IAB Members - Biographies (September 2007 - August 2008)
Dr. Lorne A. Babiuk, PhD, DSc, FRSC, FIDSA (Chair)
Vice President, Research
University of Alberta
Dr. Babiuk is the Vice-President, Research at the University of Alberta. Before moving to Alberta he was the Director of the Veterinary Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) and Canada Research Chair in Vaccinology in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Under his direction, VIDO has become internationally recognized for its role in the use of biotechnology to develop veterinary vaccines. The world's first genetically engineered vaccine for animal species was developed at VIDO. He has held prestigious national and international awards for excellence in research and for transferring research into the commercial arena including an NSERC Chair in Biotechnology, Canadian Society of Microbiology Award, Xerox-Canada Forum Award; served as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board or Board of Directors for companies involved in commercializing biological research and as a consultant to Genetech, Molecular Genetics Inc., CIBA-GIEGY, BIOSTAR Inc.; conducted due diligence studies for investors and companies regarding the commercial potential of specific scientific proposals. He has mentored over 50 graduate students and post-doctoral fellows who have obtained positions in industry, academia and government, served as a member of many grant and government committees and a reviewer for various scientific journals, as well as serving on general editorial boards. He has published over 350 peer-reviewed manuscripts and 70 book chapters and reviews, and is holder of 18 issued patents and 14 patents pending. His special areas of research are in molecular virology, vaccinology, immunology, and viral pathogenesis with emphasis on bovine respiratory and enteric viral infections. Recent interest has been in novel vaccine development and in delivery to induce mucosal immunity, as well as helping set science policy in Canada.
Contact Information:
Veterinary Infectious Disease Organization
University of Saskatchewan
120 Veterinary Rd.
Saskatoon SK S7N 5E3
Email: babiuk@sask.usask.ca
Dr. Luis Barreto, MBBS, MD, MHSc
Vice President, Public Affairs, sanofi pasteur Ltd.
Dr. Luis Barreto is Vice President, Public Affairs for sanofi pasteur Limited. He was born and educated in India where he completed his medical degree, and post-graduate degree in community medicine in 1975. After completing his master's degree in health sciences, with a concentration in epidemiology, at the University of Toronto in 1982, he worked as an epidemiologist for the government of the Northwest Territories. At sanofi pasteur, he has held a number of positions including Director Medical and Clinical Affairs, Vice- President Medical, Clinical & Regulatory Affairs, and Director Corporate Public Policy-International Public Health Affairs.
Dr. Barreto has been involved with clinical trials in Canada, the United States and internationally on a variety of health problems: measles, BCG-IT, smallpox, haemophilus type b, polio, acellular pertussis, as well as various combination vaccines, including the acellular pertussis combination Pentavalent vaccine for children (PentacelTM and PediacelTM) and Adolescent and Adult Pertussis and Polio vaccines (AdacelTM ) and (RepevaxTM).
Published extensively in scientific journals, Dr. Barreto has managed biosecurity issues for sanofi pasteur in Canada and helped organize the Canadian Conference on Counter-Terrorism and Public Health. He recently coordinated the production and delivery of smallpox vaccine for the Canadian government. He is part of the sanofi pasteur Pandemic Influenza Vaccine Task Force, and has represented sanofi pasteur in international organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO), the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), Children's Vaccine Program (CVP) and the World Bank. Dr. Barreto was part of the Canadian SARS Consortium and is also a member of BIOTECanada's Health Policy and Government Relations Committee.
Contact Information:
sanofi pasteur
Connaught Campus
1755 Steeles Ave. West
Toronto ON M2R 3T4
Email: Luis.Barreto@sanofipasteur.com
Robert C. Clarke, DVM, PhD
Deputy Chief Public Health Officer
Public Health Agency of Canada
Dr. Robert C. Clarke is Deputy Chief Public Health Officer at the Public Health Agency of Canada where he is responsible for the Infectious Disease and Emergency Preparedness Branch.
Dr. Clarke obtained both his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree (1976) and a PhD in Veterinary Microbiology (1985) at the University of Guelph, after completing a BSc in Biology at Carleton University in 1972.
His areas of expertise are the planning and delivery of broad based public health and science programs targeted at food and water safety and zoonotic diseases, the management of large laboratory systems, the accreditation of laboratories to ISO standards, large-scale research and development projects involving government, industry and university partners, the training of scientific and regulatory personnel, as well as international disease control.
