10-14 (PDF), 2021-05-26 (PDF), 2021-02-10 (PDF)

  • Christopher Graham

    MD, FRCPC

    Lecturer, University of Toronto; Investigator, Institute for Better Health, Trillium Health Partners

    Read More

    Christopher Graham

    MD, FRCPC

    Lecturer, University of Toronto; Investigator, Institute for Better Health, Trillium Health Partners

    Infectious diseases physician at Trillium Health Partners since 2005. Physician lead for the THP Antimicrobial Stewardship Program, with an interest in quality improvement work, and researcher at THP’s Institute for Better Health.

    Publications:
    Changing results to change results: Nudging antimicrobial prescribing for C. difficile. , Identification and characterization of invasive multi-drug-resistant (MDR) Bacteroides genomospecies in Canada. , Predictors of Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter Occlusion in the Outpatient Parenteral Antimicrobial Therapy Setting. , Severe delayed hemolysis associated with regulated parenteral antimalarial drug. , Evaluation of the Binax NOW ICT test versus polymerase chain reaction and microscopy for the detection of malaria in returned travelers.
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-23 (PDF), 2021-02-08 (PDF)

  • Andrew Healey

    MD, FRCPC

    Associate Clinical Professor, Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Medicine, McMaster University

    Read More

    Andrew Healey

    MD, FRCPC

    Associate Clinical Professor, Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Medicine, McMaster University

    Andrew is an emergency and critical care physician at William Osler Health System. He is the former medical director and division head of Critical Care and now serves as the Chief of Emergency Services. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Andrew has co-chaired the COVID Clinical Response Committee for Osler. He is the Chief Medical Officer (Donation) for Trillium Gift of Life Network remaining committed to an interest in end of life care inside and outside of the ICU. He currently works part-time as an emergency physician at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton.

    Originally from Newfoundland, Andrew completed medical school at Memorial University of Newfoundland and his residency and fellowship training at McMaster University. He is a member of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons examination boards for Critical Care Medicine and Emergency Medicine and chairs the Area of Focus Competency (AFC) Committee for Acute Care Point of Care Ultrasound.

    He is married to his overly supportive wife Michelle and has four beautiful (home-schooling!) children (12, 10, 7, and 5).

    Publications:
    Google Scholar, ORCID Profile
    Affiliated with:
    McMaster University
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-05-31 (PDF), 2021-02-09 (PDF)

  • Kimia Honarmand

    MSc, MD, FRCPC

    Adjunct Scientist, Division of Critical Care Department of Medicine, Western University

    Read More

    Kimia Honarmand

    MSc, MD, FRCPC

    Adjunct Scientist, Division of Critical Care Department of Medicine, Western University

    Dr. Kimia Honarmand is an adult critical care specialist at London Health Sciences Centre and adjunct scientist at Western University and Lawson Health Research Institute. She holds a Masters Degree from the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Toronto and a PhD candidate in Clinical Epidemiology in the Health Research Methodology program at McMaster University.

    She has expertise in research methodology and design, primarily systematic review and meta-analysis, observational study designs, and qualitative and mixed methods research. She has over 30 peer-reviewed publications on topics related to neuropsychological outcomes in survivors of critical illness and controversial practices in deceased organ donation. She is leading several studies evaluating outcomes of COVID-19 and the impact of the pandemic on the healthcare workforce. She also serves as guideline methodologist on several Clinical Practice Guidelines sponsored by the Canadian Critical Care Society (CCCS), Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM), among other national and international organizations.

    Publications:
    PubMed
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-10-28 (PDF)

  • Lianne Jeffs

    RN, PhD, FAAN, FCAN

    Associate Professor, Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation; Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto

    Read More

    Lianne Jeffs

    RN, PhD, FAAN, FCAN

    Associate Professor, Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation; Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto

    Dr. Lianne Jeffs has extensive leadership experience and an impressive track record in clinical and health services research with a focus on quality improvement, patient safety and implementation science. She has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles in high impact journals and has secured over $10 million in funding as principal and co-investigator. Her program area of research focused on improving care transitions for complex patients; optimizing the use of performance data to drive quality care; and translating evidence to enhance quality care, organizational learning and health system performance. She currently holds an Associate Professor status with the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing and the Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. She has also held a variety of leadership positions in policy and research that has included the development of evaluation frameworks and performance measures to evaluate impact of new models of care and interventions. She has been involved in advancing the profession of nursing forward globally with the work she has done in nursing human health resources with the International Council of Nurses and nationally and provincially co-leading a variety of expert committees. She has received numerous awards for leadership and scholarship efforts including being inducted into the inaugural Fellow of Canadian Academy of Nursing in 2020 and Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing in October 2015.

