IAB Members (As of September 1, 2011) - Biographies
Chair:
Joan L. Bottorff, PhD, RN, FCAHS
Professor and Chair in Health Promotion and Cancer Prevention
University of British Columbia Okanagan
Dr. Bottorff is a Professor in the School of Nursing, Faculty of Health and Social Development, and Director of the Institute for Healthy Living and Chronic Disease Prevention at the University of British Columbia Okanagan in Kelowna, British Columbia. Her research program focuses on health promotion and health behaviour change in the context of cancer control with a particular focus on gender-related influences. Current projects center on the relational issues embedded in tobacco reduction, and developing gender sensitive tobacco reduction interventions for both women and men. Her projects are supported by national grants, and involve partnerships with health professionals and other stakeholders in the community.
Dr. Bottorff supervises masters and doctoral students in nursing and interdisciplinary studies. She is Co-Leader of the Psychosocial Oncology Research Training (PORT) program, as well as a mentor with the Intersections of Mental Health Perspectives in Addiction Research Training (IMPART) program, and the Population Intervention for Chronic Disease Prevention (PICDP) research training program. Dr. Bottorff is an Affiliate Scientist with the BC Cancer Agency.
Elizabeth Banister, RN, PhD, R Psych
School of Nursing
University of Victoria
Elizabeth Banister is a Professor in the School of Nursing at the University of Victoria and Professorial Research Fellow, School of Nursing, Midwifery, and Health, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.
Dr. Banister's research interests include knowledge translation, health education and health literacy. She is lead editor of a book entitled: Knowledge translation in context: Indigenous, policy, and community settings, published in 2011 by the University of Toronto Press. Dr. Banister is well published in the areas of adolescent sexual health education and health literacy in Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities. She has research collaborations in Canada and New Zealand on topics related to adolescent reproductive health literacy.
Dr. Banister is the recipient of several awards including the US National Council on Family Relations Anselm Strauss Award for Best Paper in Qualitative Family Research in 2000, and the Canadian Association of Nursing Research Outstanding New Investigator Award in 2001.
Dr. Banister is a member of the UVic Human Research Ethics Board and is founding member of the Centre for Youth & Society at UVic. She was Chief Negotiator for the Faculty Association's 2007 negotiation to end mandatory retirement at UVic. Dr. Banister is a Registered Nurse and a Registered Psychologist in British Columbia and in New Zealand. She serves as a reviewer for several federal funding agencies.
Françoise Baylis, PhD
Professor
Canada Research Chair in Bioethics and Philosophy
Faculty of Medicine
Dalhousie University
Françoise Baylis is Professor and Canada Research Chair in Bioethics and Philosophy at Dalhousie University in Halifax. She publishes extensively on ethical issues relevant to women's reproductive health, research involving humans and novel technologies. Her current research focuses on innovative, responsible and accountable bioethics, with a view to developing and promoting ethical policy in the fields of health, science and biotechnology.
Professor Baylis contributes to national policy-making on assisted human reproduction via independent research, government research contracts, national committee work, and public education. This work dates back to 1991 when Baylis was a consultant to the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies. More recently, from 2007 to 2010, Baylis was a member of the Board of Directors of Assisted Human Reproduction Canada. On the basis of her extensive and wide ranging academic research and national policy experience, Professor Baylis prepared an ethics expert report for the Government of Canada in response to the legal challenge by the province of Québec to the Assisted Human Reproduction Act. The Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in December 2010. Professor Baylis' expert report is cited in the decision.
Professor Baylis is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and an elected Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. Her service commitment to CIHR includes: Member, Gender and Health Institute Advisory Board, 2009-12; Member, Governing Council, 2001-2004; Co-Chair, Standing Committee on Ethics, 2001-04; Member, Priorities and Planning Committee, Institute of Genetics, Ethics, Legal and Social Issues, (ex officio) 2002-04; Member, Genetics Institute Advisory Board 2001; and Member, Ad Hoc Working Group on Stem Cell Research, 2000-01.
Guylain Boissonneault, PhD
Professor
Department in Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine
University of Sherbrooke
Dr. Guylain Boissonneault is a molecular biologist and full professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the Faculty of Medicine in the Université de Sherbrooke. Dr Boissonneault received his BSc in Medical Biology at Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières and obtained his PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology from Université Laval in 1990. Following his post-doctoral studies in Developmental Genetics at the University of California San Francisco, Dr. Boissonneault was appointed to a faculty position in 1993.
