Member Profiles

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tvb: Dr. Beischlag received his PhD from the University of Toronto in 1996. There he cloned and studied the transcriptional regulation of dopamine receptor genes. Following his PhD, Dr. Beischlag’s post-doctoral research began at the University of California/Los Angeles where he studied and characterized the molecular determinants of aryl hydrocarbon receptor-mediated gene transcription. He continued this work at the University of California/San Diego. In 2004, Dr. Beischlag joined the Center for Molecular Toxicology and Carcinogenesis at Pennsylvania State University as an assistant research professor. Dr. Beischlag joined the Faculty of Health Sciences in 2007. Dr. Beischlag is actively seeking M.Sc. and Ph.D. level graduate students for his lab. Interested candidates should apply directly to Dr. Beischlag at: <a class="external-link" href="mailto:tvb@sfu.ca">tvb@sfu.ca</a> More information about the<a class="external-link" href="http://www.sfu.ca/~tvb"> Beischlag Lab</a>.
lgoldsmith: Laurie J. Goldsmith is a health services and health policy researcher. She has a PhD in Health Policy and Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a MSc in Health Research Methodology from McMaster University, and a BA&Sc from McMaster University. Dr. Goldsmith has conducted health services and health policy research for over 14 years in Canada and the United States, working with health system decision makers at the federal, provincial, state, and local levels. Her recent positions have included Research Fellow at the Center for Health Economics and Policy Analysis at McMaster University and Research Associate at the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
rallen: After earning his B.S. degree in Physics from Denison University, Dr. Allen attended the University of Washington where he earned his M.S. in Environmental Engineering and his Ph.D. in Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences. His doctoral research investigated personal exposure to air pollution in the Seattle area, focusing specifically on the penetration of outdoor air pollution into indoor residential environments and the contributions of outdoor- and indoor-generated air pollution to personal exposure. After completing his Ph.D., Dr. Allen remained at the University of Washington as a post-doctoral fellow. During this time he continued to research air pollution exposure as part of the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis and Air Pollution. This ongoing study is investigating the role of air pollution from traffic and other sources on the progression of subclinical cardiovascular disease in 6 U.S. cities.
mmorrow: Dr. Morrow’s PhD is in Community Psychology from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education/University of Toronto. Dr. Morrow is currently a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar. Since the completion of her PhD she has taught in three Canadian universities, most recently at the University of British Columbia in the Women’s Studies Program. Before coming to SFU, Dr. Morrow worked as a Research Associate with the BC Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health (BCCEWH) at BC Women’s Hospital where she was head of a research program on women, mental health and health policy. Dr. Morrow maintains an affiliation with the BCCEWH and is also a Research Associate with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
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hegland: As the Senior Advisor, Recruitment and Retention, Linda is responsible for advising special and target student groups, recruiting and retaining student in the Faculty of Health Sciences. Her responsibilities also include developing and conducting career planning workshops, academic success workshops, and information to general audiences. She is the public face of the Faculty to future students, their parents, high school counselors, and to future employers. She also researches, develops and implements faculty-wide programs and initiatives to enhance student recruitment and retention, and participates in and provides a leadership role in the faculty’s long-range strategic planning for student recruitment and retention. In the Faculty of Health Sciences, Linda has had experience in being in the roles of Graduate Program Coordinator and Undergraduate Program Coordinator. Joining Simon Fraser University in 1987, Linda brings a wealth of experience including substantial experience with a variety of student service roles, departmental experience, administration and coordination expertise, and a passion for SFU, for the Faculty of Health Sciences and for her students.
jen_peng: <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document" /><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11" /><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11" /> Jennifer Peng joined the Faculty of Health Sciences in 2009 as the Director of Advancement. In this role, she leads all fundraising, donor relations and advancement activities, and contributes to the development of the Faculty’s strategic planning and communications. She is a member of the Faculty’s senior management team. Most recently, she was the Director of Advancement for the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Medicine. In this role, Jennifer was responsible for major gift campaigns, with overall responsibility for alumni relations, strategic events and business operations. With over twelve years of experience as a fundraising executive, she has held a variety of positions at the University of Toronto, which included acting as the Executive Director of Advancement for the Faculty of Medicine, and the Associate Director of Development for the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management.
rhogg: Robert Hogg has established a national and international reputation in population health research with emphasis on HIV/AIDS, antiretroviral therapy, and marginalized populations. He has published extensively and received previous support from the National Health Research Development Program (1995 to 2000), Canadian Institutes of Health (2001 to 2002), and Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (2001 to 2006). At the University of British Columbia he held the Michael O’Shaughnessy Chair in Population Health. He currently is an adjunct Professor in the Department of International Health and Cross-Cultural Medicine at the University of California, San Diego and the Director of the HIV/AIDS Drug Treatment Program at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS.
jkscott: Dr. Scott is a Professor with a Joint Appointment between the Faculty of Health Sciences and the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. Dr. Scott received her PhD for work on the germline immunoglobulin V genes. She attended medical school with the goal of becoming an academic biomedical researcher. Her postdoctoral research included projects to analyze the spectra of mutational hot-spots (W.G. Thilly), the development of the first phage-displayed peptide libraries and their use in analyzing antibody specificity (G.P. Smith) and in developing peptide mimics of a discontinuous protein epitope (E.D. Getzoff & J.A. Tainer). She began working at SFU in 1993 as an Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Chemistry and Member of the Institute of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry at SFU. (The Institute became a Department in SFU's Faculty of Science in 2001.) Dr. Scott was promoted to Associate Professor in 1998 and to Professor in 2002. In 2004, Dr. Scott began a joint appointment in the newly-formed Faculty of Health Sciences, as one of its founding faculty members. That year, she was awarded a Canada Research Chair in Molecular Immunity.