    Publications:
    PubMed Profile, Publons Profile
    Affiliated with:
    Sinai Health, DLSPH, University of Toronto, Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto

  • Peter Jüni

    MD, FESC

    Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology, Department of Medicine and Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto Director, Applied Health Research Centre, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael’s Hospital

    Read More

    Peter Jüni

    MD, FESC

    Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology, Department of Medicine and Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto Director, Applied Health Research Centre, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael’s Hospital

    Peter is a general internist and epidemiologist, and the Director of the Applied Health Research Centre (AHRC) at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael’s Hospital. He holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Clinical Epidemiology of Chronic Diseases, and is a Professor of Medicine at the Department of Medicine and a Professor of Epidemiology at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. He is a graduate of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Bern in Switzerland, completed his training in internal medicine at various hospitals in Switzerland, and was a Research Fellow at the Department of Social Medicine at the University of Bristol, UK. Prior to joining St. Michael’s Hospital, Peter was the Director of the Institute of Primary Health Care and Professor of Primary Care and Clinical Epidemiology at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Bern in Switzerland. He held previous appointments as Director of the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine at the University of Bern and Founding Director of CTU Bern, the University’s clinical trials unit.

    Peter is internationally renowned for his methodological work and for his clinical research on the management of cardiovascular and musculoskeletal disorders. A Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology, he has had leading roles in several major cardiovascular trials, including SIRTAX, LEADERS, FAME 2 and MATRIX, served as a member of several task forces of the European Society of Cardiology and co-authored the European guidelines on myocardial revascularization and on the management of acute myocardial infarction. Peter was Editor of two Cochrane Review Groups, and contributed to the Cochrane Risk of bias tools for randomized and non-randomized studies. Since March 2020, he has worked nearly exclusively on clinical trials, observational studies, basic research and science communication related to COVID-19. From July 2020 to May 2022, he served as the Scientific Director of the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table. He contributed to over 500 papers, which were cited more than 150,000 times. Since 2015 he has been recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher.

    Publications:
    PubMed Profile, Google Scholar
    Affiliated with:
    IHPME, University of Toronto, AHRC, St. Michael’s Hospital
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2022-03-02 (PDF), 2022-02-25 (PDF), 2022-02-07 (PDF), 2021-11-04 (PDF), 2021-07-02 (PDF), 2021-05-12 (PDF), 2021-02-12 (PDF), 2020-08-11 (PDF)

  • Bradley Langford

    BScPhm, PharmD, BCIDP

    Pharmacist Consultant, Public Health Ontario Antimicrobial Stewardship Pharmacist Lead, Hotel Dieu Shaver Health and Rehabilitation Centre

    Read More

    Bradley Langford

    BScPhm, PharmD, BCIDP

    Pharmacist Consultant, Public Health Ontario Antimicrobial Stewardship Pharmacist Lead, Hotel Dieu Shaver Health and Rehabilitation Centre

    Bradley Langford is a pharmacist consultant with the antimicrobial stewardship program at Public Health Ontario and the lead antimicrobial stewardship pharmacist at Hotel Dieu Shaver Health and Rehabilitation Centre. Brad received his Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy at the University of Toronto and Doctor of Pharmacy degree at the University of Colorado. Brad is a Board-Certified Infectious Disease Pharmacist and his practice and research interests include implementation and evaluation of initiatives to improve the quality of antimicrobial use in all healthcare settings.

    Publications:
    Google Scholar
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-23 (PDF), 2021-05-25 (PDF), 2021-02-10 (PDF)

  • Elizabeth Leung

    PharmD, MSCI, BCPS AQ-ID

    Clinical Pharmacy Specialist (Infectious Diseases/Antimicrobial Stewardship), St. Michael’s Hospital/Unity Health Toronto. Practice-Based Researcher (Status), Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute

    Read More

    Elizabeth Leung

    PharmD, MSCI, BCPS AQ-ID

    Clinical Pharmacy Specialist (Infectious Diseases/Antimicrobial Stewardship), St. Michael’s Hospital/Unity Health Toronto. Practice-Based Researcher (Status), Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute

    Dr. Leung is an infectious diseases clinical pharmacist, and co-leads the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program (ASP) at St. Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health Toronto. She completed her Doctorate of Pharmacy at MCPHS-Boston in 2009, and holds a Masters of Clinical Investigation (MSCI) from Northwestern University. Dr. Leung’s post-graduate clinical training includes a PGY1 clinical practice residency (UCSF), and PGY2/3 specialty residency training in infectious diseases and critical care (Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Rush Medical Center, Midwestern University/Chicago College of Pharmacy).

