CIHR University Delegates

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The CIHR University Delegate role is a vital one in the virtual environment we are building. Through them, we will double our efforts to reach the broadest health research community within the university and its affiliated institutions, keep them informed of directions, initiatives and decisions, and solicit their active participation on awareness activities. Through them, we will seek the views of the community on research opportunities and be attentive to concerns expressed on CIHR business.

Dr. David Andrews
McMaster University

Professor of Biochemistry;
Canada Research Chair in Membrane Biogenesis;
Chair of CIHR Cell Physiology Panel;
President of the Canadian Society for Biochemistry, Molecular and Cellular Biology;
President of the Canadian Federation of Biological Societies;
Editorial Board Member for The Journal of Biological Chemistry;
Contributing Faculty, Faculty of 1000.

Dr. William (Bill) R. Avison
University of Western Ontario

Professor, Departments of Sociology, Paediatrics, and Epidemiology and Biostatistics;
Chair and Scientist, Child Health and Well-Being Program, Children's Health Research Institute;
Past chair of the CIHR Children's Health Review Committee;
Chair, Health Research Council, The University of Western Ontario;
Editorial Board, Journal of Health and Social Behavior;
Member of the Board, Ontario Mental Health Foundation;
Currently the Principal Investigator on a CIHR Operating Grant on single-parent families and maternal and child mental health; co-investigator on two other CIHR-funded projects.

Dr. Sam Benchimol
York University

Dr. Ranjana Bird
University of Windsor

Dr. Ranjana Bird began her five-year term as the University of Windsor's Vice-President, Research on October 1, 2007.
Dr. Bird received her Masters and PhD degrees in Nutrition/Toxicology from the University of Guelph and did her undergraduate biology studies at the University of Waterloo.
Prior to her appointment as Dean of Graduate Studies at University of Waterloo in 2003, she spent 14 years at the University of Manitoba, where she received a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council career award and served as Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, and later as Dean of the Faculty of Human Ecology.
She has also served as a research scientist in experimental carcinogenesis at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in Toronto. She is on the editorial board of the journal, Nutrition and Cancer.

Dr. Valerie Booth
Memorial University

Tier II CRC in Proteomics;
Assistant Professor in the Biochemistry and Physics and Physical Oceanography Departments;
Research interests revolve around protein structure with specific projects including 1) lung surfactant protein mechanisms (CIHR funded) 2) identification and characterization of novel antimicrobial peptides (NSERC funded), 3) development of peptide based therapeutics for psoriasis (funded by ACOA and a commercial partner).

Dr. W. Dean Care
Brandon University

Dean & Professor, School of Health Studies;
Adjunct Professor, University of Manitoba;
Research Affiliate, Manitoba Centre for Nursing and Health Studies;
Research interests and recently funded projects include: transition of new graduates to professional practice; and distance education for Aboriginal nursing students.

Dr. Peter Cattini
University of Manitoba

Professor of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine;
Has received both salary awards and operating grants from CIHR, and has served on CIHR's Endocrinology and New Investigator Award peer review committees.

Dr. Gilles Côté
Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières

Gilles Côté is criminologist and psychologist;
Professor at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, associated professor at department of psychiatry at the Université de Montréal and at department of psychology at the Université de Sherbrooke;
Director of the research center at the Institut Philippe-Pinel de Montréal. Risk factors associated to violent behaviour and, particularly psychopathy, are the main topics of his research interest.

Dr. James (Jay) Cross
University of Calgary

Associate Vice President (Research) at the University of Calgary since September 2011;
International leader in embryology and molecular genetics, particularly in the areas of embryo implantation and pregnancy outcome;
Native of Alberta, completed his undergraduate studies at McGill University in Montreal, doctorate of veterinary medicine at University of Saskatchewan, PhD at University of Missouri-Columbia, and postdoctoral training at University of California-San Francisco;
Academic appointments at Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute (one of Canada's leading biomedical research institutes affiliated with the University of Toronto); University of Calgary as Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Medical Genetics, Obstetrics & Gynecology, and Comparative Biology and Experimental Medicine (2002-present); new Faculty of Veterinary Medicine as founding Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Education (2006-2011);
Key leader as founding Director of the Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute of Child & Maternal Health (multi-disciplinary institute focused on biomedical, clinical and social aspects of child health), in initiating the Training Program in Genetics, Child Development & Health and Clara Christie Centre for Genomics & Modeling of Human Disease;
Recipient of several awards and prizes including Scientist of the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research, Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, Premier's Research Excellence Award of Ontario, Investigator of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Research Scientist of the Year Award from the Association of Professors of Obstetrics & Gynecology, and Pioneer Award from the Frontiers in Reproduction Program at the Marine Biology Laboratory, USA.

