Executive Committee
The Executive Committee provides leadership to, support for, and guidance and oversight of the development and ongoing management of the Network’s operations, resource allocation, and its financial performance. All financial decisions and accountabilities are the responsibility of the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee oversees the creation and implementation of an annual work plan for the Network, with input from the Steering Committee and Working Groups.
Hilary Robertson, MScHA, PhD
Executive Committee Chair
Hilary served as Associate Faculty with Royal Roads University for 16 years in both the School of Leadership Studies and the School of Humanitarian Studies.
Hilary’s area of research focus tended toward a mixed methods approach, encompassing systems learning, ethnography, learning histories, world cafes, focus groups, surveys, interviews, and blended methodology.
During her career, Hilary practiced as a private consultant in systems and organizational learning where she was privileged to work extensively with governance across public, profit and not-for-profit sectors.
Prior to moving into her consulting practice, she held executive and senior leadership positions in the health and human services sector. Hilary was diagnosed with moderate to severe ME in August 2015.
Hilary is Co-Chair of the ME/FM Society of BC. Hilary has served as Lead PI, Co-PI, patient leader, and patient partner on several research endeavours in the pursuit of studies related to post-infectious illness and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.
Carrie Anna McGinn, MSc
Executive Committee Member
Carrie holds a master’s degree in Community Health and has worked for over a decade in the fields of health research and evaluation, in the public and not-for-profit sectors.
As a research professional, she contributed her skills in systematic reviews, grant writing, project management, and knowledge translation to various patient-oriented projects. She also coordinated a centre of expertise which focused on bringing together stakeholders from research, the healthcare system and communities to improve access to healthcare.
Carrie uses her experience of living with Long COVID and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, to advocate for recognition, research and adapted care for post-infectious illnesses.
She recently served as a member of the ICanCME Trainee Development and Medical Education Working Group and has co-founded several science-driven provincial and national post-infectious illness groups. She is also co-president of the Association québécoise de l’encéphalomyélite myalgique (AQEM) and a patient partner for ongoing Canadian post-infectious illness research and initiatives.
Jason Karamchandani, MD
Executive Committee Member
Jason Karamchandani, MD, an Associate Professor in McGill’s Departments of Pathology as well as Neurology & Neuroscience, is a practicing clinical neuropathologist at the Montreal Neurological Institute (the Neuro). Since 2016 he has served as the Scientific Director of The Neuro’s C-BIG Repository, which is the world’s first Open Science combined patient registry and biorepository. This platform has partnered with more than 3500 patients spanning multiple neurological conditions, and the repository collects a wide range of patient bio-specimens, longitudinal clinical information, imaging, and genetic data. The Open and Registered database was launched in summer 2021 and currently has hundreds of users from more than 10 countries. C-BIG has now participated in more than 85 Open Science collaborations with both academic and industry partners. This platform is expanding and improving thanks to a $5.9 million dollar contribution from Brain Canada, awarded in 2023.
Dr. Karamchandani served as McGill’s program director for anatomic pathology from 2015-2020 and has served on the Diagnostic and Molecular Pathology Royal College Specialty Committee since 2015. Dr. Karamchandani is currently the incoming president of the Canadian Association of Pathologists. He earned his AB Honours degree in biochemistry cum laude (2002) from Harvard University. In 2006, he received his MD from Stanford University School of Medicine, where he was class valedictorian. At Stanford, he pursued residency training in anatomic pathology, as well as fellowship training in surgical pathology and neuropathology. Dr. Karamchandani started his faculty career at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto as a staff pathologist, and as an assistant professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at the University of Toronto. Dr. Karamchandani’s clinical research focuses on pathologies of the central nervous system and neuromuscular diseases. Dr. Karamchandani has authored / co-authored 85 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals (including several as senior author), as well as 5 book chapters.
Kirsten Boomer
Executive Committee Member
Kirsten is a patient leader with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and other comorbidities who compliments her lived experience with her professional expertise in federal audit and evaluation, as well as management consulting.
Kirsten holds a degree in economics and mathematics, with a specialization in statistics. She has spearheaded multiple federal working groups, led change management strategies, and implemented governance frameworks, demonstrating a deep understanding of program and project management. Her collaborative efforts with various government departments, including CIHR, PHAC, and the United Nations, highlight her adeptness in representing key interests in inter-governmental discussions. Kirsten's proficiency in risk management and her experiences in consultative roles for various Steering Committees and Boards of Directors contribute to her holistic approach to management.
