Meet The Team

Dr. Patrick Leighton is an Associate Professor of Epidemiology & Public Health in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the Université de Montréal. He is an active member of the Research Group on Epidemiology of Zoonoses and Public Health (GREZOSP), his research focuses on the ecology and epidemiology of zoonotic diseases, with an emphasis on vector-borne diseases (West Nile Virus, Lyme disease). Read more…

Dr. Manisha Kulkarni is an Associate Professor in the School of Epidemiology & Public Health at the University of Ottawa. She holds a PhD in Entomology and brings over fifteen years of experience in characterizing vector-borne disease risk in global settings, with an interest in the impacts of environmental changes on disease emergence and transmission. Read more…

Veronica Harris-McAllister is the Network Manager for CLyDRN.  Ms. Harris-McAllister has over 25 years of experience working in clinical, pharmaceutical, and administrative research.  Read more…

Dr. John Aucott is the Director of the John Hopkins Lyme Disease Clinical Research Center and an Associate Professor of Medicine at John Hopkins University. Dr. Aucott received his medical degree from the John Hopkins University School of Medicine. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at the University Hospitals of Cleveland and is fellowship-trained in Infectious Disease and Geographic Medicine. Read more…

Dr. Alan Barbour is Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Microbiology & Molecular, and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of California Irvine (UCI). He received his MD from Tufts School of Medicine in Boston and was an internal medicine resident at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Hanover, New Hampshire. After national service as a public health officer and epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, he completed training in Internal Medicine and the subspeciality of Infectious Disease at the University of Utah. Read more…

Simon Denegri OBE is the Executive Director of the Academy of Medical Sciences (AMS) in London, UK. Prior to taking up this role at the Academy, Simon was the National Director for Patients, Carers and the Public at the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), and Chair of INVOLVE – the national advisory group for the promotion and support of public involvement in research funded by NIHR.  Read more…

Dr Sally Mavin is the Director of the Scottish Lyme Disease and Tick-borne infection Reference Laboratory in Inverness, UK.  She received her PhD from the University of Aberdeen and has worked on the laboratory diagnosis of Lyme disease as a Clinical Scientist for almost 20 years.  Read more…

Jean Tsao has over 20 years of experience studying Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease (LD), and its vector, the blacklegged tick.  Her research includes both basic science (what are the ecological factors that affect how Borrelia and ticks are distributed across the landscape?) and practical public health (where are areas that are the most risky for ticks that might be carrying Borrelia?).  Read more…

Dr. Adam-Poupart is a Clinical Instructor in the Department of Environmental Health & Occupational Health in the School of Public Health, Université de Montréal. She is apart of the Epidemiology of Zoonoses and Public Health Research Unit (GREZOSP). Read more…

Dr. Cécile Aenishaenslin is an Assistant Professor at the Université de Montréal where she is apart of the Research Group in Epidemiology of Zoonoses and Public Health (GREZOSP). She received her DVM and PhD in Epidemiology (Veterinarian Sciences) from the Université de Montréal. She recently completed a post-doctoral position in the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics & Occupational health at McGill University. Read more…

Dr. Adrian Baranchuk is a Clinician-scientist at Kingston General Hospital (KGH) Research Institute, and a Professor at Queen’s University in the School of Medicines Division of Cardiology with cross appointment in the Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences. He received his MD from the University of Buenos Aires. After qualifying in Internal Medicine and Cardiology, he completed a Clinical Fellowship in Cardiac Electrophysiology. Read more…

Dr. Geneviève Baron is a Medical Consultant in the Health Protection Department of the Estrie Health and Social Services Agency in the field of Infectious Diseases. She is responsible for immunization dossiers and infection prevention and control. She is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the Université de Sherbrooke. Read more…

Dr. Catherine Bouchard is a Veterinary Epidemiologist for the Public Health Agency of Canada and Adjunct Professor in the Department of pathology and microbiology at the Université de Montréal. Read more…

Dr. Sandie Briand is a Scientific Advisor at the Institut National de Santé Publique du Québec (INSPQ) and is a member of the Research Group in Epidemiology of Zoonoses and Public Health (GREZOSP). In their role as a Scientific Advisor, Sandie has expertise in monitoring and prevention of infectious diseases, Haemovigilance, Immunization and respiratory diseases, and coordinates a group of experts on tick-borne diseases. Read more…