    Dr. Leung is a practice-based researcher with the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute (LKSKI) and Adjunct Lecturer with Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy (LDFP), University of Toronto. She is the current chair of the Board of Pharmacotherapy Specialists (BPS) inaugural ID Specialty Council, which advises upon conferring specialty certification designation to qualified infectious diseases clinical pharmacists, and current co-chair of the Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists (CSHP) COVID-19 Pharmacy Specialty Network (PSN). Dr. Leung is also an active member of the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists (SIDP), and has served as an invited panelist for the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) Standards Setting Committee for Board Certified Critical Care Pharmacists (BCCCP). Her research interests include antimicrobial stewardship, optimizing pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics (PK/PD) for multi-drug resistant organisms, and enhancing microbiology antibiograms for clinical use.

    Publications:
    PubMed
    Affiliated with:
    St. Michael’s Hospital
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-23 (PDF), 2021-05-25 (PDF), 2021-02-08 (PDF)

  • Kate Miller

    MD, CCFP, FCFP

    Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Family Medicine, McMaster University

    Read More

    Kate Miller

    MD, CCFP, FCFP

    Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Family Medicine, McMaster University

    Dr Miller is a generalist family physician and Assistant Clinical Professor at McMaster University. Her scope of clinical practice includes primary care, maternal-newborn care and emergency medicine in both rural and community hospitals. This breadth of clinical and geographic experience informs her context expertise in health care delivery, especially in the areas of low-risk maternal newborn care and care close to home. Most recently, she served as Co-Chair for the Provincial Council for Maternal Child Health’s COVID-19 Pregnancy Care Guidelines.

    Publications:
    Maternal-Neonatal COVID-19 Pregnancy Care Guideline, PCMCH General Guideline
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-10-29 (PDF), 2021-05-26 (PDF), 2021-02-08 (PDF)

  • Ullanda Niel

    MD, CCFP, FCFP

    Family Physician, Scarborough Center for Healthy Communities

    Read More

    Ullanda Niel

    MD, CCFP, FCFP

    Family Physician, Scarborough Center for Healthy Communities

    Dr. Ullanda Niel is a Family Physician at the Scarborough Center for Healthy Communities in Toronto. She completed a residency in Family Practice and a Fellowship in the Primary Care of Adults with Intellectual Disabilities at Queen’s University. Dr. Niel participated in creating The 2018 Canadian consensus guidelines on primary care for adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and clinical resources for the transition of youth with intellectual disabilities to adult care. Through her inner city community health center, she cares for new immigrants, refugees and people with intellectual disabilities/autism including work at an in-school health clinic. She also works at Participation House, Markham, a group home for adults with cerebral palsy/intellectual disabilities.

    Publications:
    Developmental Disabilities Primary Care Program, Primary care of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities
    Affiliated with:
    Scarborough Centre for Healthy Communities, Participation House
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-30 (PDF), 2021-02-11 (PDF)

  • Caroline Nott

    MBBS, MSc, FRCPC

    Director, Antimicrobial Stewardship Program, The Ottawa Hospital; Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Ottawa; Clinician Investigator, Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

    Read More

    Caroline Nott

    MBBS, MSc, FRCPC

    Director, Antimicrobial Stewardship Program, The Ottawa Hospital; Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Ottawa; Clinician Investigator, Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

    Caroline Nott is an Infectious Diseases physician and Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Ottawa. She is the Director of The Ottawa Hospital (TOH) Antimicrobial Stewardship Program, Chair of the Antimicrobial Sub-committee of the TOH Pharmacy & Therapeutics Committee, and a COVID-19 Pandemic Support Lead for TOH. Nationally, she is a member of the Antimicrobial Stewardship and Resistance Committee of the Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (AMMI) Canada.

    Dr. Nott holds a MSc in Public Health, Health Services Management, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and is a Clinician Investigator in the Clinical Epidemiology Program at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI). Her research focuses on novel strategies, such as the use of behavioural techniques, to improve antimicrobial prescribing.

    Publications:
    PubMed
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-27 (PDF), 2021-05-26 (PDF), 2021-02-10 (PDF)

  • Sumit Raybardhan

    BSc Phm, ACPR, MPH, BCIDP

    Board Certified Infectious Diseases Pharmacist, North York General Hospital

    Read More

    Sumit Raybardhan

    BSc Phm, ACPR, MPH, BCIDP

    Board Certified Infectious Diseases Pharmacist, North York General Hospital

    Sumit Raybardhan is a Board Certified Infectious Diseases Pharmacist that practices at North York General Hospital, where he also co-leads the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program. His post-graduate work included a Masters in Public Health specializing in Epidemiology and International Health from Boston University. He has had experiences in the institutional hospital setting as a clinical pharmacist and at regional and international organizations such as Public Health Ontario, UNICEF, and Medicines for Malaria Venture. He currently focuses on pragmatic practice-based research on optimizing antimicrobial use.