A former member of the ICanCME Trainee Development and Medical Education Working Group, Kirsten is committed to leveraging her life experience and professional expertise to improve the lives of Canadians living with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.
Paul Lohnes, CPA
Executive Committee Member
Director, Finance and Administration, CATALIS Québec Saint-Lazare, Quebec
Paul Lohnes is a senior financial executive with over 40 years of domestic and international experience in professional services organizations. Currently, he is Director of Finance and Administration with CATALIS Quebec, a not for profit organization (NPO) whose mission is to optimize the clinical research environment in Quebec, maximize private investment, and accelerate the development of innovative patient care. Previously he was the chief executive of a public sector NPO, held senior roles in audit regulation, quality control and standard setting, and was an audit partner with KPMG in Montreal and The Netherlands.
In addition to financial and audit acumen, Paul brings expertise in governance and human resources management. Paul’s wife is a long-term sufferer of M.E. He is thus an advocate for the recognition and treatment of M.E. and has a keen interest in contributing to ICanCME’s achievement of its mission and making a difference for M.E. patients in Canada.
Paul is currently a member of the volunteer board and the audit committee of the Montréal West Island Integrated University Health and Social Services Centre.
Sabrina Poirier
Steering Committee Member
Executive Committee Member
Community Development Leader/Patient Partner Halifax, Nova Scotia
Sabrina worked within the private, public and not-for-profit sectors for over 20 years. Her work in politics, education and community development helped shape her perspective and fine-tune her approach to meaningful engagement and positive systems change.
Sabrina is a co-founder of the ICanCME Research Network, the Chair of its Working Group on Trainee Development and Medical Education and a member of the 2023-2025 Executive Committee.
From 2018-2021, she served as a Research Ambassador for the Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis (IMHA) at the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) and from 2020-2023 as a Community Advisory Committee member for the NIH-funded Collaborative Research Centers Network in the US.
Sabrina uses her knowledge, skills, expertise and personal experience as an individual living with ME (and several common comorbidities), in the fight to have the illness understood, cared for, researched and removed from the shadows once and for all.
Farah Tabassum, MD
Steering Committee Member
Executive Committee Member
Consultant Physician Environmental Health Clinic
Dr. Farah Tabassum is a consultant physician on staff at Women's College Hospital's Environmental Health Clinic (EHC) and is a part-time Clinical Lecturer with the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto.
Prior to joining the EHC, she completed a year-long fellowship in Clinical Environmental Health through the Department of Family and Community Medicine Enhanced Skills Program at the University of Toronto. Alongside her fellowship, she completed Functional Medicine training through the Institute of Functional Medicine and received her Certified Practitioner status. Earlier in her career, she was on staff for over 12 years at the The Four Villages Community Health Centre and previously had a private psychotherapy practice.
In addition to her work at the EHC, she presently serves as a consultant physician with Ontario’s eConsult physicians group, on the topics of Post COVID Condition fatigue and on environmentally linked complex chronic conditions. In June 2023, she joined Ontario’s Centre for Effective Practice as the Clinical Lead to support the development of a tool for primary care clinicians on the topics of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), Fibromyalgia, and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS).
She has always had an avid interest in integrative approaches to health, wellness and preventative care. She graduated from McMaster University's Family Medicine training program in 2001 and prior to this obtained her medical degree from McGill University's Faculty of Medicine.
International Scientific and Medical Advisory Board
The mandate of the ISMAB is to ensure that the network’s research activities meet the highest standards and objectives are achieved.
Chris Armstrong PhD
ISMAB Member
Director – Melbourne ME/CFS Collaboration Open Medicine Foundation
Dr. Armstrong completed his PhD in Biochemistry at the University of Melbourne where he was the first to apply metabolomics to the field of ME/CFS (published in 2015), the initial study was on blood and urine, the follow-up study was on stool and gut bacteria in 2017. In 2017 and 2018, Dr. Armstrong began several new projects, extending his Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) metabolomics knowledge to several international research groups working on ME/CFS. In 2019 he was recruited to join Open Medicine Foundation, as a Science Liaison to communicate between the Collaborative Research Centers as well communicating between them and the broader ME/CFS community. As part of this role, he also works with Stanford University as a Visiting Scholar, to continue his research. Over the course of 2018 and 2019, he developed a hypothesis that ME/CFS results from increased production of reactive nitrogen by-products of energy metabolism and plans to continue to test his hypothesis.
