Dr. Jonathan (Rick) Adachi, Professor in the Department of Medicine, is promoting education and research in osteoporosis and osteoarthritis.

The chair is being supported by the Actavis Specialty Pharmacueticals Co. (Actavis), formerly The Alliance for Better Bone Health, an alliance between Proctor and Gamble Pharmaceuticals Canada, Inc. (P&GPC) and Sanofi-Aventis.

Dr. Adachi currently is involved in the Canadian Multicentre Osteoporosis Study (random sample of 10,000 subjects followed for 10 years to assess risk for osteoporosis and fractures). He also has been looking into the structural analysis of bone and cartilage in bone and cartilage as measured by pQCT and pMRI. He has ongoing interests in clinical trials in osteoporosis.

To learn more click here

Associate Professor, Department of Family Medicine
Associate Professor, Department of History
Adjunct Faculty Member, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences
Adjunct Professor, Department of Anthropology and Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact
Member, Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis

Ellen Amster’s research focuses on the history of public health in global context; theoretical approaches to the body and the body politic in the West and the Islamic world, epistemologies of science and medicine; mixed-methods (qualitative and quantitative) approaches to studying maternal and infant health, barriers to care, the cultural experience of illness, and infant health; modern French history of medicine and science, Islamic history of science, Colonial histories of science; global health; and political Islam, Islamic politics and Sufism.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

• Middle East studies and Islam
• History of biomedicine in global context
• Maternal and infant health in Morocco
• Gender violence in the Middle East and North Africa
• Consequences of interaction between French and Islamic medical philosophies and approaches

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/history_of_medicine_chair.html

http://www.chepa.org/who-we-are/faculty/details/ellen-amster

Research Involves:

Identifying the health behaviours and genetic aspects that contribute to the risk factors for cardiovascular disease in ethnic communities in Canada.

Research Relevance: 

This research will increase knowledge about the causes of cardiovascular disease, improve the accuracy of risk prediction and could lead to improved prevention strategies.

Taking a Global View on Heart Disease: 

While obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD) affect everybody, research has shown that certain populations, such as South Asians and Aboriginal peoples, are at generally higher risk than those of Caucasian origin.

Dr. Sonia Anand, Canada Research Chair in Ethnic Diversity and Cardiovascular Disease, is identifying health behaviour risk factors in diverse ethnic groups. Anand is examining factors such as elevated blood glucose levels, dietary patterns and genetic factors to develop prevention strategies to reduce cardio-metabolic risk factors and CVD for those most in jeopardy. She is also examining these factors in diverse populations across the infant-child-adult life span.

Anand aims to identify adverse health behaviours and genetic factors that will shed light on the causes of CVD risk factors among high-risk groups. Identification of these behaviours and genetic factors could also improve the accuracy of risk prediction for diabetes and CVD and motivate behavioural changes. In addition, her approach could validate ethnic-specific measurement tools that will allow for comparisons across diverse ethnic populations.

Anand is also studying genetic molecular discoveries and data on dietary factors, such as energy intake and macronutrient composition. This information will offer excellent windows into how environmental and genetic measures affect the development of cardio-metabolic factors in high-risk groups.

Anand’s examination of high risk populations will provide greater insight into the causes and risk factors of CVD. Her research could eventually lead to the development of prevention strategies to stem the leading cause of premature deaths in ethnic populations.

To read more about Sonia Anand’s CRC click here

To read more about Sonia Anand’s endowed chair click here

Professor, Surgery

Research Interests:

Research interests include both basic science and clinical studies in the fields of gastrointestinal motility and other gastrointestinal disorders, and outcomes research in laparoscopic surgery. The basic work focuses on the role of neurotransmitters in control of gastrointestinal motility. The clinical research focuses on physiological mechanisms responsible for a number of clinical disorders including gastroesophageal reflux disease and achalasia. Other clinical work includes outcomes of laparoscopic surgery for colorectal cancer, and in obese patients, as well as telerobotic surgery. Collaborative work includes development of new robotic technologies for laparoscopic surgery and investigations into the feasibility of telerobotic surgery in remote regions and extreme environments.

Dr. Mehran Anvari is currently involved in two major prospective randomized trials, one comparing laparoscopic anti-reflux surgery to medical therapy for long term control of GERD and the second comparing laparoscopic and open colectomy for colon cancer. Both trials are nearing completion. Future planned clinical studies include a multicentre trial of laparoscopic vs open surgery for rectal cancer and a local study of the use of pain pumps for analgesia in laparoscopic abdominal surgery. Studies into new robotic technologies are currently in development with the Department of Engineering.

Dr. Anvari will also be the Chief Scientific Officer for the NEEMO 10 mission, a joint project between the Centre for Minimal Access Surgery, NASA and the Canadian Space Agency, investigating latency, haptics and telerobotic surgery, and emergency diagnosis and treatment of orthopaedic injuries in extreme environments.

The chair is being supported by a donation from Johnson & Johnson Medical Products, a division of Johnson and Johnson, Inc.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/surgical_innovation_chair.html

Associate Professor, Division of Hematology and Thromboembolism,
Department of Medicine

Education and Professional Standing:

Dr. Arnold obtained his medical degree from McGill University in 1997 and his Master’s in Clinical Epidemiology from McMaster University in 2006. He completed his residency training in Internal Medicine at the Sir Mortimer B. Davis Jewish General Hospital in Montreal in 2001, Hematology at McMaster University in 2003 and Transfusion Medicine with the Canadian Blood Services (CBS) in 2005. He has completed a Fellowship in Transfusion Science funded jointly by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research and CBS. Dr. Arnold is an assistant professor in the department of Medicine at McMaster University as of July 2007.

Research Interests: 

Dr. Arnold’s research interests are in platelet disorders with a focus on clinical trials. He is spearheading a new Canadian multi-centered pilot trial of rituximab in ITP with plans for the larger phase III trial already underway. Other research interests include the optimal use of platelet transfusions in critically ill patients and transfusion reactions.

The chair is being supported by Michael G. DeGroote (via Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation).

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/translational_research_chair.html

Professor, Department of Pathology & Molecular Medicine

Research Focus:

Multicellular organisms, in order to survive, have developed a wide range of defense mechanisms that have the ability to rapidly recognize pathogens and mount an early effective antimicrobial response by preventing infection, destroying the invading pathogens or neutralizing their virulence factors. These functions are the domain of innate immune cells such as macrophages, dendritic cells (DCs), neutrophils, natural killer (NK) cells and NKT cells. Although the innate immune system was described by Metchnikoff over a century ago, there are still at least three fascinating problems in host innate defense against microbial invasion. First, how does the host innate defense recognize and destroy many different pathogens? Second, how does the host discriminate between constituents of the external world, “microbial non-self”, and the constituents of “self”? And third, how does the innate immune system direct and dictate the type and magnitude of the adaptive immune responses.

The main focus of our research is to study the induction of innate defense against microbial pathogens, particularly at mucosal surfaces. NK cells, NKT cells and IL-15 are the main component of the innate immune system.

Our major interest is directed to study:

• Biology of IL-15
• The role of IL-15 and NK/NKT cells in innate defence against viruses and cancer using mice lacking these cells (IL-15-/-) or mice have significantly high number and activity of NK/NKT cells (IL-15 transgenic).  We are also studying the role of IL-15 in obesity and metabolic disorders.
• The importance of innate immune cells in generation and/or function of the adaptive immune responses against mucosal viral infections
• Molecules that induce innate mucosal defence against microbial pathogens
• Use of a humanized mouse model to study human immune system responses against human-specific infectious diseases and cancer.

https://research.mcmaster.ca/research-chairs-and-institutes/AshkarAli

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/pathology/contact_us/faculty/faculty_bios/ashkar.html

Dr. Austin and his research group have published over 60 peer-reviewed papers, book chapters and review articles. The overall goal of Dr. Austin’s research program is to better understand the underlying cellular stress pathways involved in the development and progression of cardiovascular disease and kidney disease. Some of the major discoveries in Dr. Austin’s laboratory include (i) defining the role of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in atherosclerotic lesion development and vascular calcification, (ii) demonstrating a causal role of TDAG51 in atherosclerosis and obesity, and (iii) identifying the cellular factors that contribute to blood flow and fibrosis in the kidney. Furthermore, Dr. Austin and colleagues have shown that inhibiting the pathological effects of ER stress can suppress many of the downstream pathways that contribute to atherosclerosis, obesity and renal disease. Novel strategies to inhibit the ER stress response pathways are now being investigated as a potential therapy to prevent or delay the onset of these diseases. Established mouse models of atherosclerosis, obesity and renal disease are being utilized to better assess these novel strategies aimed at preventing and/or treating cardiovascular/renal disease and their complications.

The chair is being supported through a $3 million investment made by the Canadian division of AMGEN — a leading human therapeutics company in the biotechnology industry.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/nephrology_chair.html

Associate Professor, Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Department of Medicine

Research Director, Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Hamilton Hospitals Assessment Center Endowed Professorship in Neuromuscular Diseases

Research
I have interests in the pathophysiologic mechanisms underlying statin-associated neuromuscular toxicity as well as acquired, i.e., chemotherapy-related neuropathy, and inherited, i.e., CMT, disorders of the peripheral nervous system. Seeking novel neuroprotective treatment strategies will be a major focus of my work.

Teaching
I believe in-hospital education for both undergraduate and post-graduate medical trainees should occur in an unthreatening and collegial environment. In this setting, learners can be tested through critical reasoning and problem-solving exercises with the combined results of increased self-appraisal and self-esteem. I believe Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation residents, due to their diverse training experiences, need a system of continuous review to facilitate retention of knowledge acquired on previous rotations. This must occur through improved academic rounds and possibly web-based learning modules and/or mandatory case-centered questioning and reviews.

Clinical
I am presently heading the peripheral nerve service at McMaster’s new neuromuscular/neurometabolic disease clinic under the directorship of Dr. Mark A. Tarnopolsky. I also have interest in toxic myopathies including statin related neuromuscular side-effects.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_professorships/neuromusclular_disease_professorship.html

Professor, Division of Hematology and Thromboembolism, Department of Medicine

Associate Member, Department of Pathology & Molecular Medicine

Director, Division of Hematology & Thromboembolism

Director, Discipline of Hematology & Thromboembolism in Laboratory Medicine

Eli Lilly Canada / May Cohen Chair in Women’s Health

Dr. Bates’ clinical and academic interests are in venous thromboembolism, with a focus on thrombosis issues in women. Dr. Bates was lead author for the chapter examining the use of antithrombotic agents during pregnancy in the 7th, 8th and 9th editions of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) Evidence-Based Clinical-Practice Guidelines for Antithrombotic and Thrombolytic Therapy and for a new chapter examining the diagnosis of deep vein thrombosis for the 9th edition of the ACCP Clinical-Practice Guidelines. She subsequently led the development of recently published guidelines on the prevention and treatment of obstetric-related venous thromboembolism for the Anticoagulation Forum. She is the Chair of the American Society of Hematology Guideline Panel on Venous Thromboembolism in the context of pregnancy. On January 1st 2014, Dr. Bates was named McMaster University’s Eli Lilly Canada/May Cohen Chair in Women’s Health. She is the Vice Chair of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada’s Area of Focused Competency Subcommittee in Adult Thrombosis Medicine has been an Associate Editor for Thrombosis Research since 2014.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/womens_health_chair.html

Professor, Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour

•Visual perception
•Pattern vision
•Psychophysics
•Perceptual learning & development
•Aging & vision
•Ideal observer theory
•Neuroimaging
•Evoked potentials

http://pnb.mcmaster.ca/bennett/

Dr. Bercik has been recognized internationally for his work in evaluating functional gastrointestinal diseases, gastrointestinal motility, visceral sensitivity and the gut-brain axis.

Research Areas:

• Functional gastrointestinal diseases
• Gastrointestinal motility
• Visceral sensitivity
• Gut-brain axis

Focus:

• The role of low-grade inflammation in the pathophysiology of gut dysfunction
• The effect of gut inflammation on CNS function and gut-brain axis
• The role of microbiota in functional GI diseases
• Development of new techniques to study gastrointestinal motility, including videofluoroscopy image analysis and magnet-tracking
• The role of antro-pyloro-duodenal coordination in gastroparesis

The chair is being supported by a donation from AstraZeneca, a global research-based pharmaceutical manufacturer, and Richard Hunt, a professor Emeritus at McMaster.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/gastroenterology_hunt_astrazeneca_chair.html

Professor, Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Research Focus: 

• Contributing significantly to the body of scholarship on genetic determinants of chronic diseases, such as diabetes, cancer and strokes
• Be an intergral part of the institutional vision towards establishing and maintaining a world class research program in the area of genetic determinants of chronic disease

The chair is being supported by the Estate of Marjorie Ruth Cameron Foucar and is named for John D. Cameron, Marjorie’s father.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/chronic_disease_chair.html

https://research.mcmaster.ca/research-chairs-and-institutes/BhandariMohit

Professor, Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences

Research Involves:

Examining the parallels between the behaviour of human stem cells and the initial stages of the development of human cancer in order to advance understanding of how cancer begins.

Research Relevance:

The research has the potential to alleviate the suffering of cancer patients—and save lives—through pre-clinical modelling of new cancer drugs and by developing therapies to regenerate immune systems.

Stemming the Ravages of Cancer:

Two of every five Canadians will develop some form of cancer. It’s a tragic disease and, sadly, that statistic comes as no surprise to most of us. More than 150,000 Canadians are diagnosed every year with cancer. Over the next 20 years, a growing and aging population could mean a 60 per cent increase in the number of new cancer cases.

Cancer tumours typically begin years before they’re diagnosed. The mystery of how and why cancer begins is the research focus of stem cell biologist Mick Bhatia, whose study of human embryonic stem cells is being applied to understanding and treating cancer.

One of the difficulties with current cancer treatment is that patients undergo aggressive chemo and radiation therapies to kill cancerous cells. Unfortunately, these procedures also destroy normal, healthy red blood cells and demolish the body’s hematopoietic (blood-forming) system.

Because stem cells are capable of turning into any kind of cell in the body and can develop—or differentiate—into cells with specific functions, they have great potential in therapy to replace healthy cells that have been damaged or destroyed during cancer treatment.

Bhatia has made several important advancements in human stem cell research, particularly with blood stem cells. As Canada Research Chair in Human Stem Cell Biology, he is applying his understanding of their molecular nature and cell regulatory mechanisms to investigate how and why stem cells develop into other types of cells and then, how stem cells could be used as a tool kit to repair the damage caused by cancer.

By studying the sequence of events that cause the development of a cancer tumour, Bhatia hopes to come up with much “smarter” agents for treating cancer. These therapies have the potential to change the face of cancer care and hold great promise for enhancing the quality of life for the millions of Canadians diagnosed with cancer.

The chair is being supported by a donation from Canadian businessman and philanthropist Michael G. DeGroote.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/stem_cell_cancer_biology_chair.html

https://research.mcmaster.ca/research-chairs-and-institutes/BowdishDawn

Professor
Pathology and Molecular Medicine

Division: Molecular Medicine

Vice-Dean, Research, Faculty of Health Sciences
Director, Fraunhofer Project Centre for Biomedical Engineering and Advanced Manufacturing
Canada Research Chair in Translational Cancer Immunology
John Bienenstock Chair in Molecular Medicine
Associate Member, Departments of Biochemistry & Biomedical Sciences and Oncology

Research Focus

Our group is studying the mechanisms by which the adaptive immune system recognizes and responds to tumors. Our specific interest is the development of immunological strategies to fight cancer.

Cancer immunotherapy aims to augment the ability of the immune system to recognize and destroy tumors. Such an approach should provide the ideal adjuvant to current therapies since immune cells have the unique capacity to circulate and “seek out” malignant cells within the body, thereby clearing deposits of micro-metastases. Furthermore, since immune cells can eradicate quiescent cancer stem cells that are typically resistant to chemotherapy, immunotherapy offers the potential for a life-long cure. Indeed, recent clinical trials have provided unequivocal evidence that the immune system can be harnessed to mediate tumor regression in humans. However, successful implementation of immunotherapy has been restricted to a specific set of cases and further work is required to develop this as a routine and practical method of treatment.

My lab has taken a multi-modal approach to treating cancer by employing a combination of cancer vaccines, adoptive T cell therapies and oncolytic viruses. We believe that such multi-pronged strategies are the best way to attack the tumor. Our research is supported through research grants from the Terry Fox Foundation and the Canadian Institutes for Health Research.

In murine models, we have observed that recombinant vaccines were highly efficient agents for evoking immunity against cancer antigens. However, despite the robust immune response produced by these vectors, they are typically ineffective against established tumors. We have recently discovered that tumors adapt rapidly to immune attack and create an localized immune suppressive environment that shuts down the ability of T cell to elaborate their effector functions. This rapid adaptation is induced by cytokines, such as IFN-gamma, which are key effector molecules produced by T cells to suppress tumor growth. Thus, the effector molecules produced by tumor-specific T cells can be considered double-edged swords that act to both suppress tumor growth and to activate immune suppressive pathways. Further investigation revealed that the tumor adaptation can be overcome by enhancing the rate at which immune cells attack the tumor; this can be achieved by infusing the host with tumor-specific T cells prior to vaccination. We have employed transciptional analysis to investigate the microenvironment of the tumors following effective treatments (i.e. tumors regressed) and ineffective treatments (i.e. tumors did not regress). Strikingly, we found an 85-gene signature in our murine studies that was predictive of outcome in humans indicating that global changes we observe in mouse models are relevant to human disease. We are currently working to refine our signature to determine whether it can be used as a predictor of outcome following immune intervention in humans.

As stated in the previous paragraph, our studies have revealed that immune attack on tumors must be fast and furious to overcome tumor adaptation. One way to achieve a swift and overwhelming immune attack is to culture tumor specific T cells ex vivo and infuse a massive bolus injection of T cells (a process termed adoptive T cell therapy or ACT). Although naturally-occuring tumor-specific T cells are rare, clinical application of ACT can be enabled by engineering naïve T cells to express tumor-specific chimeric antigen receptors (CARs), bypassing the need to select rare tumor-specific T cells. We are currently investigating the parameters that influence optimal ACT using CAR-engineered T cells. In particular, we are examining the local effects of these T cells within the tumors to understand the reaction of the tumor to this form of treatment. We have also developed a novel tool for directing T cells to attack tumors known as a tri-functional T cell-antigen coupler (Tri-TAC), which operates through a mechanism distinct from a CAR. Our efforts are currently directed at optimizing Tri-TAC function and the development of novel costimulatory proteins that are triggereed by targets on the tumor. To enhance the activity of our ACT strategies, we are also working with oncolytic vaccines which are engineered viruses which serve the dual purpose of oncolytic agents that effectuate direct tumor killing and vaccination agents which enhance T cell function. The data generated by our research reflects a composite of multiple interacting pathways that are engaged simultaneously.

We have been working with our colleagues at the Juravinski Hospital (Ronan Foley, Mark Levine, Pierre Major) to evaluate cancer vaccines in early phase human trials. We are very excited to be a part of the Ontario Regional Biotherapeutics Program (ORBiT) that is sponsored by the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research. The ORBiT program, directed by John Bell, is focused on early phase clinical trials where cancer vaccines will be combined with oncolytic viruses and adoptive T cell transfer. This program provides a clear path for rapid translation of promising immunotherapies developed through our preclinical program.