Over the past five years, he has studied spermiogenesis as a major determinant of the genetic integrity of the male gamete. One of his major contributions to the field was to demonstrate that endogenous DNA double-stranded breaks are part of the normal development program of spermatids. These DNA breaks must be repaired by an error-prone mechanism making this transition a very sensitive step able to transmit mutations from one generation to the next without exogenous genotoxic factors. New molecular biology tools have been created for such studies. Dr Boissonneault is also actively involved in both graduate and undergraduate teaching in molecular biology and genomics and is also involved several management committees at the Faculty of Medicine in Sherbrooke. He is currently commissioner for the academic programs evaluation of CREPUQ (Québec).
Dr. Boissonneault received studentship, fellowship and scholarship from le Fond Québécois de la Recherche sur la Nature et les Technologies (FQRNT), the Natural Sciences and Enginering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and le Fond de la Recherche en Santé du Québec (FRSQ ). He currently holds research grants from both NSERC and CIHR for his work on reproductive biology and is regularly invited as external or internal referee for different funding agencies.
Sally Brown, MHSc
Sally Brown was the CEO of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada from October, 2001, until her retirement in September 2010. Ms Brown came to HSFC from the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) where she spent ten years as Vice-President responsible for national and international policy.
From 1989 to 1991 Ms. Brown was a special advisor in the Prime Minister's Office. From 1984 to 1989, she was a hospital administrator at the Toronto General Hospital becoming Assistant Vice-President, Diagnostic Services in 1987.
Ms. Brown has a Diploma in Nursing from the Toronto General Hospital School of Nursing, and a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters in Health Sciences from the University of Toronto.
Ms. Brown has served on a number of community and agency boards including that of the Royal Ottawa Hospital, the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation and the Council for Health Research in Canada, receiving the latter organization's Award of Merit in 2005. She has served as Chair of the Health Charities Coalition of Canada and was a member of the Board of the Canadian Stroke Network. In 2006 she was appointed co-chair, with Health Canada, of the federal Trans Fat Task Force, for which she received Health Canada's ADM's Excellence Award for Collaborative Leadership. Ms. Brown is currently on the Advisory Board of the Institute of Gender and Health of the CIHR, and was recently appointed to the Board of the InterAmerican Heart Foundation.
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Gillian Einstein, PhD
Associate Professor of Psychology and Public Health
University of Toronto
Gillian Einstein is a neuroscientist who has published in vision, Alzheimer's and aging research, sex differences, and women's health. She has edited and annotated a book of classic papers in Hormones and Behavior called, Sex and the Brain (MIT Press, 2007).
She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and The Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, Senior Scientist at Women's College Research Institute, Member of the Scientific Staff of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Senior Fellow of University College, and a member of both the Institute for Life Course and Aging, and the Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies at the University of Toronto.
She is also founder and Director of the Collaborative Graduate Program in Women's Health at the University of Toronto, founding member of the Organization for the Study of Sex Differences, and a temporary advisor to WHO on the psychological effects of female genital cutting/mutilation. She served on the faculty of the Department of Neurobiology, Duke University where she founded and directed the first year program, Exploring the Mind and was the recipient of the Alumni Undergraduate Teaching Award. She has also been a Scientific Review Officer at the National Institutes of Health (US), and the Associate Director of the Centre for Research in Women's Health at the University of Toronto. She has been a mentor in the Institute of Gender and Health's Summer Institute (2009, 2010) and In the spring term of 2010 she was a visiting professor with the Committee for Degrees in Women, Gender and Sexuality at Harvard University.
Dr. Einstein's interests are in memory, sex/gender representations in the nervous system, mixed methods, and the bridge between our scientific understanding of the nervous system and larger concerns having to do with self, identity, feminism, and the nature of science. Her research program focuses on three major areas: 1) the neurobiological effects of such cultural practices as female genital cutting and 2) the effects of the ovulatory cycle on mood and memory; and 3) the representation of the female body in the brain. The key question underlying all these projects is how gender is instantiated on the body.
Her website is: http://psych.utoronto.ca/users/einstein
Gary Garber, PhD
Professor of Medicine
University of Ottawa
Dr. Gary Garber is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Ottawa and Vice Chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University and at the Ottawa Hospital. Born in Montreal, Dr. Garber attended McGill University (BSc) and received his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Calgary (1980). He then trained in Internal Medicine at the University of Toronto ('80-'83) and Infectious Diseases at the University of British Columbia ('83-86).
On staff at the University of Ottawa since 1986, he has been instrumental in developing the local Royal College training program in Infectious Diseases, and established a model of regional, bilingual, multidisciplinary HIV/AIDS care for eastern Ontario and West Quebec. Some of his current projects include development of a multidisciplinary care clinic for management and care of patients with Viral Hepatitis and a model of regional Infection Control services.
Dr. Garber's research interests are in the appropriate use of antibiotics, novel antimicrobial therapies particularly in the immune-compromised host, and the management of Sepsis and Septic Shock. His laboratory studies the pathogenesis of Trichomonas vaginalis, a sexually transmitted pathogen which causes vaginitis in women and doubles their risk of acquiring HIV infection. This basic science work is focusing on vaccine development and disease prevention as well as identifying markers of diseases.