Jonas Bergquist MD PhD
ISMAB Member
Professor Director CRC for ME/CFS Chief Medical Officer for OMF Biomedical Center, Uppsala University
Professor Dr Jonas Bergquist, MD, PhD, is Full Chair Professor in Analytical Chemistry and Neurochemistry at the Biomedical Centre, Department of Chemistry at Uppsala University, Sweden, Adjunct Professor in Pathology at the Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, University of Utah, USA, and Distinguished Professor in Precision Medicine, Binzhou Medical University, Yantai, China. He is also the director of the clinical collaborative research centre in Uppsala (together with Harvard Medical School and Stanford University) with focus on myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME). Professor Bergquist's group is continuously developing general analytical tools for molecular diagnostic screening and discovery of biomarkers of pathological states. Technologies include all important links: identifying relevant clinical applications, invasive in-situ sampling of complex samples, advanced sample pretreatment, multidimensional liquid-based separation, high resolution mass spectrometry, and multivariate data analysis. Professor Bergquist among other things focus to explore the neuroimmunological involvement in neurodegenerative diseases by using proteomics and metabolomics with a special interest in cerebrospinal fluid and hard-to-reach tissue studies. Professor Bergquist has currently published over 550 papers, with around 10 000 -13 000 citations (h-index of 59 in Web of Science and 72 in Google Scholar).
Sonya Chowdhury
ISMAB Member
Chief Executive, Action for M.E. United Kingdom
Sonya Chowdhury has been Chief Executive of UK-based charity, Action for M.E. for 10 years. Action for M.E. provides direct information and support, individual advocacy and healthcare services to children and adults with M.E. while also supporting families and professionals working with them. The Charity also works to raise the profile of ME and secure change for the future through its public affairs and research activity. Its ambitious Breakthrough-ME research strategy also includes the first Genetic Centre of Excellence, a virtual collaboration, which it has launched in partnership with Prof Chris Ponting, MRC Human genetics Unit, University of Edinburgh. Sonya is a Co-Investigator on the world’s largest ME study, DecodeME and Chairs its Management Group as well as a founding, Co-Chair of the World ME Alliance. Sonya also has a son with M.E. who became ill a year after she joined the Charity.
Ronald Wayne Davis PhD
ISMAB Member
Professor of Biochemistry and of Genetics Director, Stanford Genome Technology Center Director, ME/CFS Collaborative Research Center at Stanford Stanford School of Medicine
Nancy Klimas MD
ISMAB Member
Chair, Department of Clinical Immunology Director, Institute for Neuro-Immune Medicine Assistant Dean for Research, Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine Nova Southeastern University
Nancy Klimas, M.D. is a Professor of Medicine in the Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine and Chair of the Department of Clinical Immunology at Nova Southeastern University. She is the Dean of Research for KPCOM and established the Institute for Neuro Immune Medicine (INIM), at Nova Southeastern University.
In partnership with the Miami Veteran's Administration Medical Center's Gulf War Illness (GWI) research program, the INIM is a multi- disciplinary research and clinical institute that takes a systems biology approach to understanding complex medical illnesses, such as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) and Gulf War Illness (GWI).
Dr. Klimas is Professor Emerita, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, a diplomat of the American Board of Internal Medicine, a diplomat in Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, and Director of Clinical Immunology Research at the Miami VAMC. She has achieved national and international recognition for her research and clinical efforts in multi-symptom disorders including ME/CFS and GWI, was the past president of the International Association for CFS and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (IACFS/ME), a professional organization of clinicians and investigators, and a past member of the Health and Human Services (HHS) CFS Advisory Committee.