The chair is being supported by a donation from Shoppers Drug Mart, Laidlaw Inc. and Canadian businessman James Bullock.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/molecular_medicine_chair.html

Professor, Department of Anthropology

Dr. Brickley has a wide range of interests in bioarchaeology and paleopathology. Work has just started on a SSHRC funded project, ‘Social-Cultural Determinants of Community Wellbeing in the Western Roman Empire: Analysis and Interpretation of Vitamin D Status’. This multidisciplinary project involving an international team of experts will use paleopathological, historical and archaeological data to assess the vitamin D status of individuals of differing age, sex and socio-economic groups, from a range of contexts and climates. The project will examine the sociocultural factors that contribute to vitamin D status, and offer new insights into life in the Roman world. The opportunity exists for a small number of students accepted on the graduate program at McMaster to work on this project, providing experience of working overseas and taking part in multidisciplinary research.

Having completed work on the fragments of human bone from the Battle of Stoney Creek, a War of 1812 site in Hamilton, Dr. Brickley is currently working on a number of aspects of trauma experienced by those who died and taphonomic processes operating at the site. Dr. Brickley has undertaken research on many aspects of trauma in paleopathology and has several ongoing projects in this area.

https://research.mcmaster.ca/research-chairs-and-institutes/BrickleyMegan

https://socialsciences.mcmaster.ca/people/brickley-megan

Associate Professor, School of Nursing

Dr. Bryant-Lukosius is an Associate Professor in the School of Nursing and an affiliate member of the Department of Oncology within the Faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster University. She is a proud Registered Nurse with 38 years of experience in practice (oncology and critical care), education, and research. She has maintained certification in oncology from the Canadian Nurses Association since 1998. In the School of Nursing, Dr. Bryant-Lukosius is the inaugural ?chair of the Alba DiCenso Professorship in Advanced Practice Nursing. She is also Chair of the Curriculum Committee for the Graduate Nursing Program and the founding co-Director for The Canadian Centre for Advanced Practice Nursing Research (CCAPNR). In addition to her faculty role, Dr. Bryant-Lukosius holds a cross appointment with the Juravinski Hospital and Cancer Centre as a Clinician Scientist and Director of the Canadian Centre of Excellence in Oncology Advanced Practice Nursing (OAPN) – providing a unique a program of research, education, mentorship, and knowledge translation activities to support the development of generalist, specialized, and advanced nursing roles in cancer control. Dr. Bryant-Lukosius is also a Scientist in the Escarpment Cancer Research Institute, which is a joint venture between McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences.

https://nursing.mcmaster.ca/faculty/bio/denise-bryant-lukosius

Professor, Pediatrics

Chair,McMaster Children’s Hospital/Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation Pediatric Thrombosis and Hemostasis

Focused on the relationship between hemostatic system and diseases in children. Lab Research Program includes Pediatric Thrombosis and Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia. Main research is the characterization of antithrombin-heparin covalent complex (ATH): consists of structure/function of ATH as well as its potential to be a pulmonary and systemic anticoagulant and a surface coating for catheters. Clinical Research Program, mainly collaborative in nature, includes Pediatric Stroke (Dr. deVeber), Thrombosis in Pediatric Cancer Patients (Dr. Athale), Thrombosis in Pediatric Cardiac Patients (Ms Gruenwald; Dr Brandao), and Neonatal Thrombosis (Canadian Pediatric Thrombosis and Hemostasis Network).

Dr. Chan’s research laboratory is based at the Thrombosis and Atherosclerosis Research Institute(TaARI) in the David Braley Research Institute.

Current Projects

• Surface Mechanisms of Anticoagulant ATH Complex
• Study of Pathogenesis and Treatment of Pediatric Diseases Related to the Hemostatic System
• Changes in glycosylation of coagulation factors during childhood development

The chair is being supported by a donation from Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/pediatric_thrombosis_and_hemostasis_chair.html

Professor, Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine

Division Director, Division of Rheumatology

Medical Education and Clinical Interests

Dr. Cividino’s medical education and clinical interests are in inflammatory arthritis, osteoarthritis and gout.

Education and Professional Standing

Dr. Alfred Cividino received his medical degree from McMaster University in 1979.  Dr. Cividino is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons (Canada) in Rheumatology and Internal Medicine. He is a Fellow of the American College of Rheumatology.

At present, Dr. Cividino is the Head of the Rheumatology Service for the Hamilton Health Sciences and Division Director, Rheumatology, McMaster University. He holds the AbbVie Chair in Medical Education in Rheumatology.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/medicine/rheumatology/faculty_member_cividino.htm

Professor, Department of English

Areas of Interest

Canadian Literature; Caribbean Canadian writing; critical race studies; settler colonial studies; diaspora and immigration; Indigenous literary and cultural studies; the literary and cultural production of categories of privilege; the cultural and spiritual politics of reading.

Profile

Daniel Coleman carries out research in Canadian Literature, the literatures of immigration and diaspora, critical race and gender studies, Indigenous literary and cultural studies, and the cultural and spiritual politics of reading. He has published Masculine Migrations: Reading the Postcolonial Male in a “New Canadian” Narratives (University of Toronto Press, 1998), The Scent of Eucalyptus: A Missionary Childhood in Ethiopia (Goose Lane Editions, 2003; winner of a Hamilton Literary Arts Prize for Non-Fiction, 2004), White Civility: The Literary Project of English Canada (University of Toronto Press, 2006; winner of the Raymond Kilbansky Prize in 2007), andIn Bed With the Word: Reading, Spirituality, and Cultural Politics (University of Alberta Press, 2009), and Yardwork: A Biography of an Urban Place (Wolsak &Wynn, 2017). He has co-edited ten scholarly volumes on various topics including early Canadian literary cultures, masculinities, postcoloniality, race, Caribbean-Canadian literature, the state of the humanities in Canadian universities, the creativity and resilience of refugee-d and Indigenous peoples, and international scholarship on Canadian literatures. His most recent course offerings have included Indigeneity and Diaspora, Framing CanLit, Critical Race Studies, Reading, Spirituality, and Cultural Politics, and Documenting Place.

https://english.humanities.mcmaster.ca/people/daniel-coleman/

University Professor, Department of Medicine
Associate Dean, Research

Dr. Collins’ research is in collaboration with his colleague, another clinician-scientist, Dr. Premsyl Bercik and focuses primarily on the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders (FGD), with a focus on microbes and the Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). IBS is a clinical descriptor that encompasses several chronic abdominal symptom-complexes that occur in the absence of any discernible structural abnormality; they are disorders of GI function that includes motor, sensory and barrier functions. They are accompanied by psychiatric co-morbidity in up 60% of patients, prompting the suspicion that they are “psychosomatic disorders”. They have challenged this perception by investigating peripheral (extra-CNS) mechanisms that can trigger and or maintain the dysfunction that characterizes IBS. They focus on the role of pathogenic microbes as triggers and commensal microbes as putative agents that maintain chronicity of these conditions, and on and immune activation/low grade “inflammation” as the transduction mechanism underlying gut dysfunction.

Their research has provided proof of concept that the mucosal immune system modulates function in the intestinal sensory-motor apparatus and promoted the hypothesis that activation of the mucosal immune system, resulting in non-destructive low grade “inflammation” plays a pathophysiological role in at least a subset of patients with FGD. They’ve developed a murine model of long-term gut dysfunction following transient enteric infection and showed that this was maintained by low-grade inflammation. Translating this, they followed patients in UK and in Walkerton, Ont., with acute gastroenteritis and established that up to 30% develop FGD. Their genotyping study showed that polymorphisms in genes encoding bacterial recognition, barrier function and cytokine secretion were associated with the development of post-infectious IBS. Their epidemiological studies in Walkerton revealed that some patients remained symptomatic for as long as 8 years post infection, raising questions regarding mechanisms that sustain chronic gut dysfunction.

Their interest then turned to the intestinal microbiota and they showed that disruption of the microbial composition of the gut (“dysbiosis”) could alter visceral pain responses and induce low-grade intestinal inflammation in a pre-clinical model. They also found that experimental dysbiosis could alter brain chemistry and behavior in their pre-clinical model. Moreover, they were able to transfer components of behavioral phenotype between different mouse strains using fecal microbiota transplantation. Together these findings prompted consideration of a microbiota-got-brain axis. This axis may be relevant to the high prevalence of psychiatric co-morbidity in IBS patients.

Recent work in preclinical models has shown that early life stress can induce changes in the microbial composition of the gut, and that the intestinal microbiota acting with host factors, is critical for the expression of depression in a preclinical model. Together these findings indicate that the proposed microbiota-gut-brain axis is bidirectional.

Currently the research of Dr. Collins and Bercik is directed at addressing the mechanisms by which the intestinal microbiota influence gut and brain function, and how selected probiotic bacteria might ameliorate intestinal and brain function in pre-clinical and clinical models.

The chair is being supported by a donation from the Farncombe family, who have also funded the gnotobiotic (or sterile) laboratory and the Farncombe Family Chair in Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/digestive_health_research_chair.html

Professor, DeGroote School of Business (Human Resources & Management)

Dr. Catherine Connelly holds a Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Organizational Behaviour, and is a member of the College of New Scholars of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC). She is an associate editor of Human Relations. Her research focuses on the attitudes, behaviours, and experiences of non-standard workers (e.g., temporary agency workers, contractors, temporary foreign workers), the effects of leadership styles on leader well-being, and knowledge hiding in organizations. Catherine also conducts applied research with several Canadian organizations in both the private and non-profit sector. In addition to her research success, Catherine is a past winner and frequent teaching award nominee for her teaching in the MBA and PhD programs. She has made presentations about her research to industry and academic groups across Canada and the US, and in Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Germany, Spain, and Portugal. Her research has been featured in the New York Times, the Globe and Mail, the National Post, and on CTV and CBC radio and TV

https://research.degroote.mcmaster.ca/profiles/profile/?user=connell

https://connellyresearch.com/

Director of ARiEAL

Professor, Department of Linguistics and Languages, McMaster University

Co-Director, Language, Memory and Brain Lab, McMaster University

Supervisory Member, McMaster Graduate Neuroscience Program

Associate Member, Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour

Faculty, School of Biomedical Engineering

Faculty Affiliate, The Vector Institute of Artificial Intelligence

Dr. John Connolly is the Senator William McMaster Chair in the Cognitive Neuroscience of Language (2010; renewed 2015). He co-directs the Language, Memory & Brain Lab with Dr. Elisabet Service. 

His areas of investigation include the cognitive neuroscience of language with particular emphasis on the use of brain imaging techniques (e.g., event-related potentials, magnetoencephalography, and functional magnetic resonance imaging) in the study of speech processing and reading. His research includes applications to brain injury with reference to disorders of consciousness in the unresponsive wakefulness syndrome, minimally conscious states and coma. This work focuses on developing brain imaging tools to enable the assessment of cognitive functioning in patients who are unable to communicate through language or gesture. His work also includes research in both assessment and brain-computer interfacing with locked-in syndrome patients. 

Dr. Connolly has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals for 35 years. He has been an invited speaker at numerous scientific conferences in Europe, Asia, and North America. His research has been supported by Canadian, American, British, and European funding agencies. He has served on the Editorial Board and as an Associate Editor of Clinical Neurophysiology, on the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Psychophysiology, and reviews regularly for a range of journals. He has also served as reviewer for North American, European and Asian agencies and institutions and as a panel reviewer for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, the National Institutes of Health, and the Department of Defense.

https://arieal.mcmaster.ca/discover-arieal/arieal-team/john-connolly

Professor Department’s of Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics

Canada Research Chair: Research Transfer in ICU

Academic Chair, Critical Care Medicine, McMaster

Past Chair, Canadian Critical Care Trials Group

Co-Chair, Critical Care Research Interest Group

Staff Physician, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton

Research Interests

Dr. Cook designs and conducts patient-centered research in the ICU. She is interested in risk factors for serious illness, prevention of ICU-acquired complications, life support technology, and end-of-life decisions for critically ill patients.  Her methodological interests are in the design and conduct of multicenter randomized trials, minimizing bias in systematic reviews, and incorporation of diverse kinds of evidence into practice guidelines and clinical recommendations.

Activities and Contributions  

Dr. Cook is a clinician-researcher at McMaster University. She holds an Academic Chair in Critical Care Medicine at McMaster and a Canada Research Chair for Research Transfer in Intensive Care.  She is a member of the CLARITY (Clinical Advances through Research and Information Translation) Research Group.  Dr. Cook has had an enormous influence on evidence-based decision-making in critical care worldwide by providing numerous lectures, plenary addresses and leading workshops.

Dr. Cook practices critical care medicine at St. Joseph’s Healthcare where she supervises medical students, residents and fellows from numerous specialties.  She also supervises both Masters and PhD graduate students in the Health Research Methodology Program.

Dr. Cook has been recognized for her accomplishments in research, education, and mentoring with many local, national and international awards, including the 2009 Critical Care Faculty Teaching Award.  She and Dr Maureen Meade Co-Chair an ICU special interest group called ACCADEMY (Academy of Critical Care: Development, Evaluation, and Methodology) for ICU clinicians in research training.

The chair is being supported by a donation from McMaster University Faculty of Health Sciences and St. Joseph’s Hospital.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/critical_care_chair.html

Chair & Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences

Research involves

Understanding the genetic bases of foodborne infections, and the links to chronic immune diseases in humans.

Research relevance

This research will uncover the mechanisms used by bacteria to infect humans, and will lead to new approaches to treat infections and prevent outbreaks.

When Human and Bacterial Genes Collide

Just as humans inherit certain traits, bacteria inherit genetic information from their ancestors. This genetic information specifies such factors as how the bacteria will interact with their surroundings, and their resistance to antibiotics. At the same time, our human immune system has evolved to combat bacterial invaders by attacking bacteria where they like to live—in our cells and tissues. This cellular warfare can give rise to diseases like inflammatory bowel disease, which affects one in every 160 Canadians.

Dr. Brian Coombes, Canada Research Chair in Infectious Disease Pathogenesis, is exploring the genetics and molecular development of human and animal infectious diseases, focusing on where pathogenic bacteria meet the host’s defense system.

He is focusing on why some people are more susceptible to food-borne infections from intestinal pathogens like Salmonella and E. coli, and on how these pathogens can lead to increased risk for developing of chronic gastrointestinal disorders. Since many of these pathogens are transmitted through water, vegetables and domesticated animals, his research could have major public health repercussions.

Coombes has already found that certain types of E. coli that are linked to inflammatory bowel disease contain unique genetic material. This genetic material may allow these bacteria to colonize the gastrointestinal tract and evade the body’s immune system.

Coombes’ research on bacterial development mechanisms will increase understanding of how these bacteria contribute to chronic diseases. It could also lead to ways in which to limit our exposure to them by eradicating harmful bacteria from our food and water.

https://research.mcmaster.ca/research-chairs-and-institutes/CoombesBrian

https://healthsci.mcmaster.ca/biochem/about-us/people/coombes-brian

Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Schlegel Chair in Clinical Epidemiology and Aging

Associate Member, Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine

Research Lead – Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, Waterloo Regional Campus

Member, Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis (CHEPA)

Education and Professional Standing

Dr. Costa is an Assistant Professor and Schlegel Research Chair in Clinical Epidemiology & Aging in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics at McMaster University. He also serves as the Research Lead at the DeGroote School of Medicine, Waterloo Regional Campus. He is an interRAI Fellow where he is engaged in the Network of Excellence in Acute Care (iNEAC) and leads the Emergency Department Working Group. He has received CIHR awards for his research in health services and policy.

Academic Interests

Dr. Costa’s research program promotes evidence-based care and policy in seniors and geriatric care. His program of research makes use of health information and technology to develop better models of care and decision support systems in home and community care, emergency departments, and acute care. His current work is focused on the development and evaluation of models of care for avoidable emergency department use and care of the elderly in emergency departments. He is an interRAI Fellow where he is engaged in the Network of Excellence in Acute Care (www.interRAI.org).Dr. Costa’s work makes use of large health care data repositories, multi-site prospective cohort studies, and pragmatic trial methods. He also has an active interest in the development and use of funding and performance systems in health care reform.

Twitter: @andrew_p_costa

Interested graduate students for the Health Research Methodology (HRM) program or Health Policy PhD program are requested to forward their CV and a description of research interests by e-mail.

Research Interests

• Evidence-based care and policy in seniors and geriatric care.
• Development of better senior care modelsin home and community care, emergency departments, and acute care.
• Development of decision support tools and technology for geriatric emergency management and emergency department avoidance.
• Use of large health care data repositories and pragmatic trial methods to evaluate elder care services and policy across settings.
• Funding and performance systems in seniorshealth care reform.

Teaching Interests

• Evidence-based Health Care
• Aging and the Health Care System
• Health Systems Theory and Analytics
• Applied Statistical Modeling

The chair is being supported by a donation from Ron Schlegel and his family.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/clinical_epidemiology_and_aging_chair.html

Professor and Chair, Department of Medicine

Professor (Associate Member), Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine

Professor (Associate), Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact

Leo Pharma Chair in Thromboembolism Research, McMaster University

Education and Professional Standing

MD, University of Western Ontario, 1990
FRCPC Internal Medicine, 1994
FRCPC Hematology, 1995
MSc Health Research Methodology, 1998
Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (FRSC), 2017

Research Interests

Dr Crowther’s research interests include exploring ways of improving the way that we use our current anticoagulant drugs.  These include exploring established and novel interventions to mitigate bleeding, and studies of currently available anticoagulant drugs in high-risk patient populations. Dr Crowther’s work also focusses on developing systematic reviews of key questions in Hematology and Thrombosis, and basing Guidelines on those reviews.

Dr Crowther has more than 400 peer reviewed publications, was inducted into the Royal Society of Canada in 2017, and received the 2017 International Society of Thrombosis and Haemostasis BACH Investigator Recognition Award. He was one of 14 scientists from the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University cited by Clarivate Analytics on its Highly Cited Researchers list (formerly known as Thomson Reuter’s annual publication of The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds).

Dr Crowther is currently the Chair, Department of Medicine at McMaster University and holds the Leo Pharma Chair in Thromboembolism Research at McMaster University.

The chair is being supported by a donation from LEO Pharma Inc

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/thromboembolism_chair.html

Professor, Department of Economics

McMaster University Scholar

Katherine Cuff is one of the recipients of the recently created honorific title, University Scholar.  The spirit is intended to honour more junior faculty who have “already distinguished themselves as international scholars.”

Research involves: A rigorous theoretical analysis of topics—including taxation, rent control, minimum wage and health care— key to a sound public economy.

https://socialsciences.mcmaster.ca/people/cuff-katherine

Professor, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioual Neuroscience

Jack Laidlaw Chair in Patient-Centred Health Care

Psychologist, McMaster Children’s Hospital

Biography

Dr. Cunningham’s research focuses on the design of accessible, cost-effective, children’s mental health services. The studies that he is involved in use methods from marketing research and economics to engage youth, parents, educators, and professionals in the design and evaluation of a new generation of user-informed prevention and treatment programs. Quantitative user-preference modelling methods (discrete choice conjoint experiments) estimate the value of different components of these services, identify latent segments with different preferences, and model the response of different segments to varying program options. Randomized trials evaluate the effectiveness of innovative options. This work is supported by grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Jack Laidlaw Chair in Patient-Centered Health Care.