mvg1: I’ve applied to other universities, but it’s the program that SFU offers that attracted me. I don’t think there are any other universities that approach Health Sciences the way SFU does at this time. I actually missed the application deadline for the graduate program when I first heard of it. That is why I took a few undergraduate BA courses before I applied to the MSc program. After graduation, I’m thinking about doing the Canadian Field Epidemiology Program set up by the Canadian government. They train you for two years to become an epidemiologist. I used to be a medical doctor in Philippines and I got tired of treating diseases on an individual basis. I’d like to shift into public health because it is a more general approach that allows me to impact a greater number of people.
oba: FHS has faculty members from a diverse group of disciplines, and strong collaborative links within Canada and internationally. Additionally, the practicum provides opportunity to apply practical skills learned in the classroom, and gives the chance to make a real difference improving people's health.
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kba21: Dr. Kate Bassil received her PhD in Epidemiology from the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Toronto. Dr. Bassil’s PhD thesis used a novel data source, 911 emergency calls, to estimate the impact of severe heat events in the metropolitan Toronto area. During her doctoral work Dr. Bassil completed an external minor in Geography. Prior to this she received her MSc in Epidemiology, also at the University of Toronto, and her BA in Biological Sciences at Oxford University. Dr. Bassil also has considerable practical public health experience having worked as an epidemiologist at local public health units in Ontario, both in communicable disease during the SARS outbreak and then later in environmental protection. Dr. Bassil joined the Faculty of Health Sciences in August 2008.
DarrinGrund: As Project Manager for the Urban Structure, Population and Public Policy project, Darrin Grund is responsible for data acquisition, GIS analysis, contract management, and staff and project supervision. Darrin has an extensive background in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and direct work experience in local and provincial governments. Through his work with GIS implementation and data management, as well as being a GIS coordinator, he brings a wide-ranging knowledge and background essential to the success of this research project. As the Data Warehouse Coordinator, Darrin Grund is applying his expertise in data management by facilitating the development of the Faculty of Health Science new data warehouse for health information. This data warehouse will eventually provide up-to-date vital statistics information on the population of BC which can be accessed by health researchers across the country.
alicechen: Dr. Chen was raised in Hong Kong and educated in North America. After many years working with individuals diagnosed with severe mental illness in Seattle and Vancouver, she obtained her doctoral degree in healthcare and epidemiology from the University of British Columbia in 2006. Her cultural background and her experience as a clinician are important influences on her research pursuits. Her research activities have included healthcare utilization by immigrants, adherence to best practice guidelines for mood disorders and indicators of children’s mental health.She is currently leading two projects at the Children’s Health Policy Centre at FHS to monitor children’s mental health outcomes in BC and Canada and to identify predictors of mental health problems.
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msteinberg: Dr. Steinberg received his MD and post graduate diploma in Occupational Health from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa and his MSc in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Dr. Steinberg has extensive experience in research programme management, health strategy, policy and programme development and evaluation, chronic disease management, public health consulting in Sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia, and public health teaching. Dr. Steinberg has managed two national health programmes in South Africa (Occupational Health Epidemiology Unit of the National Centre for Occupational Health and the National HIV/AIDS Programme of the Medical Research Council). He also co-founded and led an occupational health NGO to support health and safety programs for the emerging black trade union movement in South Africa and later set up and led an independent health consulting company specialising in HIV/AIDS until it was acquired by Abt Associates. Dr Steinberg moved to Vancouver in 2004 and is currently a Physician Epidemiologist with the Division of STI/HIV Prevention and Control at the BC Centre for Disease Control with a cross appointment in the Health Sciences Faculty at SFU. He is currently involved with two research projects. He is leading a 5-year CIHR study to investigate acute HIV infection in gay men and is a co-principal investigator in a study in Uganda to investigate HPV self collection as a screening approach for cervical cancer.
svenners: After completing his bachelor’s degree, Scott joined the United States Peace Corps and taught physics in a public high school in Liberia, West Africa.  Later, he moved to Taiwan for five years where he taught English, mathematics and computer science.  He then obtained a Master’s of Public Health from Tulane University in the Department of International Health and Development with a concentration in quantitative epidemiology and biostatistics.  Scott received fellowship support to pursue his Ph.D. from the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research and collaborated with the Harvard School of Public Health for his dissertation research, which utilized quantitative epidemiological methods to investigate the effects of indoor and outdoor air pollution in China on respiratory health and rates of daily mortality.  Scott did post-doctoral research for four years at the Harvard School of Public Health.  His research utilized molecular epidemiological methods to study environmental endocrine disruptors and human reproduction.  During these four years, he was the executive director of a large, prospective study that was funded by the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to investigate the effects of pesticide exposures on fertility and pregnancies of young couples living in agricultural communities in China.  While a post-doc, Scott won a four-year K01 grant from the US National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences to investigate genetic susceptibilities to the effects of pesticides in the Chinese cohort (gene-environment interactions).  In 2005, Scott was appointed as Research Assistant Professor in the Center for Population Genetics in the Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health.  He joined the Simon Fraser Faculty of Health Sciences as an Assistant Professor in 2008.