Eliana Lacerda MD PhD
ISMAB Member
CureME team - Research Leader Clinical Research Department
Dr. Eliana Lacerda has focused her research activities on clinical and epidemiological aspects of ME/CFS, since 2007, and co-founded the CureME team at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (London, UK). Additionally, Dr. Lacerda co-created the UK ME/CFS Biobank (UKMEB), the first disease-specific biobank dedicated to ME/CFS research, of which she is the Clinical Director. The UKMEB, have provided biosamples and data to research groups at universities around the world, including in the UK (Cambridge, Oxford, University College London, Dundee, Surrey, and Cardiff); Brazil (University of São Paulo); Spain (Universidad Católica de Valencia); Israel (Weizmann Institute of Science), Austria (Institute of Biomedical Science, Graz), Germany (Charité), the US (The Jackson Laboratory, UMass Amherst, Whittemore Peterson Institute, Stanford University), and Australia (Garvan-Weizmann Centre for Cellular Genomics).
Dr. Eliana Lacerda has been the Vice-Chair of EUROMENE, a network involving participants from 22 European countries, which provided guidelines for epidemiological, clinical and biomarkers research, in addition to diagnosis of and health care provision to people with ME/CFS. Dr. Lacerda is the PI for a new research project (NIH funded) on HHV6 viral reactivation in people with ME/CFS and with Long Covid in the UK.
Neil McGregor PhD
ISMAB Member
Clinical Associate Professor Dental School, University of Melbourne
Dr. Neil McGregor is a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Neil gained his PhD at the University of Sydney in 2000 and has published over 70 papers in peer reviewed journals. He was a co-editor of the Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome until it was replaced by the current journal. His academic research involves the science of metabolomics, microbiology, genetics and inflammatory mediated disease.
Peter Rowe MD
ISMAB Member
Professor of Pediatrics Director, Chronic Fatigue Clinic, Johns Hopkins Children's Center Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine
Dr. Rowe is a graduate of Trinity College, University of Toronto, and the McMaster University School of Medicine. His work has focused on the association between treatable circulatory disorders and ME/CFS, and the overlap of these conditions with connective tissue laxity and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. He has directed the Chronic Fatigue Clinic at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center since 1996, where he is the inaugural recipient of the Sunshine Natural Wellbeing Foundation Chair in Chronic Fatigue and Related Disorders.
Carmen Scheibenbogen
ISMAB Member
Prof. Dr. med. Carmen Scheibenbogen Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin | Institut für Med. Immunologie
Carmen Scheibenbogen is hematooncologist and professor of clinical immunology at the Institute of Medical Immunology at Charité Berlin. She is co-founder of the COST-funded European network for ME/CFS EUROMENE, the Charité Fatigue Centre (https://cfc.charite.de ) and the Post COVID Network (https://pcn.charite.de ). She has co-authored more than 200 peer-reviewed papers with a focus on ME/CFS, T cell immunology and cancer vaccines.
Steering Committee
Under the direction of the Executive Committee, the Steering Committee will:
Provide strategic support, advice, feedback and guidance to the Director and Executive Committee on key issues such as network priorities and goals.
Provide support and feedback to the Working Groups as determined by the Director and the Executive Committee.
Alain Moreau PhD
Steering Committee Chair
Full Professor Department of Stomatology, Faculty of Dentistry
Scientific Director Open Medicine Foundation Collaborative Research Center at CHU Sainte-Justine/Université de Montréal
Dr. Alain Moreau is a Full Professor in the Faculty of Dentistry (Stomatology Department), cross-appointed to the Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine Department in the Faculty of Medicine at Université de Montreal. He served as Director of Research and Chief Scientific Officer of Sainte-Justine University Hospital (2013-2016). Dr. Moreau was the Director of the Network for Canadian Oral Health Research – NCOHR (2016-2022) and he served as member (2010-2022) and vice-president (2012-2016) on the Advisory Board of the Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis of The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). In 2019, Dr. Moreau was appointed Director of the Interdisciplinary Canadian Collaborative Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ICanCME) Research Network, another national research network funded by CIHR. He is an internationally recognized expert on molecular genetics of pediatric scoliosis. His discoveries led to multiple peer-reviewed papers, international conferences as a guest speaker, several awards as well as 72 patents covering innovative diagnostic tests and therapeutic molecules. Dr. Moreau is the cofounder and Chief Scientific Officer of Inception Therapeutic Inc. a start-up based in Montreal developing diagnostic tests for primary osteoarthritis and new disease-modifying osteoarthritis drugs. Dr. Moreau's main research interests target pediatric scoliosis and other complex adult diseases such as osteoarthritis, osteoporosis and myalgic encephalomyelitis.
