IAB Members - Biographies (September 2010 - August 2011)
Dr. Luis Barreto, MBBS, MD, MHSc
Vice President,
Public, Scientific and Medical 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
Dr. Eric Brown, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences
McMaster University
Eric Brown is Chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. He received his Ph.D. in 1992 in Biochemistry studying of proline utilization in bacteria at the University of Guelph in Professor Janet Wood's laboratory. Subsequently, he spent 2 years as a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada postdoctoral fellow in Professor Christopher Walsh's research group at Harvard Medical School researching bacterial cell wall biosynthesis. He worked for three years in the Boston pharmaceutical sector with Myco Pharmaceuticals and Astra Research Center Boston before joining the Department of Biochemistry at McMaster in 1998 and receiving a Medical Research Council of Canada Scholarship.
Dr. Brown's research interests are in studying complex and poorly understood aspects of biology in bacteria using molecular genetic and biochemical approaches. Brown lab researchers are currently studying cell wall and ribosome biogenesis, both daunting cellular processes of remarkable complexity. Further, Dr. Brown oversees an ambitious effort in chemical genomics aimed at mapping and understanding the interaction of drug-like small molecules with bacterial cell systems.
Dr. Brown has been the recipient of a variety of investigator awards including a Canada Research Chair in Chemical Biology and the Merck Frosst Prize. He has consulted and served on the advisory boards of a variety of biotech companies as well as national and international societies and associations, including a term as President of the Canadian Society of Biochemistry, Molecular and Cellular Biology. Among his current roles are Editor of the Journal of Biological Chemistry and Member of the Medical Review Panel of the Gairdner Foundation.
Contact Information:
Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences
McMaster University
1200 Main Street
Hamilton, ON L8N 3Z5
Email: ebrown@mcmaster.ca
Dr. Roy Duncan, PhD
Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Dalhousie University
Dr. Roy Duncan obtained his B.Sc. in Microbiology from the University of Guelph and his M.Sc. in Virology from Queen's University. Following a short stint as a research technician in government and academic research labs, he returned to the University of Guelph to complete his Ph.D. in Virology, followed by postdoctoral studies on virus-cell interactions at the University of Calgary.
Dr. Duncan's research group has pioneered the discovery and analysis of the reovirus fusion-associated small transmembrane (FAST) proteins. This novel family of virus-encoded cellular fusogens provides insights into the process of cell-cell membrane fusion, an essential feature of viral pathogenesis, musculo-skeletal development, fertilization, placenta formation, inflammation, and tumour development. As the founder and CEO of Fusogenix Inc., a biotech startup company, Dr. Duncan is also developing the FAST proteins and fusogenic liposomes for targeted intracellular delivery of drugs and vaccines.
Dr. Duncan was the recipient of a CIHR Investigator Award, the Max Forman Senior Research Prize from the Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation, and his interest and passion for teaching has been recognized by several teaching and mentoring awards. He has a long-standing involvement in grant review panels, is the Executive Director of the Dalhousie Infectious Disease Research Alliance, and is a member of the Canadian Centre for Vaccinology in Halifax.
Contact information:
Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Faculty of Medicine
Dalhousie University
Halifax, NS B3H 1X5
Email: roy.duncan@dal.ca
Dr. Peter Ernst
Professor, University of Virginia
Dr. Peter Ernst is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA. His research interest is in gastrointestinal inflammation with specific interests in lymphoepithelial cell interactions in H. pylori infection and inflammatory bowel disease. The ultimate goal of understanding the pathogenesis of these diseases is to enhance the design of immunotherapies for the treatment or prevention of chronic gastrointestinal inflammation.
