Information
May 2003
National advisory group on SARS - Member Biographies
Dr. Sheela Basrur is Toronto's Medical Officer of Health, one of the
largest public health bodies in North America. She leads an organization of 1,800 staff
committed to disease prevention and community health promotion. Prior to accepting this
post, Dr. Basrur served as Medical Officer of Health for the East York Health Unit for
six years.
Dr. Basrur practiced medicine as a general practitioner in Guelph, Ontario before entering
public health. She holds a Masters of Health Science degree from the University of Toronto
and is a specialist in Community Medicine. She also is a university graduate from programs
at Western Ontario and Dalhousie. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public
Health Sciences, University of Toronto.
Dr. Michel G. Bergeron is Professor and Chairman of the Division of Microbiology
and of the Infectious Diseases Research Centre of Laval University in Québec city. He received
his MD in 1968 from Laval University. After Speciality Training in Internal Medicine at
McGill University and in Infectious Diseases and Microbiology at Tufts University and the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Bergeron founded the Infectious Diseases Research
Centre of Laval University in 1974. Today, the Centre is composed of more than 240 researchers
and research personnel making it one of the largest Infectious Diseases research centre
in North America. Recently Dr. Bergeron has developed innovative DNA-based tests which
allow the specific identification, directly from a clinical sample, of pathogens and their
antibiotic resistance genes in 30 to 45 minutes instead of 2 to 3 days.
Dr. Bergeron is the author or co-author of more than 300 scientific publications and has
given more than 400 presentations on his work at universities and international meetings.
He is Chairman of the Board of the Canadian Foundation Louis Pasteur and a Fellow of the
Infectious Diseases Society of America, Dr. Bergeron has received many awards including
the Québec Emeritas Physicians' Medal and the Canadian MEDEC Award for medical achievement.
He has chaired several international conferences and was involved in the establishment
of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). He is also a member of the Science
Advisory Board of Health Canada and the Institute of Infection and Immunity Institute Advisory
Board.
Dr. Robert C. Brunham is Director of the University of British Columbia
Centre for Disease Control and Medical Director of the British Columbia Centre for Disease
Control Society, a position he has held since 1999. He is a professor at the University
of British Columbia, Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases. He obtained
his MD from UBC in 1972 and completed training in Internal Medicine at McGill University
in 1978. From 1978 to 1982 Dr. Brunham was a Medical Research Council of Canada research
fellow at the University of Washington, USA. From 1982 to 1999 he was at the University
of Manitoba, Canada, where he was Professor and Chairman of the Department of Medical Microbiology
and Infectious Diseases .
Dr. Brunham's research interest centres on the immunology and evolutionary epidemiology
of infectious diseases. Dr. Brunham has published over 200 articles and book chapters on
various aspects of the epidemiology and immunology of infectious diseases. Much of his
work has dealt with the immunobiology of communicable diseases with the goal of developing
vaccines.
Dr. David Butler-Jones serves as Medical Health Officer for Regional
Health Authority #1 in Saskatchewan. He is an Associate Clinical Professor in the departments
of Family Medicine and Community Health and Epidemiology, University of Saskatchewan. He
teaches at the graduate and undergraduate level, as well as carrying on clinical practice
in the Family Medicine Unit. He was the Chief Medical Health Officer, Province of Saskatchewan
from 1995-2002. He also serves as a consultant on health care issues for other jurisdictions
and is a frequent speaker and media commentator.
Dr. Butler Jones is Past President of the Canadian Public Health Association, Past Vice
President of the American Public Health Association, Chair of the Canadian Roundtable on
Climate Change and Health 2000, Past International Regent for the American College of Preventive
Medicine, and Past Chair of the National Coalition on Enhancing Preventive Practices of
Health Professionals. He is also a member of the Governing Council for the Canadian Population
Health Initiative as well as a member of the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, Institute
Advisory Board on Population Health.