    Publications:
    PubMed
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-27 (PDF), 2021-05-25 (PDF), 2021-02-10 (PDF)

  • Noel Rosen

    B.Sc., MD, CCFP, FCFP

    Patient Representative Community Family Physician, DFCM, NYGH

    Read More

    Noel Rosen

    B.Sc., MD, CCFP, FCFP

    Patient Representative Community Family Physician, DFCM, NYGH

    In active family practice since 1969.  Developed severe COVID-19 pneumonia in January, 2021, requiring mechanical ventilation.

    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-23 (PDF), 2021-05-25 (PDF), 2021-05-04 (PDF)

  • Liliana Volnikova

    RPN

    Patient Representative Director Of Health and Wellness, Bradgate Arms Retirement Residence, REVERA

    Read More

    Liliana Volnikova

    RPN

    Patient Representative Director Of Health and Wellness, Bradgate Arms Retirement Residence, REVERA

    Liliana completed her medical degree in Russia prior to coming to Canada. She brings almost 20 years of experience working with seniors in one of the prestigious retirement residences in Toronto. Liliana brings insight on COVID both as a nursing care provider and a patient.

    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-10-14 (PDF), 2021-05-25 (PDF)

  • Anu Wadhwa

    MD, MEd, FRCPC

    Associate Professor, University of Toronto; Staff Physician, Hospital for Sick Children

    Read More

    Anu Wadhwa

    MD, MEd, FRCPC

    Associate Professor, University of Toronto; Staff Physician, Hospital for Sick Children

    Anu Wadhwa is a staff physician and clinician educator in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-02-10 (PDF)

  • Peter E. Wu

    MD, MSc, FRCPC

    Staff Physician, Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics, University Health Network/Sinai Health System; Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto

    Read More

    Peter E. Wu

    MD, MSc, FRCPC

    Staff Physician, Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics, University Health Network/Sinai Health System; Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto

    Internal Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology/Toxicology Specialist, with a Masters degree in Quality Improvement and Patient Safety. Staff Physician in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics at the University Health Network/Sinai Health System. Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, University of Toronto.

    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-10-29 (PDF), 2021-02-10 (PDF)

Observers

Mental Health Working Group

The Mental Health Working Group is a group of mental health experts and public health leaders who summarize scientific evidence on mental health in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Working Group focuses on the topics of maintaining mental health during COVID-19, the mental health burden of disease and public health interventions on individuals across the lifespan, including children and adolescents, and the older adult population, as well as the need for assessment and recommendations regarding the mental health of communities and populations disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, including Black, Indigenous, and other racialized populations.

The Working Group members were selected based on specific expertise in mental health of children and youth, adults and geriatric populations, mental health of health care providers, women’s health, mental health among LGBTQ persons, mental health among Black, Indigenous, and other racialized populations, and COVID-19.

Leadership

  • Linda Mah

    MD, MHSc, FRCPC

    Co-Chair Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Division of Geriatric Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto Associate Member, Institute of Medical Science, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto Senior Scientist, Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Health Sciences Staff Psychiatrist, Baycrest Health Sciences

    Read More

    Linda Mah

    MD, MHSc, FRCPC

    Co-Chair Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Division of Geriatric Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto Associate Member, Institute of Medical Science, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto Senior Scientist, Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Health Sciences Staff Psychiatrist, Baycrest Health Sciences

    Dr. Linda Mah is a Clinician Scientist at the Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Health Sciences, an Associate Professor in Psychiatry, Division of Geriatric Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, and an Associate Member of the Institute of Medical Science, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto. Dr. Mah obtained her MD at the University of Calgary and completed a psychiatric residency at McGill University, followed by clinical neuropsychiatry specialty training at the University of Massachusetts and formal research training in cognitive and affective neurosciences at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA. She has a Master of Health Sciences degree from Duke University, USA.