Currently, Dr. Ernst is pursuing two main projects. The goal of the first is to understand the role of Th1 cells in the pathogenesis of gastroduodenal disease in humans infected with H. pylori. These studies entail a characterization of the T cell response in gastric mucosa. Dr. Ernst has shown that Th1 responses dominate in the normal and infected stomach, largely in association with the local production of IL-12 and IL-18. These Th1 cell release mediators that promote inflammation, for example but stimulating the production of neutrophil chemokines by the epithelial cells. In addition, activated Th1 cells can target the epithelium by inducing apoptosis and epithelial cell death. This is done directly by cytolytic cytokines produced by both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells as well as the effects of these cytokines on epithelial cell expression of Fas. The latter results in an increase in Fas-mediated killing by adjacent T cells expressing Fas ligand. A novel aspect of this work is the role of reactive oxygen species in selecting for Th1 cells. Studies are being carried out to examine the impact that oxidative stress has on Th cell differentiation and function.
In the second project, Dr. Ernst is using mouse models of chronic colitis to study lymphoepithelial cell interactions. Similar to the events in the stomach, Th1 cells predominate in several models of colitis and lead to epithelial cell death. This occurs directly, via Fas/Fas ligand interactions as well as indirectly, by oxidative stress that is induced by activated T cells.
Some of the pathogenic events in both models are prevented by anti-inflammatory cytokines including IL-10. Regulatory T cells in the gut appear to produce high levels of IL-10 and may be important in preventing autoimmune diseases including colitis. Thus, other studies involve the characterization of regulatory T cells in the gut and their induction by luminal antigen.
Dr. Ernst is also a member of the Beirne B. Carter Center for Immunology Research and the Cancer Center and has active collaborations with scientists in these groups.
Contact Information:
University of Virginia
Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology
Box 800708
Charlottesville, Virginia 229080708 USA
Email: pernst@virginia.edu
Aida Fernandes, BSc, MBA
Director of Medical/Scientific & Community Programs
at the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
Ms. Aida Fernandes received her Bachelor of Science degree in Human Biology from the University of Toronto, and her Master's of Business Administration in Nonprofit Management. She previously worked as a Manager of Client Relations at Royal LePage Relocations before joining the CCFF in 2000.
Contact information:
Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
2221 Yonge Street, Suite 601
Toronto, ON M4S 2B4
Email: afernandes@cysticfibrosis.ca
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 A1B 3V6
Email: mgrant@mun.ca
Dr. Robert Hogg, PhD
Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences
Dr. Robert Hogg is a Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia and the Director of the HIV/AIDS Drug Treatment Program at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS in Vancouver.
Dr. Hogg obtained his PhD in Demography (1992) from the Australian National University in Canberra, the capital of Australia. He also has a MA (1985) and BA (1988) in Anthropology from the University of Victoria. His post-doctoral work was done at the University of British Columbia and the Canadian HIV/AIDS Trials Network in Vancouver in 1992 and 1993.
His major areas of expertise are in demography and epidemiology with emphasis on the health status of persons with HIV/AIDS, current treatment and management practices for persons with HIV/AIDS and the health status of marginalized populations.
Dr Hogg has held investigator fellowships from the National Health Research Development Program (1995 to 2000), Canadian Institutes of Health (2001 to 2002), and Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (2001 to 2006). At the University of British Columbia he held the Michael O'Shaughnessy Chair in Population Health. He currently is an adjunct Professor in the Department of International Health and Cross-Cultural Medicine at the University of California, San Diego.
Contact Information:
608-1081 Burrard Street
Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6
Email: bobhogg@cfenet.ubc.ca
Dr. Anthony M. Jevnikar, MD, FRCP(C)
Neprologist
Professor of Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology
University of Western Ontario
Dr. Jevnikar completed undergraduate and graduate programs in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Western Ontario and received his MD from the Schulich School of Medicine in 1981.He received further research training in transplant and renal molecular immunology as a Fellow at Harvard University with Dr. V. Kelley at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. He is now a transplant nephrologist , professor of Medicine, Microbiology & Immunology and Surgery, Medical Director of Kidney Transplantation and Co-Director of the Multi Organ Transplant Program at University Hospital in London, Ontario.