Clinical and Research Interests 

• Using qualitative methods and quantitative consumer preference modeling methods (discrete choice conjoint experiments) to model parental preferences regarding the design of programs to improve parenting skills.
• Modelling the interim service preferences of parents waiting for children’s mental health treatment.
• Evaluating the outcome of internet-based coached-supported programs for parents of young oppositional children.
• Modeling the bullying prevention program design preferences of students and teachers.

The chair is being supported by a donation from Bill and Joyce Young.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/patient_centered_health_chair.html

Professor, Division of Clinical Immunology and Allergy, Department of Medicine

Director, Division of Clinical Immunology and Allergy

William J. Walsh Chair in Medicine

Scientific Director, AllerGen-NCE Inc.

Education and Professional Standing

Dr. Denburg received his MD from McGill University Medical School and Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel (1971). Subsequently, he received his Fellowship Certification from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada for the specialties of Internal Medicine and Hematology. Currently, Dr. Denburg is Director and Chief of Service of Clinical Immunology and Allergy at Hamilton Health Sciences, McMaster Division. He has been a Professor in the Department of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University since 1988, and holds the William J. Walsh Professorship in General Internal Medicine. Dr. Denburg is a recognized expert on autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

In addition to his other duties, Dr. Denburg is now the Scientific Director and CEO of AllerGen NCE Inc., a Network of Centres of Excellence based at McMaster University whose mandate is to support research, networking, commercialization and capacity building activities that contribute to reducing the morbidity, mortality and socioeconomic impact of allergic disease and asthma worldwide.

Research Interests

Dr. Denburg’s main research thrusts include examination of the mechanisms of allergic inflammation, with particular emphasis on hemopoietic cytokines and their role in activating the differentiation and recruitment of inflammatory cells such as eosinophils, basophils and mast cells. This includes an understanding of the growth and differentiation of human basophil and eosinophil precursors, with the development of in vitro assays to monitor clinically relevant fluctuations in these cells during allergic responses. The specific diseases studied have included allergic rhinitis, nasal polyposis and asthma. Currently, the focus of his research is the development of allergic disease and asthma through the study of cord blood stem cells. Additionally in several national projects undertaken by AllerGen NCE, hemopoietic progenitor phenotyping has been utilized to discover new biomarkers to predict the development of allergic disease and asthma.

As Scientific Director of AllerGen, Dr. Denburg helps steer the innovative and inter-disciplinary research program involving research partners in academic, public and private sectors, representing expertise in medicine, genetics, molecular biology (genomics and proteomics); environmental, occupational and population health; epidemiology; health economics, and health policy; ethics, psychology, sociology, and medical geography and anthropology, aimed at understanding both the physiological and psychosocial aspects of allergic/immune diseases.

The chair is being supported by the DeGroote Family.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/medicine_chair.html

Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology

Professor, Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Member CLARITY (Clinical Advances Through Research and Information Translation)

Attending Staff, Hamilton Health Sciences, Cardiac Care Unit

The focus of Dr. Devereaux’s clinical research is perioperative vascular medicine in patients undergoing noncardiac surgery. He is the Co-Principal Investigator of the POISE trial, the world’s largest cardiac randomized controlled trial in patients undergoing noncardiac surgery. He is also the Principal Investigator of several other ongoing perioperative vascular studies evaluating risk estimation, monitoring, and interventions for perioperative vascular events.

Dr. Devereaux has also undertaken health policy research comparing health outcomes and payment for care in inv est or owned private for-profit and private not-for-profit health care delivery systems. Dr. Devereaux is also inter est ed in methodological research, and he has published several studies and position papers on this topic including proposing the concept of expertise-based randomized controlled trials.

He is also a member of the CLARITY (Clinical Advances through Research and Information Translation) Research Group.

The chair is being supported by a donation from Dr. Salim Yusuf, Executive Director of the Population Health Research Institute, a joint institute of McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/cardiology_chair.html

Professor, Department of Philosophy and Peace Studies Program

Dr. Nancy Doubleday holds the Hope Chair in Peace and Health at McMaster University. As well as having expertise in ecological sciences, Nancy holds an LLB from Osgoode Hall, was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1982, and is a member of the Law Society of Canada. In her career as a lawyer she has contributed to development of international and domestic law embracing human rights, health and the environment.

Examples of her experience include: early work to establish conservation easements, environmental impact assessment, and development of co-management under comprehensive claims; amending the Canadian Constitution; contributing to the establishment of the Northern Contaminants Program; linking Inuit interests with the international Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program; and participating in the University Consortium in Support of the Secretariat for the Convention on Biodiversity. She has also participated in the Working Group on Indigenous People(s) held in Geneva, the Conferences of the Parties to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources in Costa Rica and in Ottawa, and the International Whaling Commission in New Zealand, and the U.S.A., as well as the Finnish Initiative leading to the signing of the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy and to the Arctic Council. She works at the interface of human rights and social justice, resilience and health to develop new syntheses and strategies for realizing peace and health, good governance and knowledge integration.

Currently she chairs the Cold Region Environments Commission of the International Geographical Union and has just completed a major International Polar Year research project addressing human experience of impacts of a changing tree line to better understand change and adaptive capacity in social-cultural-ecological systems. Professor Doubleday joined McMaster University in 2009.

https://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~walucho/PhilosophyOfLaw/doubleday.html

Professor, Division of Hematology & Thromboembolism, Department of Medicine

Brief Biography

Dr John Eikelboom is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton , Ontario . After earning his MBBS degree at the University of Western Australia Medical School, Australia, he completed training in Internal Medicine and Haematology at Royal Perth Hospital , Australia , and trained in Epidemiology and Thrombosis Medicine at McMaster University . He holds a Canada Research Chair in Cardiovascular Medicine from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research. Dr Eikelboom’s current research focuses on variable response to antiplatelet therapy, antithrombotic therapy in atrial fibrillation, and mechanisms and prognosis of bleeding. He has published more than 150 peer-reviewed papers. He is a member of the Editorial Board for Stroke and on the Advisory Board for the Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis.

Research Involves

Studying the mechanisms and genetic determinants of antiplatelet drug resistance and improving its diagnosis and treatment.

Research Relevance

The research is leading to the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic tools to prevent cardiovascular disease.

An Aspirin a Day . . . Overcoming the Problem of Aspirin Resistance in Patients with Cardiovascular Disease

Cardiovascular disease is the single most common cause of death or long-term disability in Canada and it costs the economy more than 18 billion dollars each year. Aspirin is a simple, safe, and highly cost-effective treatment to prevent cardiovascular disease and is the single most widely used pharmaceutical agent worldwide.

Not all patients at risk of cardiovascular disease, however, benefit from aspirin. One in seven patients experiences another heart attack or stroke or will die from the complications of cardiovascular disease within two to three years of starting treatment.

The challenge for clinicians and researchers is to determine why this occurs and what can be done to prevent breakthrough cardiovascular events in patients already treated with aspirin.

This is where Dr. John Eikelboom comes in. In a landmark study involving almost 1,000 patients at high risk of cardiovascular events treated with aspirin, Dr. Eikelboom and his colleagues demonstrated that at least 20 percent of heart attacks, strokes, and deaths that occur during aspirin treatment are caused by a “resistance” to its antiplatelet effects. What’s more, evidence suggests that patients who are resistant to aspirin may be identified by a simple urine test.

Identifying those patients who are most likely to be resistant to aspirin is but the first step in solving the problem of aspirin resistance. As a Canada Research Chair in Cardiovascular Medicine, Dr. Eikelboom is figuring out what causes aspirin resistance and he is working on the development of new treatments to overcome the problem.

Dr. Eikelboom’s work has implications for clinical and public health worldwide. Because of the scope of cardiovascular disease and the widespread use of aspirin, even a small improvement in its effectiveness could prevent thousands of heart attacks and strokes each year.

The Chair is supported by the Population Health Research Institute, a joint institute of McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/thrombosis_atherosclerosis_chair.html

Director, McMaster Institute for Automotive Research and Technology (MacAUTO)
Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Research Interests

• Power electronics and electric motor drives;
• Electric and hybrid powertrains;
• Electric, hybrid, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles;
• Transportation electrification;
• Transportation energy conversion and vehicular power and propulsion systems;
• Renewable and efficient energy systems; and
• Energy and sustainability

Research involves design and optimization of the next generation of cost-effective and smart, energy-efficient electrified vehicles to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve performance.

http://hybrid.mcmaster.ca/ali-emadi-chair/

https://research.mcmaster.ca/research-chairs-and-institutes/EmadiAli

Assistant Professor, Department of Health Aging & Society

Acting Academic Director, Indigenous Studies Program

Research involves: Exploring the challenges faced by Indigenous peoples, particularly Indigenous elders and youth that are influenced by changes to traditional Indigenous knowledge and other interconnected health, social, economic, and political processes.

Chelsea Gabel’s research explores the challenges faced by Indigenous peoples, particularly Indigenous elders and youth that are influenced by changes to traditional Indigenous knowledge and other interconnected health, social, economic, and political processes. Chelsea’s research is typically conducted in partnership with leaders in the community that she s working with. Her community partners help define project research questions, and in turn, the research helps to address issues that they are working with in daily practice.

Traditional interactions among Indigenous elders and youth have been disrupted both by the devastating effects of colonization and residential schools. Working in partnership with Indigenous communities across Canada, Chelsea’s research addresses some of these concerns by considering ways to increase elder-youth relationships and revitalize values related to interactions between different generations.

Chelsea’s research examines how digital technology can be used to leverage and advocate for specific policy and program initiatives in First Nations, Inuit and Méjtis communities. She draws on photovoice, digital storytelling, e-democracy portals and other arts-based technology and advocacy tools as a means of restoring these relationships. Chelsea works with Indigenous elders and youth to assess how such tools can be used to document, articulate and redress issues related to changes in traditional Indigenous culture.

Overseeing two Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) grants as the primary investigator, Chelsea builds on Indigenous and Western ways of knowing and conducting research to address health and well-being in First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities across many generations. She balances academic rigour with a heartfelt desire to ask the kinds of questions that lead to positive social change through public policy.

https://socialsciences.mcmaster.ca/people/gabel-chelsea

David R. (Dan) Offord Chair in Child Studies & CIHR New Investigator Fellow

Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behaviourial Neurosciences

Associate Faculty in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics & Member of the Offord Centre for Child Studies

Biography

Kathy Georgiades received her PhD in Clinical Psychology at the University of Oregon, Eugene. She completed a Clinical Internship in Pediatric Psychology at The Hospital for Sick Children and a post-doctoral fellowship in Child Psychiatric Epidemiology at the Offord Centre for Child Studies, McMaster University. Her program of research (a) characterizes the nature of inequalities in child and youth mental health and academic achievement, particularly among immigrant and racial/ethnic minority youth, and (b) examines the role of schools in reducing inequalities. Through this research, she hopes to inform the development of school-based preventative intervention strategies that reduce inequalities in student mental health and academic achievement. She has a strong commitment to building researcher-educator partnerships that will optimize the uptake of evidence-based strategies in school settings. Kathy has received numerous recognitions for her research, including a New Investigator Fellowship from the Ontario Mental Health Foundation (OMHF) and an Early Researcher Award from the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation. She currently holds a New Investigator Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the David R. (Dan) Offord Chair in Child Studies.

Clinical and Research Interests

• Hamilton Youth Study– a study of 1,450 recent immigrant, longer-term immigrant and non-immigrant students Hamilton
• 2014 Ontario Child Health Study – examining the mental health and functioning of 10,530 children in families and neighbourhoods across Ontario
• 2014 Ontario Child Health Study School Mental Health Surveys – a component of the larger 2014 OCHS that will enlist schools across Ontario to study school-level influences on student mental health

The chair is being supported by a gift from the Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation with matching support from McMaster University in honour of David R. (Dan) Offord, Canada’s most renowned child psychiatrist.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/child_studies_chair.html

Professor, Department of Medicine

Associate Member, Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics

Director, Division of Endocrinology & Metabolism

Director, Diabetes Care and Research Program, McMaster University, Hamilton Health Sciences

Deputy Director, Population Health Research Instutite

Population Health Institute Chair in Diabetes Research

Education and Professional Standing

Dr. Hertzel C. Gerstein is an Endocrinologist and Professor at McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences, where he holds the Population Health Institute Chair in Diabetes Research. He is also Director of the Division of Endocrinology & Metabolism, Director of the Diabetes Care and Research Program and Deputy Director of the Population Health Research Institute. He has received several honors including McMaster University’s Jack Hirsh Award (2016) and the Canadian Diabetes Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award (2012).

Academic Interests

Dr. Gerstein has led the application of large simple outcome trials to people with diabetes globally, and developed the concept of dysglycemia as an important risk factor for many of the serious health outcomes that afflict people with an elevated glucose level regardless of diabetes status. He currently leads clinical research focused on: a) the prevention and therapy of diabetes and its many consequences; b) diabetes remission; and c) the link between dysglycemia and vasculopenia, cardiovascular disease, cognitive impairment and other disorders. His research spans over 50 countries, and has been funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the National Institutes of Health, the Heart and Stroke Foundation, the Canadian Diabetes Association and Industry. Key trials in which he has played or continues to play a major leadership role include HOPE, MICRO HOPE, ACCORD, DREAM, EpiDREAM, ORIGIN, ORIGINALE, TIDE, ELIXA, ACE, and REWIND. In addition to his research, he was the founding director of Diabetes Hamilton – a novel public program that facilitated the ability of people with diabetes to manage their disease; and produced a music video focused on destigmatizing diabetes for affected people (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qmh4qGLd2Tk).

The chair is being supported by a donation from Sanofi Aventis, a world leader in pharmaceuticals and agriculture.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/diabetes_chair.html

Professor, Division of Hematology and Thromboembolism, Department of Medicine

Research Interests

Dr Ginsberg was the Director of the Clinical Thromboembolism Group (CTG) at the Henderson Research Centre from 1999 to 2005.

He graduated from medical school at the University of Ottawa in 1978 and was elected into the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Society. After a brief stint as a military physician, he completed Internal Medicine and Hematology training at the University of Toronto.

He came to Hamilton in 1986 as a Research Fellow of the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada under the supervision of Dr Hirsh and became the Chief of the Thromboembolism Service at Chedoke-McMaster Hospitals in 1988. Since then, he has had continuous personnel support, first as a Research Scholar of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and then, for the last 7 years as a Career Investigator of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario. He also holds a Research Chair from CIHR/UI and has been awarded the Fortino’s Distinguished Scientist Award, a five year award for outstanding research of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario.

In September 2005 he received the inaugural award of the David Braley and Nancy Gordon Chair in Thromboembolic Disease. He has been successful in obtaining many peer-reviewed grants from H&SFO, CIHR/MRC, NHRDP and PSI. In addition, he has given many plenary talks and Chaired many sessions at international meetings, such as ASH, ISTH, ACCP and AHA. He has trained 12 research fellows, many of whom have gone on to become successful, independent investigators.

The chair is being supported by a donation from David Braley, president of Hamilton-based Orlick Industries Limited, and his wife Nancy Gordon, a registered nurse who trained and practiced in Hamilton hospitals.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/thromboembolic_disease_chair.html

Jan Willem Gorter, MD, PhD, FRCP(C) is the Director of the CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research, Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, and an associate member in the School of Rehabilitation Science at McMaster University. He is the Scotiabank Chair in Child Health Research.

Jan Willem has training in rehabilitation medicine (physiatry) with a special clinical and research interest in transition services for youth with developmental disabilities. He completed his post doctoral training at CanChild in 2002 and was co-founder of NetChild Network for Childhood Disability Research in the Netherlands in 2003.

Research Focus

Jan Willem’s research focuses on the themes of family, function and fitness and includes clinical studies and health services research. Jan Willem currently leads the Stay-FIT program which studies the effects of a physical activity and active lifestyle intervention for youth with cerebral palsy (CP). He is also leading a program of research on youth with disabilities which includes the TRACE study on healthcare transition, and the MyStory project on the health and wellbeing of adolescents and adults with cerebral palsy.

Vision

Jan Willem’s vision is to enhance the physical health, mental health and well-being of children and youth with disabilities/chronic health conditions and their families through interventions carefully tailored, timed and integrated into health services. He leads an internationally recognized research program that advances the knowledge of health development of people with disabilities, and that enhances research capacity in ‘Lifecourse Health Development’ through mentoring and training.

The chair is being supported by a donation from Scotiabank.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/child_health_research_chair.html

Professor, Department of Health Aging & Society

Dr. Grenier joined McMaster in 2011 as Associate Professor in Health, Aging and Society, Gilbrea Chair in Aging and Mental Health, and Director of the Gilbrea Centre for the Study of Aging. Prior to this, she worked in the School of Social Work at McGill University (2004-2011). She is an honorary fellow of the Centre for Social Gerontology at Keele University (UK) and an affiliated researcher of the Centre de recherche et d’expertise de gérontologie sociale (CREGES) and the Centre Affilie Universitaire of the CSSS Cavendish in Montreal, Quebec.

Dr. Grenier’s work explores the social constructs of aging and challenges taken-for-granted assumptions related to late life. Dr. Grenier’s research focuses on the interface of public policies, organizational practices, and older people’s lived experience. Her work focuses on conceptual questions in social and critical gerontology, models used to frame and address aging in Western societies, and the subjective interpretations of ageing and late life. She has collected older people’s narratives with regards to late life transitions, impairment, and ‘frailty’ and continues to explore how these narratives can inform contemporary planning efforts. The tensions between biomedical/functional models and the social and interpretive aspects of aging are a central component of her work.

Ongoing research interests and projects in development include:

• bridging gaps between concepts, research, and practice in social gerontology;
• exploring the intersections of aging and homelessness in Montreal, Quebec;
• developing an international network of scholars advancing critical perspectives on the study of aging;
• understanding the contradictions regarding late life, frailty and risk;
• exploring the degree to which older people’s experience ‘fit’ with expected transitions and age-based models of care;
• collecting the narratives of older people from varying social locations;
• collaborating in professional training and knowledge exchange activities.

