Institute Advisory Board Members
(September 2003 - August 2004)
Lynn Krepart, [Chair]
For decades, Lynn Krepart has devoted herself to many aspects of women's health, all on a voluntary basis. From the viewpoint of women's social health, she has been on various boards: the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Women's Canadian Club, and the Junior League. Most recently, her attention has been focused on research into women's health, taking an active role in fundraising -- not only locally but nationally as well -- to raise money to fund all aspects of research into this area. She is the past Chair of the Canadian Foundation for Women’s Health, which has been instrumental in distributing $500,000 in the last two years to multiple peer reviewed research proposals across Canada. Funding has been granted inOf the diverse areas of women's health, but mainly in reproductive health. Locally, she has been active on the Board of the Women's Health Research of Canada. The Foundation and its Board believe a broad funding of research will help deliver a more multi-disciplinary approach and hopefully will attract young Canadian researchers and investigators to this important area of research.
Jim Bonta, PhD
Jim Bonta received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Ottawa in 1979. Prior to graduating he worked with conduct disordered children and their families, provided assessments of youths for juvenile courts, and acted as a consultant at a training school for youth. Upon graduating, Dr. Bonta became a psychologist at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre, a maximum security remand centre for adults and young offenders, and later Chief Psychologist. During his 14 years at the Detention Centre he established the only full-time psychology department in a jail setting in Canada. In 1990 Dr. Bonta joined the Solicitor General of Canada and he is presently Director of Corrections ResearchThroughout his career, Dr. Bonta has held various academic appointments and professional posts. Presently, he is a member of the Editorial Advisory Boards for the Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice and Behavior. He is also a Fellow of the Canadian Psychological Association. Dr. Bonta has published extensively in the areas of risk assessment and offender rehabilitation. His latest publications include a book co-authored with D. A. Andrews entitled the Psychology of Criminal Conduct (presently in its third edition). He is also a co-author of The Level of Service Inventory – Revised, an offender risk-need classification instrument that has been translated into five languages and is used by correctional systems in different countries.
Sylvain Chemtob, MD, PhD, FRCPC
Dr. Sylvain Chemtob is a neonatologist, as well as a pharmacologist and physiologist with expertise in the role of nitric oxide and prostanoid receptors with emphasis on brain and eye vasculature of the developing subject. He is a professor at Université de Montréal in the Departments of Pediatrics, Ophthalmology and Pharmacology. He is author of more than 100 articles and inventor of five patents. He has been the recipient of numerous awards
including Scientist Award from MRC, Jonathan Ballon Award from the Heart & Stroke Foundation, Award of Excellence in Research Excellence in Research from the Foundation for Research on Children's Diseases, the Clement McCulloch Award from the Eye Institute of Canada, the André Dupont Prize from the Club de Recherche Clinique du Québec, and the Aventis Pasteur Research Award from the Canadian Pediatric Society, as well as being a recipient of a Canada Research Chair(Perinatology). He directs the Retina and Development axis (1 of 6 axes) of the Vision Network of the Fond de Recherche en Santé du Québec (FRSQ). Among other distinctions, Dr. Chemtob is on the Editorial Board of major journals in his field, including the American Journal of Physiology and Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science. He has been a member of various scientific committees at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), National Institutes of Health and the FRSQ. He also serves as consulting member of major Canadian biotechnology companies.
Kathleen Cranley Glass, LLB, PhD
Dr. Kathleen Cranley Glass is a clinical ethicist, health care lawyer and Director of McGill University's Biomedical Ethics Unit, as well as the Clinical Ethicist at The Montreal Children's Hospital. She has academic appointments in the Departments of Pediatrics and Human Genetics at McGill. Dr. Glass holds a Master of Arts in Political Science from the University of Chicago and LL.B. and B.C.L. degrees from McGill. She also received a PhD in health law and ethics from the Institute of Comparative Law at McGill. From 1993-1994 and again in 1996, Dr. Glass was Acting Director of the National Council on Bioethics and Human Research (now the National Council on Ethics in Human Research), where she is currently a Council member. In 1994-1995, she was a Visiting Fellow at Harvard Medical School's Division of Medical Ethics. Since 1997, she has been the Principal Investigator of McGill's Clinical Trials Research Group, an interdisciplinary research team concerned with ethical and legal issues associated with research involving humans. Her work is funded by CIHR, SSHRC and GenomeCanada/Genome Quebec. Dr. Glass teaches ethics in McGill's Faculty of Medicine and Department of Human Genetics. She serves on the paediatric clinical and research ethics committees of the Montreal Children's Hospital, the National Cancer Institute of Canada's Data Safety Committee and the Board of Directors of the Canadian Paediatric Foundation.