    Dr. Mah’s research program focuses on understanding the relationship between cognition and emotion and their neuroanatomical correlates in healthy aging and in disorders of the elderly, including late-life depression (LLD), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Her research employs converging methods including behavioural paradigms, neuropsychological assessment, neuroimaging, and more recently, psychophysiology. She has a particular interest in examining emotion dysregulation and other neuropsychiatric symptoms as potential biomarkers of AD risk, and in understanding the link between stress and development of AD. Dr. Mah is also the PI or site PI on clinical trials focused on treatment-refractory depression in older adults and studies using brain stimulation as an intervention for cognitive decline in older adults at risk for developing AD, including those with remitted depression, subjective cognitive decline (SCD) or MCI.

    Dr. Mah’s work has been funded by the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada, Brain Canada, and the Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovation. She is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

    Publications:
    Pubmed , ResearchGate
    Affiliated with:
    Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-27 (PDF), 2021-05-26 (PDF), 2021-04-05 (PDF), 2021-03-25 (PDF), 2021-02-02 (PDF), 2020-07-30 (PDF)

  • Christopher Mushquash

    PhD, CPsych

    Co-Chair Professor, Department of Psychology, Lakehead University, and the Northern Ontario School of Medicine; Psychologist, Dilico Anishinabek Family Care; Director, Centre for Rural and Northern Health Research, Lakehead University, Interim Executive Vice President Research, Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre; Chief Scientist, Thunder Bay Regional Health Research Institute

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    Christopher Mushquash

    PhD, CPsych

    Co-Chair Professor, Department of Psychology, Lakehead University, and the Northern Ontario School of Medicine; Psychologist, Dilico Anishinabek Family Care; Director, Centre for Rural and Northern Health Research, Lakehead University, Interim Executive Vice President Research, Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre; Chief Scientist, Thunder Bay Regional Health Research Institute

    Dr. Christopher Mushquash is a registered clinical psychologist and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Mental Health and Addiction, with expertise in rural and northern clinical practice and the development of culturally appropriate interventions for mental health and addiction difficulties in First Nations children, adolescents, and adults. He is an academic researcher and Indigenous scholar who was born and raised in rural Northwestern Ontario. He is Ojibway, and a member of Pays Plat First Nation.

    Publications:
    Personal Publication Profile
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-03-25 (PDF), 2021-03-02 (PDF), 2020-07-22 (PDF)

Members

  • Peter Braunberger

    PhD, MD, FRCPC

    Assistant Professor, Northern Ontario School of Medicine

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    Peter Braunberger

    PhD, MD, FRCPC

    Assistant Professor, Northern Ontario School of Medicine

    Practicing child and adolescent psychiatrist in Northern Ontario.

    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-04-13 (PDF)

  • Chiachen Cheng

    MD, FRCP(C), MPH

    Assistant Professor Northern Ontario School of Medicine; Medical Director Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, St Joseph’s Care Group Thunder Bay and Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre

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    Chiachen Cheng

    MD, FRCP(C), MPH

    Assistant Professor Northern Ontario School of Medicine; Medical Director Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, St Joseph’s Care Group Thunder Bay and Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre

    Dr. Chiachen (Chi) Cheng is a Child & Adolescent, Adult Psychiatrist and Physician-Researcher. Dr. Cheng completed her General Psychiatry residency and Child & Adolescent Psychiatry sub-specialization at McMaster University. After receiving Master’s of Public Health at Harvard University, she moved to Northern Ontario to implement and evaluate Northwestern Ontario’s sole early psychosis intervention program.
    Dr. Cheng’s primary research interests are early intervention for youth mental health, evidence based practice as it interfaces with paediatric and youth mental health policy, and models of care for vulnerable populations in rural or remote settings.
    In 2012, Dr. Cheng was awarded a three-year New Investigator Research Grant from the Sick Kids Foundation and Canadian Institutes of Health Research for the NorthBEAT Project, with the goal to identify the mental health service needs of youth in Northern Ontario. In 2017, Dr. Cheng and the NorthBEAT team received an Ontario Trillium Foundation-Youth Opportunities Fund grant to support the NorthBEAT Collaborative. This diverse collaborative will enhance access to appropriate services for youth with psychosis who live in Northwestern Ontario. Dr. Cheng received the PSI Foundation’s four-year PSI-50 Mid-Career Clinical Research Award in 2019 to continue her research program in health services and policy research.
    Dr. Cheng participates in peer review committees including at NOAMA, Sick Kids Foundation, and Canadian Institutes of Health Research. She is an Associate Editor of the Early Intervention in Psychiatry Journal and an Associate Editor on the Board of Mental Health Services, specialty section of Frontiers in Health Services, a new journal that will be launched in April 2021. Her research has examined program implementation and development, fidelity to Ontario’s Early Psychosis Intervention standards, evaluation of training for healthcare workers, evaluation of delivery of services in rural and remote regions, and pathways to care among vulnerable populations such as youth, or Indigenous communities.