Carol Hiscock
Executive Director
The Arthritis Society, MB/NU division
Carol Hiscock is currently in her fourth year as the Executive Director in the Manitoba/Nunavut and Saskatchewan Divisions of The Arthritis Society.
A physiotherapist and health care administrator by profession, Carol brings a wealth of not-for-profit and health care experience to her work. Previous positions have included the Executive Director of the Manitoba Division of the Canadian Mental Health Association, based in Winnipeg, and CEO of YWCA Thompson. Carol lived in northern Manitoba for 30 years and travelled extensively in the North during that time, providing physiotherapy services and health care to Thompson and outlying communities.
She also has extensive and very senior level experience as a volunteer, having been the founding Chair of the Chronic Disease Alliance in Manitoba, and also served for over 22 years with the Canadian Cancer Society, culminating in a two-year term as President of the National Board of Directors.
An award winner in her field, Carol has been described as a big picture thinker, a skilled team builder, effective financial manager, with superb communication and team building skills. She's known to be passionate about health care issues, and a warm and compassionate leader.
Abby Hoffman
Associate Assistant Deputy Minister
Strategic Policy
Health Canada
Abby Hoffman is the Executive Coordinator, Pharmaceuticals Management Strategies, Health Policy Branch, Health Canada. In this capacity, she oversees the development and implementation of Health Canada's Therapeutics Access Strategy (TAS). The objective of the strategy is to improve the health of Canadians by enhancing access to effective, safe and affordable therapeutic products. The strategy supports initiatives aimed at: improving the transparency and timeliness of regulatory decision-making, strengthening assessment of safety and therapeutic effectiveness, and, better management and use of therapeutic products in the Canadian health system.
Abby Hoffman has held a number of senior executive positions in Health Canada, including the first Director General of the Women's Health Bureau, and, Director General, Health Care Strategies and Policy. Before joining Health Canada, for ten years she was the Director General of the federal government sport agency, Sport Canada.
Olga Kovalchuk, MD, PhD
Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Lethbridge
CIHR Chair in Gender and Health
Board of Governors' Research Chair
Dr. Olga Kovalchuk is a Professor and Board of Governors' Research Chair in Radiation Biology in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Lethbridge. She holds a CIHR Chair in Gender and Health.
Dr. Kovalchuk's research focuses on the effects of long-term exposure to radiation, and how that exposure changes cellular and molecular structures in animals and people. Her research interests include: sex differences in radiation responses and carcinogenesis, radiation epigenetics and role of epigenetic changes in genome stability and carcinogenesis, epigenetics of carcinogenesis, epigenetic regulation of the cancer treatment responses, and radiation-induced DNA damage, repair and recombination.
In 2010, Dr. Kovalchuk was voted one of Canada's Top 40 Under 40.
John Oliffe, RN, MEd, PhD
Associate Director, Research
School of Nursing
University of British Columbia
Dr. Oliffe is a registered nurse, with emergency room and pediatric nursing experience. He completed an M.Ed (1999), a PhD in health sciences (2004) and postdoctoral training in psychosocial oncology research (2004-2006). In 2006, he received a CIHR new investigator and a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar award. Dr. Oliffe's research program focuses on men's health issues including prostate cancer, depression, smoking cessation and immigration. His research program is focused on better understanding men's health and illness behaviours, and mobilizing that knowledge as gender-sensitive health promotion programs and interventions. Dr. Oliffe's current research includes CIHR-funded projects that investigate the role of prostate cancer support groups in health promotion, smoking patterns of new fathers, the impact of men's depression on gender relations and South Asian Canadian immigrant men's health practices. In addition, he is a co-Investigator in studies exploring men's sexual health and vulnerable male youth help-seeking patterns. He has served as chairperson for the HIV/AIDS interprofessional course offered by the College of Health Disciplines at UBC, and scientific officer for the National Cancer Institute of Canada. Dr. Oliffe is regularly invited to speak about men's health issues and has published extensively in the area.
Jens Pruessner, PhD
Director, McGill Centre for Studies in Aging
Director, Aging and Alzheimer Research Axis, Douglas Institute
Dr. Jens Pruessner performed his graduate studies at Trier University in Germany in Psychoneuroendocrinology, completing his PhD in 1997. Continuing his postgraduate studies at McGill University (Douglas Mental Health University Institute and the Montreal Neurological Institute), he specialized in neuroimaging techniques.
Focusing his attention on studying stress, Dr. Pruessner and his team developed and validated the mental arithmetic task for stress induction, the Montreal Imaging Stress Task (MIST). They have since employed the task in functional magnetic resonance imaging and Positron Emission Tomography studies, investigating the effects of stress on brain activation changes in real time.