Dr. Clarke has held senior executive and research positions at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Health Canada, and Agriculture and Agri-food Canada. He recently completed a three year assignment as Visiting Professor of Epidemiology and Community medicine in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa and was also Executive Director of the McLaughlin Centre for Population Health Risk Assessment at the Institute of Population Health. In 2004 he conducted a review The Meat Regulatory and Inspection Regimes in Ontario for the Ontario Provincial Laboratories and provided extensive input into the development of the newly created Canadian Food Inspection Agency and its scientific capacity. Prior to his career in the government, Dr. Clarke was a private practitioner of veterinary medicine in British Columbia.
Michael Grant, PhD
Professor, Department of Immunology
Memorial University of Newfoundland
Dr. Grant was born and raised in Langley, British Columbia (B.C.), graduated from the University of B.C. with a BSc in biochemistry, then worked as a research technician in the UBC Faculty of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology. He later completed an MSc in Microbiology at UBC and a PhD in Molecular Virology and Immunology at McMaster University. His postdoctoral work was with the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at UBC and with Immune Network Research Limited, a Vancouver based biotechnology company. He was appointed assistant professor of Immunology in the Division of Basic Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland and was recently promoted to full professor.
Throughout his career, he has studied the immunology of chronic viral infections, especially human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. He has been successful in earning personnel awards and research operating funds throughout his career. His perspective on research has been broadened by election to the Council of the Canadian Association of HIV Research, which represents all streams of HIV research, and by membership on the Ministerial Council for HIV and AIDS, which advises the Federal Minister of Health on all aspects of the federal initiative addressing HIV. These memberships, combined with his experience as a researcher, scientific reviewer, exposure to the biotechnology industry and residency on and between Canada's two coastlines, will allow him to make a valuable contribution to the Institute Advisory Board.
Contact information:
Faculty of Medicine
Memorial University
300 Prince Philip Drive
St. John's, NL, Canada A1B 3V6
Email: mgrant@mun.ca
Josée Guimond, PhD
Director, Research Programs and Partnerships
Canadian Diabetes Association
Dr. Guimond obtained her PhD in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Guelph (Advisor: Dr. Anne Croy) in 1997. She studied the immunobiology of natural killer lymphocytes in the pregnant mouse uterus as a model for female infertility. Subsequently, she did post-doctoral work with Dr. P.K. Lala at The University of Western Ontario, where she studied control mechanisms of tumour progression, at the cellular level, using human extravillous placental trophoblast cells as a model.
In April 2000, Dr. Guimond joined the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CCFF) as Director, Medical/Scientific and Community Programs (national). Her responsibilities included overseeing the management of the Foundation's grants and awards program, monitoring issues of importance to the CCFF constituency, managing the Foundation's research/clinical/transplant budget, developing partnerships/sponsorships with government and industry for funding health research in the area of cystic fibrosis and supporting clinical/transplant care for patients with cystic fibrosis, and developing strategic priorities for the Foundation. In August 2007, Dr. Guimond moved to the Canadian Diabetes Association as Director, Research Programs and Partnerships. Her scientific background and her knowledge of voluntary sector organizations provides a solid base for her participation as a member of the Institute Advisory Board.
Contact information:
Canadian Diabetes Association - National Office
1400 - 522 University Avenue
Toronto, ON M5G 2R5
Email: josee.guimond@diabetes.ca
Dr. Warren Hill, PhD
Executive Director, Canadian Viral Hepatitis Network
Senior Research Analyst, BC Centre for Disease Control
Dr. Hill is a Senior Research Analyst with the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC). He is also the Executive Director of the Canadian Viral Hepatitis Network (CVHN), a national non-profit organization which pursues excellence in hepatitis research and care through the coordination of initiatives involving the scientific and public health communities, treating physicians and patient organizations.
At the BCCDC, Dr. Hill specializes in the development of integrated hepatitis prevention and care programs and the development of disease surveillance systems. With a background in Anthropology, Dr. Hill's research interests centre on the evolution of human societies and infectious diseases. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia and a Master's degree from the University of Calgary. Dr. Hill is working closely with BC Hepatitis Services on a number of hepatitis research initiatives, including the use of Geographic Information Systems for molecular epidemiology. He has conducted research on the social, geographic and economic determinants of health and is involved in global health initiatives in Mexico. His current research projects include studies on the incidence and prevalence of viral hepatitis in Aboriginal people, population-based risk factors for disease, and the application of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) to map the movements of people and pathogens.