mjoffres: Dr. Joffres is involved in a broad spectrum of research encompassing clinical as well as public health spheres. He employs epidemiological methods to develop primary prevention projects in regards to chronic and infectious diseases, hypertension, diabetes, and record linkage studies. Research includes community based prevention programs, large-scale clinical trials, policy development and has recently developed a focus in mental health stemming from collaborations with the Centre for Emotions and Health at Dalhousie University. In addition, recent projects focus on environmental health and analysis of the Canadian Heart Health Surveys.
kcorbett: Dr. Corbett is a medical anthropologist whose research has emphasized the application of behavioural and social science to public health communication, participatory community-based health promotion with diverse and vulnerable populations, and quality improvement within healthcare. She enjoys working on teams that take on major public health problems. Her approach is very much multi-methodological, reflecting a multi-disciplinary, social ecological perspective. After a position from 1986 to 1991 as a research scientist with Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, California, Dr. Corbett moved to the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center (UCHSC), where she was a professor in both the Health and Behavioral Sciences Program and the Anthropology Department. She joined Simon Fraser University in 2005.
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cwaddell: A child psychiatrist with longstanding interests in health policy and population and public health, Charlotte was born in Korea and raised in Manitoba, England, Ontario and BC. She completed a BSc in biology at UBC in 1978, followed by an MSc in human nutrition at UBC in 1981. She conducted her master’s thesis research in Brazil, studying the effects of malnutrition on children of migrant farm workers. Charlotte then joined Health Canada’s First Nations and Inuit Health Service, consulting with aboriginal communities and organizations across BC on public health nutrition programs, then on training programs to support First Nations to assume autonomy for their health and healthcare. In 1988, Charlotte went on to McMaster University where she obtained her MD. After residencies in family medicine (CCFP) and psychiatry (FRCPC), she completed a research fellowship in children’s mental health policy with McMaster’s Offord Centre for Child Studies and Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis. She joined the Offord Centre as Assistant Professor in 1998. In 2000, Charlotte then returned to BC to develop a children’s mental health policy research program at UBC, supported in part by a unique long-term research-policy partnership with the BC government. This research program continues to grow at the Children’s Health Policy Centre in the Faculty of Health Sciences at SFU, where Charlotte was appointed Associate Professor in 2006. For more information please see <a title="external-link" href="http://www.childhealthpolicy.sfu.ca">www.childhealthpolicy.sfu.ca</a>.
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Bratislav: As the Undergraduate Program Coordinator, Bratislav is responsible for the administration and coordination of program and course development initiatives, scheduling, and instructional appointments and evaluations, and semester offerings and registration for the Faculty's undergraduate programs (BA and BSc in Health Sciences); academic advice and administrative support to prospective and registered undergraduate students; confirmation of credentials/graduation requirements; and coordination of the articulation of post-secondary transfer of credit requests. Bratislav has many years of administrative experience working in theatre arts, information technology and education. His considerable experience in post-secondary education includes instruction and curriculum development, administration and management, and numerous levels of student services and support. Being a curious, long life learner himself, he is profoundly enthusiastic about helping students achieve their educational and career goals.
inrodway: As the Director of Administration and Operations, Irene is responsible for the coordination of administrative and operational matters in support of the Faculty of Health Sciences’activities. This includes finance, human resources, office management, infrastructure development including facilities planning, and participation in the development and monitoring of the faculty's goals and strategic plans. Irene initially joined SFU in 2002 as the Administrative Coordinator for the Institute of Health Research and Education (IHRE), bringing with her over twenty years of management experience in university and hospital environments, including the University of British Columbia and the BC Research Institute for Children's & Women's Health.
manjeetg: Manjeet earned a BA in Economics (with multiple courses in the Sciences) from SFU in 1985. Following graduation, she actively pursued a career in accounting and finance. A professional financial manager, Manjeet has over 20 years of experience in senior corporate accounting and management, with expertise in accounting systems development, auditing, compliance, financial and strategic planning, budget development and management.    As the Administrative Coordinator/Budget Manager for the Faculty of Health Sciences, she plans, prepares and reports on the Faculty’s annual operating budget, maintains faculty research accounts and reporting, and advises faculty on research expenditures and compliance with SFU and external funding agency policies.
arun: After receiving his Masters in Biomedical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, (Madras) Chennai, India, Dr. Chockalingam moved to Memorial University of Newfoundland where he completed his PhD and later became a faculty member in the Faculty of Medicine. He investigated the complex cellular physiology/pharmacology of cardiac muscle in rats which led to studies of blood pressure and its role in cardiovascular disease in humans. It was in this capacity that Dr. Chockalingam began combining epidemiology with basic sciences which expanded to include clinical research (new treatment options), community based intervention (lifestyle modification) and development of teaching tools for undergraduate medical students. Dr. Chockalingam expanded his research to address the global issue of hypertension as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Through serving in multiple organizations devoted to combating hypertension, such as Health Canada, the Atlantic Canada Working Group on Hypertension, Blood Pressure Canada and the World Hypertension League, he has worked passionately to promote blood pressure awareness, monitoring and control as a policy to approach the problem of hypertension on a global scale. Dr. Chockalingam has a commitment for global health particularly on chronic diseases. In regards to heart health, hypertension, and preventive cardiology, he has organized a number of international conferences, has published over 100 scientific/medical papers and has received numerous awards to highlight his achievements in these areas.