Marie-Yvonne Akoume, BSc, MSc, PhD
Steering Committee Member
Associate Professor Université des Sciences de la Sante de Libreville, Gabon
Dr. Marie-Yvonne Akoume earned a BSc. in Biology from Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) as well as a MSc. in Toxicology and a PhD. in Pharmacology from Université de Montréal. Thereafter, she completed her postdoctoral training in the department of Pharmacology & therapeutics at McGill University and in the Cancer & Hormone Research Unit of the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, before joining the Viscogliosi Molecular Genetics Laboratory, first as Fellow and then as research associate.
Dr. Akoume is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of molecular biology and genetics at Université des Sciences de la Santé de Libreville (Gabon), while keeping collaboration with Viscogliosi Laboratory. She is co-inventor in several patents, co-author of high impact publications and recipient of various awards.
The main interests of Dr. Akoume's research focus on understanding the G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) signaling in different pathophysiological contexts. Her work has revealed a differential impairment of Gi-mediated signaling among patients with Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis and provided the first evidence for the hereditary nature and prognostic value of this defect. She also works on drug discovery using natural products as therapeutic tools with a combination of in vivo, in vitro, and molecular approaches.
Riina Bray, BASc, MSc, MD, FCFP, MHSc
Steering Committee Member
Associate Professor Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto
Medical Director Environmental Health Clinic, Women's College Hospital
Dr. Bray trained in chemical engineering, then earned her Masters of Science degree in pharmacology and biomedical engineering in the area of addictions and toxicology. She then studied medicine at the University of Toronto and did her specialty in Family Medicine at UBC. She then completed a fellowship in Environmental Health at the University of Toronto. She has been Medical Director of the Environmental Health Clinic at Women's College Hospital and Associate Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine for over ten years. She was Chair of the Environmental Health Committee of the Ontario College of Family Physicians for ten years and holds a Masters of Health Sciences (Public Health) in Family and Community Medicine. She has taught University level courses, won awards for her work in environmental health, spear-headed multiple educational and academic projects, been involved in multiple government-funded research initiatives, mentored and taught hundreds of medical students, residents, fellows and peers in the area of environmental health and been an advocate in environmental health with non-governmental organizations over the many years.
Heather Edgell BSc MSc PhD
Steering Committee Member
Associate Professor School of Kinesiology and Health Sciences
Dr. Edgell is currently an Associate Professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Sciences at York University where her research involves the cardiovascular health of women. Her research is currently focused on 1) cardiovascular and autonomic function in young healthy men and women including testing throughout the menstrual cycle and/or investigating the impact of oral contraceptives (there are very few physiologists that focus on the biological responses of women to stressors), 2) investigations into the role of the menstrual cycle in the delay of accurate diagnoses for patients with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) and the potential role of a neck compression collar for the alleviation of symptoms in POTS (this research led to becoming a member of ICanCME since POTS is the primary vascular instability of ME/CFS), 3) inspiratory muscle training in ME/CFS and long COVID, and 4) via collaborations with the Toronto Rumsey Centre (University Health Network) and Sunnybrook hospital, she will study men and women with cardiovascular disease or Type 2 Diabetes while investigating the efficiency of standard cardiac rehabilitation programs. To do this work Dr. Edgell has received funding from NSERC, Standing up to POTS, Solve ME/CFS, and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation/Ontario Research Fund.
Barbara Fifield
Steering Committee Member
Co-founder Millions Missing Canada
A long-time patient advocate, Barbara Fifield has organized multiple participatory campaigns aimed at educating others about the true nature and relevant issues of ME. Since co-founding Millions Missing Canada in 2016, she has amplified the voices of those living with the disease, has been instrumental in connecting the community and has played a significant role in expanding the Canadian advocacy movement.
As someone who has lived with severe ME for decades while also having a family member who is profoundly affected, Barbara has an intimate understanding of the illness in adults and children. Combining her lived experience with over fifteen years of advocacy within the education system, her extensive knowledge of the history of the disease, and a close relationship with the online patient community, Barbara has served as an invaluable resource to those seeking help and support.