Contact Information:
Canadian Viral Hepatitis Network
655 West 12th Avenue
Vancouver BC V5Z 4R4
Email: warren.hill@bccdc.ca
Dr. Jim Lavery, MSc, PhD
Research Scientist, St. Michael's Hospital
Assistant Professor, University of Toronto
Jim Lavery is a research scientist in the Centre for Research on Inner City Health and Centre for Global Health Research, St. Michael's Hospital, and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences and Joint Centre for Bioethics at the University of Toronto. Jim received M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the Institute of Medical Science and Centre for Bioethics at the University of Toronto and subsequently received a post-doctoral fellowship in applied ethics and health policy from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and Canadian Health Services Research Foundation, during which he studied priority-setting in home care in Canada at the Queen's University Health Policy Research Unit.
Most recently, Jim spent 3 years at the Fogarty International Center, and Warren G. Magnuson Clinical Center Department of Clinical Bioethics, both at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. While at the NIH he worked on ethical and regulatory issues in international research. He is a member of the Canadian Interagency Advisory Panel on Research Ethics, the Advisory Board of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Institute of Infection and Immunity, and a member of the Board of Directors of Public Responsibility in Medicine in Research.
Jim is currently the co-principal investigator of a project entitled: Addressing ethical, social and cultural issues in the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He currently is the team leader for the International M.H.Sc. in Bioethics program at the Joint Centre for Bioethics at the University of Toronto. He is also developing a project entitled: A brokered dialogue between the rich and poor, which aims to develop innovative strategies for encouraging dialogue about health disparities between the rich and poor. He has recently completed the editing, with colleagues at the NIH, of a book of case studies in international research ethics that will be published in 2006 by Oxford University Press.
Contact information:
St. Michael's Hospital
70 Richmond St. E., Suite 400
Toronto ON M5C 1N8
Email: jim.lavery@utoronto.ca
Dr. Mark Loeb, MD, FRCP(C)
Professor, Pathology and Molecular Medicine
McMaster University
Dr. Mark Loeb is Professor in the Departments of Pathology and Molecular Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McMaster University. He graduated from McGill Medical School in 1990, then completed fellowships in Internal Medicine, Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology at the University of Toronto and McMaster University, and an MSc in Clinical Epidemiology at McMaster in 1997.
Dr. Loeb's research interests include emerging infectious diseases, respiratory infections, antimicrobial resistance, and hospital epidemiology. He is Principal Investigator of an NIAID Population Genetics Research Program on West Nile Virus and a CIHR New Emerging Team on antibiotic use and resistance in seniors. He has led CIHR funded multidisciplinary teams on pneumonia and SARS and is conducting a CIHR funded cohort study on West Nile virus.
Dr. Loeb serves on numerous national and international advisory committees. He is Associate Editor, ACP Journal Club and Evidence-Based Medicine and is Co-editor of the first textbook on Evidence-Based Infectious Diseases. Recent honours include a Premier's Research Excellence Award and the Nicholas and Hedy Monk Geriatrics Award. Dr. Loeb holds a CIHR New Investigator Award.
Contact Information:
3203 Michael DeGroote Centre for Learning & Discovery
McMaster University
1200 Main St. W
Hamilton ON L8N 3C5
Email: loebm@mcmaster.ca
Dr. Joaquin Madrenas, MD, MSc, PhD
Director, FOCIS Centre for Clinical Immunology and Immunotherapeutics
Research Scientist, Robarts Research Institute
Dr. Joaquin Madrenas is Director of the FOCIS Centre for Clinical Immunology and Immunotherapeutics in London, Ontario and is also a Canada Research Chair in Transplantation and Immunobiology.
Dr. Madrenas received his medical degree from Spain's Universitat de Barcelona in 1982, along with his M. Sc. in 1988, and a Ph.D. in immunology both from the University of Alberta in 1992.
Dr. Madrenas studies the regulation of T cell activation through the antigen receptor, having made significant contributions to this field with the development of new drug treatments. As Director of the FOCIS Centre, Dr. Madrenas leads a group of 25 clinicians and scientists who integrate the research operations in basic and clinical Immunology, in order to foster educational programs for professionals and the general public that will help prevent immunological diseases. Dr. Madrenas is currently chairman of review panels for CIHR and Chair of Biomedical Scientific Committee for the Kidney Foundation of Canada.
Contact information:
Robarts Research Institute
100 Perth Drive, P.O. Box 5015
London ON N6A 5K8
Email: madrenas@robarts.ca
Dr. Allison McGeer, PhD
Director, Infection Control, Mount Sinai Hospital
Professor, University of Toronto
Dr. Allison McGeer is the Director of Infection Control at the Mount Sinai Hospital, and Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology and Public Health Sciences at the University of Toronto.