Dr. Réjean Dubuc
Université du Québec à Montréal

Dr. Janice Eng
University of British Columbia

Professor of Physical Therapy and Graduate Program in Rehabilitation Sciences;
Scientist, GF Strong Rehab Centre, Vancouver Coastal Health;
Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Senior Scholar in "Optimizing functional ability in neurological rehabilitation";
CIHR New Investigator;
Editorial Board, Physical Therapy Journal;
Dr. Eng's research is funded by CIHR, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, Ontario Neurotrauma Fund and Rick Hansen Man in Motion Foundation;
She is co-Director of a CIHR Strategic Training Program in Rehabilitation and Quality of Life.

Dr. John T. Fisher
Queen's University

Dr. Lucie Germain
Université Laval

Dr. Mary Hampton
University of Regina

Dr. Hampton is a Professor of Psychology at Luther College, University of Regina.
She received her Ed.D. in Counseling and Consulting Psychology from Harvard University and her Ed.M. from Boston University.
She is the Academic Research Coordinator for RESOLVE Saskatchewan (Researching and Educating Solutions to Violence and Abuse).
She is a faculty researcher with SPHERU (Saskatchewan Population Health and Evaluation Research Unit).
Dr. Hampton is the coordinator of the Community Psychology Research Team Lab.
Her research areas include: Aboriginal end of life care, anti-violence research, and sexual health of Aboriginal youth and has received support from CIHR for this research.
Dr. Hampton is a registered doctoral psychologist in Saskatchewan and chair of the discipline committee for the College of Psychologists.
She teaches courses in psychology of women, clinical psychology, and humanistic psychology.

Dr. Norbert Haunerland
Simon Fraser University

Dr. Michael Hayes
University of Victoria

Michael Hayes joined the faculty at the University of Victoria in July, 2010 as the inaugural Director of Health Education and Research.
Prior to coming to UVic, spent 22 years at Simon Fraser University in the Department of Geography and, in 2004, as a founding member of the Faculty of Health Sciences.
co-founding editor of the journal Health and Place.
At UVic, I have appointments in the School of Public Health and Social Policy in the Faculty of Human and Social Development, in the Division of Medical Sciences, in addition to my appointment in the Department of Geography.
was a non-governmental representative on the Federal- Provincial- Territorial Advisory Committee on Population Health (2001-2006) and a member the Public Health Agency of Canada Expert Advisory Committee on Population Health Promotion (2006-2008).
My research interests concern social geographies of health from a life-course perspective. I am particularly interested in health inequities and urban structure, social gradients in health outcomes, disability and public policy. I have also done research on childhood obesity and on newspaper coverage on 'health' in Canada. I have co-edited 3 books.

Dr. Shawn Hayley
Carleton University

Dr. Gerry Johnston
Dalhousie University

currently Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Medicine and Professor in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology within the Faculty of Medicine at Dalhousie University (Halifax, Nova Scotia).
Dr. Johnston's research program is a collaborative effort with Dr. Richard Singer (Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology) and involves using the approaches of molecular genetics and biochemistry to investigate the regulation of cellular processes such as control of cell proliferation and membrane trafficking. The Johnston/Singer lab utilizes the genetic and molecular facility of the budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
was recruited to the Department of Microbiology at Dalhousie University, and over the intervening 30 years, Dr. Johnston's collaborative genetics program has been funded continuously by the MRC (now CIHR).
has served as a member of several grant review panels including Cancer A and Genetics within CIHR and Panels B and F within the National Cancer Institute of Canada (now called The Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute).
In 1992, Dr. Johnston was made a Terry Fox Cancer Research Scientist of the NCIC, and in 1995 he joined, and subsequently chaired, the Advisory Committee on Research (ACOR) of the NCIC, the senior committee of the NCIC that oversees all of the NCIC funding programs. In 2004 to 2006 served as President of the NCIC.
From 2001 to 2006 Dr. Johnston also served as a member of the Institute Advisory for the CIHR Institute of Cancer Research.