Sandy Davidge, PhD
Sandy Davidge, PhDDr. Sandy Davidge received her PhD from the University of Vermont in 1993 and conducted her postdoctoral fellowship at the Magee Womens Research Institute/University of Pittsburgh until 1996. She is currently an Associate Professor in Obstetrics/Gynecology and Physiology at the University of Alberta and holds a Canada Research Chair in Women’s Cardiovascular Health and is a Senior Scholar of the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research. Dr. Davidge serves on numerous scientific committees and grants panels and is a member of several professional societies. She is a reviewer for several scientific medical journals, and funding agencies, as well as Associate Editor for the Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology. Her research program encompasses studying vascular function as it relates to 1) pregnancy/pre-eclampsia, 2) hormonal status (i.e. estrogen/progesterone effects) and 3) aging. Both pre-eclampsia and aging are associated with oxidative stress and therefore this has been a focus of her studies regarding mechanisms of altered vascular function, in particular endothelial cell dysfunction. Her research was recently recognized for Excellence in Research with the Martha Cook Piper Award at the University of Alberta and the President’s Scientific Achievement Award at the Society of Gynecologic Investigation meeting in March 2003.
Harvey Guyda, MD, FRCPC
Dr. Harvey Guyda is a Dodds Professor and Chair of the Department of Pediatrics, McGill University, as well as the Pediatrician-in-Chief at Montreal Children's Hospital-McGill University Health Centre. Dr. Guyda was in pre-med and received his MD from the University of Manitoba. He is the author of over 170 papers, 45 book chapters, 180 abstracts, and co-editor of a textbook on Pediatric Endocrinology (2nd Edition). He is also a reviewer for numerous scientific journals, and has twice served on the Editorial Board of JCEM. Dr. Guyda has also served on the following peer-review scientific committees: Panel C Member for the National Cancer Institute, the Medical Science Review Committee, JDF International, the Scholarship Renewal Committee, Alberta Heritage Research Foundation, and the Committee to Evaluate Research Centres, FRSQ. His prior elected positions include President of the Canadian Society of Endocrinology & Metabolism (CSEM) and Director of the Board of the Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society (LWPES). Dr. Guyda's research interests include normal growth and development, and specifically the regulation of fetal and post-natal growth. He is involved in national clinical trials and comments on the use of growth hormone in short children.
Shoo Lee, MBBS, FRCPC, FAAP, PhD
Dr Shoo Lee is a neonatologist and health economist. He received his medical degree from the University of Singapore, completed pediatric training in Newfoundland, Canada, neonatal fellowship training at Boston’s Children’s Hospital, and received his PhD in Health Policy (Economics) from Harvard University. He is Director of the Centre for Healthcare Innovation and Improvement and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of British Columbia, and recipient of the Aventis Pasteur Research Award from the Canadian Pediatric Society. He is Coordinator of the Canadian Neonatal Network, and has developed a national Canadian database to study outcomes and practice variations in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), develop models for healthcare improvement, and guide health policy. He patented risk prediction and health informatics systems for neonatal care and is currently developing models to facilitate translation of research and knowledge into clinical practice and health policy to improve quality of care. He has worked actively to develop health care and health training in developing countries and established a national neonatal fellowship training program in the People’s Republic of China. He is a member of the Canadian Pediatric Society Fetus and Newborn Committee, the Canadian Perinatal Surveillance System Steering Committee and several Canadian Institutes of Health Research committees. He serves on the Advisory Committees of the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, the British Columbia Institute of Technology, and the Scientific Steering Committee of the British Columbia Research Institute for Children’s and Women’s Health.