Gerry Dafoe is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Canadian Public
Health Association (CPHA), a position he has held since 1973. He is also Managing Editor
of the Canadian Journal of Public Health and the CPHA Health Digest/Selection Santé ACSP.
Mr. Dafoe, who holds a Master of Health Administration degree from the University of Ottawa,
and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Carleton University, has extensive national and international
experience in the areas of health education, research, planning and programming and has
worked with industry and all levels of government, both as a manager and as a consultant.
As CEO pf CPHA Mr.Dafoe has helped to ensure implementation of a wide range of national
programs in areas including environmental health, AIDS education and awareness, aboriginal
health programs, health reform, and health care personnel planning. CPHA also played a
lead role in Canada's International Immunization Program which involved 95 projects in
43 Commonwealth and Francophonie countries. In 1978 Mr. Dafoe was elected President of
the World Federation of Public Health Associations, an organization representing 65 national
public health associations around the world. He was also named a Paul Harris Fellow by
the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International in appreciation of tangible and significant
assistance given for the furtherance of better understanding and friendly relations between
peoples of the world. In 1992, on behalf of CPHA, he accepted the Sasakawa Health Prize,
presented by the World Health Organization in recognition of outstanding, innovative work
in health development nationally and internationally. In 1997 Mr. Dafoe participated as
a member of the Team Canada Trade Mission to Asia, led by the Prime Minister.
Dr. Mary Ferguson-Paré is Vice-President, Professional Affairs and Chief
Nurse Executive at University Health Network which comprises Toronto General, Toronto Western
and Princess Margaret Hospitals. She is cross-appointed to the University of Toronto, Faculty
of Nursing, the University of British Columbia, School of Nursing and to the University
of Victoria, School of Nursing. Her previous experience includes progressive senior nursing
management and executive positions in both the acute care and long-term care sectors; nursing
education; and institutional and community nursing experience in Psychiatry, Addictions
Therapy, Victorian Order of Nurses, Family Practice and Student Health.
Dr. Ferguson-Paré has focussed her professional and academic activities on organization
and management development within health care and the development of leaders who promote
autonomous professional practice and a client centred approach to service. She is past
President of the Academy of Canadian Executive Nurses, Ontario Nurse Executives and the
Association of Nursing Executives of Metropolitan Toronto; a member of the Canadian College
of Health Service Executives, the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, the Nursing
Leadership Network of Ontario, the Association of Nursing Executives of the Greater Toronto
Area, the Registered Nurses Association of British Columbia, the International Consortium
of Parse Scholars, and Sigma Theta Tau International. Dr. Ferguson-Paré holds a Bachelor
of Science in Nursing from the University of Toronto; a Masters in Public Health, Health
Service Administration, from the University of Minnesota; and an MA in Organizational Development,
and a Ph.S. in Human and Organizational Systems from the Fielding Institute, Santa Barbara,
California.
Dr. Julie Louise Gerberding is the Director of the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and
Disease Registry (ATSDR)
Before assuming these positions, Dr. Gerberding was Acting Deputy Director, National Center
for Infectious Diseases (NCID), where she played a major role in leading CDC's response
to the anthrax bioterrorism events of 2002. She joined CDC in 1998 as Director of the Division
of Healthcare Quality Promotion, NCID, where she developed CDC's patient safety initiatives
and other programs to prevent infections, antimicrobial resistance, and medical errors
in healthcare settings. She is also an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine (Infectious
Diseases) at Emory University and an Associate Professor of Medicine at University of California,
SanFrancisco. Dr. Gerberding was Director of the Prevention Epicenter, a multidisciplinary
service, teaching, and research program that focused on preventing infections in patients
and their healthcare providers. She has also been a consultant to the National Institutes
of Health, the American Medical Association, CDC, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration,
the National AIDS Commission, the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, and the
World Health Organization.