Severe ME can steal everything you hold dear. It can incapacitate, alienate, stigmatize, paralyze, and ruthlessly cripple lives. The need for appropriate medical care, adequate treatment, and equitable research remains urgent. Ideally, Barbara hopes to see ME addressed with meaningful action in direct proportion to the devastation it causes. The countless lives lost, the depth of suffering, the decades of systemic neglect, and the turbulent history of this illness demand nothing less.
Christiane Garcia, B.Sc. Nursing, RN, MBA
Steering Committee Member
Co-President l’Association Québécoise de l’Encéphalomyélite Myalgique (AQEM)
Christiane Garcia had a successful, diversified career as a nurse, nurse clinician, and nurse educator. She subsequently became an assistant director of nursing, earned her MBA, and was the chief executive of three organizations, including the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Montreal. As a strategic planner and consultant, she assisted foundations, hospitals and associations to develop fundraising strategies and worked with governments to improve the quality of care for patients in a variety of milieus.
Christiane has started and implemented many special projects: a new nursing curriculum; hospital in-service departments; and new associations and patient groups. Her advocacy has included being a spokesperson for several illnesses including ME.
Christiane became bedridden in 1982 and or for two decades since her eventual diagnosis, she devoted her limited energies to advocacy for ME. She has served on the boards of the ME Association of Ontario (MEAO) and of Action CIND. Christiane is currently Co-President of l’Association Québécoise de l’Encéphalomyélite Myalgique (AQEM). She has been an active leader of the patient group ICanCME formed in early 2019 to work with Dr. Moreau in developing the successful CIHR proposal, making a significant contribution to the document. Christiane is thankful to Dr Moreau and all researchers, clinicians and persons with ME who have joined hands to research, diagnose and treat this complex multisystem disease.
Alexis Goth, MD
Steering Committee Member
Hospitalist and Family Physician Nova Scotia Health Authority
Dr. Alexis Goth is a hospitalist and family physician (Dalhousie University), with additional training in Integrative Medicine (Fellow, University of Arizona), as well as Functional Medicine (IFM). She is a clinician at ICCS, the Integrated Chronic Care Service, in Fall River NS. Her work focuses on applying an integrative and functional medicine lens to complex chronic disease, particularly patients considered to have central nervous system sensitization. This includes patients with ME/CFS, gut dysfunction, POTS, dietary and environmental sensitivities, MCS, PTSD, etc. The ICCS model is an integrative, whole person systems biology approach, which considers the individual to be a complex expression of his/her dynamic internal and external environment. Additionally, she is a faculty of medicine at Dalhousie University, and practices Hospitalist Medicine at the QEII Health Sciences Center, offering general medicine care. Her research interests include exploring a micro to macro perspective of healing, the connectivity of physical/mental/emotional/energetic bodies, and considering the cyclical patterns of connectivity between the individual and the larger biological ecology of earth.
Dawei Li, PhD
Steering Committee Member
Associate Professor of Biomedical Science Director of Genomic Medicine Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine Florida Atlantic University
Dr. Dawei Li was trained in human genetics, genomics, and bioinformatics. He is currently an associate professor and the director of genomic medicine of Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University. He has published 55 peer-reviewed papers. His lab has recently developed bioinformatics approaches for innovative deep sequencing data analyses, including genome-wide genotyping of transposable elements and virome-wide detection of viral integrations. His current research focuses on developing innovative genomic and omics research methods and applications to myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), aiming to find the root causes of the disease. His ME/CFS research over the next few years will involve identification of genetic variants using whole-genome sequencing; analysis of genome-wide DNA methylation; and analysis of the transcriptome using RNA-Seq. He will also study the links between endogenous retrovirus variants and their expression and the inflammatory immune response features observed in ME/CFS. The ultimate goal of his research is to inform diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of ME/CFS.
Valerie Marcil PhD
Steering Committee Member
Professor Faculty of Medicine, Universite de Montreal
Dr. Valerie Marcil is a professor at the Department of Nutrition, Universite de Montreal, a researcher at the Research Center of Sainte-Justine UHC since 2014 and a registered nutritionist. She holds FRQS Research Scholars Junior 1 and Junior 2 since 2017. She has a strong expertise in metabolic health in complex diseases, in inflammatory and oxidative processes, in the role of nutrition and gut microbiota in disease development, as well as in nutritional evaluation and interventions.