Dr. Dongmei Chen is a Professor in the Department of Geography & Planning at Queen’s University with cross-appointment to the Department of Environmental Studies. She has over 20 years of experience in GIS and remote sensing application and software development programming and is a consultant and research collaborator for the the Ontario Ministry of Environment, Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, Public Health Agency of Canada, among other academic and public health institutions. Read more…

Dr. George Chaconas is a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and Microbiology, Immunology & Infectious Diseases at the University of Calgary. He completed his PhD in Medical Biochemistry at the University of Calgary and completed post-doctoral studies in Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory. He held the position of Canada Research Chair in Molecular Biology of Lyme Borreliosis from 2003-2017. Read more…

Dr. Katie Clow is an Assistant Professor in One Health in the Department of Population Medicine at the Ontario Veterinary College (OVC), University of Guelph. Her research focuses on the ecology and epidemiology of vectors and vector-borne zoonoses, with a specific emphasis on the blacklegged tick and Lyme disease. Read more…

Dr. Robert Colautti is an Assistant Professor of Ecology and Evolution in the Department of Biology at Queen’s University. He is also the Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Rapid Evolution. Dr. Colautti has a BSc and MSc in Biology both from the University of Windsor. He earned his PhD in Botany at the University of Toronto. His completed NSERC funded Post-doctoral Fellowship at Duke University (North Carolina), the University of British Columbia, and the University of Tuebingen in Germany. Read more…

Dr. De Buck is a Professor of Bacteriology in the Department of Production Animal Health at the University of Calgary. He received his MSc in Bioengineering Sciences, majoring in cell and gene technologies, his MSc in Laboratory Animal Sciences and his PhD in Veterinary Medicine at Ghent University in Belgium. His area of expertise is veterinary microbiology. Read more…

Dr. Rylan Egan is an Assistant Professor of Healthcare Quality and Adjunct Professor in the School of Nursing & Department of Biomedical Science at Queen’s University. He is also the Director of Education Science, Office of Professional Development and Educational Scholarship at Queen’s University. Read more…

Dr. Gerald Evans is the Chair of the Division of Infectious Diseases and a Professor in the Departments of Medicine, Biomedical & Molecular Sciences, and Pathology & Molecular Medicine at Queen’s University. He is also an Attending Physician in Infectious Diseases and Internal Medicine at the Kingston Health Sciences Center (KHSC). Read more…

Dr. John Frampton is an Assistant Professor in the School of Biomedical Engineering at Dalhousie University. He is a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Cellular, Biomaterial and Matrix Interaction. Dr. Frampton earned his PhD in Biomedical Sciences in the School of Public Health at The State University of New York -Albany before completing a post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Michigan. Read more…

Dr. Erin Fraser is Public Health Veterinarian in the Communicable Disease and Immunization Service at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC). She has 20 years of experience as an Epidemiologist, Public Health Veterinarian and Researcher. Read more…

Dr. Maria Gomes-Solecki is an Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Biochemistry at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. She received her DVM from the University of Lisbon, completed a fellowship at the National Institute of Technology in Lisbon, and Post-doctoral training at the State University of New York-Stony Brook. Read more…

Dr. Daniel Gregson is a Medical Microbiologist and Infectious Diseases Consultant, for Alberta Health Services, Calgary Zone and an Associate Professor of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine and Medicine at the University of Calgary. He is a former President of the Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases(AMMI) Canada. Read more…

Dr. Billie-Jo Hardy is a Research Scientist at St. Michael’s Hospital. She has a PhD in Medical Sciences from the University of Toronto. She has expertise in research ethics, stakeholder analysis and community engagement and has experience in both global and Indigenous health research. Read more…

Dr. Todd Hatchette is a Professor of Pathology and Medicine at Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia Health Authority. As an Infectious Disease Physicians and Medical Microbiologist he is also the Director of the STI clinic, Chief of the Division of Microbiology and Director of Immunology and Virology at the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Center. Read more…

Dr. Walid Houry is a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and the Department of Chemistry at the University of Toronto. He has a MSc and PhD in Chemistry from Cornell University. He is the recipient of a number of Awards including the Canada Foundation for Innovation Leaders Opportunity Fund (2009-2010) and the CIHR New Investigator award (2001-2006). Read more…