Areas of interest

• Aging, Late Life, & Identity
• Health, Mental Health, Disability & Decline
• Narrative Approaches & Qualitative Methodology
• The intersections of social policy and lived experience
• Diverse Social Locations that Impact/Disrupt the ‘Storylines’ of Ageing
• Theoretical Approaches in Critical Gerontology

Research involves: The interface of public policies, organizational practices, and older people’s lived experience.

https://socialsciences.mcmaster.ca/people/grenier-amanda

Faculty of Health Sciences , McMaster University

Member, McMaster Institute for Research on Aging (MIRA) , McMaster University

Associate Professor, Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact , Faculty of Health Sciences

Lauren Griffith is an associate professor in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McMaster. She holds a PhD in epidemiology from the University of Toronto and a master’s degree in biostatistics from the University of Michigan. Her research interests include physical functioning, injury and aging as well as the harmonization of longitudinal data. Since joining the CLSA in November 2007, Dr. Griffith has worked on the analysis and reporting of several feasibility studies and the development of the CLSA protocol. In 2011, she served as interim national manager of the CLSA, and is currently the lead of the Hamilton Data Collection Site.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_professorships/public_health_professorship.html

Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis/Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care Chair in Health Equity
Associate Professor, Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact (HEI)
Member, Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis

Emmanuel Guindon is the inaugural Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis (CHEPA)/Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care Chair in Health Equity; an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact (HEI) and an associate member of the Department of Economics at McMaster University. He is a recipient of a 2017 Early Researcher Award from the Province of Ontario for his research project entitled Fiscal policy and population health: the case of tobacco control and also received a career development award in prevention from the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute. Prior to joining McMaster University, Emmanuel was on Faculty at Université de Montréal and a staff economist at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. Guindon’s research interests cover a broad array of topics in health economics, health behaviour, health services research and applied econometrics. He holds a PhD in Health Research Methodology from McMaster and an MA in economics from the University of Victoria.

Research Interests

• Economics of health behaviours
• Applied econometrics
• Health services research
• Empirical health economics and policy

The chair is being supported by the Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis (CHEPA), Ontario’s Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) and McMaster’s Faculty of Health Sciences.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/health_equity_chair.html

Professor, DeGroote School of Business (Human Resources & Management)

Dr. Rick Hackett is a Canada Research Chair (Tier I) in Organizational Behaviour and Human Performance with the DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University, and Fellow of the Canadian Psychological Association. He specializes in executive/managerial assessment, leadership, HR recruitment, testing, selection, work attitudes, absenteeism and performance assessment, and is a member of the McMaster’s Health Leadership Academy. Rick is past President of the Canadian Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, is Associate Editor of the Journal of Business & Psychology, and past Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences. Over the past 30 years Rick has provided consulting to a variety of companies, including Hatch, RCMP, Marion Merrell Dow, General Motors, ABB, AFG Glass, IBM China and Hong Kong Post. He has also led a number of global executive workshops and presentations around leading effective teams, HR management best practices and HR resources planning and utilization.

https://research.degroote.mcmaster.ca/profiles/profile/?user=hackett

Dr. Healey’s research focuses on contributing significantly to the body of scholarship in the area of cardiology as well as establishing and maintaining a world-class program in cardiology which exemplifies the central values of the University, Department of Medicine and PHRI.

The chair is being supported by the Population Health Research Institute, a joint institute of McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/phri_cardiology_research_chair.html

Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine

Research Interests

Respiratory mucosal immunology, environmental exposures, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cystic fibrosis, airway epithelial cells, ATP Binding Cassette (ABC) Transporters commercialization of research, science communication.

Hirota Lab Research Summary

The Hirota Lab aims to develop an internationally recognized translational research program in respiratory mucosal immunology focused on lung health and disease. The Hirota Lab uses a translational research strategy with in vitro cell culture models, in vivo pre-clinical models, and clinical studies. The lab research is guided by three mutually reinforcing foci: i) patient oriented research on respiratory mucosal immunology in health and disease, ii) small molecule drug discovery programs for commercialization opportunities, and iii) pure basic science characterization of the biology behind innate immune receptor and related signalling pathways. Presently, the major focus of the Hirota Lab is on ABC Transporters in the respiratory mucosa.

Ongoing Research Projects in the Hirota Lab

1. ABCC4 as a modulator of cyclic-AMP in airway epithelial cells – an unexplored anti-inflammatory mechanism relevant in chronic respiratory diseases
2. The links between ABCC4 and CFTR – Precision medicine approaches in Cystic Fibrosis
3. Development and validation of a novel 3D printed model of a human airway for drug development assays
4. The role of ABCF1 as a novel antiviral sensor in human airway epithelial cells
5. Development of an organ-on-a-chip microfludic device for precision medicine in cystic fibrosis

https://research.mcmaster.ca/research-chairs-and-institutes/HirotaJeremy

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/medicine/respirology/faculty_member_hirota.htm

Associate Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering

Research involves developing new ‘smart’ materials and nano-medicines that will provide targeted drug delivery with fewer side effects for patients suffering from cancer and other diseases.

The Hoare lab works at the interface of polymer science, physical chemistry, and biology, aiming to design novel materials with “smart” properties precisely tuned to the environment and application in which the material is to be used. Our main expertise lies in the rational design of “smart” hydrogel-based materials on different length scales (i.e. bulk hydrogels, microgels, and nanogels) based on a fundamental understanding of the structure-property relationships in such materials. To achieve this understanding, we apply both the analytical tools of physical chemistry and the mathematical modeling tools of chemical engineering to predict microstructures prior to synthesis and then characterize (and optimize) the realized microstructures for specific applications. While most of our target applications lie within biomedical engineering (drug delivery, cell encapsulation, biomedical devices, biosensors, and tissue engineering), we also apply our engineered hydrogels in food, nutraceutical, agricultural, and environmental applications.

https://research.mcmaster.ca/research-chairs-and-institutes/HoareTodd

https://www.eng.mcmaster.ca/chemeng/people/faculty/todd-hoare#biography

Professor, Psychiatry & Behavioural Neuroscience

Associate Member, Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics

Ontario Children’s Secretariat Chair in Early Childhood Development

Dr. Magdalena Janus is a Professor at the McMaster University’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences where she holds the Ontario Chair in Early Child Development. Since joining the Offord Centre for Child Studies at McMaster in 1997, Magdalena, together with the late Dr. Dan Offord, developed the Early Development Instrument (EDI), a measure of children’s readiness to learn at school entry. This initiative has generated interest at national and international levels, from academic and social policy perspectives. Magdalena and her team support the implementation of the EDI in Canada, and its adaptation in many international sites. Magdalena’s research interests also include the transition to school, with a particular emphasis on children with special needs, and communities’ engagement in children’s early development and health. Magdalena has an associate appointment in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and is on faculty in the Graduate program in Health Research Methodology. She is an active educator, being directly involved in teaching, supervising, or tutoring students, as well as in development of new curricula, with special relevance to early child development.

Clinical and Research Interests

• Monitoring of child development at school entry with the Early Development Instrument (EDI) – measuring five core areas of early child development known to be good predictors of adult health, education and social outcomes
• Pan-Canadian Examination of Social Determinants of Children’s Developmental Health – examining the association between developmental health outcomes and socioeconomic and demographic variables according to local geographic areas where children spent their early years
• Fit for School, Fit for Life-Child Health and School Readiness – investigating association between BMI and other health and developmental trajectories (e.g. physical activity, sedentary behaviours, sleep, nutritional risk, etc.) and emotion regulation trajectories in early childhood and school readiness at school entry
• Forum for Early Child Development Monitoring – is a Canada-wide network of researchers, practitioners and organizations building a comprehensive, population-based early child development monitoring system
• 2014 Ontario Child Health Study – examining the mental health and functioning of 10,530 children in families and neighbourhoods across Ontario
• 2014 Ontario Child Health Study School Mental Health Surveys – a component of the larger 2014 OCHS that will enlist schools across Ontario to study school-level influences on student mental health

The chair is being supported by a donation from Ontario Children’s Secretariat.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/early_childhood_development_chair.html

Chair and Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University

Associate Member, Department of Family Medicine, McMaster University

Director of Programs, Hamilton Family Health Teams

Cross Appointment, Department of Family Medicine, McMaster University

Nick Kates is a Professor and Department Chair, with a cross appointment in the Department of Family Medicine and also works with the Hamilton FHT.  For 4 years he was the Ontario lead for  quality improvement in primary care through QIIP. Other roles have included Director of ERMHS, McMaster Psychiatry Residency Program Director, Director of the Hamilton Region Psychiatry Program and Director of the Hamilton HSO (now FHT) Mental Health and Nutrition Program. Since 1997 he has been the co-chair of the CPA / CFPC Collaborative working group on shared mental health care in Canada

He has participated in many provincial and national planning initiatives for mental health and primary care and has consulted to over 100 Canadian and International governments, organizations and programs. He has published over 60 articles and authored 2 books.

He is a Distinguished Fellow of the Canadian Psychiatric Association and the American Psychiatric Association and an honorary member of the College of Family Physicians of Canada. In 2000 he received the Canadian Psychiatric Association Paul Patterson Award for Leadership in Education; in 2001 the CPA C.A. Roberts Award for Leadership in Clinical Services and in 2005 the CPA / Canadian Academy of Psychiatric Epidemiology Alex Leighton Award for Psychiatric Epidemiology.

The chair is being supported by a donation from Morgan Firestone, president and CEO of Firan Corporation, and St. Joseph’s Healthcare Foundation.

Research Interests

Quality improvement, person-centred care, redesigning systems of care and the interface with primary care.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/psychiatry_chair.html

Professor, Medicine, McMaster University

Program Director, Clinician Investigator Program

Education and Professional Standing

Although his current clinical responsibilities primarily focus on the management of thromboembolic disorders, Dr. Kearon originally qualified in Ireland, trained as a respirologist and obtained a Ph.D. from McMaster University for studies relating to respiratory and exercise physiology.  He is currently a Professor in the Department of Medicine, an Associated Member in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McMaster University, a Consultant with the Clinical Thromboembolism Service at the Juravinski Site of Hamilton Health Sciences, and Program Director of the Clinician Investigator Program, at McMaster.  He was a Career  Investigator of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and is now an Investigator of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.  Dr. Kearon is the recipient of two awards from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research for providing mentorship in the design and conduct of randomized controlled trials, and he is the recipient of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis’ 14th Biennial Investigator Recognition Award (2009).  Dr. Kearon is involved in the critical appraisal of the medical literature, the development of practice guidelines, and is the chairperson for the current American College of Chest Physicians’ guidelines for the treatment of venous thromboembolism.

Research Interests

Dr. Kearon’s research focuses on clinical trials designed to optimize the diagnosis and treatment of thromboembolic disease.  Diagnostic studies are evaluating the ability of D-dimer blood tests to exclude the presence of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism.  Treatment studies are evaluating new ways to use unfractionated heparin for the acute treatment of venous thrombosis; the optimal duration of anticoagulation in subgroups of patients who have either a high, or a low risk of recurrent venous thrombosis; and the catheter-directed thrombolysis for the acute treatment of deep vein thrombosis.

Dr. Kearon is also undertaking studies to identify the clinical importance, and the management implication, of the presence of biochemical abnormalities that are known to be associated with thromboembolism (“thrombophilia”).  Additional studies will elucidate, and compare, the pharmacology of different heparin preparations, and will, try to refine how patients with venous thromboembolism are selected to long-term therapy so as to maximize benefit and minimize harm from bleeding.

Dr. Kearon’s research is supported by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and the National Institute of Health.

The Chair is supported by the Thrombosis and Atherosclerosis Research Institute (TaARI), a joint institute of McMaster’s Department of Medicine and Hamilton Health Sciences

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/thrombosis_chair.html

Associate Professor, School of Rehabilitation Science

Dr. Kho is a clinician-scientist who cares for patients in the St. Joseph’s Healthcare ICU in Hamilton.

Dr. Kho is leading a clinical research program of very early in-bed cycling in mechanically ventilated patients to improve patient outcomes.  Her research interests include novel early rehabilitation strategies to reduce weakness in ICU patients, knowledge translation, research methodology (systematic reviews, practice guidelines), and health services and outcomes research.  She is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD.

Research involves using early in-bed cycling for mechanically ventilated patients while in the intensive care unit (ICU) to improve patient outcomes.

https://research.mcmaster.ca/research-chairs-and-institutes/KhoMichelle

Professor, Jointly in SGES and Department of Biology

My research program focuses on understanding the impacts of human activities on aquatic ecosystems. More specifically, my students and I study the effects of point (municipal, industrial) and non-point (agriculture, forest harvesting) discharges on the health of aquatic organisms, and the fate of persistent pollutants in freshwater and marine ecosystems. Much of our research is multidisciplinary in nature and an interface between biogeochemistry, chemistry, ecology and toxicology. For example, we use measurements of stable nitrogen, sulfur, hydrogen and carbon isotope ratios in organisms to characterize trophic relationships in diverse aquatic systems and to understand pollutant accumulation from primary producers through to top predators. I have led or been involved in three major whole ecosystem experiments to understand how 1) the estrogen used in the birth control pill affects fish and their prey, 2) wastes from rainbow trout aquaculture affect native organisms, and 3) a commonly-used herbicide and fertilizers affect the health of wetland communities.

http://www.karenkiddlab.com/about-karen.html

Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering

Expertise:Biological Wastewater Treatment; Water Reuse; Physical/Chemical Water Treatment; Nutrient Recovery; Energy Recovery; Water Quality Sensors; Heavy Metal Removal; Anaerobic Digestion; Sludge Pre/Post-Treatment; Numerical Modeling; Microbial Electrochemistry; Ion Exchange Membrane; Salinity Gradient Energy; Point-of-Use Drinking Water TreatmentAreas of Specialization:

Research Clusters:

My research group is currently investigating new wastewater treatment technologies for: (1) Nutrient removal/recovery; (2) Heavy metal removal; (3) Water reuse; and (4) Anaerobic digestion. We study bioelectrochemical systems and ion exchange membrane applications for energy-efficient recovery of nutrients from wastewater (e.g., source separated human urine, dewatering centrate). We also research bioelectrochemical systems for efficient separation of toxic heavy metals (e.g., cadmium, lead, chromium) from wastewater. Anaerobic digestion of wastewater sludge is another key area in my research program. To improve biogas production and sludge stabilization, we look into kinetics of various biological reactions in thermophilic pretreatment of wastewater sludge. We are also developing new numerical models and sludge characterization methods for reliable prediction in wastewater sludge treatment.

My group also researches fundamentals of bioelectrochemical systems or microbial electrochemistry cells, such as (1) Electron transfer models; (2) Kinetic constant estimation; and (3) Bioanode sensors. We are currently developing reliable enzyme kinetic models to understand electric current generation by exoelectrogenic bacteria. We also work on estimating kinetic constants for the growth and decay of exoelectrogenic bacteria in microbial electrochemistry cells. Bioanode sensors are an emerging technology as a water quality monitoring tool because bioanodes can create measurable electric signals by exoelectrogenic bacteria and the bacteria are sensitive to various water quality parameters, such as readily biodegradable organics, heavy metals, and nutrients. We are focusing on eliminating and controlling the hysteresis effect which is known to be one of the main challenges for accurate bioanode sensor applications.

https://research.mcmaster.ca/research-chairs-and-institutes/KimYounggy

https://www.eng.mcmaster.ca/people/faculty/younggy-kim

Professor, Division of Respirology, Department of Medicine

Pathology & Molecular Medicine; St. Joseph’s Healthcare, Firestone Institute for Respiratory Health

• Specialty clinic for interstitial lung disease and lung fibrosis
• Inpatient service for general internal medicine
• Respirology ICU
• Consulting service

Education and Professional Standing

• M.D., University of Würzburg, Germany, 1991
• Residency program, Anatomical Pathology, University Erlangen/Nürnberg
• Residency program, General Internal and Respiratory Medicine, University of Würzburg, Germany, 1993
• Postdoctoral research fellowship in pulmonary fibrosis with Dr. Jack Gauldie, McMaster University, 1999
• Habilitation for Internal Medicine (PhD equivalent ), Germany, 2001
• Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology, McMaster, 2003
• Department of Medicine and the Firestone Institute for Respiratory Health, 2004
• Research Director, Firestone Institute for Respiratory Health, 2009
• Director, Division of Respirology, Department of Medicine, McMaster University 2013

Research Interests

Dr. Kolb’s major research area is focused on mechanisms of lung injury, repair and fibrosis, particularly in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF). He has a strong interest in growth factor biology (e.g. TGF? and IL-1), extracellular matrix, and mesenchymal cell progenitors (mesenchymal stem cells and fibrocytes). In his lab he uses a variety of animal models to study disease mechanisms and also the efficacy of novel drugs in the preclinical setting. Further, Dr. Kolb leads activities in biomarker development for lung fibrosis and he participates as Principal Investigator and Steering Committee members in numerous clinical trials on interstitial lung disease.

Dr. Kolb has over 100 peer-reviewed publications in journals such as New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of Clinical Investigation, American Journal of Pathology, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Journal of Immunology, European Respiratory Journal and many others. He is/was funded by CIHR, NIH, CFI, OTS and different Pharma companies over the years. He has received career awards from the Parker B. Francis Families Foundation, the Department of Medicine at McMaster and the New Investigator Award from the Canadian Institute for Health Research.

Clinical Activities

Dr. Kolb looks after several hundred patients with interstitial lung disease in his specialty clinic and also practices in General Respirology. He is medical staff at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton for Respirology and General Internal Medicine. Clinic bookings can be made through extension x34144.

Other Activities

Dr. Kolb is Associate Editor for Thorax and Deputy Editor for Respirology, the official journals of the British Thoracic Society and the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology. He is on the Editorial Boards of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology and European Respiratory Journal, which are all amongst the top ranked journals in Respiratory Medicine. Dr. Kolb is Chair of the Lung Injury and Repair Group of the European Respiratory Society. He was also Chair of the last International Colloquium on Lung and Airway Fibrosis, the leading international conference in lung fibrosis.

The chair is being supported by a donation from AstraZeneca and the Province of Ontario.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/respiratory_medicine_chair.html

Associate Professor, Department of Linguistics and Languages

Director, Reading Lab, McMaster University

Research Scientist, Haskins Laboratories

Associate member, Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour

Full Member of the Centre for Advanced Research in Experimental and Applied Linguistics

Dr. Victor Kuperman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Linguistics and Languages and the Director of the Reading Lab at McMaster University. He received his PhD in psycholinguistics from Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands in 2008 and held a post-doctoral appointment at the Department of Linguistics at Stanford University. 

Dr. Kuperman specializes in several areas of psycholinguistics and quantitative linguistics, including experimental and corpus-based approaches to morphology, and probabilistic models of visual comprehension. He is also interested in cognitive, oculomotor, and computational aspects of eye-movement behavior in reading, as well as in individual differences in literacy acquisition and text comprehension. The research paradigms of the Reading Lab that Dr. Kuperman leads include eye-tracking and other behavioral studies, large-scale norming studies, and quantitative analyses of written and spoken corpora.

Interests: psycholinguistics and quantitative linguistics, eye-movement behavior in reading, individual differences in word and sentence processing, statistical and experimental methods in language research

https://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~vickup/

http://kupermanreadlab.humanities.mcmaster.ca/kupermanreadlab/index.php

https://arieal.mcmaster.ca/discover-arieal/arieal-team/victor-kuperman

Professor, Division of Clinical Immunology & Allergy

Canada Research Chair, Allergy & Immune Tolerance

Education and Professional Standing

Dr. Larché completed his PhD in Immunology at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith Hospital in 1990, under the supervision of Professor Mary A. Ritter. He spent 3 years in the USA at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, TN as a postdoctoral fellow (Peter C. Doherty, Chairman).

On his return to the UK he joined the Immunology Department at St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School (Jonathan R. Lamb, Chairman), prior to joining the faculty of the National Heart and Lung Institute (A. Barry Kay, Chairman) which later became a Division of the Faculty of Medicine of Imperial College.