Patrick O. McGowan, PhD
Steering Committee Member
Professor Departments of Biological Sciences
Dr. Patrick McGowan research lab is interested in the interaction between the genome and the environment. Effects that influence the way genes work without changing their DNA sequence are called "epigenetic" effects. Dr. McGowan studies epigenetic changes that are important for brain function, hormone systems in the body and the cellular response to stress.
John Prescott BA MA VETMB PhD
Steering Committee Member
Professor Emeritus University of Guelph
John F. Prescott is a retired veterinary bacteriologist and University Professor Emeritus at the University of Guelph, where he was Chair of the Department of Pathobiology from 2003-2008. He has published extensively on bacterial infections in animals and has also been active for many years in promoting antimicrobial stewardship in Canadian agriculture and veterinary medicine. Although retired, he continues to publish on antimicrobial stewardship and on bacterial pathogenesis. He was elected a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences in 2008. His family has lived with CFS for over 30 years. He and his wife Cathy enjoy being grandparents.
Claudine Prud’homme DVM
Steering Committee Member
Director Scientific Committee, Association Québécoise de L'Encéphalomyélite Myalgique (AQEM)
Dr. Prud'homme graduated in veterinary medicine from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at University of Montreal in 1995. She also completed an internship in small animals practice at the same institute in 1996. Since 2008, Dr. Prud'homme has been no longer able to practice due to ME. She immediately got involved in understanding this disease after being diagnosed. She wanted to better understand what the best ways were to cope with it.
Dr. Prud'homme has been involved with the AQEM (Association québécoise de l'encéphalomyélite myalgique) since 2012. She is responsible for the scientific committee of the association. Given her medical training, she keeps the AQEM informed regarding new international research on ME, the possible treatments developed and to be developed in other international ME clinics and the best ways to manage the disease. She also brings a medical experience at the association and works on the advocacy level to get ME.
Salima Punja PhD
Steering Committee Member
Executive Director Integrative Health Institute
Dr. Punja has a background in clinical epidemiology, with a focus on rigorous, evidence-based, patient-centered approaches to clinical health research. Specifically, Dr. Punja has expertise in clinical trial design and conduct, and while most of her work has focused on mental health populations, the methods can be expanded and applied to assess a variety of interventions for a range of conditions.
She is grateful to be part of the Interdisciplinary Canadian Collaborative Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Research Network, and looks forward to contributing to its research endeavours.
Sarah Selke MB BCh BAO CCFP
Steering Committee Member
Family Physician/Associate Staff Member Environmental Health Clinic
Dr. Sarah Selke is a Toronto-based family physician and associate staff member at the Environmental Health Clinic (EHC) at Women’s College Hospital. She joined the EHC in 2016, following completion of an Enhanced Skills degree in Environmental Health through the University of Toronto.
Dr. Selke completed her medical degree at the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland in 2012, and completed her Family Medicine residency at Toronto East General Hospital. She currently sees patients with ME/CFS on an almost daily basis in both her family medicine practice and in her consultant role at the EHC. She has been involved in caring for those with ME/CFS from 2014, and enjoys educating colleagues, trainees and patients about the various facets of diagnosis and management of ME/CFS.
Joel Singer PhD
Steering Committee Member
Professor School of Population and Public Health
Joel Singer is a professor in the School of Population and Public Health where he has been a faculty member since 1990. He is the head of Methodology and Statistics at the Canadian HIV Trials Network since its inception in 1990 and the program head for Clinical Trials at the Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver.
He has been the lead methodological investigator on many national and international clinical trials across a variety of clinical areas including HIV, HPV, cardiology, intensive care medicine, nephrology and neonatology.
He has chaired many Data Safety Monitoring Boards (DSMB) and is the current chair of the DSMB for the Ontario Clinical Oncology Group.