bberry: Barbara Berry received her MA in Adult, Administrative and Higher Education from the University of British Columbia, Faculty of Education. Her research explored the factors facilitating and hindering the work of seniors community action groups involved in health promotion at the local level. She received a Bachelor of Nursing Science from Queen’s University in Kingston. Her professional health roles have included clinical practitioner, Public Health Nurse, Healthy Communities Network of BC Coordinator, Community Development Consultant and Acting Director of Health Promotion. Barbara has over ten years of instructional experience with health care providers and allied health professionals at the college level. As an Adult Educator, she has worked extensively as an Educational Consultant in strategic planning, program planning and evaluation, adult learning and development, instructional design and work-based performance in government, non-profit and the high tech industry. Her areas of expertise include learning design, the use of Web 2.0 technologies for learning, communities of practice and work-based learning. Barbara currently applies her knowledge of adult education, health and the use of technologies in her consulting role with the Faculty of Health Sciences. She also supports interdisciplinary instructional teams in TechOne at the Surrey Campus. She also teaches course design and assessment in the Graduate Certificate Program at Simon Fraser University.
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lmccandless: Lawrence McCandless is a biostatistician whose research involves developing Bayesian data analysis techniques for epidemiological studies. He completed his graduate studies in Statistics in 2007 at the University of British Columbia, under the supervision of Paul Gustafson. The following year, he pursued one year of postdoctoral study in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at Imperial College London. He was employed on the BIAS project (<a title="external-link" href="http://www.bias-project.org.uk">www.bias-project.org.uk</a>) and supervised by the Bayesian statisticians Sylvia Richardson and Nicky Best. For further information please click <a class="external-link" href="http://www.sfu.ca/~lmccandl">here</a>.
nberry:   Dr. Berry received her training at the University of Michigan, where she got her M.A. and Ph.D. in the Department of Anthropology and earned a graduate certificate from the joint program with Psychology. Before coming to Simon Fraser, Dr. Berry was a Kellogg Community Health Scholar at the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
falconer: As the Undergraduate Program Assistant, Sheila assists with student advising, teaching evaluations, awards, and undergraduate course administration. Before joining the Faculty of Health Sciences at SFU, Sheila worked in a variety of administrative support roles in both educational and business environments.
kumpula: As the Graduate Program Coordinator Lynn is responsible for the coordination and implementation of graduate program initiatives, including scheduling, semester course offerings, registration procedures; academic and administrative support to prospective and current Health Sciences graduate students; long range graduate course planning; and coordination of sessional instructor and Teaching Assistant needs. Lynn has worked at Simon Fraser University for many years in many different capacities and departments on campus. Over the past ten years, she has worked primarily in the area of graduate program advising and coordination.
zbrumme: Dr. Zabrina Brumme received her Ph.D. in Experimental Medicine in 2006 from the University of British Columbia.   She then went on to complete a post-doctoral fellowship at the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard University (formerly known as the Partners AIDS Research Center), in Boston, Massachusetts.  She joined SFU FHS as Assistant Professor, Molecular Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases, in September 2009. Dr. Brumme’s current research integrates molecular biology, epidemiology and computational approaches to study HIV evolution in response to selection pressures imposed by the human cellular immune response.  One of the greatest challenges to HIV vaccine design is the virus’ capacity to evade immune recognition through rapid mutation, a process called “immune escape”.  Through the analysis of population-based cohorts of HIV-infected individuals in Canada and worldwide, Dr. Brumme has helped to create “maps” of the HIV genome that systematically identify specific sites and pathways of immune escape in viral proteins.   Dr. Brumme is also interested in studying how human immune selection pressures have shaped HIV evolution over the course of the epidemic, and the implications of this on vaccine design.  Most recently, Dr. Brumme’s work has focused on assessing the consequences of immune escape mutations to HIV replication and viral protein function. Dr. Brumme has published a career total of 46 peer-reviewed manuscripts in the field of HIV/AIDS molecular epidemiology. She currently holds a CIHR New Investigator award.
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serikson: Dr. Erikson is a medical anthropologist who has worked in Africa, Europe, Central Asia, and North America.  During a first career in international development, she worked in hospitals, rural clinics and schools in Sierra Leone providing primary health and education services.  Dr. Erikson has worked for or with many US government departments and agencies, including the US Congress, US Departments of State and Agriculture, and the US Agency for International Development.  As an academic, Dr. Erikson combines her practical experience with a critical study of relations of power that make good health more likely.  Dr. Erikson is the founding director of Global Health Affairs at the Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. She joined Simon Fraser in 2007.
jeremycsnyder: See Jeremy Snyder's website: <a class="external-link" href="http://blogs.sfu.ca/people/jeremycsnyder/">http://blogs.sfu.ca/people/jeremycsnyder/</a>
cjoffres: Dr. Joffres is particularly interested in qualitative health research. Previous projects have include clinical trials of anti-dementia drugs; youth health; gerontology research (experiences and needs of older parents, 65 +, taking care of children with life-long disabilities); and health promotion through the Nova Scotia Heart Health study.
baoconno: Dr. O’Connor has been a public health physician for over 30 years, the last 23 years as a Medical Health Officer in Vancouver Coastal Health. His main areas of interest are in population health and health inequities and the use of policy and advocacy as key health promotion strategies. At a community level he has played a pivotal role in the development of a shelter for the homeless. As the co-chair of the Population Health Committee of Health Officers Council, he has led the council’s work on policy and advocacy approaches to Early Child Development and child poverty. For over 20 years he has been involved in prevention and health promotion approaches to chronic diseases with a focus on heart health. He was principal investigator for the BC Heart Health Survey and Demonstration Program and has served on the Advisory and Editorial Board of several International Hearth Health Conferences and Conference Declarations.