Appointed Assistant Professor at McGill University in 2002, Dr. Pruessner is a member of the Departments of Psychology, Psychiatry and Neurology & Neurosurgery. In 2004, Dr. Pruessner was appointed Director of the Aging and Alzheimer Research Axis of the Douglas Mental Health Institute. In 2008, he was appointed Director of the McGill Centre for Studies in Aging. In 2009, Dr. Pruessner was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor.
He has been a member of the International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology since 2004, the International Society of Behavioral Neuroscience since 2002, and the Society for Neuroscience since 2001.
In 1998, Dr. Pruessner received the Postdoctoral Fellow Award and Stipend, and the University of Trier Alumni Group PhD Award. The Centre for Psychobiological and Psychosomatic Research in Trier, Germany awarded him the Innovation Award in 1997. He received personal support awards from NARSAD (Young Investigator 2000), FRSQ (Chercheur-boursier Junior 2002), CIHR (New Investigator Award 2005), and FRSQ (Chercheur nationaux 2011).
Finally, Dr. Pruessner was the recipient of the 2008 Curt Richter Young Investigator Award of the International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology, and the 2009 Young Investigator Award of the Canadian College of Neuropsychopharmacology.
Donna E. Stewart, MD
Director of Women's Health
University Health Network and University of Toronto
Dr. Donna E. Stewart is the Director of Women's Health at University Health Network and the University of Toronto, where she is responsible for research, education, policy, and health service delivery of women's health. She is a Professor at the University of Toronto and is appointed to the Faculty of Medicine in the Departments of Psychiatry, Obstetrics/Gynecology, Medicine, Anaesthesia, Family and Community Medicine, and Surgery. She was the inaugural Lillian Love Chair in Women's Health from 1995-2011 – the first such Chair in women's health in the world.
Dr. Stewart's research interests are in women's health, women's health education, women's mental health, interpersonal violence, psychological aspects of reproductive health, psychological reaction to physical illness, and international health. She has published over 300 peer reviewed scientific papers. She is editor of Menopause: A Mental Health Practitioner's Guide, the first and second editions of Psychological Aspects of Women's Health Care. She was a Scientific Officer for CIHR's Gender Sex and Health peer review panel (2002-2006).
Dr. Stewart is active in medical education and career development for women healthcare professionals. She is Deputy Editor of the American Psychiatric Publishers Inc (APPI), the world's largest publisher of mental health books and journals. She is a reviewer for over 40 scientific journals. She is past President of the International Association for Women's Mental Health. She is the Canadian Psychiatric Association Representative to the World Psychiatric Association and Co-Chairs their Review Committee on Ethical Misconduct.
Dr. Stewart has served as a consultant to Health Canada, the National Institutes of Health (NIMH, NICHD), the Population Health Council, the United States Public Health Service and the United Nations Economic and Social Council. She has been a visiting professor at universities around the world, and has presented at numerous international and national professional conferences in women's health research.
Bilkis Vissandjée, PhD, FCAHS
Professor
School of Nursing
University of Montreal
Bilkis Vissandjée is a Professor in the School of Nursing at the University of Montreal. She is one of the co-founders of the Centre de recherche et de formation du CSSS de la Montagne, a research centre based in a frontline community health services organization. The main theme of her research work is to address the challenges associated with providing quality of care in a multiethnic context within a gender, migration and equity sensitive perspective.
Between 1996 and 2002, she acted as the Scientific Director of the Centre of Excellence for Women's Health funded by Health Canada, which gathered researchers, clinicians and frontline workers concerned with Aboriginal and immigrant women's health. The Centre promoted policy-oriented and community-based research and analysis of the social determinants of health.
In collaboration with a diversity of NGOs, she has contributed to the implementation of context-sensitive programs aimed at newcomers to Canada, dealing with conditions such as tuberculosis and Type 2 diabetes.
In 2005, given her sustained focus on addressing gender and diversity, she was appointed by the Quebec Provincial Health Minister to join an advisory body charged with increasing access and use of health programs and policies by cultural communities in Quebec. She is actively involved with a variety of partners including the Montreal Health Agency in identifying best practices towards culturally and linguistically appropriate nursing care.
In 2011, she joined the Executive Council of the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute; she has been involved with this Institute for a number of years, mainly via the Youth Internship Program jointly funded by the Canadian International Development Agency and the Aga Khan Foundation. Among her international contributions, she led two Partnership Programs in Nursing (Train the Trainers) in Lebanon (1996-2002) and Morocco (2003-2009).
Her contributions to the scientific community along with nationally and internationally-based partners highlight the importance of accounting for sex, gender, migration and ethnicity when deriving strategies for promoting better health within a diversified socio-cultural context.