Dr. Claire Jardine is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pathobiology at the Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph. She is also the Regional Director of the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative for Ontario and Nunavut. Dr. Jardine completed a MSc in Ecology at the University of British Columbia. Read more…

Dr. John Jenkins is a Family Physician at the Lunenburg Health Collaborative Clinic, the Nova Scotia Health Authority Site Head at Fishermen’s Memorial Hospital as well as the Head of Emergency Services. He earned his MD from Dalhousie University. Read more…

Dr. Juandó-Prats is a Clinical Research Specialist at the Applied Health Research Centre (AHRC), the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael’s Hospital. She completed her Bachelor of Nursing Science at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, a Master’s of Health Care Management at the University of Barcelona and a Master’s of Nursing at the University of Edinburgh. Read more…

Dr. Manisha Kulkarni is an Associate Professor in the School of Epidemiology & Public Health at the University of Ottawa. She holds a PhD in Entomology and brings over fifteen years of experience in characterizing vector-borne disease risk in global settings, with an interest in the impacts of environmental changes on disease emergence and transmission. Read more…

Dr. Kirk Leifso is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and the Director of the Pediatric Residency Program at Queen’s University. He is also a Pediatric Infectious Diseases Consultant at the Kingston Health Sciences Centre. He has a BSc and MSc both in Biology from the University of Victoria. Read more…

Dr. Patrick Leighton is an Associate Professor of Epidemiology & Public Health in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the Université de Montréal. He is an active member of the Research Group on Epidemiology of Zoonoses and Public Health (GREZOSP), his research focuses on the ecology and epidemiology of zoonotic diseases, with an emphasis on vector-borne diseases (West Nile Virus, Lyme disease). Read more…

Robbin Lindsay received his PhD from the University of Guelph on the factors that limit the distribution of the blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis, the main vector of Lyme disease, in Canada in 1995. Shortly thereafter he was hired as a research scientist with the Public Health Agency of Canada, Zoonotic Diseases and Special Pathogens section of the National Microbiology Laboratory. Read more…

Dr. Francois Milord is an Associate Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the Université de Sherbrooke and a Medical Consultant at the Montérégie Public Health Department. After receiving his MD from the Université de Sherbrooke, he completed a MSc in Community Health and a specialization in the same field at the Université de Montréal. Read more…

Dr. Tara Moriarty is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto in the Faculty of Dentistry with cross appointment to the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology in the Faculty of Medicine. Dr. Moriarty received her PhD in Anatomy and Cell Biology at McGill University and completed her Post-doctoral training in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Microbiology & Infectious Diseases at the University of Calgary. Read more….

Dr. Muhammad Morshed is a Clinical Microbiologist and Program Head of Zoonotic Diseases and Emerging Pathogens at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC). He is also a Clinical Professor in the Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia. Read more…

Dr. Mark Nelder is an Entomologist and Senior Program Specialist with the Enteric, Zoonotic, and Vector-Borne Diseases team at Public Health Ontario (PHO). He has a MSc in Entomology and Ecology from the University of South Alabama and a PhD in Entomology from Clemenson University. Read more…

Dr. Cecilia Newton is a Family Physician with the Lunenburg Family Health Collaborative Clinic in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. She received her MD and completed a residency in Family Medicine from the Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine. She is certified as a Family Physician by the College of Family Physicians of Canada. Read more…

Dr. Nick Ogden is a UK-trained veterinarian (University of Liverpool, 1983). After 10 years of mixed clinical practice, he then completed a doctorate in Lyme disease ecology at the Department of Zoology, University of Oxford. During the six years he spent as a professor at the Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Liverpool, he continued his research into the ecology and epidemiology of tick-borne diseases of public health importance in Europe and those of importance to livestock production in Africa. Read more…

Dr. Janet Parsons is a Research Scientist at the Applied Health Research Centre (AHRC), the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael’s Hospital. Additionally, she is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Sciences Institute at the University of Toronto. Read more…

Dr. Samir Patel is a Clinical Microbiologist at Public Health Ontario (PHO) and an Assistant Professor in Laboratory Medicine & Pathobiology at the University of Toronto. He has a MSc and PhD in Tropical Disease/Infectious Disease both from the University of Toronto. He also completed his fellowship in Clinical Microbiology at the University of Toronto. Read more…