pablo: I joined the Faculty of Health Sciences in 2008. I obtained my first degree in Biology in my native country, Argentina, from the University of Patagonia.  For my doctoral studies I moved to the USA, where I obtained a Ph.D. in Anthropology (Biological) and Natural Resources and Environment (Ecology) from The University of Michigan. At the same University, I received training from the Reproductive Sciences Program and was a Pre-doctoral Fellow at the Institute for Social Research. Additionally, I am an alumnus from the LIFE Program (“Life Course: Evolutionary and Ontogenetic Dynamics)” from the International Max Planck Research School (Berlin, Germany). I received post-doctoral training in the Epidemiology Branch of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIH-USA).   Click <a title="Nepomnaschy CV" class="internal-link" href="resolveuid/e76938f5b2263ea156d16396256db2b2">here</a> to view Pablo's full CV.
ksp5: Karen Palmer holds two graduate degrees in Public Health (MPH with a focus on International Health and MS with a focus on Health Policy and Planning) and a Graduate Certificate in Urban and Regional Planning, all from the University of Hawaii (Manoa). Originally from Canada, Karen divided her time during 1984-2006 between Canada, the US, and Switzerland, joining the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University in 2008. As someone who has lived with one foot on either side of the Canada-U.S. border for more two decades, and who has also recently lived in Europe, she brings a unique understanding of the practice of public health, of health care delivery systems, and of international health policies. Her MS thesis focused on the associations between rapid social change, prenatal care and, ultimately, birth outcomes in the indigenous people of Saipan, located in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Her MPH graduate work focused on a (then) new initiative of the World Health Organization, the Healthy Cities Project, which continues to promote comprehensive and systematic policy and planning with a special emphasis on health inequalities and urban poverty, the needs of vulnerable groups, participatory governance, and the social, economic, and environmental determinants of health.
dmz1: Dr. Zabkiewicz is a social epidemiologist from the University of California at Berkeley.  Having been mentored by leaders in psychiatric and social epidemiology, medical sociology, social welfare, and health economics, she has acquired a strong orientation and appreciation towards the broader context in which health problems are embedded.  Her interests focus more generally on how social, economic, and policy related factors are intertwined within the broad structural environment and how they interact to influence individual health and the factors that contribute to the onset or continuity of poor health.
bpl3: <ul><li>Testimony, Vermont State Legislature, "The Lingering Legacy of Lead Toxicity," Montpelier, Vermont, February 1, 2007.</li></ul> <ul><li>Invited Member, Council of Fellows of the Collegium Ramazzini.</li></ul> <ul><li>Appointed to the Julius B. Richmond Center of Excellence External Scientific Advisory Committee, Richmond Center for Excellence in Tobacco Research, American Academy of Pediatrics.</li></ul> <ul><li>Member, National Children's Study Steering Committee.</li></ul>
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bfischer: Benedikt Fischer, PhD, obtained his doctorate in Criminology at the University of Toronto (1998). Subsequent to his doctorate, he was a Research Scientist and Section Co-Head at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Toronto, and held faculty appointments in the Department of Public Health Sciences and at the Centre of Criminology, University of Toronto. Following a faculty appointment at the University of Victoria (2006 – 2008), Dr. Fischer joined the Centre for Applied Research in Addictions and Mental Health (CARMHA) and the Faculty of Health Sciences as Professor in September 2008. He currently holds a CIHR/PHAC Research Chair in Applied Public Health and is a MSFHR Senior Scholar Career Investigator. He is furthermore an Affiliate Scientist with the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) and a Senior Scientist with CAMH. Dr. Fischer is a member of the Institute Advisory Board of the CIHR Institute for Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction (INHMA), as well as a member of the Science Advisory Board of the Mental Health Commission of Canada.
stoodley: As the Systems Administrator for the Faculty of Health Sciences, Jasper is responsible for computing systems planning and operations. He is also an active participant in the development of the health information data warehouse where he provides his expertise in systems and database architecture. Once operational, the data warehouse will provide access to vital statistics and other health-related data to researchers across the country. Jasper has a BSc (Geography) and extensive experience in spatial information systems. Prior to joining Health Sciences, Jasper worked as the Information Systems Administrator in the Department of Geography managing undergraduate and research computing facilities. His experience also includes software engineering and spatial database development for the Canadian Air Traffic Control System.
joneil: Dr. John O’Neil has been Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at SFU since September 1, 2007. Previously he was Director of the Manitoba First Nations Centre for Aboriginal Health Research and Professor and Head of the Department of Community Health Sciences in the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Medicine.
dnicholl: Providing confidential administrative and secretarial support to the Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and to the Director of Administration and Operations. Prior to coming to SFU, Doreen worked at the Regional Municipality of York in Ontario as the Executive Assistant to the Commissioner, Transportation and Works.
cherid: Cheri Danton joined the faculty in July 2006. As the Receptionist, she is the department’s first contact for visitors and students, and provides general office support to staff and faculty. Her main responsibilities include the following: Receives visitors and redirects them to the appropriate personnel. Receives and distributes incoming mail, faxes, inter-campus mail and courier packages. Arranges for outgoing couriers. Trouble-shoots fax and photocopier jams; assists/instructs students and personnel to operate fax and copier; assigns new fax and copy codes for teaching and research funds. Orders office supplies, business cards, etc. Expense claims: reviews for accuracy, forwards to Administrative Coordinator for approval; then photocopies and forwards to Accounts Payable for processing. Updates the FHS Contacts lists, FHS owned email lists, directories, etc. Prepares key requests, telephone orders, and service requests as required. Prior to coming to SFU, Cheri worked as an Office Administrator for a small business and for the New Westminster School Board as a Special Education Assistant. She also completed her BA in English at SFU, in 2003.