Dr. McGeer's completed her BSc (Honours), MSc in Biochemistry and MD at the University of Toronto. Her research interests include the prevention of serious bacterial and viral infections in adults, as well as the use of surveillance to answer research questions and change practice. She is a lead investigator/co-investigator on CIHR and NIH funded initiatives linking laboratory research, epidemiology and health services research.
Dr. McGeer serves on numerous national and international advisory committees for academia, government and industry, and is a member of several editorial boards, including the Canadian Medical Association Journal. She is a Fellow of the Society of Healthcare Epidemiologists of America, and in 2002 received an Award of Merit from the Ontario Health Care Health and Safety Association.
Contact information:
University of Toronto
Room 1460, 600 University Avenue
Toronto ON M5G 1X5
Email: amcgeer@mtsinai.on.ca
Dr. Marc Ouellette, PhD
Canada Research Chair in Antimicrobial Resistance
Professor, Microbiology
Université Laval
Dr. Ouellette obtained his Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Biochemistry at Ottawa University and received his PhD at Laval University on antibiotic resistance in bacteria. His postdoctoral studies were done under the mentorship of Pr. Piet Borst of the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam, where he further developed his expertise in antimicrobial resistance studying protozoan parasites.
In 1990 he joined the Centre de Recherche en Infectiologie, of Laval University as an Assistant professor and is now full professor. Dr. Ouellette's research is focused on antimicrobial resistance where he has made seminal discoveries on resistance mechanism in protozoan parasites. More recently he has implemented proteomic and DNA microarray strategies to study antimicrobial resistance in the parasite Leishmania and the bacteria Streptococcus pneumoniae.
Dr. Ouellette has received numerous awards for his work including a New Investigator Award in Molecular Parasitology from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, a MRC Scientist Award, a Scholar Award in Molecular Parasitology of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, and a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Antimicrobial Resistance. He has served on numerous panels of national and international granting agencies and is a strong supporter of scientific exchanges with developing countries.
Contact Information:
Centre de Recherche en Infectiologie, Université Laval
CHUQ, pavillon CHUL
2705 boul. Laurier
Québec QC G1V 4G2
Email: Marc.Ouellette@crchul.ulaval.ca
Dr. Christopher Power, MD, FRCPC
Professor, Departments of Medicine and Medical Microbiology & Immunology
University of Alberta
Dr. Chris Power is currently a Professor in the Departments of Clinical Neurosciences and Microbiology & Infectious Diseases at the University of Calgary. He moved there in 1998, where he has continued to work on the neuropathogenesis of HIV infection together with studies of neuroinflammatory mechanisms underlying multiple sclerosis.
Dr. Power completed his undergraduate and medical degrees at the Universities of Toronto (1981) and Ottawa (1985), respectively. He subsequently trained in Internal Medicine and Neurology at McMaster University and the University of Western Ontario. During residence training, Dr. Power published several papers describing the pathogenesis of viral infections of the nervous system including CMV and HTLV-1 infections. Thereafter, he trained as a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University in the Department of Neurology in the Neurovirology group. During this time, his interests were focused on HIV infection of the nervous system causing dementia. He also spent two years at the Rocky Mountain Laboratory of the National Institutes of Health extending his work on HIV infection of the nervous system.
His first faculty position in Canada was at the University of Manitoba. He currently holds CIHR Investigator and AHFMR Scholar awards and the Strafford Foundation Chair in Alzheimer Research and is a member of the CIHR Virology and Viral Pathogenesis Committee and the CIHR HIV/AIDS Research Advisory Committee.
Contact Information:
University of Alberta
611 Heritage Medical Research Centre
Edmonton AB T6G 2S2
Email: chris.power@ualberta.ca
Dr. Noel R. Rose MD, PhD
Director, Immune Disorders Laboratory /
Director, Autoimmune Disease Research Centre /
Professor, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
An immunologist, pathologist and molecular microbiologist, Dr. Noel Rose has been associated with Johns Hopkins University where he is professor in four departments: Pathology, Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Medicine and Environmental Health Sciences and is Director of the Autoimmune Disease Research Center. He has also served as professor and Chair of the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases.
He received his B.Sc. (1945) from Yale University; his A.M. and PhD in 1949 and 1951 respectively, from the University of Pennsylvania; and his M.D. from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo in 1964.
Dr. Rose's pioneering research helped immunologists understand, for the first time, that the immune system was capable of directing a response to healthy tissues and organs of the body, as well as invading foreign viruses and bacteria.