Research Interests

Mark Larché is Canada Research Chair in Allergy & Immune Tolerance and Professor in the Department of Medicine at McMaster University. Larché is also Honorary Professorial Research Fellow in the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College, London, UK from where he recently (Sept 2006) made the move to Canada. In 2004 he was a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Manitoba, Canada.

From 2001-2006 he was an Asthma UK Senior Research Fellow. He is a former member of the Medical Research CouncilNew Investigator Awards (NIA) Panel, the MRC College of Experts (Physiological Systems and Clinical Sciences Board) and the Asthma UK Research Committee. He was Chairman of the Asthma Section of the European Academy of Allergology and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) from 2001-2005, a member of the EAACI Executive Committee (2001-2005) and a member of the BSI Vaccine Affinity Group Board (2003-2006).

Larché is an Associate Editor of Respiratory Research and a member of the editorial board of Clinical Experimental Immunology and Clinical Experimental Allergy.

He is a member of the AllerGen Network of Centres of Excellence and numerous professional societies including the Institute of Learning and Teaching, the British Society for Immunology, the British Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, the European Academy of Allergology and Clinical Immunology, the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, the Collegium Internationale Allergologicum.

Together with Professor AB Kay, he founded “Circassia Ltd.”, a biotechnology company to develop vaccines for allergic diseases. Research interests extend beyond asthma and allergies into transplantation, coeliac disease and autoimmune diseases.

The chair is being supported by a donation from GlaxoSmithKline.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/lung_immunology_chair.html

Research invovles studying the development of peptide immunotherapy for immunological diseases.

https://research.mcmaster.ca/research-chairs-and-institutes/LarcheMark

Director, Forum’s Impact Lab and Forum+

Director, World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Evidence-Informed Policy

Co-lead, Rapid-Improvement Support and Exchange

Associate Director, Michael G. DeGroote – Cochrane Canada Centre

Canada Research Chair in Evidence-Informed Health Systems

Professor, Department of Health Evidence and Impact (HEI)

Member, Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis (CHEPA)

Associate Member, Department of Political Science

John Lavis is relied on by policymakers and stakeholders in Canada and a broad range of countries internationally to harness research evidence, citizen values and stakeholder insights to strengthen health and social systems and get the right programs, services and products to the people who need them.

He founded and continues to direct the McMaster Health Forum and has now launched Forum+ to expand the Forum’s work into social systems and supporting the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. He is committed to helping policymakers and stakeholders to: 1) learn how to make decisions based on the best available research evidence; 2) find evidence through the Forum’s own products and the best available sources of pre-appraised, synthesized research evidence (including the Forum’s Health Systems Evidence and Social Systems Evidence and the Forum-supported and citizen-targeted McMaster Optimal Aging Portal); 3) spark action through stakeholder dialogues, citizen panels and more; 4) embed supports for evidence-informed decision-making, by institutionalizing promising and proven approaches; and 5) evaluate innovations in supporting evidence-informed decision-making.

He co-chairs the Global Steering Group for the World Health Organization (WHO)-sponsored Evidence-Informed Policy Network (EVIPNet) and chairs the Partner Executive Group for the 14-country Partners in Evidence-driven Rapid Learning in Social Systems. He holds an MD from Queen’s University, an MSc from the London School of Economics, and a PhD (in Health Policy) from Harvard University.

Research involves studying experiences with, and impacts of, innovative strategies that support evidence-informed health systems.

https://research.mcmaster.ca/research-chairs-and-institutes/LavisJohn

https://www.mcmasterforum.org/lets-collaborate/people/bio/john-lavis

Professor
Pathology and Molecular Medicine (primary)
Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Division: Clinical Pathology

Associate Member, Medicine

Michael G. DeGroote Chair in Infectious Diseases

Interests

Research Focus

My research interests include epidemiologic and genomic population-based studies on viral infectious including influenza, West Nile, and dengue. Current projects include an NIH population genetics research program, a CIHR funded cluster randomized controlled trial to reduce spread of influenza by immunizing children in Hutterite colonies, and a CIHR funded influenza pandemic team grant to establish natural history as well as immunologic and genetic determinants of influenza infection.

Clinical Focus

My clinical focus encompasses general infectious diseases.

Academic Interests

I am Chair of the Master of Science Health Research Methodology Program (MSc HRM) and I sit on the admissions committee.

The chair is being supported by the Department of Medicine and Canadian businessman and philanthropist Michael G. DeGroote.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/infectious_diseases_chair.html

Professor and Chair
Department of Oncology
McMaster University

Scientific Director, Escarpment Cancer Research Institute
Director, Ontario Clinical Oncology Group (OCOG)
Buffett-Taylor Chair in Breast Cancer Research

Dr. Levine conducts independent research and clinical trials in breast cancer, evaluates the use of innovative methods to improve communication between physicians and women with breast cancer and research methods to improve the use of clinical practice guidelines in the care of women with breast cancer.

The chair is being supported by donations from Buffett Taylor, a leading employee benefits consultant and Mr. Anthony Fell, CEO RBC Dominion Securities and deputy chair of the Royal Bank of Canada.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/breast_cancer_chair.html

Associate Professor

Director, MacHealth

Co-Lead, McMaster Optimal Aging Portal

Director, MedPortal

Co-Lead, DeGroote Pain HQ

Dr. Anthony J. Levinson is a full-time Associate Professor, member of the Program for Educational Research and Development (PERD) and the Director, Division of e-Learning Innovation for the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University. His work as the John R. Evans Chair in Health Sciences Educational Research focuses on the integration and testing of new learning technologies to improve knowledge translation, health education and training for health care professionals. He holds several grants and awards, and has co-authored one of the seminal systematic reviews of web-based learning published in JAMA, in addition to other publications on medical education. He is a member of the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada’s Informatics Resource Group and Health Education Commons Steering Committee, as well as the Royal College’s new ePortfolio National Advisory Steering Committee. He also directs the School of Medicine’s medportal, the online Continuing Health Education portal machealth.ca, and is a co-lead on McMaster’s new Optimal Aging Portal. Dr. Levinson maintains an active clinical practice in the area of medical psychiatry with a specialization in complex neuropsychiatric disorders.

The chair is being supported by a donation from Rio Tinto Alcan, an aluminum and packaging solutions provider.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/health_sciences_education_chair.html

Professor, Department of Economics / School of Labour Studies

Areas of Research Interest

• Labour markets
• Precarious Employment and Health
• Occupational Health and Safety in Ontario (with Robert Storey)
• Labour and Free Trade in Nineteenth Century Europe: Experiments in Harmonizing Labour Laws
• Economic history
• Work Organization and the Quality of Working Life (with CAW & OFL).
• Hypertension & Work Organization (CAW, IWH, WSIB).

Teaching Interests

• Canadian Labour History
• Canadian Economic History
• Labour Theory
• Economics of Trade Unions
• Work Organization

Research involves: Labour markets, precarious employment and health, occupational health and safety in Ontario, labour and free trade, economic history, work organization and the quality of working life.

https://socialsciences.mcmaster.ca/people/lewchuk-wayne

Peter Boris Chair in Addiction Research

Director, Peter Boris Centre for Addictions Research

Co-Director, Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research

Professor, Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences

Dr. MacKillop trained as a clinical psychologist at the State University of New York at Binghamton (BA, MA, PhD) and Brown University (predoctoral internship). Dr. MacKillop is the inaugural holder of the Peter Boris Chair in Addictions Research, Director of the Peter Boris Centre for Addictions Research, and Co-Director of the Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research.

Dr. MacKillop’s research has generated over 200 peer-reviewed publications and other works to date, and has been recognized by awards from the Society for Addiction Psychology, the Research Society on Alcoholism, and the American Psychological Association. His research program has been funded by extramural grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and other extramural funders since 2005. In addition to his own research, he is active in peer review, serving in editorial roles for the journals Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, Nicotine and Tobacco Research, and Addiction. He is also a member of the College of Reviewers for the Canadian Institutes of Health.

Research Interests

This faculty member is a core member of the Research and Clinical Training (RCT) stream in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour at McMaster University.

I conduct translational research on addictive behavior, often applying behavioral economics and neuroeconomics to understand maladaptive decision making in addiction. I am primarily interested in the etiology, maintenance, and treatment of alcohol use disorder, tobacco use disorder, cannabis use disorder, gambling disorder and obesity/food addiction. My work integrates perspectives and methods from behavioural science, cognitive neuroscience, behavioural genetics, and clinical research to understand these complex conditions. With regard to cannabis, I am interested in understanding cannabis use disorder both as a public health problem and to inform its risk profile in medicinal applications. In addition, I am interested in in systematically evaluating potential adverse effects of cannabis as a novel therapeutic, particularly its abuse potential and neurocognitive effects.

The chair is being supported by a donation from Boris Family, in honour of the late Peter Boris.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/addictions_research_chair.html

Chedoke Health Chair in Child Psychiatry

Associate Member, Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact

Distinguished University Professor, Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences and Pediatrics

Harriet MacMillan is a psychiatrist and pediatrician conducting family violence research. She is a Distinguished University Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, and Pediatrics at McMaster University with associate membership in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact. Harriet holds the Chedoke Health Chair in Child Psychiatry.

Harriet’s research focuses on the epidemiology of violence against children and women; she has led randomized controlled trials evaluating the effectiveness of approaches to preventing child maltreatment and intimate partner violence. Funding for this work has been provided by organizations such as the WT Grant Foundation, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Harriet is a co- principal investigator of the PreVAiL (Preventing Violence Across the Lifespan) Network, initially funded by CIHR and currently funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada. Through PreVAiL, Harriet works closely with organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO).

From 1993 until 2004, Harriet was the founding Director of the Child Advocacy and Assessment Program (CAAP) at McMaster Children’s Hospital, a multidisciplinary program committed to reducing the burden of suffering associated with family violence. She continues to see patients as an active staff member of CAAP and provides consultations to child protection agencies.

Harriet was appointed as a member of the Order of Canada in 2016.

Clinical and Research Interests

• Preventing Violence across the Lifespan (PreVAiL) – an international Network of 60 researchers working in the areas of mental health, gender and violence, and 19 partner organizations such as the World Health Organization
• Nurse Family Partnership Curriculum – a multi-site randomized controlled trial evaluating the effectiveness of an IPV curriculum embedded in the Nurse Family Partnership (NFP)
• British Columbia Healthy Connections Project (BCHCP) – a province-wide randomized controlled trial of the NFP in BC to determine the program’s effectiveness within the Canadian context (funded by the BC Ministry of Health and BC Ministry of Children and Family Development)
• Healthy Foundations Study – an adjunct study of the BCHCP, examining the impact of a preventive home visitation intervention on biological outcomes in infants across the first two years of life (funded by CIHR)

The chair is being supported by a donation from the Chedoke Health Corporation, which supports health activities in the Hamilton region.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/child_psychiatry_chair.html

Associate Professor (joint appointment), Department of Biochemistry & Biomedical Sciences / Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology

Research involves discovery and genomic mining of small molecules that are produced by environmental and human-associated microbes and that could be used in developing medicine for humans.

Dr. Nathan Magarvey is the Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Adapsyn Bioscience, and is responsible for all aspects of the company’s current collaboration with Pfizer. Additionally, he is an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Natural Products and Chemical Biology in the Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences & Chemistry and Chemical Biology at McMaster University. He joined McMaster from Harvard Medical School and previously spent time in the pharmaceutical industry working for Wyeth Research, where he was directly involved in the discovery of new antibiotic and therapeutic microbial natural product small molecules. Dr. Magarvey’s research focuses on disrupting how the discovery of microbial metabolites is done- and in particular how to leverage the ability to connect Genomes to Natural Products, and his research has advanced the discovery of new microbial small molecules. His work leads to research intersecting the interfaces of medicine, biology, chemistry and computer science.

https://research.mcmaster.ca/research-chairs-and-institutes/MagarveyNathan

https://healthsci.mcmaster.ca/biochem/about-us/people/magarvey-nathan

Associate Professor, Dept. of Biochemistry and Biomedical Science

Boris Family Chair of Drug Discovery

Associate Member, Dept. of Chemistry and Chemical Biology

Member, Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research

Dr. Magolan was born in Wloclawek, Poland and raised in Kitchener, Canada.   He completed his undergraduate studies at Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada, earning degrees in Chemistry and in Physical and Health Education, while playing some volleyball. As an undergraduate student, he worked with Prof. Robert Lemieux on the synthesis of new liquid crystals.  He obtained his PhD in 2007 from Western University, London, Canada, under the mentorship of Prof. Michael Kerr, working on natural products synthesis and synthetic methodology.  He then worked as postdoctoral researcher at the Eskitis Institute for Drug Discovery in Brisbane, Australia in the field of anti-pancreatic cancer medicinal chemistry under guidance of Prof. Mark Coster.   Jake began his independent career in 2010 in the Department of Chemistry at University of Idaho where he established an NSF-funded research program in synthetic methodology and was the department’s primary instructor of organic chemistry.   He earned Tenure and Promotion to Associate Professor at the University of Idaho.  He received recognition for his commitment to undergraduate research and education.  In 2017, Jake moved from Idaho to McMaster University to become an Associate Professor in Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences and the inaugural holder of the Boris Family Endowed Chair of Drug Discovery.  At McMaster, Dr. Magolan maintains an interest in methodologies that enable efficient organic synthesis but his program is now primarily engaged in interdiciplinary collaborative research focused on drug discovery and hit-to-lead medicinal chemistry in a range of therapeutic areas.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/drug_discovery_chair.html

Professor

Associate Chair and Director, Research

David Braley & Nancy Gordon Chair in Family Medicine

Professor and Director of Research, University of Otago, Christchurch

Before moving from New Zealand to Canada, Dee Mangin was the Director of the Primary Care Unit at the University of Otago, Christchurch, and Clinical Leader for Research Audit and Evaluation at the Pegasus Health Primary Healthcare Organisation.

She was a Ministerially appointed member of the New Zealand Pharmaceutical and Therapeutic Products Advisory Committee, PHARMAC. She is a Fellow of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners, and in 2011 she received their Distinguished Service Medal.

Dr. Mangin sits on the Section of Researchers’ Council with the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) and is a member of the Integrated Patient Safety Action Plan Medication Safety Leads Group, Patients for Patient Safety Canada.

She was awarded both a Distinguished Paper and Best Paper award at the North American Primary Care Research Group’s (NAPCRG) 2015 conference. She is the Director of MUSIC, the McMaster University Sentinel and Information Collaboration practice-based research network, and the Medical Director and cofounder of RxISK.org a website for consumer information and reporting of drug adverse reactions.

Her broad interests are: rational prescribing; innovative models of primary care delivery; effective incorporation of evidence into patient centred practice; and the influences of science, policy and commerce on the nature of care.

She has wide clinical research experience in primary care, including observational and interventional quantitative research methods and community RCTs of innovative models of care. Dr. Mangin has experience leading RCTs of clinical interventions in areas such as antidepressant use, community acquired pneumonia, antibiotics in urinary tract infections, deprescribing trials on the reduction of single medicines and deprescribing of multiple medicines among older adults.

The chair is being supported by a donation from David Braley, president of Hamilton-based Orlick Industries Limited, and his wife Nancy Gordon, a registered nurse who trained and practiced in Hamilton hospitals.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/family_medicine_chair.html

Professor, School of Nursing

Dr. Maureen Markle-Reid began with the School of Nursing in 1987 in a cross appointment as a Lecturer and a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Cardiovascular Nursing at the Hamilton General Hospital.She is currently a Full Professor and Canada Research Chair in Person-Centred Interventions for Older Adults with Multimorbidity and their Caregivers. She is also the Scientific Director of the Aging, Community and Health Research Unit, Member of the McMaster Institute for Research on Aging, and Associate Member of the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact and the Masters of Public Health Program.

Research involves enhancing the quality of life of older adults with multiple chronic conditions, and of their family caregivers, and reducing demand for health services.

https://research.mcmaster.ca/research-chairs-and-institutes/MarkleReid

Division Director, Division of Geriatric Medicine

Associate Professor, Division of Geriatric Medicine, Department of Medicine

Clerkship Coordinator for Internal Medicine

Chair, Regional Geriatric Program

Dr. Sharon Marr is the Chair of the Regional Geriatric Program central (RGPc).  Dr. Marr is an Associate Professor, Division of Geriatric Medicine, and Department of Medicine and is also the Chair of the Division of Geriatric Medicine.  Dr. Marr has many educational accomplishments and responsibilities including her role as the Chair of the Evaluation Program at Michael G.DeGroote School of Medicine.

Dr. Marr has a background in occupational therapy before obtaining her MD and internal/ geriatric medicine residency training from McMaster University. She also holds an M.Ed degree from the University of Toronto (OISE/UT). Her primary academic activities include teaching, education and administration at all levels from medical school through to residency.

Over the past few months Dr. Marr has been meeting with specialized geriatric services staff and programs across the RGPc (LHIN’s 3, 4 and 6).

The chair is being supported by a donation from St. Peter’s Hospital Foundation.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/aging_chair.html

Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology

Research involves: Indigenous knowledge & cultural conservation, Indigenous women, traditional medicine and health and the contemporary practice of Indigenous traditionalism.

Dawn Martin-Hill (Mohawk, Wolf Clan) holds a PhD in Cultural Anthropology and is one of the original founders of the Indigenous Studies Program at McMaster University. She is the recipient of a US-Canada Fulbright award, Outstanding Teaching Award from the Aboriginal Institutes Consortium, and she has received grants from SSHRC, CIHR and the Ontario Trillium Foundation. Her research includes: Indigenous knowledge & cultural conservation, Indigenous women, traditional medicine and health and the contemporary practice of Indigenous traditionalism. She is Co-PI on a CIHR-IAPH funded NEAHR grant (Network Environments in Aboriginal Health Research), the Indigenous Health Research Development Program (IHDRP).

She has contributed chapters to several books including “Lubicon Women: a bundle of voices” in the book, In the Way of Development (1997) and “She No speaks” in the book, Strong Women Stories (2003). She has her own book titled, The Lubicon Lake Nation: Indigenous Knowledge and Power (2007). The book outlines the human and environmental impact of rapid development on the cultural survival of the Lubicon Cree.

She has also produced three documentaries from a six day Elder’s Summit that she organized which was attended by over 600 elders and youth from across the Americas. The first film is “Jidwá:doh – Let’s Become Again” (2005), a documentary focusing on Elders’ understandings of historical trauma and directions to begin to heal collectively using Indigenous knowledge and traditional practices. The second is “Onkwánistenhsera – Mothers of our Nations” (2006), which examines the need for Indigenous women to reclaim, restore and revitalize their traditional knowledge.  The latest film, “Sewatokwa’tshera’t: The Dish with One Spoon” (2008), is about the Haudenosaunee reclamation of traditional lands. Recently, Dawn partnered with Six Nations Polytechnic and McMaster University in developing the Ogwehoweh Language Diploma and is the co-Chair of Indigenous Knowledge Centre Steering Committee.