    Affiliated with:
    NorthBEAT
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-04-06 (PDF)

  • Melanie Kohn

    MBA, PhD

    Assistant Deputy Minister, Mental Health and Addictions and Adjunct Lecturerr, University of Toronto

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    Melanie Kohn

    MBA, PhD

    Assistant Deputy Minister, Mental Health and Addictions and Adjunct Lecturerr, University of Toronto

    Melanie Kohn has worked in the Ontario public healthcare sector for almost 20 years.

    In July 2020, she was appointed Assistant Deputy Minister, Mental Health and Addictions, overseeing the funding and operations of the sector, the realization of the Roadmap to Wellness, and to support standing up the Mental Health and Addictions Centre of Excellence at Ontario Health.

    In 2016, Melanie joined the Ministry of Health as the inaugural Director of the Hospitals Branch. She was responsible for overseeing the operations, finances, and administration of the Public and Private Hospital Acts providing legislative and regulatory oversight for the province’s 145 hospitals.

    Prior to joining the Ontario Public Service, she spent the majority of her career in acute hospitals, most notably at St. Michael’s Hospital for over 12 years, in senior operational and strategic roles, including strategy and corporate planning, project management and research administration.

    Melanie holds an MBA, with a specialization in Health Services Management, from McMaster University, and a PhD in Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation from University of Toronto. She is Adjunct Lecturer at University of Toronto, at the Institute for Health Policy, Management and Evaluation in the Faculty of Medicine, and is a member of the Program Advisory Committee for the School of Health Services Management at Ryerson University.

    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-27 (PDF), 2021-04-13 (PDF)

  • Paul Kurdyak

    MD, PhD(c)

    Clinical Lead, Mental Health and Addictions Centre of Excellence, Ontario Health Clinician Scientist, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH); Core Senior Scientist, ICES; Chair, Addiction and Mental Health Policy, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

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    Paul Kurdyak

    MD, PhD(c)

    Clinical Lead, Mental Health and Addictions Centre of Excellence, Ontario Health Clinician Scientist, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH); Core Senior Scientist, ICES; Chair, Addiction and Mental Health Policy, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

    Dr. Paul Kurdyak is a psychiatrist, clinician scientist in the Institute of Mental Health Policy Research, and Medical Director of Performance Improvement at CAMH. He is also a Core Senior Scientist and Lead of the Mental Health and Addiction Program at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences. He holds the position of Clinical Lead of the Mental Health and Addictions Centre of Excellence at Ontario. He holds the Chair in Addictions and Mental Health Policy, Institute for Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto.

    Publications:
    PubMed Profile
    Affiliated with:
    DLSPH, University of Toronto, CAMH, Ontario Health
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-05-26 (PDF), 2021-03-25 (PDF)

  • Robert Maunder

    MD

    Professor of Psychiatry, University of Toronto; Deputy Psychiatrist-in-Chief, Sinai Health

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    Robert Maunder

    MD

    Professor of Psychiatry, University of Toronto; Deputy Psychiatrist-in-Chief, Sinai Health

    Bob Maunder is the Chair of Health and Behaviour at Sinai Health System. His research, in collaboration with Dr. Jon Hunter, focuses on how interpersonal relationships and psychological stress influence health. He was the lead author of a series of studies describing the long-term psychological impact of SARS on hospital workers and is leading a CIHR-funded study of the positive impact of Peer Resilience Champions to mitigate the psychological impact of COVID-19 on healthcare workers. He is the author of 4 books and over 100 papers and chapters describing this work.

    Publications:
    PubMed Profile, Google Scholar Profile
    Affiliated with:
    University of Toronto Department of Psychiatry
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-27 (PDF), 2021-03-25 (PDF)

  • Kwame McKenzie

    MD

    CEO Wellesley Institute; Professor Psychiatry U of T; Director of Health Equity CAMH

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    Kwame McKenzie

    MD

    CEO Wellesley Institute; Professor Psychiatry U of T; Director of Health Equity CAMH

    Dr. Kwame McKenzie is CEO Of Wellesley Institute an international expert on the social causes of mental illness, suicide and the development of effective, equitable health systems.
    D. McKenzie is also Director of Health Equity at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), a Full Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto and a consultant working with the World Health Organization on equity.
    As a policy advisor, clinician and academic with over 250 papers, 5 books, and numerous awards he has worked across a broad spectrum to improve population health and health services for three decades.
    He is a Co-Chair of the Expert Task Force on Substance Misuse, a member of the National Advisory Council on Poverty, a member of Canada’s Expert Advisory Panel on COVID-19 and Mental Health, the Minister of Health’s Covid-19 Testing and Tracing Advisory and was a member of Canada’s Delegation to the High Level Political Forum on the Social Development Goals.
    Dr. McKenzie was previously a Human Rights Commissioner for Ontario and Chair of the Research and Evaluation Advisory Committee of Ontario’s Basic Income Pilot. In addition to his academic, policy and clinical work, Kwame has been a columnist for the Guardian, Times-online and Toronto Star and a past BBC Radio presenter.