ckalaw: As the Grants Facilitator for the Faculty of Health Sciences, Cecilia Kalaw is responsible for liaising with granting agencies, working with the Office of Research Services in identifying new research funding opportunities, and working with faculty members to develop research proposals for submission to national and provincial funding agencies such as the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, MSFHR, Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Cecilia Kalaw has fifteen years of experience in grant writing and project development in non-profit, governmental, and academic settings. She has had direct experience as a grants program officer for the provincial government and as a grant writer for various non-profit agencies. She has worked at UBC as a health researcher for the Department of Health Care and Epidemiology and the School of Nursing. Most recently, grant writing and facilitation was part of her role as the research coordinator for the Nursing and Health Behaviour Research Unit and NEXUS, a multidisciplinary research unit dedicated to researching the social contexts of health behaviour. She has expertise in community-based research, qualitative methods, gender analyses and tobacco research and has co-authored numerous peer-reviewed publications in these areas. Cecilia has a Master of Arts in Education from Simon Fraser University. Prior to her work in health research, Cecilia worked on education and policy development related to multiculturalism, human rights, and immigrant settlement and integration. She has a long standing interest in social inequalities and health disparities and public health policy development.
tniikura: Dr. Takako Niikura joined the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University as an Assistant Professor in 2009. Dr. Niikura finished the Veterinary School at Hokkaido University in Japan, took an industrial job for a few years, and then, started her research career in basic science at NERC Institute of Virology and Environmental Microbiology (currently Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Oxford, UK). She then move to the U.S. and worked at Thomas Jefferson University School of Medicine (Philadelphia, PA) and Michigan State University Department of Biochemistry (East Lansing, MI) as a research associate. In 1997, Dr. Niikura moved back to Japan and started projects in neurodegenerative disorders at Keio University School of Medicine (Tokyo). Dr. Niikura, with her team, studied mechanisms of neuronal death underlying Alzheimer’s disease pathogenesis using in vitro system and discovered a novel 24-residue peptide, Humanin (HN). In 2007, Dr Niikura took an assistant professor position at Georgetown University School of Medicine (Washington, DC) and was involved in translational research of Alzheimer’s disease including the efficacy testing of Humanin.
fjl3: Dr. Frank Lee is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University. He received his PhD from the University of Toronto in 2002, where he characterized an interaction between the dopamine transporter and a-synuclein, a protein implicated in the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease.   In addition, his interest in the molecular pathophysiology of schizophrenia led to studies that characterized a direct interaction between the dopamine D1 receptor and the glutamate NMDA receptor.  Dr. Lee subsequently pursued a post-doctoral fellowship at Children’s Hospital Boston/Harvard Medical School contributing to studies that demonstrated the role of dopamine in a-synuclein mediated neurotoxicity and examining the molecular components of APP processing.   In 2004, he returned to Toronto to continue his studies investigating the molecular neurobiology of the dopamine system at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.  Here he led a study examining the cross-talk between the dopamine D2 receptor and the dopamine transporter.  Using inhibitory peptides, he demonstrated that disruption of the D2 receptor/dopamine transporter interaction can induce hyperlocomotor activity in affected rodents. If you are interested in joining the Lee laboratory either as a graduate student, student assistant or research assistant, please contact <a href="mailto:f.lee@sfu.ca">Dr. Lee</a> directly.
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techyl: As the Confidential Secretary, Leslie Techy is responsible for the coordination of faculty recruitment as well as assisting both Associate Deans within the faculty. Leslie joined the Faculty of Health Sciences in early 2006 and has brought with her over 25 years of office management and organization skills.
lapps: Linda Apps recently received her doctorate from Simon Fraser University in the Faculty of Education. Her research focused on writing process and its application to visual arts education. She has applied her knowledge professionally to Writing Intensive Learning (WIL) in both the Faculty of Health Sciences and the Faculty of Education. As the WIL advisor she is constantly exploring the efficacy and application of writing theories and methodologies within an academic framework. Linda received a Masters in Educational Technology from the University of Calgary. She has worked extensively in the field of adult learning and development as an instructional designer, learning performance specialist and project manager for both industry and post-secondary institutions. Linda's areas of expertise include online learning, distance education, simulations, and safety training.     To access my web site please go to:  <a class="external-link" href="http://www.lindaapps.com/">http://www.lindaapps.com/</a>
sdg: I like the scenery at SFU. Also, I have always heard that SFU is very liberal and I like that.
saa28: because it is closer to my home and the tuition rate is more affordable.
kgc1: I chose to enrol in SFU’s graduate program in Health Sciences because I’ve always had an interest in public health. I’ve wanted to study in Vancouver because there is the same mix of cultural diversity here in Vancouver as in Trinidad.
rcampbell: because it’s close to home and it’s up on a hill. Unlike many other universities, SFU is up on the mountain and I like that. I like mountain biking.