Dr. Dale Keefe
Cape Breton University

Currently Dean of Research and Graduate Studies, Cape Breton University;
Professor of Chemistry;
Canada Research Chair in Molecular Spectroscopy, 2006 - 2011;
Adjunct Professor, Dalhousie University and Memorial University;
BSc (Memorial University), PhD (University of Alberta);
NSERC Postdoctoral fellow (University of Ottawa);
CBU NSERC Representative 2001 - 2004, 2009 - 2010;
Science Atlantic Chemistry Committee Chair 1999 - 2002;
Research funded by NSERC, American Chemical Society, CFI, Nova Scotia Research and Innovation Trust, CRC;
Research Interests focus on weak interactions in liquids.

Dr. Mary Lou Kelley
Lakehead University

a Professor of Social Work and Gerontology at Lakehead University and a professor at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, Thunder Bay, ON.
Her work focuses on promoting interdisciplinary research and interprofessional education in gerontology and palliative care for health care professionals nationally.
Her research expertise is in community-based and applied health services research, using ethnographic and participatory methods including techniques such as photovoice.
Mary Lou's research and publications focus on health and social services for older adults, rural health, long-term care policy and delivery, palliative care, and interdisciplinary gerontology education.
Her current projects focus on developing palliative care programs in long term care homes and in First Nations communities. She is a member of the End-of-Life Care Steering Committee for Northwestern Ontario.

Dr. Olga Kovalchuk
University of Lethbridge

Dr. Joseph Lam
University of Guelph

Published 112 peer-reviewed papers to date, 18 reviews and 171 conference abstracts;
Inventor - holds 4 issued US patents;
2009 - Review member of the NIH Drug Discovery and Mechanisms of Antimicrobial Resistance (DDR) Study Section;
2008 - Chair of organizing committee of the FASEB Summer Conference on Microbial Polysaccharides of Medical, Agricultural and Industrial Importance, held in Carefree, AZ;
2006 - Member of the organizing committee of the FASEB Summer Conference on Microbial Polysaccharides of Medical, Agricultural and Industrial Importance, held in Tucson, AZ;
2006-2011 - Editorial Board Member, Journal of Bacteriology;
2006 - recipient of the Roche Diagnostic/Canadian Society of Microbiologists Award;
2005 - elected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology (FAAM);
2005 - Member, CIHR Team Grant - "Letter of Intent" Review Committee (Biomedical Research panel);
2003-2010 - Canada Research Chair (Tier I) in Cystic Fibrosis and Microbial Glycobiology;
2004 - recipient of University of Guelph Faculty Association Teaching Award;
2003-2010 - Ontario Distinguished Researcher Award, Ontario Innovation Trust;
2003-2004 - Committee member, Medical Review Committee, Ontario Research Development Challenge Fund (ORDCF);
2002 - recipient of the CBS Awards for Excellence in Teaching;
2001-2004 - Member, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Grants review committee.

Dr. Julian Little
University of Ottawa

Professor and Chair, Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa;
Canada Research Chair in Human Genome Epidemiology;
Dr. Little's PhD, from Aberdeen University, was on problems of ascertainment of congenital anomalies. Subsequently, he worked for the EUROCAT Central Registry in Brussels (Belgium), as a lecturer in epidemiology in Nottingham University, as an epidemiologist in the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, and as Professor of Epidemiology at Aberdeen University, during which he spent a sabbatical year at the Office of Genomics and Disease Prevention, CDC, Atlanta;
His current research includes empirical work on potential biases in genetic association studies, harmonization of biobanks, the potential value of germline genetic profiling in prediction of risk for colorectal cancer, the potential value of information on family history in predicting risk for chronic disease, potential value of information on HPV and other factors in management of women with low-grade cervical abnormalities, and etiology of cleft lip and palate;
Associate Editor, American Journal of Epidemiology; Editorial Boards; Human Genetics; Public Health Genomics; Kuwait Medical Journal;
Member of Priority and Planning Committee, Institutes of Genetics and of Population and Public Health, CIHR.

Dr. Chris MacDonald
Saint Mary's University

Associate Professor of Philosophy, Saint Mary's University;
Research focuses on business ethics, particularly in the biotech industry;
Has received research funding from CIHR, SSHRC and the Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation.