Catherine McCourt, MD, MHA, FRCPSC
Dr. Catherine McCourt received her MD from the University of Ottawa in 1977. After three years in general practice in the Canadian Armed Forces, she returned to school to study community medicine and health administration at the University of Ottawa. Dr. McCourt became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (Community Medicine) in 1987 and received a Master of Health Administration in the same year. From 1987 to 1991, she worked in health policy and health services at the Canadian Medical Association. In 1991, Dr. McCourt joined the Laboratory Centre for Disease Control in Health Canada to work in child health surveillance and epidemiology. Since 1997, she has been Director of the Bureau of Reproductive and Child Health, which carries out national surveillance and epidemiological research in three areas: perinatal health, child injury and child abuse and neglect. In mid-2000, a restructuring of Health Canada resulted in the dissolution of the Laboratory Centre for Disease Control. The Bureau of Reproductive and Child Health is now part of the Centre for Healthy Human Development in the new.
Patrick J. McGrath, O.C., Ph.D. FCPA, FRSC
Patrick McGrath is Professor of Psychology, Pediatrics and Psychiatry at Dalhousie University and a Psychologist at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax. His research is in pediatric pain and distance treatment of child health problems. He is a Distinguished Scientist of the CIHR and has recently been awarded a Canada Research Chair.
Bruce D. Murphy, PhD
Dr. Bruce D. Murphy holds a MSc in Physiology (Colorado State University) a PhD in Reproductive Biology (University of Saskatchewan). His first academic appointment was in the Univ. Washington Medical Program in 1972, after which he was employed by the University of Saskatchewan from 1973-91. There he was Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and founding director of the Reproductive Biology Research Unit. In 1991 he was recruited to the post he currently holds, the Directorship of the Centre de recherche en reproduction animal, Faculté de médecine vétérinaire, Université de Montréal. He has held visiting appointments at Cornell University, and at the Institute of Genetics, Cellular and Molecular Biology, Louis Pasteur University, Strasbourg, France. He has served on numerous granting committees, including service as the Scientific Officer, MRC Endocrinology Committee, and Chairmanship, NSERC Strategic Biotechnology Committee. He currently sits on the NIH Reproductive Biology Study Section and has just completed a three year term on the NSERC Animal Physiology grant panel. He was founder of the Canadian Consortium in Reproductive Biology, and is the Chair of the IHDCYH Standing Committee in Reproductive Biology. He is currently Treasurer of the Society for the Study of Reproduction, and is on the editorial board of three recruited to the post he currently holds, the Directorship of the Centre de recherche en reproduction animal, Faculté de médecine vétérinaire, Université de Montréal. He has held visiting appointments at Cornell University, and at the Institute of Genetics, Cellular and Molecular Biology, Louis Pasteur University, Strasbourg, France. He has served on numerous granting committees, including service as the Scientific Officer, MRC Endocrinology Committee, and Chairmanship, NSERC Strategic Biotechnology Committee. He currently sits on the NIH Reproductive Biology Study Section and has just completed a three year term on the NSERC Animal Physiology grant panel. He was founder of the Canadian Consortium in Reproductive Biology, and is the Chair of the IHDCYH Standing Committee in Reproductive Biology. He is currently Treasurer of the Society for the Study of Reproduction, and is on the editorial board of three journals. Dr. Murphy has been continuously funded since 1974 by NSERC for studies of embryo implantation, and since 1978 by MRC and CIHR for investigation of ovarian function and steroidogenesis. In addition, he holds NSERC Strategic funding to study the interface between nutrition and reproduction, and has recently acquired funding to investigate genomic variation associated with reproductive success. He has received several awards, including the Pfizer Award for Research Excellence. In 2001-2002 he was a plenary lecturer at the International Conference on Epigenetics in Reproduction, the International Adrenal Conference, and the International Conference on Pig Reproduction.