    Publications:
    PubMed Profile
    Affiliated with:
    CAMH
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-03-29 (PDF)

  • Braden O’Neill

    MD, DPhil, CCFP

    Assistant Professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto; Clinician-Scientist, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute and Department of Family and Community Medicine, St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto

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    Braden O’Neill

    MD, DPhil, CCFP

    Assistant Professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto; Clinician-Scientist, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute and Department of Family and Community Medicine, St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto

    Dr. O’Neill is a Scientist in the MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto. He is a Family Physician in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at St. Michael’s Hospital, and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto.

    His research interests include primary care for people with serious mental illness, and the use of electronic medical record data for improving the quality and provision of primary care. His research is at the intersection of primary care and psychiatry, identifying ways to work together better across health and social care to improve the lives of people with complex physical and mental health needs. Dr. O’Neill’s research program includes collaborators in academic and community settings. He collaborates on large-scale primary care randomized controlled trials in several areas including hypertension management and deprescribing among older adults. He has an MD from the University of Calgary and a DPhil (PhD) from the University of Oxford, and completed Family Medicine residency at the University of Toronto. He practices comprehensive family medicine at the St. Lawrence Health Centre, part of the St. Michael’s Academic Family Health Team in Toronto.

    Publications:
    Google Scholar Profile
    Affiliated with:
    MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-10-29 (PDF), 2021-05-25 (PDF), 2021-03-25 (PDF)

  • Kathryn H. Short

    PhD

    Executive Director, School Mental Health Ontario

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    Kathryn H. Short

    PhD

    Executive Director, School Mental Health Ontario

    Dr. Kathy Short is a Clinical Child Psychologist (UBC, 1995) with research and practice interests in school mental health promotion, knowledge mobilization, and implementation science. She is the Executive Director for School Mental Health Ontario, a provincial implementation team supporting the uptake and sustainability of evidence-based mental health promotion and prevention programming in schools. Dr. Short is a founding member of the Canadian School Mental Health Leadership Network, a cross-provincial group that strives to equip school system leaders with evidence-based information to guide decision-making related to school mental health. She co-chairs the School Mental Health International Leadership Exchange (SMHILE), a network of global leaders focused on key themes in mental health promotion, prevention, and early intervention in schools.

    Affiliated with:
    School Mental Health Ontario
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-09-01 (PDF), 2021-05-25 (PDF), 2021-03-26 (PDF)

  • Gillian Strudwick

    RN, PhD, FAMIA

    Chief Nursing Executive (Interim) and Scientist; Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Assistant Professor, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto

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    Gillian Strudwick

    RN, PhD, FAMIA

    Chief Nursing Executive (Interim) and Scientist; Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Assistant Professor, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto

    Gillian Strudwick conducts research at the intersection of mental health, health services and digital health/informatics, often drawing upon approaches from implementations science.

    Publications:
    PubMed Profile, Google Scholar Profile
    Affiliated with:
    CAMH, University of Toronto
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-23 (PDF), 2021-05-26 (PDF), 2021-03-25 (PDF)

  • Nancy Young

    BScPT, MSc, PhD

    Senior Scientist, CHEO Research Institute; Scientist, SickKids Resarch Institute; Senior Scientist, ICES; Professor Emeritus, Laurentian University

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    Nancy Young

    BScPT, MSc, PhD

    Senior Scientist, CHEO Research Institute; Scientist, SickKids Resarch Institute; Senior Scientist, ICES; Professor Emeritus, Laurentian University

    Dr. Nancy Young is a child health measurement scientist who completed her graduate training in Clinical Epidemiology and Medical Science at the University of Toronto. She began her career as a Scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children, where she remains an Adjunct Scientist. She is currently a Professor and Director of the School of Rural and Northern Health at Laurentian University, where she has held a Research Chair in Rural and Northern Children’s Health since 2005. She is also a Senior Scientist at the CHEO Research Institute and IC/ES.
    Dr. Young has spent 25 years applying measurement science to give children a voice in their own health assessment. Her primary focus is the assessment of Indigenous children’s health. This work is based on respectful collaboration with leaders from Nandewege Gegamig Wikwemikong Health Centre and other Indigenous organizations. Together they are gathering high-quality local data to inform health services planning and evaluation. Her research program is funded by CHIR, SPOR, the Cundill Foundation and MCCSS and is working to develop and share best practices for evidence gathering and sharing with and for Indigenous communities.