rtucker: After starting an undergraduate program in Science, Dr. Tucker ended up with a BA in Psychology and Sociology (where she focused on health psychology and medical sociology), from McGill University. She then went on to a practically oriented Master of Health Science in Health Promotion from the University of Toronto. Following her Masters, she worked at the Children and Women’s Health Centre of British Columbia on a number of initiatives, including the establishment of the BC Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health. After numerous colleagues and mentors convinced her to pursue a career in research, she moved to Boston to do doctoral work at the Harvard School of Public Health. While living in Boston, she worked at the Harvard Eating Disorders Centre on a large eating disorders prevention project. From January 2001-June 2005 she was the Project Director for the BC Youth Survey on Smoking and Health I and II, two large cross-sectional surveys focused on tobacco dependence among adolescents. After receiving a CBIE/CIDA Award for Canadians, Dr. Tucker spent four months volunteering with a small NGO (Apne Aap) that addresses issues related to child sex-trafficking in Kolkata, India in 2003-2004.
jrc: Dr. Calvert is a political scientist with a specialization in public policy. After completing his BA and MA at the University of Western Ontario, he enrolled at the London School of Economics, where he obtained his PhD in the Government Department. His teaching and research interests are in the areas of Canadian public policy and health, the impact of international trade agreements on health policy, privatization and workers’ occupational health and safety. He has published a number of books and articles on Canadian and international public policy and economic issues. Prior to coming to Simon Fraser University, Dr. Calvert worked for a number of years in the BC government as a policy advisor in the trade policy area and in the Ministries of Labour, Employment and Investment and the Crown Corporations Secretariat.
niikura: Dr. Niikura is a virologist with a veterinary background. He completed formal veterinary education at the Veterinary School, Hokkaido University in Japan and earned his PhD at the same institution by working on the antigenicity of viral proteins of Marek’s disease virus (MDV) and Newcastle disease virus, both cause serious diseases in poultry. After earning his degrees, he engaged in various aspects of virus research in numbers of academic and governmental institutions, including The University of Tokyo, Japan (1991-1992), NERC Institute of Virology and Environmental Microbiology, Oxford, U.K. (1992-1993), Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA (1993-1995), USDA-ARS Avian Disease and Oncology Laboratory, East Lansing, MI (1995-1997, 2001-2002), National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan (1997-2001) and Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI (2002-2007). During this period, he worked on MDV, HIV, filoviruses, hantavirus and hepatitis E virus. Most recently, his research was focused on the pathogenesis and evolution of MDV using infectious bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) clones he generated. He joined Simon Fraser University in 2007.
timt: Dr. Takaro is a physician-scientist from the University of Washington, Occupational and Environmental Medicine Program. His work is directed primarily toward determining if linkages exist between occupational or environmental exposures and disease and finding public health based preventive solutions where such hazards exist. Research interests are in gene-environment interactions in immunologically-based lung disease and fibrosis, indoor-air hazards, surveillance and field use of biomarkers for medical surveillance and risk assessment with mixed exposures. His practice includes nuclear weapons workers with beryllium and other pulmonary exposures, and children and adults with asthma and other chemically related illness. Additional interests include health effects of climate change, impacts of globalization on occupational and environmental health, biological effects of low-level radiation and mutagenic effects of pesticides.
egoldner: Dr. Elliot Goldner received an Honours B.Sc. degree in neurophysiology at the University of Toronto, an M.D. degree at the University of Calgary and an M.H.Sc. degree in epidemiology at the University of British Columbia where he also completed specialty training and full qualifications in Psychiatry. He began his career working to help individuals with Eating Disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia nervosa, and helped to establish a province-wide network of treatment services. Dr. Goldner was appointed the Director of British Columbia’s Provincial Eating Disorder Programs and instituted a clinical research program to advance the outcomes of treatment interventions. After working to improve the design and quality of treatment services for people with Eating Disorders in British Columbia, and in other Canadian provinces and other countries, Dr. Goldner expanded his efforts to address the full spectrum of mental health and addiction problems and developed a research unit designed to provide research support to governments in their efforts to advance the quality of mental health and addiction services. Before joining the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University, Dr. Goldner was on faculty at the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Medicine for 20 years, where he was a very active teacher and researcher. He was the Director of Undergraduate Education for the Department of Psychiatry and he founded and headed the Division of Mental Health Policy & Services and the Mental Health Evaluation & Community Consultation Unit (MHECCU). Dr. Goldner directs a national Research Training Program, entitled ‘Research in Addiction & Mental Health Policy & Services’ that has been funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research in order to train scientists to conduct research to advance the healthcare system’s approach to mental illness and addiction. Dr. Goldner has received various awards for his scholarly work and he has served on various Boards of Directors. Currently he is a Director on the Board of the Centre for Addiction Research, at the University of Victoria, and is also serves on the Board of the Coast Foundation Society, a non-profit society that provides services to people with severe mental illnesses.
cjanes: Dr. Janes is interested in globalization and health, in particular the impact of liberal strategies of economic and cultural development on maternal and child health, reproductive health, and access to health care. He has worked on the problem of the globalization of market-based health reform policy since the early 1990s, first in southwestern China (Tibet), and most recently in Mongolia. He has demonstrated that the dominant model for health reform – involving privatization and changes to the scope of primary health care – produces substantial vertical and horizontal inequities in health care access, and exposes the vulnerable poor to further impoverishment when faced with catastrophic illness.
jsomers: Dr. Somers completed his doctorate at the University of Washington, working in the Addictive Behaviours Research Centre. He has collaborated extensively with branches of government on initiatives involving substance use and mental health. Dr. Somers has led Provincial and multi-jurisdictional programs in the areas of telehealth, primary healthcare reform, and the overlap between substance use, mental illness, and the corrections system. His previous positions include Director of the UBC Psychology Clinic and President of the BC Psychological Association. Dr. Somers’ research interests include the role of evidence in public policy and the reform of services to improve health outcomes.