Dr. Jevnikar is internationally recognized for basic research in epithelial cell injury and the regulation of cellular death by endogenous inhibitors of apoptosis as a means to promote allograft survival. This work has led to novel discoveries such as the role and inhibition of epithelial cell death receptors that induce "self injury" and organ dysfunction during inflammation.
His research has been continuously supported since 1988 by the Kidney Foundation of Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and as well from the NIH for tolerance work in non human primates.
Dr. Jevnikar has been an active member of both the Canadian and American Societies of Transplantation, was President of the Canadian Society of Transplantation from 2002-04 , has served many important committees including the co-chair of the Education Committee (2005-2007), and planned numerous educational meetings to train new transplant scientists. As a first for a Canadian, he is currently the Chair of the American Transplant Congress, which is the largest annual international transplant meeting.
Contact information:
Department of Microbiology and Immunology
University of Western Ontario
London, ON N6H 3Y8
Email: jevnikar@uwo.ca
Dr. Steven Jones, PhD
National Microbiology Laboratory
Dr. Steven Jones was born in Plymouth, United Kingdom, in 1968. He received his Bachelor of Science degree with 1st class Honours in 1992 from the University of Plymouth, United Kingdom. Subsequently, he graduated from the University of Plymouth with his Ph.D. in 1997. His postdoctoral research was conducted in the field of immunity to high containment pathogens (Yersinia pestis, Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus, Burkholderia mallei, B. psuedomallei and F. tularensis) in the Microbiology Division of the Biomedical Sciences Department, DSTL Porton Down, United Kingdom. Following his postdoctoral training he continued to work in the Microbiology Department Porton Down as the Scientific Leader of the Cellular Immunology Group. Steven Jones joined Health Canada in October 2001. Currently he is the Head of the Immunopathology Unit of the Special Pathogens Program at the National Microbiology Laboratory, Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health and an adjunct professor in the Department of Immunology at the University of Manitoba.
He was involved in the efforts to identify the causative agent for SARS and has subsequently been working on the development of animal models for the disease and the testing of novel treatments, He was the Canadian representative at the WHO meetings on animal models for SARS coronavirus. He has extensive experience of diagnostic testing in the field and ran the Marburg diagnostic laboratory in Angola (2005). He is Head of the Emerging Bacterial Diseases Section and is responsible for the detection and diagnosis of zoonotic bacterial disease for the Agency. He leads the Public Health Agency of Canada's microbiological emergency response teams; these teams exercise regularly with the other members of the national response Team (RCMP and Army) and have provided training in basic microbiology to the other team members.
He is also the head of the Canadian Laboratory Response Network. However, his main research interests are the rational design of immuno therapeutics and vaccines for Ebola, Marburg and Lassa hemorrhagic fever, viruses and the immunopathology of VHF diseases.
Contact Information:
1015 Arlington Street, Rm 2570
Special Pathogens Program
Winnipeg, MB R3E 3R2
Email: Steven_jones@phac-aspc.gc.ca
Christopher Kaposy, PhD
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Medicine
Memorial University of Newfoundland
Dr. Christopher Kaposy is an Assistant Professor of Health Care Ethics in the Faculty of Medicine at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Dr. Kaposy studied Philosophy at McMaster University in Hamilton, where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1997. He went on to receive his Master of Arts degree in Philosophy from Concordia University, and completed his Ph.D., also in Philosophy, at the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 2006. Christopher continued his training with a post-doctoral fellowship in the Ethics of Health Research and Policy Program at Dalhousie University, where he also held an assistant professorship until joining Memorial University in 2009.
Contact information:
Faculty of Medicine
Division of Community Health and Humanities
Memorial University of Newfoundland
St. John's, NL A1C 5S7
Email: christopher.kaposy@med.mun.ca
Dr. Mohamed Karmali
Director General
Laboratory for Foodborne Zoonoses
Public Health Agency of Canada
Dr. Mohamed Karmali graduated in Medicine from the University of Glasgow, Scotland, in 1972, and went on to specialize in Internal Medicine and Medical Microbiology at the Universities of Glasgow and Toronto. Formerly Head of Microbiology at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, he is presently Director-General, Laboratory for Foodborne Zoonoses, Public Health Agency of Canada and Professor of Pathology and Molecular Medicine at McMaster University.