Hugh O’Brodovich, MD, FRCP(C)
Hugh O'Brodovich MD, FRCP(C) is presently the Professor & Chairman of the Department of Paediatrics of the University of Toronto and Paediatrician-in-Chief of The Hospital for Sick Children (HSC). Born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada in 1951, he attended the University of Manitoba and obtained his MD and training in paediatrics and respiratory medicine prior to completing an ATS sponsored paediatric pulmonary research fellowship with Dr. Robert Mellins at Columbia University in New York. He returned to Canada in 1981 as an Assistant Professor at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. In 1986 he moved to The HSC where he subsequently became a senior scientist, Division Chief of Respiratory Medicine and Respiratory Research, and inaugural Director of the Lung Gene Therapy Programme before he assumed his present positions in 1996. Throughout his career he has been funded by the MRC of Canada/CIHR, has been awarded career investigator awards by the MRC and Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario and presently holds the R.S. McLaughlin Foundation Chair in Paediatrics at The Hospital for Sick Children. He has been the Chairman of the Respiratory Medicine Sub-Board of American Academy of Pediatrics and is presently the President of the Paediatric Chairs of Canada and a member of the Executive committee of the American Medical Association of Medical School Pediatric Department Chairs, Inc (AMSPDC).He, his trainees, and collaborators have utilized molecular biologic, biochemical, electrophysiologic, cell culture, whole animal and clinical research techniques over the past 25 years to study the fluid filled airspace. The research focuses on determining the mechanisms of fetal lung liquid clearance at the time of birth, the pathogenic mechanisms leading to pulmonary edema and how this edema is cleared from the airspaces. The work has investigated the effects of increased pulmonary blood flow when alveolar-capillary permeability is increased, alveolar membrane integrity in infants with hyaline membrane disease, the critical physiologic importance of active Na transport in clearing fetal lung liquid at birth, and the role of changes in PO2 in increasing epithelial Na transport at the time of birth. Present studies are investigating the effect of lung maturity and hormones on the pre and post-translational regulation of the epithelial Na+ channel (ENaC) and Na+ and fluid transport by the healthy and edematous non-primate mammalian and human lung.
Bryan Richardson, MD, FRCSC
Dr. Bryan Richardson is a professor at the University of Western Ontario (UWO), in the Departments of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Paediatrics and Physiology. He is also the Director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Group in Fetal and Neonatal Health and Development, which is based both at UWO as well as the University of Toronto. He is additionally the Chairperson of the Fetal and Neonatal Health Division of the Child Health Research Institute in London. Dr. Richardson received his medical degree and subsequent training in Obstetrics and Gynaecology from UWO. He then went to the University of Oregon Health Sciences Centre in Portland, Oregon, to train in Maternal-Fetal Medicine and Perinatal Physiology. Dr. Richardson is a Member of numerous professional societies including the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada, the Society for Gynaecologic Investigation, and the Perinatal Research Society where he is the standing President. Dr. Richardson is a reviewer for several scientific medical journals, is a board member and Editorial Consultant to the Journal Early Human Development, and is a past committee member for the Medical Research Council Clinical Investigation Committee and the Alberta Heritage Foundation Clinical Applications Advisory Committee. He is the first Wyeth-Ayerst Canada/MRC Clinical Research Chair in Women s Health for Perinatology with continued support for his clinical and basic research study relating to fetal biophysical activity and the relationship to brain development.