She currently holds a SSHRC grant for “Preserving Haudenosaunee language and ceremonies through the digitization and translation of the Hewitt Collection” with community partner Six Nations Polytechnic.  She resides at Six Nations of the Grand River.

https://socialsciences.mcmaster.ca/people/martin-hill-dawn

Professor, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology

Research involves understanding, highlighting, and combating the risks of maternal and infant obesity.

https://research.mcmaster.ca/research-chairs-and-institutes/McDonaldSarah

https://obgyn.mcmaster.ca/bio/dr.-sarah-d.-mcdonald

Associate Professor, School of Nursing

Assistant Dean, Research, School of Nursing, McMaster University

Heart and Stroke Foundation/Michael G. DeGroote Endowed Chair of Cardiovascular Nursing Research

Dr. Michael McGillion is an Associate Professor and holds the Heart and Stroke Foundation/Michael G. DeGroote Endowed Chair of Cardiovascular Nursing Research at the McMaster University School of Nursing. His current CIHR-funded research program focuses on remote automated monitoring and virtual recovery support for people recovering from cardiac and vascular surgery, social and psychological predictors of chronic post-surgical pain following cardiac surgery, patient decision support, and web-based knowledge dissemination. Dr. McGillion is an appointed member of the Heart and Stroke Foundation Inaugural Pain-Canadian Council on Mission: Priorities, Advice, Science and Strategy (CoMPASS). He has been recognized for his research and advocacy by receiving the Canadian Pain Society Early Career Award and the McMaster University Arch Award for outstanding contributions to society.

The chair is being supported by donations from the Heart and Stroke Foundation; Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation; and Michael G. DeGroote, Canadian businessman and philanthropist.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/cardiovascular_nursing_chair.html

Homewood Chair in Mental Health and Trauma

Associate Chair of Research, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences

Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences

Psychologist, Mood Disorders Program, St. Joseph’s Healthcare

Senior Scientist, Homewood Research Institute

Dr. McKinnon’s research focuses on the interplay between cognitive and emotional processes at the neural and behavioral level. She is particularly interested in how emotion and cognition relate to autobiographical memory and social cognition, two areas of function commonly affected by neurological illness or insult. Most of her research has been conducted in special populations, including patients with frontotemporal dementia, medial temporal lobe amnesia and post-traumatic stress disorder, along with normally aging adults. With her collaborators in the Mood Disorders Program, she is interested in identifying differences in autobiographical memory for highly emotional events (e.g., an airplane accident) and in social cognitive (e.g., theory of mind and empathy) performance between people with and without mood disorders and/or trauma exposure. An additional research focus concerns the neural mechanisms underlying these differences and the testing of treatment interventions aimed at reducing cognitive dysfunction in patients with psychiatric illness.

Dr. McKinnon received her Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Toronto in 2003 and subsequently completed her postdoctoral fellowship at the Rotman Research Institute. She holds or has held competitive grant funding from the Bickell Foundation, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran’s Health Research, the National Institute for Mental Health, NARSAD, and OMHF.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/mental_health_and_trauma_chair.html

https://research.mcmaster.ca/research-chairs-and-institutes/MeyreDavid

https://www.davidmeyrelab.com/about

Professor, Department of Medicine
Director of Clinical Research, Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute
Director, Division of Gastroenterology

Dr. Moayyedi has a strong interest in evidence based medicine. He qualified in Medicine from Bristol University, UK and obtained a PhD in Medicine as well as a Master’s in Public Health from the University of Leeds, UK. He was appointed Director of the Division of Gastroenterology in 2006. He has conducted a number of large randomized controlled trials and epidemiological studies that have evaluated functional and organic disease of the GI tract. He has also published several systematic reviews that have been influential in British, American and Canadian national guidelines. He is the joint Coordinating Editor for the Upper Gastrointestinal and Pancreatic Diseases Cochrane Review Group based at McMaster and is also Co-Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

The chair is being supported by a donation from the daughters of Audrey Campbell (Linda Campbell, Gaye Farncombe and Susan Grange) via the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/ulcerative_colitis_research_chair.html

Professor, McMaster University
Department of Oncology

ArcelorMittal Dofasco Chair in Experimental Cancer Therapeutics

Dr. Muti is Professor and Dofasco Chair in Experimental Cancer Therapeutics in the Department of Oncology at McMaster University. She was the Scientific Director of the Italian National Cancer Institute (NCI) “Regina Elena” in Rome, Italy and adjunct Professor of Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. She held the position of Chair of the Department of Epidemiology at the NCI in Rome, and prior to that she held the position of tenured Full Professor of Epidemiology in the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Buffalo, State University of New York.

Over the past twenty years much of her scientific work has focused on epidemiological methods, particularly focusing on the use of biomarkers in population-based studies and cancer epidemiology. She has investigated metholological questions related to application of biomarkers in chronic disease epidemiology, conducted translational studies and explored sources of variation in biomarkers. She has received national and international recognition for her work using biological specimen banks.

In the field of cancer research, her major scientific research has been the etiological relation of hormones to breast and prostate cancer. Currently, her major research area is cancer genomics-translational research with a focus on cancer prevention.

The chair is being supported by Dofasco (now ArcelorMittal Dofasco), via the Juravinski Cancer Centre Foundation

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/experimental_cancer_therapeutics_chair.html

Professor, Department of Engineering Physics

Research Involves

Addressing environmental issues by developing models to simulate the physical and chemical reactions of radioactive waste to predict their long-term impacts.

Research Relevance

This research will lead to improved nuclear energy performance and safety and a more sustainable and publicly acceptable approach to radioactive waste management.

Making Nuclear Energy Safe and Sustainable 

https://research.mcmaster.ca/research-chairs-and-institutes/NagasakiShinya

Professor, Department of Medicine

Associate Chair, Clinical, Department of Medicine

Boris Family Chair in Education and Internal Medicine

Division Director, General Internal Medicine, McMaster University

Active Staff, General Internal Medicine, Hamilton Health Sciences

Dr. Panju is a Professor of Medicine at McMaster University and previous Chief of Medicine at Hamilton Health Sciences.  He has been a previous recipient of the Medard DeGroote Chair in Medicine and presently holds the Boris Family Chair in Education and Internal Medicine.  He is also a Medical Director of the Medard DeGroote Institute for Pain Research and Care.  He is the Medical Director of the Academic Ambulatory Boris Clinic.

He has been the past-President of the Canadian Society of Internal Medicine and past-President of The Hamilton Academy of Medicine.  He is a member of the Examination Board of Internal Medicine for the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.  He is on Council of CPSO as the McMaster academic representative.

After graduating from University of Liverpool in 1974, Dr. Panju completed his internship and then did four years of general practice in Northern Ontario, and in Cambridge, Ontario. This was followed by residency training in Internal Medicine at McMaster University with special training in Cardiology, Thrombosis, and Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics.

Dr. Panju’s interests are in research in Cardiology and Thrombosis with a particular focus in chest pain.  Recently he has been involved with post-stroke central pain where he is working to develop an international centre for patients with post-stroke central pain.

Dr Panju has been the recipient of multiple teaching and scholarly awards and his publications include over 60 articles  in peer reviewed  journals and has written book chapters and co-edited a book.

Dr Panju was previously on the editorial board of the American College of Physicians Journal and the Evidence Based Medicine Journal.  He has previously been a frequent reviewer for CMAJ, the British Medical Journal and the American Medical Association.

The chair is being supported by The Boris family, as part of their $30 million gift to McMaster in 2012.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/education_and_internal_medicine_chair.html

Professor, Division of Geriatric Medicine, Department of Medicine

Chairholder, Eli Lilly Canada Chair in Osteoporosis

Dr. Alexandra Papaioannou is a Professor in the Department of Medicine and a Geriatrician at Hamilton Health Sciences.  She is Executive Director of the Geriatric Education and Research in Aging Sciences (GERAS) Centre at Hamilton Health Sciences.  She holds an Eli Lilly Research Chair at McMaster University.  She has a joint appointment in the Division of Rheumatology, and is past Director, Division of Geriatric Medicine, McMaster.  Dr Papaioannou is an Associate Member in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact, and a faculty member in the Medical Sciences, Physiology & Pharmacology Graduate Studies Program.  She is a Member of the Gilbrea Centre Advisory Board, and McMaster Institute for Research on Aging (MIRA).  She is past chair of the Scientific Advisory Council of Osteoporosis Canada (OC) and past Chair of the Board.  She is a member of the Scientific Advisors of Osteoporosis Canada, and the International Osteoporosis Foundation.  Dr. Papaioannou was lead author, on the Osteoporosis Canada Guidelines published in Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) October 2010 and 2015.  Dr. Papaioannou was awarded an Ontario Career Scientist Award.  She is author of more than 300 peer reviewed publications with a focus on frailty, falls and fractures. She is the project lead for the Ontario Osteoporosis Strategy for Fracture Prevention in Long-term Care, and Co-Director of the Hamilton Canadian Multi-Centre Osteoporosis Study (CaMos).

Dr. Papaioannou has received a number of awards including the Ronald Cape Distinguished Service Award, to recognize an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the health care of older adults in Canada, the Service Award for Geriatric Excellence (SAGE), Category: Executive/Senior Leadership, awarded by the Regional Geriatric Program central (RGPc), the  McMaster Department of Medicine Teaching Award for Postgraduate Teaching, the Ontario College of Family Physicians Certificate of Recognition for her contributions to primary care, the YWCA Hamilton Women of Distinction Award – Health & Wellness, and the Lindy Fraser Award from Osteoporosis Canada.

The chair is being supported by a donation from Eli Lilly Canada, a global research-based pharmaceutical developer and manufacturer along with matching funds from the Division of Rheumatology of the Department of Medicine, Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/osteoporosis_chair.html

Director, Medical Biochemistry Postgraduate Education Program

Associate Professor, Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact
Associate Member, Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences

Canada Research Chair in Genetic and Molecular Epidemiology
Director, Genetic and Molecular Epidemiology Laboratory
Deputy Director, Clinical Research & Clinical Trials Laboratory, Hamilton Health Sciences
Associate Director, MacDATA Institute
Co-Director, McMaster Genome Facility
Member: Population Genomics Program

Research Focus

My main research focus is Genetic and Molecular Epidemiology, whereby I aim to identify genetic determinants of complex disease such as hypertension, coronary artery disease, cerebrovascular disease and other types of chronic disease. Genetic and molecular markers of disease are expected to lead to better understanding, prediction, and ultimately prevention of diseases. I currently have four projects:

Stroke Genetics

Stroke is the third leading cause of death in Canada and a major source of long-term disability.  Risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking and abnormal heart rhythm are known to increase chances of getting a stroke.  However, in many individuals who develop stroke, particularly young people, we do not find the reason. Stroke is therefore believed to develop through a combination of known risk factors (e.g. high blood pressure) and genetic factors, that make it more likely that a person will have stroke. It is known that genes contribute to the risk of stroke, since stroke occurs commonly in some families.  However, very few ‘genes’ that cause stroke have been identified. Understanding the genetic basis of stroke will help provide answers to these important clinical questions.

Clinical Focus

My clinical focus is in cardiovascular prevention, where an individualized approach is used to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.  I also work in the lipids clinic where I treat patients with rare or complex cases of dyslipidemia.

The professorship is being supported by a donation from Cisco Systems Canada, a leading firm in the design and manufacture of networking equipment.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_professorships/integrated_health_biosystems_professorship.html

Research involves using genetic and molecular markers to help prevent strokes.

https://research.mcmaster.ca/research-chairs-and-institutes/PareGuillaume

Professor, Department of Medicine

Department Education Coordinator, Department of Medicine

Active Staff, General Internal Medicine, Hamilton Health Sciences

Research focuses on taking a leadership role in the promotion and integration of the practice of evidence-based medicine into the undergraduate and postgraduate medical education programs and on contributing significantly to the body of scholarship in the areas of medical education through teaching, research and/or clinical activities.

The chair is being supported by the DeGroote Family.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/medical_education_chair.html

Professor, Department of Kinesiology

Director, Physical Activity Centre of Excellence (PACE); Director, McMaster Centre for Nutrition, Exercise

Professor Phillips is a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Skeletal Muscle Health in Aging. In addition to being a full Professor in Kinesiology, also Graduate Faculty in the School of Medicine at McMaster University. He is a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (FCAHS), American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and the American College of Nutrition (ACN). His research is focused on the impact of nutrition and exercise on the mechanisms of human skeletal muscle protein turnover. He is also keenly interested in diet- and exercise-induced changes in body composition particularly in older persons.

https://research.mcmaster.ca/research-chairs-and-institutes/PhillipsStuart

https://www.science.mcmaster.ca/kinesiology/emrg2/labs-emrg/labs-emrg-protein-metabolism-research-lab.html

Professor, Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Director, McMaster University Evidence-Based Practice Centre

Parminder Raina is a Professor in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact, Lead Principal Investigator of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) and Scientific Director of the McMaster Institute for Research on Aging (MIRA). In 2018, he was appointed to the National Seniors Council. As well, Parminder holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Geroscience and the Raymond and Margaret Labarge Chair in Research and Knowledge Application for Optimal Aging, and is one of the founding members of the McMaster Optimal Aging Portal and the Ontario Research Coalition of Aging Institutes/Centres. Parminder specializes in the epidemiology of aging with emphasis on developing the interdisciplinary field of Geroscience to better understand aging from cell to society. He has expertise in epidemiologic modeling, systematic review methodology, injury, and knowledge transfer.

The chair is being supported by a donation from McMaster alumna Suzanne Labarge.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/optimal_aging_chair.html

Research involves continued data collection of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.

https://research.mcmaster.ca/research-chairs-and-institutes/RainaParminder

Professor and Chair, Department of Surgery

Research Focus

• Taking a leadership role and contributing significantly to the body of scholarship in the area of surgery.
• Developing academic programs in surgery and working with other relevant academic departments, hospitals and facilities responsible for the provision of surgical services to ensure that the latest developments in the field are subjected to critical evaluation and that the highest levels of clinical practice are introduced to the community.

The chair is being supported by the estate of Bertha T. Bauer, in honour of her brother John A. Bauer, a Hamilton physician.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/surgery_chair.html

Associate Professor, Department of Sociology

Recently, I have also been involved in a few research projects with York Sociology Professor (Emeritus) Paul Anisef and Dr. Robert Brown, a research co-ordinator from the Toronto District School Board. We have worked together on MTCU and HEQCO funded projects around the general issue of postsecondary transitions of students. We have been looking, in particular, at how race, class, gender, and special education needs impact upon the transition to postsecondary students in Toronto. We have also examined the trajectories of students in the Toronto District School Board’s Continuing Educaton day programs.

Research involves: Investigating postsecondary transitions of students and how race, class, gender, and special education needs impact upon the transition to postsecondary students in Toronto.

https://socialsciences.mcmaster.ca/people/robson-karen

MG DeGroote Professor in Stroke Management, Department of Medicine,
Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University

Associate Professor, Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine,
McMaster University

Director, Neurology Residency Training Program, Department of Medicine, McMaster University

Central South Regional Stroke Centre, Hamilton General Hospital,
Hamilton Health Sciences

Education and Professional Standing

Dr. Sahlas obtained his degree in Medicine in 1996 from McMaster University and completed his postgraduate training in Neurology at McGill University in 2001, followed by a fellowship in Behavioural Neurology and Stroke at the University of Toronto. He joined the Division of Neurology at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in 2003, and served as Director of the North and East GTA Regional Stroke Prevention Clinic from 2003-2008.

In March, 2008, he took a position at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, joining the Division of Neurology at the Hamilton General Hospital, the Regional Stroke Centre for Central South Ontario. In July, 2008 he became the inaugural recipient of the MG DeGroote Professorship in Stroke Management, and also began a five-year term as Champion, Best Practices across the Continuum of Care on the Board of Directors of the Ontario Stroke Network.

Research Interests

The diagnosis and management of carotid artery disease, the use of transcranial doppler (TCD) ultrasound in the prevention and treatment of cerebrovascular disease, and the cognitive and neuropathological correlates of chronic microvascular ischemic changes involving the periventricular and subcortical white matter.

Dr. Sahlas is also a member of the Canadian Stroke Consortium and has been site-investigator and principal investigator for several clinical trials involving stroke prevention, acute stroke treatment, and vascular cognitive impairment.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_professorships/stroke_management_professorship.html

Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry & Biomedical Sciences

Research involves

Research relevance

This research will improve existing treatments, and lead to the development of new treatments, for obesity-related metabolic diseases like prediabetes and type 2 diabetes.

Getting the Skinny of Prediabetes

Metabolic diseases can lead to complications like heart attacks, stroke, and even infection, claiming millions of lives worldwide each year. Obesity, which increases blood insulin and glucose, is a significant factor in the development of metabolic diseases like prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. Over half of Canada’s population is overweight or obese and potentially at risk.

Researchers aren’t sure why, but not all obese individuals will develop a metabolic disease. Thankfully, Jonathan Schertzer, Canada Research Chair in Metabolic Inflammation, is trying to get the skinny on it.

Most people who develop prediabetes will later develop type 2 diabetes, but this process could take decades. Prediabetes is reversible so it is crucial to use that window of time to prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes.

Schertzer and his research team are using experimental and preclinical approaches to understand the link between the immune and metabolic systems.  They will also examine how existing drugs impact blood glucose.

By understanding how our bodies interact with bacteria and therapeutic drugs during obesity, and how inflammation is triggered, Schertzer’s research team aims to improve the safety and success of existing therapies and promote the development of new and innovative treatments for obesity-related diseases.

Research involves using experimental and preclinical methods to understand the links between immune and metabolic systems.

https://research.mcmaster.ca/research-chairs-and-institutes/SchertzerJonathan

https://healthsci.mcmaster.ca/biochem/about-us/people/schertzer-jonathan

The chair is being supported by a donation from Arnold L. Johnson, Professor Emeritus, Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/health_care_ethics_chair.html

The chair is being supported by a donation from Michael Gent, professor emeritus, Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/healthcare_research_chair.html

Dr. Scott’s research examines how environmental change affects the physiology and health of animals. He and his team focus on understanding animals that can survive and thrive in some of the harshest environments on Earth, and uncovering what differentiates the unique species that can do so from those that cannot. They study the physiological mechanisms underlying how various animals – including mammals, birds, and fish – can cope with environmental stress, and aim to identify what is special about those species that are exceptionally tolerant of environmental stress. Their work examines animals in naturally challenging environments, such as the oxygen-depleted environments at high altitude and in many inland water bodies, to illuminate fundamental principles for how animals cope with environmental stress. Their work also examines how animals are being impacted by the growing burden of environmental stress arising from human activities, including climate change and pollution. Integrative approaches are used explore the causal links between levels of organization – from genome to physiological system to organism – and research in the lab is complemented by field work to help understand how the physiological systems of animals work under real-world conditions.

https://www.biology.mcmaster.ca/fcl/scott/web/

Professor, Division of Respirology, Department of Medicine

St. Joseph’s Healthcare

Education and Professional Standing

Dr. Malcolm Sears graduated from the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand and was on faculty there until 1990 when he was recruited as the Director of the Firestone Regional Chest and Allergy Unit (the forerunner of the Firestone Institute of Respiratory Health), Director of Respiratory Medicine at St. Joseph’s Healthcare and Professor in the Department of Medicine at McMaster University. In 2002 he stepped down as Clinical Director and became Research Director of the Firestone Institute until 2009.

The chair is being supported by a donation from AstraZeneca, one of the leading global pharmaceutical companies with a product portfolio that spans six major therapeutic areas: gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, oncology, respiratory, neuroscience and infection.