Dr. Colleen MacQuarrie
University of Prince Edward Island

Associate Professor at the University of Prince Edward Island;
Developmental health researcher whose program of research is directed to better understand the multifaceted nature of health and wellness across the lifespan and within diverse community settings;
Her research integrates the perspectives of a liberation psychology framework with the determinants of health to examine a range of content areas including change processes for health behaviours as well as population health interventions to better understand how environments support individuals' and families' health.

Dr. Chris McGibbon
University of New Brunswick

Dr. Jennifer McGrath
Concordia University

Dr. McGrath received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from Bowling Green State University, Ohio, and her M.P.H. in Epidemiology from University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She completed post-doctoral training in Cardiovascular Behavioral Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh.
She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Concordia University and the Director of the Pediatric Public Health Psychology Laboratory.
Her research broadly focuses on the pathogenesis of subclinical cardiovascular disease markers across childhood and adolescence as mediated by potential behavioral, environmental, and psychological mechanisms. She is particularly interested in health disparities and how socioeconomic inequalities are associated with cardiovascular health behaviors in youth. She holds two CIHR operating grants to investigate these issues.
Dr. McGrath serves on the CIHR peer-review committee for Psychosocial, Sociocultural, and Behavioral Determinant.

Dr. Sylvie Nadeau
Université de Montréal

Dr. Marianna Newkirk
McGill University

Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Medicine at McGill University since 2008, is involved in many different activities that help promote research excellence at McGill as well as the careers of Faculty members;
Completed her PhD in Immunology at the University of Toronto and post-doctoral studies at the University of Texas Health Sciences Centre in Dallas;
Recruited to McGill in 1987, has had a research laboratory at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) since that time;
President of Immunology Montreal (since 2007), was instrumental in attracting and organizing the highly successful International Congress of Immunology held in Montreal in 2004. Immunology Montreal links McGill with University of Montreal and Institut Armand-Frappier to promote collaboration and education about immunology;
As President of Immunology Montreal, spearheaded a community outreach activity which won a major prize in an international competition conducted by the European Federation of Immunological Societies.

Dr. Malcolm Ogborn
University of Northern British Columbia

Dr. Michael Owen
University of Ontario Institute of Technology

Michael Owen, Ph.D., is Associate Provost, Research and Professor, Faculty of Education at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology.
Prior to joining UOIT, Owen was Vice-President Research and Graduate Studies and Professor in the Faculty of Liberal Studies, Ontario College of Art and Design.
He also has held positions of Professor and Associate Vice-President Research & International Development, Brock University, and Director of Research Services at Brock University, Ryerson University and the University of Saskatchewan and Assistant to the Vice-President Academic at Athabasca University.
He has extensive experience in research management and administration and leadership in scholarly associations in Canada.
He has served as Vice-President Research Dissemination of the Canadian Federation of Humanities and Social Sciences, President of the Society of Research Administrators International (SRA International), President of the Canadian Society for Church History (CSCH) and President of the Canadian Association for Foundations of Education (CAFE).
Owen's research interests are: history of research ethics in Canada, research ethics education, research administration, technology transfer, educational history and Canadian church history.

Dr. Barbara Paterson
Thompson Rivers University

Currently the Dean, School of Nursing, at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, BC.
She came to Thompson Rivers University from the University of New Brunswick where she had been a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Chronic Illness.
She has led more than 25 research projects funded by national granting agencies, including CIHR.
Her areas of focus have been the prevention and management of chronic illness and Aboriginal health.
She has received national and regional awards for the excellence of her research and her teaching.
She has been an invited visiting scholar in more than a dozen universities across the globe, including Duke University in the USA and the University of New South Wales in Australia.

Dr. Jean-Pierre Perreault
Université de Sherbrooke

A native of Laval, Quebec, Jean-Pierre Perreault completed his three degrees in biochemistry at the University of Montreal: his bachelor's in 1986, his master's in 1988, and his doctorate in 1990. He then held a post-doctoral fellowship at Yale University from 1990 to 1993.
Dr. Perreault has been a Professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Sherbrooke since 1993. He chaired this Faculty's Department of Biochemistry from 2004 to 2010 and served as its Associate Dean for Development from 2009 to 2010. He is currently Vice-Dean for Research and Graduate Studies.
Dr. Perreault is a molecular biologist with expertise in RNA enzymology and viroids. He founded the Infectious Disease section of the Étienne Le Bel Clinical Research Centre at the Centre hospitalier universitaire de Sherbrooke (the University of Sherbrooke's teaching hospital). He has held the Canada Research Chair on Genomics and Catalytic RNA since 2005 and is very active in the use of molecular engineering to develop applications associated with fundamental discoveries made in his laboratory.
The founding director of the Sherbrooke-based RNA Biology Research Centre (1999-2009) and one of the founding members of the RiboClub, a society of Canadian researchers who study RNA, Dr. Perreault currently chairs the Canadian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular and Cell Biology and has served on its Board of Directors for the past several years.