Dr. David Patrick is a Medical Epidemiologist and Infectious Diseases Specialist at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) and Professor in the School of Population & Public Health at the University of British Columbia. He received his MD from the University of Ottawa and a Masters of Health Science from the University of British Columbia. Read more…

Dr. Ravi Prakash is an Assistant Professor in the Electronics Department at Carleton University. He received his B.Sc. degree (2008) in Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology in Madras, India, and his M.Sc. (2010) and Ph.D. (2013) in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Calgary, Canada. Read more…

Dr. John Queenan completed both his MSc and PhD in Clinical Epidemiology at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario with an additional focus on Transdisciplinary Research.   Read more…

Dr. Lucie Richard is a Professor in the Faculty of Nursing at the Université de Montréal. She is currently affiliated with the Centre de recherche en santé publique de l’Université de Montréal et du CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l’île-de-Montréal (CReSP).  Read more…

Dr. Jean-Philippe Rocheleau is a professor and researcher at the Department of Animal Health at Cegep de Saint-Hyacinthe and adjunct professor at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the Université de Montréal. He is a member of the Research Group on Zoonoses Epidemiology and Public Health (GREZOSP).  Read more…

Dr. Curtis Russell is a Senior Program Specialist with the Enteric, Zoonotic, and Vector-Borne Diseases team at Public Health Ontario. Dr. Russell has spent the last 14 years working on vector-borne diseases in Ontario and has an interest in both the human and tick side of Lyme disease. Read more…

Dr. Beate Sander is a Scientist and Director of Health Modeling & Health Economics and Population Health Economics Research at THETA (Toronto Health Economics and Technology Assessment Collaborative), University Health Network. She is an Associate Professor and Faculty Lead, Health Technology Assessment program, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. Read more…

Dr. Jade Savage is a Full Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Bishop’s University. She completed her BSc in Biology and PhD in Entomology both at McGill University. She has experience in electronic surveillance of ticks, especially Ixodes scapularis. Read more…

Dr. Prameet Sheth is a Clinical Microbiologist at the Kingston General Hospital. In his role at KGH, he oversees all the microbiological testing for patients that present to KGH and surrounding hospitals. He is also a Researcher and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology & Molecular Medicine at Queen’s University. Read more…

Dr. Elizabeth Stringer is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  She is a pediatric rheumatologist and clinical researcher at the IWK Health Centre, the tertiary care pediatric hospital for the Maritime provinces.  Read more…

Dr. Karine Thivierge is a Clinical Specialist in Medical Biology responsible for parasitology and tick-borne diseases at the Québec Public Health Laboratory (LSPQ). She is also an Adjunct Professor in the Institute of Parasitology at McGill University. She has a MSc in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry and PhD in Virology both from McGill University. Read more…

Dave Verkh graduated in 2019 from the International American University – College of Medicine. He attended the University of Western Ontario, majoring in microbiology and immunology; particularly interested in the inflammatory response, certain interleukins, and vascular adhesion molecules. Read more…

Dr. Maarten Voordouw is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Veterinary Microbiology at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan. From 2011 to 2018, he was an Assistant Professor in the Institute of Biology at the University of Neuchâtel in Neuchâtel, Switzerland where his research was focussed on the ecology of Lyme disease. Read more…

Dr. Scott Weese is a Professor in the Department of Pathobiology at the Ontario Veterinary College (OVC), the University of Guelph and a Zoonotic Disease/Public Health Microbiologist at the University of Guelph’s Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses. Read more…

Dr. Jianhong Wu is a Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at York University. He holds the life-long title of Distinguished Research Professor (2011), the Canada Research Chair in Industrial and Applied Mathematics since 2001, the NSERC/Sanofi Industrial Research Chair in Vaccine Mathematics, Modelling and Manufacturing, and serves as Editor-in-Chief of Infectious Disease Modelling. Read more…

Dr. Kate Zinszer is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Preventive & Social Medicine in the School of Public Health at the Université de Montréal and a researcher with the Institute de Recherche en Santé Publique. She has a MSc of Epidemiology from Dalhousie University and a PhD of Epidmeiology from McGill University. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School. Read more…