Research Interests

Dr. Sears is involved in many studies investigating the epidemiology and natural history of asthma with particular focus on its frequency, risk factors and characteristics in large populations. Of note is an important longitudinal study that he has been conducting for more than 30 years, studying the incidence and impact of asthma in a birth cohort of New Zealand children followed from infancy to adulthood. Other research includes assessment of asthma therapies, and the effects of indoor allergens, viral infections, air pollutants, smoking and hormones in respiratory disease. He is director of the CIHR/AllerGen funded Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) Study following over 3000 infants from pregnancy to age 5 years.

Dr. Sears has published over 250 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters, together with numerous abstracts. He lectures frequently at national and international scientific meetings, and serves on many asthma advisory boards.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/respiratory_diseases_chair.html

Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Professor, McMaster School of Biomedical Engineering

Our expertise is in the microfabrication technology and in microfluidics. We are interested in developing fabrication and integration processes for new materials in microdevices. We are also interested in developing components such as micropumps, microvalves, micromixers and microfluidic nozzles that could be used in a number of applications. We apply this expertise to build innovative micro and nanoscale devices for use in environmental and medical diagnostics, drug discovery, drug delivery and as artificial organs.

Specific Research Interests

Environmental sensors and continuous monitoring systems

Medical diagnostic sensors and lab on chip devices

Microfluidic devices for drug discovery and high throughput screening

Microfabricated needles for injection and drug delivery

Artificial Organs

Bioprinting

3D printing of silicones

Additive manufacturing methods for sensors and microfluidic devices

Smart textiles and protective wearables

https://research.mcmaster.ca/research-chairs-and-institutes/SelvaganapathyRavi

Associate Professor, Department of Oncology

Site Director, Institute for Clinical Evaluation Sciences (IC/ES)

Hsien Seow has been appointed McMaster’s Cancer Care Ontario Health Services Research Chair in the Department of Oncology effective July 1, 2009. Dr. Seow earned a BS from Yale University in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology. He has a PhD in Health Policy and Management from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, concentrating in health services research. His research interests involve improving quality and the healthcare service delivery of palliative care for cancer patients and other serious, chronic illnesses. Previously, he worked as a research assistant at RAND Health, with the Center for Palliative Care Studies. At RAND, he led health services research, local and national quality improvement collaborative and advocacy initiatives.

Research involves improving the quality and delivery of palliative care through health services and policy research.

https://research.mcmaster.ca/research-chairs-and-institutes/SeowHsien

https://www.ices.on.ca/

Associate Professor, Department of Surgery

Dr. Shargall was born in Israel and served as a major in the Israeli army. Subsequently, he completed his medical school and bachelor in medical sciences and immunology at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He then completed cardiothoracic residency at the Haddasah University Hospital of Hebrew University Jerusalem. Subsequently, he arrived to Toronto and completed cardiac and thoracic surgery fellowship at the University of Toronto including a fellowship in Lung Transplant. Since 2004 he practiced thoracic surgery at the University of Toronto, St. Joseph’s Health Centre and St. Michael’s Hospital (both in Toronto). Between 2007 and 2010 he was the director of medical education at St. Joseph’s Health Centre and the associate director of undergraduate education at the department of surgery, University of Toronto. Since October 2010 he is the division head of Thoracic Surgery at McMaster University and head of the service of Thoracic Surgery at St. Joseph’s Healthcare. He is also the director of the surgical step-down unit at St. Joseph’s Healthcare in Hamilton. Dr. Shargall is a Professor of Medicine and Surgery at McMaster University and an adjunct Professor of surgery at the University of Toronto. He is the local LHIN 4 (Ontario) thoracic oncology lead.

The chair is being supported by a donation from Mortgage Intelligence and GMAC Residential Funding of Canada.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/thoracic_surgery_chair.html

The professorship focuses on thoracic oncology surgery and evidence-based care in thoracic surgery.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_professorships/thoracic_surgery_professorship.html

Associate Professor, Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine

Dr Sharma is an investigator in the Stroke program at the Population Health Research Institute and Hamilton Health Sciences. He is a stroke neurologist who completed his fellowship at McGill and the University of Ottawa. He has an MSc in Clinical Epidemiology and led the stroke program at the University of Ottawa prior to relocating to McMaster in 2013. Dr Sharma has an interest in clinical trials in secondary stroke prevention, covert stroke and economics of stroke care. He is the Chair of the Canadian Stroke Consortium and was the Deputy Director for Clinical affairs and Health Policy of the Canadian stroke Network, one of Canada’s Networks of Centers of Excellence.

The chair is being supported by Canadian businessman and philanthropist Michael G. DeGroote.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/stroke_prevention_chair.html

Dr. Shayegan is Associate Professor and Head, Division of Urology at McMaster University. He holds the David Braley and Nancy Gordon Endowed Chair and is the Director of the McMaster Institute of Urology. He completed his medical and residency training at the University of Toronto following which he pursued a comprehensive urologic oncology fellowship at Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan. Since joining McMaster University in 2006, Dr. Shayegan has also assumed numerous administrative and clinical leadership position, regionally, provincially and nationality and remains very active in optimizing the oncologic care of patients with genitourinary cancers. His clinical and research interests are primarily in the area of prostate and bladder cancer.

The chair is being supported by a donation from David Braley, president of Hamilton-based Orlick Industries Limited, and his wife Nancy Gordon, a registered nurse who trained and practiced in Hamilton hospitals.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/urology_chair.html

Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering

Heather Sheardown is a Professor in Chemical Engineering and the School of Biomedical Engineering and Associate Dean (Graduate Studies) at McMaster University. She also holds a cross-appointment with the School of Optometry at the University of Waterloo. She has gained an international reputation for her research on ophthalmic biomaterials, including her innovative work on the development of new materials for artificial cornea and drug delivery applications. Sheardown has published more than 70 papers in top biomaterials journals, five book chapters on artificial cornea and corneal tissue engineering and has several patents pending on various ophthalmic materials. She has worked extensively with major ophthalmic materials companies including Vistakon, CIBA Vision, Coopervision and AMO, and has consulted for Health Canada as an expert witness in the field of biomaterials. She has sat on a number of peer review panels for NSERC, CIHR and the National Science Foundation including chairing the NSERC Bioproducts Strategic Panel in 2006. She has an active and vibrant research group of more than 10 graduate students and post doctoral fellows. Projects in her laboratory involve the development of new polymeric materials and delivery systems for all areas of the eye.

https://www.eng.mcmaster.ca/people/faculty/heather-sheardown#overview

Assistant Professor, Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine

Education and Professional Standing

Dr. Shoamanesh is a Neurologist with subspecialty training in cerebrovascular disease who obtained his medical degree from McMaster University in 2007, and completedhis training in Neurology at the University of British Columbia in 2012.  He subsequently pursued post-graduate clinical training in Vascular Neurology at Boston University Medical Center, as well as research fellowships at the Framingham Heart Study, Boston University School of Medicine and the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School.  He joined the Faculty of Medicine at McMaster University in October of 2014 and is Staff Neurologist within Hamilton Health Sciences.

Research Interests

Dr. Shoamanesh is the founding Director of the Hemorrhagic Stroke Research Program at the Population Health Research Institute and the co-founding Chair of the Canadian HEmorrhagic Stroke trIals initiatiVE (CoHESIVE; www.phri.ca/cohesive/).  His main research focus is the characterization of hemorrhage-prone cerebral small vessel disease – namely hypertensive arteriopathy and cerebral amyloid angiopathy – and the optimization of clinical care in this patient population.  In particular, he is interested in determining optimal stroke prevention strategies in patients with  thromboembolic or vaso-occlusive diseases indicating antithrombotic therapy and concurrent propensity towards cerebral bleeding manifested by either prior intracerebral hemorrhage or covert MRI markers of hemorrhage-prone small vessel disease.

He is Chair of the Canadian Stroke Consortium Research Committee and serves on the Executive and/or Steering Committees of several international randomized trials including NAVIGATE ESUS (Bayer AG; NCT02313909; rivaroxaban vs. aspirin in embolic strokes of undetermined source), SATURN (NIH-StrokeNET [Canadian National PI]; NCT03936361; continuation vs. discontinuation of statin therapy where indicated following intracerebral hemorrhage),  ANNEXA-I (Portola Pharmaceuticals; NCT03661528; andexanet alfa vs. standard of care in acute factor Xa-inhibitor associated intracerebral hemorrhage) and ASPIRE (NIH-StrokeNET; NCT03907046; apixaban vs. aspirin in intracerebral hemorrhage survivors with atrial fibrillation).  He is the global principal investigator of the ENRICH-AF trial (NCT03950076), which is a phase III/IV international randomized controlled trial recruiting at a target of 250 sites in 23 countries, with the aim of assessing the efficacy and safety of edoxaban 60/30 mg once daily relative to non-anticoagulant medical therapy in 1200 intracranial hemorrhage survivors with atrial fibrillation.

Dr. Shoamanesh’s work has been recognized by several prestigious awards, which include – amongst others – the European Stroke Conference Young Investigator Award (2014), the American Heart/Stroke Association (AHA/ASA) Mordecai Y.T Globus (2015) and Robert G. Siekert (2019) New Investigator Awards in Stroke, the International Stroke Conference Paul Dudley White International Scholar Award (2019), and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada Henry J.M. Barnett Scholarship (2019; recognizing the highest ranked National New Investigator in cerebrovascular disease research).

The chair is being supported by a donation from the Boris family, via the Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/stroke_research_and_care_chair.html

Principal Investigator

David Braley Chair in Human Stem Cell Research

Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences

The overall goal of Dr. Karun Singh’s research program is to use stem cell-based models to study neurological disorders and devise new therapies for these conditions. Currently, his program is focused on studying autism and neuropathy.

Dr. Singh joined the SCC-RI for its unique commitment to working with human cells and its established proficiency in using stem cells to generate the tissue types needed to study human disease. This is especially valuable to the Singh program as it requires human neural cells for study, which are not easily accessed in patients. With his ability to generate the human neurons needed to study these conditions in vitro, Dr. Singh is making strides in furthering what is known about these severely understudied conditions.

In addition to shedding new light on the molecular mechanisms underlying these conditions, Dr. Singh’s lab is working extensively in the realm of drug discovery through the use of the SCC-RI’s drug discovery screening platform. He has adapted the platform to develop new drug screens for these neural conditions.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/human_stem_cell_research_chair.html

Professor, Department of Surgey

Principal Investigator, Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute

Director, McMaster Surgeon-Scientist Program

Dr. Sheila Singh’s research program is dedicated to applying a developmental neurobiology approach to the study of human brain tumours. As a pediatric neurosurgeon, Dr. Singh is acutely aware of the needs of patients and clinicians dealing with these diseases. Her unique perspective as a surgeon-scientist guides her research questions and areas of focus.

The three types of tumours studied by Dr. Singh’s lab are glioblastoma, medulloblastoma and brain metastases. The lab employs a stem cell biology framework to the study of these cancers to identify and target the molecular mechanisms responsible for their development. Their goal is to determine which treatment refractory cells are leading to relapse and recurrence in patients.

Ultimately, Dr. Singh’s goal is to be able to take more targeted and effective therapies back to the clinic. To ensure that all of their findings have the potential to be clinically relevant, the Singh lab has cultivated a specialty in developing pre-clinical models and are steadfast in their commitment to working with brain tumour samples direct from human patients.

Research involves focusing on further characterization of genetic abnormalities of brain tumor initiating cells (BTICs), with the intent of developing future therapies that will target BTICs, and provide insight into patient prognosis.

https://research.mcmaster.ca/research-chairs-and-institutes/SinghSheila

https://sccri.mcmaster.ca/people/sheila-singh

Research Involves

Investigating the relationship between prenatal risk factors, including poor nutrition and long term disease risk, with the goal of improving maternal and child health.

Research Relevance 

Extended exploration into perinatal nutrition will help inform new approaches to identifying, reducing and preventing trans-generational disease transmittance.

Dr. Sloboda’s research is based on fundamental knowledge that the environment in which the embryo or fetus develops influences both the immediate health and wellbeing of the child, as well as their risk of disease later in life. Poor prenatal nutrition can have long-lasting effects on an unborn child, elevating the risk of adult obesity and a host of later-life diseases, including hypertension, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and reproductive dysfunction.

Deborah Sloboda is investigating the complex molecular pathways and mechanisms of perinatal programming – the triggering of illnesses in adults by events that occurred during development within the womb. Combining expertise in endocrinology, physiology and molecular biology, her work is uncovering important new details on how prenatal nutrition impacts the health of offspring, and how this molecular memory can be transmitted to subsequent generations.

Her recent work investigates how gut bacteria participate in the way in which a women’s body adapts to pregnancy and whether the mother’s gut bacteria contributes to how her baby develops while in the womb. These are exciting new unexplored avenues that might lead to new ways of targeting obesity, and maybe even preventing it in the first place.

By focusing on this developmental window of vulnerability, Dr. Sloboda intends to identify ways in which we can promote a healthy start to life and develop strategies to assist and support expectant mothers in making decisions that will reduce later-life disease risks for their children and future generations.

https://research.mcmaster.ca/research-chairs-and-institutes/SlobodaDeborah

Research Involves

Developing low-cost, miniaturized devices that can be used at point-of-care and in the field to quickly and accurately diagnose disease.

Research Relevance

This research will help to provide fast and affordable healthcare services for under-served populations in Canada, and resource-poor communities in the developing world.

Making Diagnostic Testing Cheaper, Faster & More Patient-Centred

What if cancer, infectious diseases and other conditions could be diagnosed in a matter of hours instead of weeks during a regular visit to your family doctor? Or if paramedics could use a simple finger prick to analyze a heart attack victim’s blood and transmit that information to hospital before the patient’s arrival?

Point-of-care diagnostic testing promises to usher in a new era of predictive, personalized, and preemptive medicine by bringing complex diagnostic and screening tests, currently performed at centralized laboratories, to local clinics, physician offices, and patient and community homes. Yet only a few systems have made it from the research lab to market.

Leyla Soleymani, Canada Research Chair in Miniaturized Biomedical Devices, is developing new fabrication processes, materials, and devices that will enable the rapid development and commercialization of application-specific, handheld, point-of-care diagnostic systems.

She employs ink-based fabrication methods to create structurally-tuned solid-phase electronics functionalized with bio-receptors. This allows multiple biomedical devices for processing clinical samples and detecting genetic markers to be miniaturized and created on a single scalable and inexpensive system.

Her research has already contributed to a novel biosensor that improves the detection of viruses and bacteria. Dubbed as the most sensitive nanostructured biosensing chip of its kind, the device’s probes can identify whether a particular disease exists within the body with the utmost precision and within only 30 minutes.

Offering sensitive, specific, low-cost, and easily-accessible disease diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment selection capabilities at the point-of-need, promises significant health care benefits for under-served populations in Canada and resource-poor communities in the developing world.

https://research.mcmaster.ca/research-chairs-and-institutes/SoleymaniLeyla

Professor, Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine

Canada Research Chair in Metabolism and Obesity

J. Bruce Duncan Chair in Metabolic Diseases

Co-Director, Centre for Metabolism, Obesity and Diabetes Research (https://healthsci.mcmaster.ca/metabolism-research)

Education and Professional Standing

Dr. Steinberg obtained his PhD in 2002 from the University of Guelph.   His research thesis was conducted in the laboratory of Professor David Dyck where he studied the regulation of metabolism in muscle by the hormone leptin.  From 2002-2006, Dr. Steinberg conducted Postdoctoral Research in the laboratory of  Professor Bruce Kemp at St. Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, Australia.  During this time he gained insight into protein biochemistry and molecular biology with an emphasis on the metabolic stress sensing protein kinase AMPK.  In 2006, Dr. Steinberg became Head of the Metabolism Unit at St. Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research and a Senior Fellow of the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia.   In 2009, Dr. Steinberg returned to Canada and joined the Department of Medicine, Endocrinology and Metabolism Division as an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair.  His laboratory is currently funded by grants from CFI, CIHR, CDA and NSERC.

The chair is being supported by the estate of Mr. J. Bruce Duncan, a long-time friend and donor to McMaster.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/metabolic_diseases_chair.html

Research involves understanding how hormones regulate the body’s storage and breakdown of fat and its response to insulin.

https://research.mcmaster.ca/research-chairs-and-institutes/SteinbergGregory

Research Involves

Using culture-enriched molecular profiling and state-of-the-art genome sequencing to study the human microbiome and its role in human development and health.

Research Relevance

This research will lead to the development of new microbiome-derived therapies for the treatment of disease.

Changing the Course of Disease One Microbiome at a Time 

https://research.mcmaster.ca/research-chairs-and-institutes/SuretteMichael

Professor, Department of Economics
Ontario Research Chair in Health Human Resources
Member, Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis

Arthur Sweetman is a professor in the Department of Economics where he holds the Ontario Research Chair in Health Human Resources and is also a member of CHEPA. Previously he was Director, School of Policy Studies at Queen’s University where he also held the Stauffer-Dunning Chair in Policy Studies. He obtained his PhD in economics at McMaster University. His research focuses primarily on empirical (econometric) approaches to economic policy issues, and he has an interest in quantitative program evaluation. Prior to returning to McMaster in 2010, his research areas were extremely broad involving, among other topics, labour market, social policy and health topics. At McMaster his primary focus is on economic and policy issues related to health human resources.

Research Interests

• economic aspects of human resources and industrial relations in the health sector
• empirical health economics and policy
• quantitative program evaluation

https://socialsciences.mcmaster.ca/people/sweetman-arthur

Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences and Department of Medicine (Division of Endocrinology & Metabolism)

Member, Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute

Research Involves

The rise in obesity over the past decade and its link to diabetes and cancer has increased interest in fat tissue biology. Therefore, Szabo’s research focuses on the role of fat in a disease setting, by studying fat development from stem cells obtained from healthy, diabetic patients, obese patients or patients suffering from cancers.

The fat cells produced from sick versus healthy patients will be examined to gain a better understanding of the role of fat development in these devastating diseases; and will also provide an opportunity to identify new drug treatment approaches and cell source for soft-tissue reconstruction.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/canada_chairs/metabolism_in_human_stem_cells_and_cancer_development.html

Professor, Department of Religious Studies

Professor Liyakat Takim is the Sharjah Chair in Global Islam at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada. A native of Zanzibar, Tanzania, he has spoken at more than eighty academic conferences and authored one hundred scholarly works on diverse topics like reformation in the Islamic world, the treatment of women in Islamic law, Islam in America, the indigenization of the Muslim community in America, dialogue in post-911 America, war and peace in the Islamic tradition, Islamic law, Islamic biographical literature, the charisma of the holy man and shrine culture, and Islamic mystical traditions. He teaches a wide range of courses on Islam and offers a course on comparative religions.

Professor Takim’s second book titled Shi’ism in America was published by New York University Press in summer 2009. His first book, The Heirs of the Prophet: Charisma and Religious Authority in Shi‘ite Islam was published by SUNY press in 2006. He is currently working on his third book, Ijtihad and Reformation in Islam. Professor Takim has taught at several American and Canadian universities and is actively engaged in dialogue with different faith communities.