Dr. Stephen Perry
Wilfrid Laurier University

Dr. Roger Pierson
University of Saskatchewan

Dr. Reinhart Reithmeier
University of Toronto

Dr. David Rose
University of Waterloo

Professor and Chair, Department of Biology, University of Waterloo since January, 2009.
Formerly a Senior Scientist at the Ontario Cancer Institute and Professor, Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto and previous to that with the Institute of Biological Sciences, National Research Council Canada, Ottawa.
Undergraduate education: University of Pennsylvania, DPhil: University of Oxford, Postdoc: MIT (G.A. Petsko).
Dr. Rose's area of research is in structure/function studies of enzymes associated with human health, particularly glycosidases. He is studying the basic mechanisms by which these enzymes perform their functions in maintaining health or causing disease, and how those functions might be modulated by inhibitors. The main technical areas in Dr. Rose's laboratory are X-ray crystallography and recombinant expression of proteins in different systems.

Dr. Chris Shields
Acadia University

PhD (Waterloo), PDF (University of Saskatchewan).
Associate professor in the School of Recreation Management and Kinesiology.
Dr. Shields' program of research examines the psychosocial determinants and consequences of physical (in)activity, with a primary focus on how the health care professional-client interaction may influence adherence among symptomatic (e.g., cardiac rehabilitation patients, diabetes patients) and asymptomatic populations.
His work is among the first to examine the impact of relational efficacies on physical activity-related thoughts and behaviour, and includes work on group-based exercise in healthy populations as well as a province wide investigation of the role diabetes educators play in promoting physical activity for those with diabetes.
Dr. Shields holds or has held funding as PI or Co-I from multiple granting agencies including CIHR, SSHRC, CFI, the Heart and Stroke Foundation, and the Lawson Foundation.
he is an active reviewer for numerous health, exercise and psychology journals and has been a grant reviewer for SSHRC and the Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation.
Recently, Dr. Shields was asked to serve as a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Nova Scotia.

Dr. Souraya Sidani
Ryerson University

Professor and Canada Research Chair at the School of Nursing, Ryerson University.
Her areas of expertise are in quantitative research methods, intervention design and evaluation, and measurement.
Areas of interest focus on evaluating interventions and advanced practice roles, on examining patient preferences for treatments, and on refining research methods and measures for determining the clinical effectiveness of interventions.

Dr. Wendy E. Ward
Brock University

Associate Professor, Departments of Kinesiology and Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences;
Canada Research Chair in Bone and Muscle Development;
Member, Editorial Boards for Journal of Nutrition and the journal Nutrients;
Member, Scientific Advisory Committee for Osteoporosis Canada;
Research Interest: Investigating the role of foods and food components in the regulation of bone and muscle metabolism with the long-term goal of developing nutritional strategies that prevent bone loss, preserve bone structure, and ultimately reduce the risk of fragility fractures (i.e. osteoporosis).

Dr. Richard Wozniak
University of Alberta

Professor in the Department of Cell Biology in the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Alberta.
Received his undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from Michigan State University and his Ph.D. from the Rockefeller University in New York City under the supervision of Dr. Günter Blobel.
His work has focused on the cell nucleus, a defining feature of a eukaryotic cell and the place where the cell's genetic material is housed.
Dr. Wozniak's work has contributed to defining the machinery in cells that controls the movement of proteins into and out of the nucleus, including factors that regulate this transport machinery, and understanding how these factors influence gene expression and processes occurring during cell division and differentiation.
Dr. Wozniak has been the recipient of various awards including Scholarship, Senior Scholar, and Scientist awards from Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research, a Medical Research Council of Canada Scientist Award, Merck Frosst Prize for independent research in biochemistry and molecular biology from the Canadian Society for Biochemistry, Molecular, and Cellular Biology, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute International Research Scholar Award.

Dr. Nancy Young
Laurentian University

If you require more information regarding the University Delegates, please contact Colette Paré at 613-948-2801 or by email at colette.pare@cihr-irsc.gc.ca.

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