He has written over 600 articles in peer-reviewed journals, edited or co-edited some 21 books, and served as an editorial board member of more than 12 journals. Dr. Rose has served as an autoimmunity expert for the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the College of American Pathologists, the American Academy of Microbiology, and the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology.
Contact information:
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
720 Rutland Avenue Ross Research Building 659
Baltimore MD 21205-2195
Email: nrrose@jhmi.edu
Dr. David Speert, MD
Professor, Pediatrics
University of British Columbia
Dr. David Speert is currently professor of Pediatrics at the University of British Columbia (UBC), a position he has held since 1990. He is head of the division of Infectious and Immunological Diseases in the Department of Pediatrics, Associate Head (Research) Department of Pediatrics, Associate Head Centre for Microbial Diseases and Immunology Research (UBC) and Head of the Centre for Infectious and Inflammatory Diseases at the Child and Family Research Institute.
Dr. Speert obtained his bachelor of arts degree, with a concentration in psychology, from Middlebury College in Vermont (1969) and his medical degree from Columbia University (1973). He received pediatrics training at the University of Michigan and his infectious diseases and research training at the University of Minnesota. He has been at UBC since 1980.
Dr. Speert's research is directed at gaining a clearer understanding of innate host defenses and of microbial determinants of pulmonary pathogenesis, particularly with regards to lung infections in patients with cystic fibrosis. His work has been funded by CIHR, the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and the Canadian Bacterial Diseases Network (Network of Centres of Excellence). He is currently Chair of the CIHR Microbiology and Infectious Diseases peer review committee.
Contact information:
BC Children's Hospital
Room 377 Research Centre
950 West 28th Avenue
Vancouver BC V5Z 4H4
Email: dspeert@cw.bc.ca
Jana Stankova, PhD
Professor, Department of Immunology
Université de Sherbrooke
Dr. Jana Stankova is a Professor of Immunology and Director of the Graduate Studies Program in Immunology at the Université de Sherbrooke. She obtained her Bachelor of Science degree, with a specialty in microbiology (1979), a Master of Science degree in cellular biology and immunology (1982), and a PhD in cellular biology and immunology (1986), at the Université de Sherbrooke, and continued her postdoctoral work with a fellowship in Immunology at Toronto's Mount Sinai Research Institute (1986-1988).
Currently, her research into inflammation involves two different streams. The first one concentrates on the structural and functional relationships of lipid mediators – specifically on the platelet activating factor (PAF) and the B4 (BLT1), D4 (CysLT1) and C4 (CysLT2) leukotrienes. PAF and leukotriene receptors are part of a family of receptors located on G proteins and seven other transmembrane domains. Through directed mutagenesis, Dr. Stankova is trying to identify the amino acids of the receptors that are involved in the connection of the ligand, the connection of the G protein, the internalization of the receptor and the intracellular signals. The second research stream regards the transfer of signals by these receptors, specifically along the JAK/STAT or MAP kinase channels.
During her career, she has been supported by a research scholarship from the Fonds de la Recherche en Santé du Québec, as well as operating grants from CIHR, the National Cancer Institute of Canada, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, and the Society for Cancer Research.
Gillian E. Wu, PhD
Dean and Professor
Faculty of Sciences and Engineering
York University
Dr. Gillian E. Wu is Dean and Professor in the Faculty of Sciences and Engineering, as well as Professor in the Department of Biology and the Department of Kinesiology and Health Sciences at York University.
Dr. Wu received her Bachelor of Science degree in biology (1967) at McMaster University, her Master of Science degree, with a specialty in biophysics (1969), and a PhD in medical biophysics (1984), at the University of Toronto.
Currently, Dr. Wu is investigating a female autoimmune disease called systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). For SLE sufferers, antibodies produced by B cells cause problems that aren't normally produced by the immune system. Dr. Wu is examining the genetic components that encode the autoreactive antibodies of these B cells, and respond to estrogen or cytokines. She is also trying to develop mechanisms that can reduce the autoreactivity of B cells in SLE.
Dr. Wu is trying to identify which genes affect some of the critical points in a blood cell's development and, as a result, lead to cancer. She will then analyze the functions of other genes and molecules that are known to participate in either the development or the activity of blood cells. The results may provide the basis for new ways to detect or treat various types of cancer.
Dr. Wu's has been a member of national grant panels including CIHR's. She is an associate editor of the Journal of Immunology and President of the Canada Society for Immunology.