fstefan:   As the Co-op Coordinator for the Faculty of Health Sciences, Faye is responsible for assisting undergraduate students incorporate Co-op into their studies.  This support is available to students at all stages of their involvement with Co-op, from learning how to apply to the program to securing a work placement related to their area of study.   Faye has worked for the Co-op department at SFU for several years as a Coordinator. Prior to joining SFU, she worked in private industry and colleges as an employment/career counsellor, facilitator and program manager.  Faye has a Masters’ degree in Educational Counselling and is a registered member of the BC Association of Clinical Counsellors.
ggp1: Dr. Prefontaine received his undergraduate, masters and PhD at the University of Ottawa.   There, at the Loeb Health Research Institute, he characterized determinants for a protein-protein interaction between homeodomain-containing developmental regulators and nuclear/steroid receptors.  He demonstrated this interaction together with cooperative DNA binding events resulted in synergistic gene activation.  This gene expression strategy used by the mouse mammary tumor virus contributes to the super-activation of proto-oncogenes. During his postdoctoral research at the University of California, San Diego, Gratien created a visual gene expression system using fluorescent proteins. He learned how to manipulate bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs) replacing the target gene with one encoding for a red fluorescent protein to make mouse transgenes.  BACs are currently the quickest and most reliable way of creating this type of expression system without disturbing the endogenous gene.  By manipulating these huge chunks of genomic DNA, he showed one of the biological roles of “junk DNA”, a short interspersed nuclear element (SINE) B2, is to insulate chromatin territories to ensure proper gene expression.  There, he also did pioneering work showing the chromatin modifying protein, lysine-specific demethylase (LSD1) plays a role in gene activation events using its enzymatic activity to erase repressive methylation marks on histones.
clm17: Dr. Cari Miller joined the Faculty of Health Sciences in September, 2008.  Since completing a BA in political science from Carleton University in 1999, Cari completed an interdisciplinary MSc in 2002 and a PhD in 2006 from the University of British Columbia.  She has over 23 peer reviewed publications in international journals and has received funding support from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research and the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research.  Currently, her research is focused on HIV and Hepatitis C transmission, treatment and access to health care among young Aboriginal people. Cari has worked at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS from 2000 – 2006 with the Vancouver Injection Drug Users Study (VIDUS), the Drug Treatment Program and the At Risk Youth Study (ARYS).  She has also worked in the community with at risk youth.
rpa19: Dr. Pantophlet is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences and an Associate Faculty member of the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. Dr. Pantophlet joined the Faculty of Health Sciences in 2008 and heads the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases Immunology. Dr. Pantophlet received his B.Sc. degree in medical microbiology from the Hogeschool Rotterdam & Omstreken (The Netherlands) (1995) and his Ph.D. degree from the University of Leiden (The Netherlands) (1999) for his work on the immunochemical properties of Acinetobacter lipopolysaccharides (performed at the Research Center Borstel, Germany). He moved to The Scripps Research Institute in California (2000) for postdoctoral research on anti-HIV antibodies and vaccine design under the mentorship of Dr. Dennis Burton. Dr. Pantophlet returned to the Research Center Borstel for a brief postdoctoral period (2002) and then rejoined the Burton laboratory as a senior postdoctoral fellow to focus on HIV vaccine design (2003).
msl19: Dr. Mark S. Lechner is a molecular biologist with a research background in human cancer and developmental biology.  Dr. Lechner received his B.S. in Microbiology from the University of Notre Dame and conducted his Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Chicago on how certain human viruses such as HPV lead to cancer.  His subsequent research efforts were aimed at understanding the mechanisms that control early embryonic development and how genetic errors or environmental factors alter that process and lead to disease.  He has special interest in the field of epigenetics, where the interaction between genes and the environment takes place.  In 2001, Dr. Lechner was appointed as faculty in the Department of Bioscience & Biotechnology at Drexel University in Philadelphia as an Assistant Professor where he led teaching and research efforts until he joined the Faculty of Health Science at SFU in 2008.
lorrain: Lorraine Halinka Malcoe came to SFU from the Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of New Mexico, where she was an Associate Professor and Associate Director of their Masters in Public Health Program. She is a social epidemiologist with longstanding research interests in gender, race, and class inequalities in health. She conducts epidemiologic observational research as well as participatory, community-level interventions. For the past decade, she has employed mixed-method approaches to improve understanding of the social causes and consequences of violence against women from diverse racial, cultural, and socioeconomic groups.
scorber: Dr. Corber has been practicing public health for 30 years. Prior to joining SFU, he was the head of the Disease Prevention and Control programs of the Pan American Health Organization for 10 years. The mandate was to help countries of Latin America and the Caribbean improve their capacity to measure, eliminate, prevent and control infectious and chronic disease. Before this, he was the Medical Officer of Health for the Ottawa-Carleton Health Department supervising the application of a wide range of public health programs. During that time as well he was Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine at the University of Ottawa and was also the Scientific Editor of the Journal of the Canadian Public Health Association for four years. He has been involved in a number of Canadian advisory boards including the National Advisory Committee on Immunizing Agents, the Medical Council of Canada’s Preventive Medicine Test Committee and the Ontario Ministry of Health Advisory Committee on Communicable Diseases. In 2008 Dr. Corber received the R.D. Defries Award, a lifetime achievement award for outstanding contributions in the broad field of public health from the Canadian Public Health Association.

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