Dr. Gerberding earned a B.A. magna cum laude in chemistry and biology and an M.D. at Case
Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Dr. Gerberding then completed her internship
and residency in internal medicine at UCSF, where she also served as Chief Medical Resident
before completing her fellowship in Clinical Pharmacology and Infectious Diseases at UCSF.
She earned an M.P.H. degree at the University of California, Berkeley in 1990. She is a
member of Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha Omega Alpha (medical honor society), American Society for
Clinical Investigation (ASCI), American College of Physicians, and is a Fellow in the Infectious
Diseases Society of America (IDSA). Dr. Gerberding is a member of the Society for Healthcare
Epidemiology of America, and previously served on its board for 3 years. Dr. Gerberding
was Associate Editor of the American Journal of Medicine, and served as a peer-reviewer
for numerous internal medicine, infectious diseases, and epidemiology journals. Her scientific
interests encompass infection prevention and healthcare quality promotion among patients
and their healthcare providers. She has authored or co-authored more than 120 peer-reviewed
publications and textbook chapters and contributed to numerous guidelines and policies
relevant to HIV prevention, post-exposure prophylaxis, management of infected healthcare
personnel, and healthcare-associated infection prevention and control.
Dr David L. Heymann was appointed Executive Director, Communicable Diseases
at the World Health Organization in July, 1998. His responsibilities centre on the elimination
of leprosy; the control of tropical diseases; emerging and other communicable diseases
surveillance and control; tuberculosis; the prevention of blindness and deafness; and research
and training in tropical diseases. He is experienced in creating new mechanisms to help
the international community address the threats from new and emerging diseases.
Dr. Heyman was the chief of research activities in the Global Programme on AIDS, and from
1976 to 1989 - prior to joining WHO - he spent thirteen years working as a medical epidemiologist
in sub-Saharan Africa on assignment from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC). He also participated in the investigation of the first outbreak of Ebola in Yambuku
(former Zaire) in 1976, then again investigated the second outbreak of Ebola in 1977 in
Tandala, and in 1995 directed the international response to the Ebola outbreak in Kikwit.
Before 1976, Dr Heymann spent two years in India as a medical officer in the WHO Smallpox
Eradication Programme. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from the Pennsylvania State University,
an M.D. from Wake Forest University School of Medicine, and a Diploma in Tropical Medicine
and Hygiene from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He has also completed
practical epidemiology training in the two year Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) training
programme of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta).
Frank Lussing is the President and CEO of York Central Hospital in Richmond
Hill, Ontario. Mr. Lussing has been involved in the Ontario health care system for 30 years.
He has held numerous leadership positions in community hospitals as well as a teaching
hospital, a District Health Council, the Ministry of Health, and in long term care in the
private sector. Mr. Lussing is also actively involved in various health service related
organizations at the local, regional, provincial and national levels.
Mr.Lussing is a Hospital Administration graduate from the University of Toronto. Most
recently, he was the Chair of one of a number of joint Ministry of Health and Ontario Hospital
Association Committees that are redesigning the Hospital funding system in Ontario. He
is also the current Chair of the Healthcare Insurance Reciprocal of Canada, Canada's only
country-wide health service sector insurance reciprocal.
Dr. Allison McGeer, a microbiologist and infectious disease consultant,
is director of infection control at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. Dr. McGeer has developed
a diverse clinical and epidemiologic research group which has established a successful
collaborative network for conducting population based surveillance for infectious diseases.
She is also the principal investigator on the Toronto Bacterial Diseases Network and the
Ontario Group A Streptococcal Study, two collaborative surveillance networks which have
been used to study the epidemiology of invasive bacterial infections due to group A streptococci,
Streptococcus pneumoniae, and a number of other bacterial infections. Her interest in infection
control and long term care has formed the basis for another successful research group studying
at infection risks, prevention and control in long term care settings. Dr. McGeer is also
an Associate Professor of Pathobiology and Laboratory Medicine and Public Health Sciences
at the University of Toronto.