James M. Roberts, MD
James M. Roberts, M.D., is Professor and Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Professor of Epidemiology, Graduate School of Public Health, the Elsie Hilliard Hillman Chair of Women’s and Infants’ Health Research, Vice President for Research Magee Women’s Hospital and Director of Magee-Womens Research Institute. Dr. Roberts’ early work was on signal transduction in myometrium. For the last 14 years he has concentrated on the pregnancy complication preeclampsia. His current research efforts include, fundamental, clinical and health services approaches to the understanding and management of this disorder in this country and abroad. He has received national and international recognition for this work. He was the recipient of the Chesley Award for lifetime achievement in the study of hypertension in pregnancy by the International Society for the Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy. He is the author of more than 170 publications and is a reviewer for numerous medical and scientific journals. He has served on the editorial boards of several journals including Developmental Physiology, Placenta, The Journal of Gynecological Investigation, and Hypertension in Pregnancy. He has served on scientific review boards of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Medical Research Council of Canada (now the Canadian Institute for Health Research), the Food and Drug Administration and the March of Dimes. He served as chair of the NICHD Maternal Fetal Medicine Network from 1990 –1999 and is past president of the Perinatal Research Society, the North American Society for the Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy, the Society of Gynecological Investigation and the International Society for the Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy. Dr. Roberts was formally admitted to fellowship ad eundem of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in September of 2000. His research has been funded for the past 20 years by numerous agencies including the NIH and the March of Dimes. He has trained more than 45 M.D. and Ph.D. scientists of whom more than 80% remain in academic positions.
Peter Rosenbaum MD, CM, FRCP(C)
Dr. Peter Rosenbaum joined the faculty of McMaster University in 1973 and has been a Professor of Paediatrics there since 1984. With Dr. Mary Law he was the co-founder in 1989 of the award-winning CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research, a health system-linked research unit funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. CanChild is now recognized internationally for its research and dissemination activities in the field of childhood disability. Dr. Rosenbaum holds one of the original Canada Research Chairs, first awarded in January 2001 to leading Canadian researchers. Dr. Rosenbaum has been president of the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine1996-98 (the first Canadian so honoured). He was also the first Canadian to be invited to Sweden as the Folke Bernadotte Stipendiate, in 1995. Dr. Rosenbaum has held more than 45 peer-reviewed research grants and is a contributing author to over 140 peer-reviewed scientific papers and book chapters on a variety of topics concerning childhood disability. In June 2000 Dr. Rosenbaum received the Ross Award from the Canadian Paediatric Society, the Society’s most prestigious peer recognition. He has recently been awarded the United Cerebral Palsy Research and Educational Foundation Weinstein-Goldenson Scientific Award.
Bonnie Stevens, RN, PhD
Dr. Bonnie Stevens received her BScN from McMaster University, her MScN from the University of Toronto and her PhD from McGill University. Dr. Stevens is currently a professor in the Faculties of Nursing and Medicine at the University of Toronto and holds the Signy Hildur Eaton Chair in Paediatric Nursing Research at the Hospital for Sick Children, the first of its kind in Canada. The major foci of Dr. Stevens' research include the assessment and management of pain in infants and children and the impact of various health care delivery models on child and family quality of life. Dr. Stevens has received research funds over the past 5 years from national and international funding agencies and foundations to support these research interests and has also published and presented widely. She has recently co-edited the book "Pain in Neonates" (Elsevier) with Dr. Sunny Anand and Patrick McGrath. Dr. Stevens is committed to producing the highest quality evidence to improve pain management and the quality of life in infants and children with acute and chronic illnesses and to finding the most effective ways of disseminating that evidence for use by practitioners, researchers and policy makers alike.
Dawn Walker, RN
A prenatal obstetrical nurse by profession, Dawn Walker has many years of experience in community and child health. As Chief of Family & Child Health at Health Canada, Dawn led many maternal and child health projects such as Nobody's Perfect, the Postpartum Parent Support Program, and various national consensus statements and provided support on behalf of Health Canada in Canada's participation in the World Summit for Children (1990), and in the writing of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. She was a key participant in the design and implementation of the Community Action Program for Children (CAPC) projects in the Brighter Futures initiative. She has national and international experience in prevention and promotion strategies that address alcohol, tobacco and other drug use. As Executive Director, Canadian Institute of Child Health, Dawn has been involved in policy and program development addressing the health and well-being of children and has made presentations at both national and international conferences on children's health and on developing networks to include grassroots organizations, professionals and all levels of government. She has co-chaired national and international consultations and fora on a wide range of child health issues, including knowledge translation. Dawn is an Institute Advisory Board member of the Maternal, Child and Youth Health Research Institute, and of Directing Council, Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development.