Dr. Karmali is recognized internationally for his research on infections due to Campylobacter and E. coli O157:H7 and other Verotoxin-producing Escherichia coli (VTEC). He was one of the first to recognize the importance of Campylobacter in Canada, and, in 1979, published the seminal study on the etiological significance and natural history of Campylobacter jejuni infection in young children. One of the most popular laboratory diagnostic media for isolating Campylobacters is known as Karmali's medium.
In the early 1980s his group was the first to show the causal link between VTEC infection and the hemolytic uremic syndrome, a disease, of hitherto unknown cause, that is the commonest cause of acute renal failure in children, and he continues to be active in research in this area. He has been on the organizing committee of all five International conferences on VTEC infections, and has chaired a number of World Health Organization Meetings on VTEC. Before joining Health Canada in 1999, Dr. Karmali was a member of Health Canada's Science Advisory Board. Dr. Karmali was the recipient of the American Society of Microbiology's 2009 BD Award for Research in Clinical Microbiology.
Contact information:
Director General
Laboratory for Foodborne Zoonoses
Public Health Agency of Canada
110 Stone Road West
Guelph, ON N1G 3W4
Email: mohamed_karmali@phac.aspc.gc.ca
Dr. Vivian Loo, MD
McGill University Health Centre
Dr. Vivian Loo is the Chief of the Department of Microbiology at the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Prior to this position, she was the director of the Infection Prevention and Control Program. In addition, she is an associate professor of medicine at McGill University.
She received her medical degree (1985), master's of science in epidemiology (1996) and internal medicine training from McGill University. She completed her fellowship in infectious diseases and medical microbiology at the University of Toronto in Ontario (1991).
Dr. Loo's research interests included antimicrobial resistance and hospital epidemiology. In the last 5 years, her research has concentrated on the clinical and molecular epidemiology of C. difficile. She is a member of the Quebec provincial C. difficile surveillance committee and was an author on the Quebec provincial guidelines for the control of C. difficile.
Contact Information:
1650 Cedar Ave., Room D16.168
Montreal, QC H3G 1A4
Email: vivian.loo@muhc.mcgill.ca
Dr. Christopher Power, MD, FRCPC (Chair)
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
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.
Dr. Brian J. Ward, MSc, DTM&H, MDCM
Professor, Medicine & Microbiology, McGill University
Dr. Ward is currently professor of Medicine & Microbiology at McGill University and Associate Director of the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Center (Fundamental Science). He is Co-Director of the McGill Vaccine Evaluation Center, Director of the National Reference Center for Parasitology, and Associate Director of the JD MacLean Tropical Diseases Center. He is also a founding member of the Canadian Association for Immunization Research and Evaluation (CAIRE).
Dr. Ward completed his medical studies at McGill University (MDCM 1980) and received research training as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University (Québec/Corpus Christi: MSc 1980) and as a resident and postdoctoral fellow at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases: 1985-91). Additional clinical training was obtained at the University of London in tropical diseases (DMT&H: 1984) and at McGill in microbiology (1992).
Dr. Ward's research program covers four areas: 1) molecular mechanisms that underlie retinoid-virus interactions 2) vaccine development and evaluation 3) novel approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of neglected tropical diseases and 4) factors that influence mother-to-child-transmission of HIV. His work has been funded by CIHR, NIH, CIDA, PHAC, a range of national and international foundations as well as industry.
Contact information:
Montreal General Hospital
1650 Cedar Avenue Room L10-309
Montreal, Quebec H3G 1A4
Email: brian.ward@mcgill.ca
Gillian E. Wu, PhD
Professor
Faculty of Sciences and Engineering
York University
Dr. Gillian E. Wu is 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 Past President of the Canada Society for Immunology.