    Publications:
    ResearchGate Profile, ORCiD Profile, ACHWM Profile
    Affiliated with:
    CHEO Research Institute
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-10-29 (PDF), 2021-05-25 (PDF), 2021-03-25 (PDF)

Secretariat

  • Cinthia Tao

    MSc, PhD(c)

    Research Associate PhD Candidate, Department of Psychology, University of Toronto

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    Cinthia Tao

    MSc, PhD(c)

    Research Associate PhD Candidate, Department of Psychology, University of Toronto

    Cinthia Tao is a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto in the Department of Psychology. She completed a BSc (Hons) and MSc in Psychology at Queen’s University in Kingston with a focus on the neurobiology of stress and anxiety in animal models. Her doctoral research broadly examines the complex relationships between stress and substance use behaviours. Using both behavioural and neurobiological methods, she aims to link various forms of stress (childhood adversity, acute and chronic stress, current life stress) to the underlying processes involved in reward and risk-taking. Concurrently, she also considers the roles that social determinants of health serve as factors influencing this relationship.

    Publications:
    Google Scholar Profile
    Affiliated with:
    University of Toronto
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-27 (PDF), 2021-05-25 (PDF)

  • Elaine Toombs

    PhD

    Research Associate Dilico Anishinabek Family Care

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    Elaine Toombs

    PhD

    Research Associate Dilico Anishinabek Family Care

    Dr. Elaine Toombs has recently completed her PhD in Clinical Psychology at Lakehead University. Her dissertation research examined adverse childhood experiences in a First Nations substance use treatment-seeking population. She currently is employed clinically with a primary care travelling team through Dilico Anishinabek Family Care, an Indigenous health organization located in Fort William First Nation. Through this role, Dr. Toombs provides on-reserve mental health services to 13 Indigenous communities in the district of Thunder Bay. Dr. Toombs’ research interests include First Nations mental health, adverse childhood experiences, culturally-relevant treatment, and resilience.

    Publications:
    ResearchGate Profile
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-04-20 (PDF)

  • Lynn Zhu

    PhD, MSc

    Research Associate Evaluation Researcher and Epidemiologist, Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences

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    Lynn Zhu

    PhD, MSc

    Research Associate Evaluation Researcher and Epidemiologist, Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences

    Dr. Lynn Zhu is an evaluation researcher and epidemiologist at Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences. In this role, she advises clinical teams and service providers across Ontario Shores and its partner organizations throughout Ontario on the evaluation of innovative mental health services and technologies. She also conducts scientific research using evaluation and epidemiological methods.

    Prior to this, Dr. Zhu was a postdoctoral researcher at the Rotman Research Institute (at Baycrest Health Sciences) and Women’s College Hospital, where she specialized in health services and evaluation research in a geriatric, dementia and cognitive health context. She holds a PhD in Population Epidemiology (Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University) and a MSc in Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (Health and Aging stream, Western University). She also has over 10 years of work experience evaluating community-based services and programs for regional and international organizations, including the Canadian Red Cross.

    Additionally, Dr. Zhu is a reviewer for the scientific journal Alzheimer’s and Dementia, and a co-organizer of a mental health outreach event for the East Asian Women Empowerment initiative – a grassroots group focused on mentoring and mobilizing diverse young women of East Asian descent in Canada.

    Publications:
    ResearchGate Profile
    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-10-08 (PDF), 2021-04-20 (PDF)

  • Kathy Torkos

    Administrative Assistant Administrative Assistant, Environmental and Occupational Health, Public Health Ontario

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    Kathy Torkos

    Administrative Assistant Administrative Assistant, Environmental and Occupational Health, Public Health Ontario

    Kathy Torkos currently works at Public Health Ontario as an Administrative Assistant in Environmental and Occupational Health.  She has worn many hats in her role as an Administrative Assistant within PHO.  She started with the Regional Infection Control Networks during the SARS era in 2007, followed by 12 years with the Infection Prevention and Control Department before transitioning to current position with the Environmental and Occupational Health Department. Kathy has over 20 years of administrative experience working for both the Private and Public Health sectors and has supported a variety of high level executives throughout.

    Declaration(s) of Interest:
    2021-08-27 (PDF), 2021-04-29 (PDF)