Research involves: Reformation in the Islamic world, the treatment of women in Islamic law, Islam in America, the indigenization of the Muslim community in America, dialogue in post-911 America, war and peace in the Islamic tradition, Islamic law, Islamic biographical literature, the charisma of the holy man and shrine culture, and Islamic mystical traditions.

https://socialsciences.mcmaster.ca/people/takim-liyakat

Dr. Mark Tarnopolsky is a Professor and Division Head of Neuromuscular and Neurometabolic Disorders in the Department of Pediatrics at McMaster University.  He completed a PhD in Cell Biology and Metabolism in 2001, followed by five years of training in Internal Medicine, Neurology and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at McMaster University and the University of Rochester in New York. After accepting a faculty position at McMaster University in 1996, he has focused his practice predominately in the area of mitochondrial disease, muscle disorders (muscular dystrophy) and other neurometabolic disorders.  He also holds a Chair in Neuromuscular Disorders from McMaster Children’s Hospital/Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation since 2010.

In addition to a very busy clinical practice in neuromuscular and neurometabolic disease, his laboratory publishes approximately 25 papers per year looking at mitochondrial and muscle function in patients, aging and in animal models of pediatric and adult neuromuscular and neurometabolic diseases. His clinical research focuses predominately on therapies for mitochondrial cytopathies; however, his group is also involved in clinical trials in Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Friedreich’s ataxia and Pompe disease.

The chair is being supported by a donation from Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/neuromuscular_disorders_chair.html

Associate Professor

The Child Health & Exercise Medicine Program (//www.fhs.mcmaster.ca/chemp/)is devoted to studying the interaction of exercise and nutrition in the context of growth and development. We follow several lines of research ranging from optimization of clinical exercise testing and training in children with disease or disability to unraveling the molecular mechanisms that translate physical activity into optimal growth and development. Our approach is to combine basic science techniques with clinical research trials to facilitate the translation of physiological principles into clinical applications. The diversity of research in the Child Health and Exercise Medicine Program creates a unique training environment.

Current Projects

• School-aged Kids’ Health from Early Investment in Physical Activity: The SKIP Study
• Anti-inflammatory Mechanisms of Exercise during Human Growth
• Thermoregulatory Responses of Boys and Men during Exercise in the Heat
• Cardiovascular Health in Children with a Chronic Inflammatory Condition: Role of Physical Activity, Fitness and Inflammation
• LIFE and Health for Young Children with Congenital Heart Defects

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/pediatrics_research/timmons_brian.html

Dr. Tittley’s research projects include medical fitness to drive and travel with aortic aneurismal disease, complex aortic reconstructions with profound hypothermic circulatory arrest, prognostic value of elevated troponin levels in the post operative vascular patient, and a cost analysis of blood salvage techniques in patients undergoing abdominal aortic aneurysm surgery.

The chair is being supported by a donation from the Beamish family along with annual support from Mr. Michael G. DeGroote, Canadian businessman and philanthropist.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/vascular_surgery_chair.html

Professor, Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine

Andrew Bruce Douglas Chair in Neurology

Education and Professional Standing

Dr. John Turnbull received his Honours B.Sc. in Chemistry from York University, a Masters Degree in Mining and Metallurgical Engineering from Laval University, and a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology from the University of Montreal. He received his MD degree from the University of Western Ontario, obtained his fellowship in Internal Medicine from McMaster University, and his fellowship in Neurology from the University of Western Ontario. He undertook two years of post-doctoral training at the University of California (Irvine), at the Centre for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory.

He is the Andrew Bruce Douglas Chair in Neurology since 2005. He is former Director of the Occupational Medicine Residency Program and former Director of the Neurology Residency Program at McMaster. He was for many years Chair and Assistant Dean, McMaster University, for Continuing Education in the Faculty of Health Sciences, and during this time Chair of the Council of Ontario Faculties of Medicine Standing Committee on CME and Chair of the Association of Canadian Medical Colleges Standing Committee on CME. He sat on the Academic Advisory Committee of the CPSO and was a founding director of the Foundation for Medical Practice Education. He was on the Steering Committee for the Educating Future Physicians of Ontario (EFPO) project. He was former Examiner and Chief Examiner for the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in Neurology.

His chief clinical interests are in motor neuron diseases.

Research Interests

Dr. Turnbull’s chief research interests at present are in motor neuron diseases. He has an active laboratory investigating models of ALS using transgenic animals and molecular biological approaches, and is involved actively in clinical trials in ALS. Previous research in education has included acting as principal investigator in large scale efficacy trials of collaborative approaches to CME involving all sixteen Canadian medical schools, the neuropsychological assessment of incompetent physicians, and the effect of selective brain stimulation on learning and memory in animals and humans

The chair is being supported by a donation from Bartek Ingredients Inc. in memory of its founder, Andrew Bruce Douglas.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/neurology_chair.html

Professor, School of Nursing

Dr. Ruta Valaitis has a BScN and BA (Psychology) from the University of Windsor, a Masters in Health Sciences (Health Care Practice) from McMaster University, and a PhD from the University of Toronto. In 2007, she became the inaugural Dorothy C. Hall endowed Chair in Primary Health Care Nursing. ?She is a Professor in the School of Nursing. She is also a Co-Scientific lead of the Aging, Community and Health Research Unit (ACHRU). Since 2009 she has been the Deputy Director of the PAHO/WHO Collaborating Centre on Primary Care Nursing and Health Human Resources.

Dr. Valaitis will focus on education and research that supports community-based primary health care nursing.

The chair is being supported by a donation from Dorothy C. Hall and Henrietta Alderson, one of the founders of the School of Nursing.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/primary_care_nursing_chair.html

Canada Research Chair in the Perinatal Programming of Mental Disorders

Albert Einstein/Irving Zucker Chair in Neuroscience

Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University

Core Member, Offord Centre for Child Studies

MD/PHD Program Director

Dr. Van Lieshout is the Canada Research Chair in the Perinatal Programming of Mental Disorders, the Albert Einstein/Irving Zucker Chair in Neuroscience at McMaster and a psychiatrist at the Women’s Health Concerns Clinic where he sees women struggling with mental health problems during pregnancy and the postpartum period.

His primary research interests are in the developmental origins of adult disease and in particular the perinatal programming of psychiatric disorders. To date, this has focused on examining links between maternal pre-pregnancy overweight/obesity and mental health in offspring, as well as associations between being born at extremely low birth weight and later psychopathology.

He is also interested in the diagnosis and treatment of psychopathology during pregnancy and the early postpartum period, and the impact these disorders and their treatments have on neurodevelopmental outcomes (including psychiatric risk) in offspring.

The chair is being supported by a donation from Hamilton businessman and well-known philanthropist Irving Zucker.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/neuroscience_chair.html

Research involves applying observational and experimental methods to examine pre- and early post-natal stressors and their impact on brain development. 

https://research.mcmaster.ca/research-chairs-and-institutes/VanLieshoutRyan

Professor, Department of Medicine

Main Research Interest
The pathogenesis of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases is complex and involves a combination of genetic and environmental determinants. The mucosa of the gastrointestinal tract is constantly exposed to the presence of dietary antigens, microbes and their metabolites. We study the complex diet-microbe-host interactions that lead to maintenance of gut homeostasis or development of host aberrant immune and functional responses.

Focus
The main focus of research in my lab is to study the role of microbial and dietary factors in the pathogenesis of chronic inflammatory disorders such as celiac disease and inflammatory bowel diseases. Research tools include gnotobiotic mouse models of colonization using bacteria isolated from patient samples. Sequencing, isolation and metabolic activity of intestinal bacteria are investigated through collaboration with the Sequencing Facility at the Farncombe Institute and the Biochemistry & Biomedical Sciences Department at McMaster. Collaboration with the Division of Gastroenterology enables translational clinical studies in patient cohorts.

Methodologies
We use a combination of microbial, molecular, cell culture, and animal modelling approaches to study host barrier and immune function, as well as dietary protein metabolism by bacteria in the context of celiac disease and inflammatory bowel diseases. Animal models include a variety of transgenic and knock-out germ-free, and microbiota- and immune system-humanized mice.

Research involves investigating the mechanisms involved in food intolerance in functional gut disorders.

https://research.mcmaster.ca/research-chairs-and-institutes/VerduElena

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/medicine/gastro/faculty-member_verdu.htm

Professor, School of Geography & Earth Sciences

Dr. James Michael Waddington’s research in ecohydrology studies the ecological and hydrological processes that underlie the structure and function of wetlands and watershed ecosystems and the distribution, movement, and quality of water.

With our research foundation firmly in hydrology and by adopting a watershed ecosystems framework, we use innovative field experimental manipulations and ecohydrological modelling to understand watershed interactions of water, vegetation, soil and greenhouse gas exchange. Our research examines the effects of wildfire, drought and resource extraction on watershed ecohydrology with a focus on ecosystems, such as peatlands, that may be sensitive to changes in hydrology. We are developing new hydrological and modelling tools for resource managers, fire managers and our industrial partners.

Research Interests:

https://research.mcmaster.ca/research-chairs-and-institutes/WaddingtonMike

http://ecohydrology.mcmaster.ca/index.html

Professor, Division of Hematology & Thromboembolism, Department of Medicine

Associate Member, Department of Oncology

Director, Hamilton Bone Marrow Transplant Program

Director (Adults), Hamilton-Niagara Regional Hemophilia Program

Research Interests

Dr. Walker has maintained a broad interest in hematology over many years. Most recently, in the field of bone marrow transplantation, he is a past-President of the Canadian Blood and Marrow Transplant Group, and has held a CIHR grant for the development of haploidential donor transplantation. Relating to hemophilia, he has held a series of grants relating to the development of hemophilia related software programs, the Canadian Hemophilia Registry, and epidemiological data relating to hemophilia.

He is a member of the World Federation of Hemophilia Data and Demographics Committee and together with his pediatric colleague, Dr. Anthony Chan, has “Twinned” the Hamilton Hemophilia Program with Belgrade, Serbia

The chair is being supported by a donation from Joseph E. DesRoches, former President of Purity Zinc Metals Co. Ltd. of Stoney Creek.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/bone_marrow_transplantation_chair.html

Professor of Medicine & Biochemisty and Biomedical Sciences, McMaster University

Executive Director, Thrombosis & Atherosclerosis Research Institute

Dr. Weitz is Professor of Medicine and Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences at McMaster University and Executive Director of the Thrombosis and Atherosclerosis Research Institute. Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Hematology and Medical Oncology, Dr. Weitz focuses his clinical practice on patients with thrombotic disorders. His research spans the spectrum from basic studies in the biochemistry of blood coagulation and fibrinolysis to animal models of thrombosis and on to clinical trials of antithrombotic therapy. The breadth of his work is highlighted by his over 500 publications in journals as diverse as the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Biochemistry, Circulation, Blood, Annals of Internal Medicine, New England Journal of Medicine and Lancet, and 60 book chapters. The recipient of numerous awards, Dr. Weitz is a Fellow of the American Heart Association, the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.

By focusing on the basic mechanisms by which anticoagulants (blood thinners) and thrombolytic agents (clot digesting drugs) work, Dr. Weitz has opened new avenues of investigation. His demonstration that thrombin bound to fibrin is resistant to inactivation by available anticoagulants stimulated the development of new drugs, some of which are already being used in clinical practice. Through other research, Dr. Weitz has provided an explanation for the puzzling clinical observation that the clot digesting drug, tissue-type plasminogen activator or t-PA, produces more bleeding than was originally anticipated. This work has paved the way for new drugs that may be safer than t-PA.

Dr. Weitz is involved in clinical trials examining optimal methods for prevention, diagnosis and treatment of clotting disorders. He also is an active participant in the education of medical students, residents, and postdoctoral fellows. In addition, he coordinates a graduate course in medical sciences and his laboratory is a fertile training ground for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in medical sciences and bioengineering.

The chair is being supported by donations from the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/cardiovascular_research_chair.html

Research involves new techniques for identifying and treating the underlying causes of blood clot formation.

https://research.mcmaster.ca/research-chairs-and-institutes/WeitzJeffrey

Associate Professor, Medicine

Research Involves

Clinical trials regarding optimal radiation treatment for patients with cancer and Health Services research in supportive cancer care.

Research Relevance

The new knowledge gained is expected to benefit patients, clinicians and policy makers.

Optimizing Cancer Patient Care

Radiation therapy has been in use in one form or another for one hundred years. Despite its long and widespread use, medical specialists and policy makers have allowed it to expand without the same rigorous evaluation expected of drug therapies. Timothy Whelan has designed a systematic study to address this century-old contradiction.

The goal of this research is to identify the optimal use of radiation therapy in the treatment of women with breast cancer and other malignancies. This will involve developing reliable approaches where benefits are maximized and side effects are minimized. This study foresees better-managed radiation therapy leading to better quality of life for patients.

Dr. Timothy Whelan’s experience with clinical trials guided him in the design of the program. He and his colleagues, in collaboration with other research facilities, will search for ways to “fine-tune” cancer radiation therapy. They will attempt to answer such questions as: “How frequently should radiation be used?” or “How much radiation is too much or, too little?” Arriving at an optimal formula for treatment is the central goal of the research.

Complementing the research into improved radiation therapy will be an assessment of health services. Supportive care for cancer patients has traditionally received less attention than drug and radiation therapy. This study will look at non-medical services, such as home care, nutritional support, and social and psychological counselling.

The study recognizes the need for patients to be better informed about their disease and their desire to have an active role in the decision-making process. Many patients regain a sense of control over the disease and their lives by taking an active part in the selection of treatment. Dr. Whelan considers it important to document the influence that patient control has in changing the prognosis of the disease.

https://research.mcmaster.ca/research-chairs-and-institutes/WhelanTimothy

Dr. Allison Williams is trained as a social geographer, specializing in health research addressing: caregiver-employees, quality of life, critical policy/program evaluation, and therapeutic landscapes. She currently is an Associate Professor at McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario) and has held previous academic appointments at the University of Saskatchewan (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) and Brock University (St. Catherines, Ontario). She is the recipient of a number of Awards, including the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) – Ontario Women’s Health Council, Institute for Gender and Health Mid-Career Scientist Salary Award (2008-2013), the CIHR New Investigator Salary Award (2001-2006), and the Canadian Association of Geographers Julian M. Szeircz prize (2003). She currently holds the CIHR Research Chair in Gender, Work and Health (2014-2019) and is leading a research program examining caregiver-employees.

Dr. Williams’ research examines how sex and gender is manifested in the interface between unpaid caregiving work and paid labour, recognizing that the role strain across these two entities causes ill-health for caregiver employees. In addition to building capacity for research on work and health that accounts for sex and gender, she will work with a range of knowledge users and non-academic collaborators to simultaneously foster the translation of that research into sex and gender sensitive policies and interventions that improve workers’ health.

https://ghw.mcmaster.ca/

Professor, Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences

Director, Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research

Research Involves

Antibiotic resistance; chemically synthesizing antibiotics

Research Relevance

Combating antibiotic resistance and treating infectious diseases; discovering new antibiotics; duplicating antibiotics in the lab for research purposes

Deciphering Antibiotic Resistance

Every day, pathogenic bacteria are being implicated in the cause of more diseases. Legionnaire’s and Lyme’s. Gastric ulcers and hardening of the arteries. The list of infections associated with serious diseases like these is growing.

In this environment, effective drugs are critical to do battle. But as the use of antibiotics becomes more widespread, so too does the growth of antibiotic resistance. It’s the bugs against the drugs. And the bugs look like they’re winning.

Gerard Wright’s research concentrates on understanding the mechanisms that promote antibiotic resistance and the reasons micro-organisms become resistant. He is particularly interested in the enzymes that alter or destroy antibiotics. By identifying resistance genes, expressing and purifying enzymes, and understanding their role in the process of antibiotic resistance, Wright hopes to gather data to help reverse this resistance and develop new drugs.

To study existing antibiotics and why organisms balk at them, researchers need to synthesize them in a lab. But many of these antibiotics can’t be chemically synthesized cost-effectively in large-enough quantities to allow chemists to modify them. Wright is working on understanding new ways to synthesize particularly critical groups of antibiotics, some of them the last effective treatments for emerging superbugs.

The ultimate goal of this research is the development of new antibiotics. To do that, researchers have to understand the way they currently combat infection, and the body’s molecular processes. Wright and his colleagues are using chemistry and biochemistry to examine the use of new agents in the war against infection. One such possibility is the use of amino acids as an antidote to fungal pathogens—another living micro-organism that causes both diseases in people, and major crop losses from infection.

The chair Wright will hold at McMaster will contribute to the creation of the critical mass necessary to result in long-awaited breakthroughs in the fight to combat antibiotic resistance. His discoveries will have practical implications for both human health and agricultural practices.

The chair is being supported by a donation from Canadian businessman and philanthropist Michael G. DeGroote.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/infection_research_chair.html

Research involves antibiotic resistance; chemically synthesizing antibiotics.

https://research.mcmaster.ca/research-chairs-and-institutes/WrightGerard

Executive Director – Population Health Research Institute

Distinguished University Professor of Medicine – McMaster University

Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario / Marion W. Burke Chair in Cardiovascular Disease

Joint Member, Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact (HEI)

Chief Scientist, Hamilton Health Sciences

Salim Yusuf, Distinguished University Professor of Medicine, and Executive Director of the Population Health Research Institute, McMaster University and Chief Scientist, Hamilton Health Sciences.

Salim Yusuf is an internationally renowned cardiologist and epidemiologist, whose work over 40 years has substantially influenced prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease. Born in India, medically qualified at St. John’s Medical College, Bangalore in 1976, he received a Rhodes Scholarship and obtained a DPhil from Oxford, during which he (along with Richard Peto, Rory Collins and Peter Sleight) initiated the concepts of large, simple trials, and meta-analysis. He proposed the concept of combination drug treatment for prevention of CVD to achieve large reductions in CVD with a single pill (now called the polypill concept), but more importantly has been evaluating the concept through large randomized trials. He leads several global studies involving >60 countries in every inhabited continent of the world aimed at enhancing knowledge about the biological, behavioural and societal causes, consequences, and approaches to control of heart diseases, and strokes through large multi-country programs such as INTERHEART, INTERSTROKE, and PURE.

He holds a Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario Research Chair and has received (among others) the Lifetime Research Achievement award of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society; the Paul Wood Silver Medal of the British Cardiac Society; the European Society of Cardiology gold medal, the clinical Research Prize of the American Heart Association and the International Award and the Braunwald Lecture of the American College of Cardiology. He has been inducted into the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame; been appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada, and received the Canada Gairdner Wightman Award in 2014. He has received four honorary doctorates, and is among the top 20 most cited health researchers in history.

Dr. Yusuf has published more than 1,000 articles in refereed journals, rising to the second most cited researcher in the world for 2011. He has mentored more than 120 scientists, several of whom are in leadership positions across the globe. He has been President of the World Heart Federation (2015-2016), where he initiated several programs (the Emerging Leaders program, road maps for CVD control and a course for training primary care practitioners in CVD prevention) aimed at halving the CVD burden globally within a generation. The World Heart Federation has recognized his contributions by naming the program the Salim Yusuf Emerging Leaders Program.

The chair is being supported by a donation from the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/endowed_chairs/cardiovascular_disease_chair.html