An infection control consultant to The Scarborough Hospital and The Baycrest Centre for
Geriatric Care, Dr. McGeer serves as an expert reviewer for many research funding agencies
including the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and The Alberta Heritage Foundation
and she also serves on the editorial boards of the Canadian Medical Association Journal,
the Canadian Journal of Infectious Diseases, and Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.
Dr. McGeer holds an undergraduate and master's degree in biochemistry and went on to obtain
her medical degree at the University of Toronto. She specialized in internal medicine and
infectious diseases followed by a fellowship in hospital epidemiology at Yale New Haven
Hospital.
Dr. David Naylor, Dean of Medicine and Vice Provost, Relations with Health
Care Institutions, at the University of Toronto since 1999, has received national and international
awards for research and leadership in medicine. He currently serves on the governing boards
of the Canadian Institutes of Research and five major teaching hospitals (Mt. Sinai Hospital,
the University Health Network, Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre, St.
Michael's Hospital, and the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute). Dr. Naylor was integrally
involved in the broadening of the mandate of Canada's Medical Research Council [MRC] to
include population health, health services, and policy research; and later in the transformation
of the MRC into the new Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
A Rhodes Scholar, he received a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Social and Administrative
studies from Oxford University. He subsequently completed specialty training in internal
medicine and a fellowship supported by the Medical Research Council before joining the
Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto. With scholarships in medicine, surgery
and pediatrics,he received his MD from U of T in 1978 Co-author of over 250 scholarly publications,
Dr. Naylor has also served on various editorial boards, including the Journal of the American
Medical Association, the British Medical Journal and the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
Kaaren R. Neufeld is Executive Director and Chief Nursing Officer at
St. Boniface General Hospital in Winnipeg and holds an appointment of Assistant Professor,
Faculty of Nursing. Guided by the mission and values of the Grey Nuns, Kaaren leads a team
of exceptional people who provide vision and direction for nursing practice, human resources,
education services, ethics, research, quality and clinical risk management.
A Registered Nurse, with Baccalaureate and Master of Nursing Degrees from The University
of Manitoba Faculty of Nursing, Kaaren Neufeld is currently President of the Academy of
Canadian Executive Nurses. Before 1997 she served in the roles of Director of Education
and Research, Clinical Nurse Specialist, Nurse Educator and Staff Nurse. Ms. Neufeld is
experienced in management, education, research and clinical practice and is a recipient
of the College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba Award for Excellence in Professional Nursing
Administration, Kaaren Neufeld has also served on boards and provincial and national committees,
including the Canadian Nurses Association Board of Directors; she was Chair of the Manitoba
Nursing Research Institute, a member of the St. Boniface
General Hospital Research Foundation Board of Directors, and provincial representative
of the Mennonite Central Committee of Canada, as well as chair and member of various committees
of the College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba.
Dr. Frank Plummer is a native of Manitoba and received his medical degree
from the University of Manitoba in 1976. After post-graduate training in Internal Medicine
and Infectious Diseases at the University of Southern California, the University of Manitoba,
the University of Nairobi, and the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, he joined the
University of Manitoba faculty in 1984 to direct University of Manitoba research projects
in Nairobi, Kenya. Dr. Plummer is a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair and Professor of Medicine
and Medical Microbiology, and Associate Professor of Community Health Sciences at the University
of Manitoba. In September 2000, he assumed the position of Scientific Director of the Health
Canada National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg.
Dr. Plummer's current research interests include mechanisms of resistance to HIV, risk
factors for heterosexual transmission of HIV, mother-to-child transmission of HIV, public
health strategies for control of sexually transmitted infections, and the immunobiology
of gonococcal infections He has received a number of awards and honours including the Rh
Institute Award, an Achievement Award from the American Venereal Disease Association, Scholarships
from the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association and, Scientist and Senior Scientist
awards from the Medical Research Council of Canada.
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