Jeff Smith
Steering Committee Member
Designer Toronto, Ontario
Jeffery Smith is a designer, who worked in finance and publishing before being unable to work because of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME). Ill for over two decades, as his abilities decreased he became involved ME advocacy, and is a founding member of Millions Missing Canada. He has used his strong motivation as an ill patient to reach out to Members of Parliament, the Canadian Institute of Health Research and the Health Ministers Office to build healthy sincere relationships, that along with a smaller, and growing group of advocates, have helped guide the government to action over the past couple of years. As long as his health allows him, he wishes to help make things better for the Canadian ME population, particularly the most vulnerable with no hope.
Eleanor Stein MD FRCP(C)
Steering Committee Member
Clinical Assistant Professor University of Calgary
For the past 22 years Dr. Stein has been intensively learning about diagnosis and management of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. She is one of a handful of experienced clinicians for these conditions in Canada and is involved with two research teams at present. Dr. Stein is taking her knowledge to the public at large, developing online education courses to help people who don’t have access to knowledgeable health care practitioners.
Farah Tabassum, MD
Steering Committee Member
Executive Committee Member
Consultant Physician Environmental Health Clinic
Dr. Farah Tabassum is a consultant physician on staff at Women's College Hospital's Environmental Health Clinic (EHC) and is a part-time Clinical Lecturer with the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto.
Prior to joining the EHC, she completed a year-long fellowship in Clinical Environmental Health through the Department of Family and Community Medicine Enhanced Skills Program at the University of Toronto. Alongside her fellowship, she completed Functional Medicine training through the Institute of Functional Medicine and received her Certified Practitioner status. Earlier in her career, she was on staff for over 12 years at the The Four Villages Community Health Centre and previously had a private psychotherapy practice.
In addition to her work at the EHC, she presently serves as a consultant physician with Ontario’s eConsult physicians group, on the topics of Post COVID Condition fatigue and on environmentally linked complex chronic conditions. In June 2023, she joined Ontario’s Centre for Effective Practice as the Clinical Lead to support the development of a tool for primary care clinicians on the topics of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), Fibromyalgia, and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS).
She has always had an avid interest in integrative approaches to health, wellness and preventative care. She graduated from McMaster University's Family Medicine training program in 2001 and prior to this obtained her medical degree from McGill University's Faculty of Medicine.
Sherri Todd
Steering Committee Member
BC Director National ME/FM Action Network
Sherri Todd joins the ICanCME Research Network as the Director for British Columbia of the National ME/FM Action Network, a patient-based Canadian charity that has been working on behalf of Canadians with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and Fibromyalgia since 1993.
Among other accomplishments, this organization spearheaded the development of diagnostic and treatment protocols for ME and for Fibromyalgia and hosted an international research and clinical conference. The organization has been recognized in the Canadian House of Commons and Senate.
Ms. Todd started an association for ME patients in BC in 1988, and developed a network of patient representatives, support groups, a newsletter and professional contacts across the province. She moved to the National ME/FM Action Network a decade later.
In 2008, she was invited to be a founding member of the Community Advisory Committee of BC's Complex Chronic Diseases Program located at the Women’s Hospital in Vancouver and has served on that committee ever since.
John Ussher, PhD
Steering Committee Member
Associate Professor Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Dr. Ussher’s research interests involve understanding the molecular regulation by which the various organs in the body metabolize fuel from the food we eat (e.g., sugar, fat, protein, etc.) to produce energy. The intricate molecular network regulating these processes is disturbed in a number of human diseases, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. Therefore, an improved understanding of this molecular regulation may lead to the discovery of novel drug targets for treating these chronic diseases.
To pursue these research interests, his laboratory utilizes mouse genetics to modify genes (delete or overexpress) that produce protein/enzymes that they believe are key molecular regulators influencing how the body’s organs metabolize various fuel sources (e. g., carbohydrates, fatty acids). These genetically modified mouse models are subjected to various experimental models of obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, or exercise, whereby disease outcomes, disease progression, and other clinically relevant parameters are assessed. By identifying the genes/proteins that are the most important contributors to metabolic regulation/dysregulation, his team hope to build a research platform using these targets to facilitate drug development for obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and other chronic diseases where defects in energy metabolism are implicated (e.g., fatty liver disease, chronic fatigue, etc.).
Sunita Vohra MD MSc FRCPC FCAHS
Steering Committee Member
Clinician Scientist and Professor Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry University of Alberta
Dr. Sunita Vohra MD MSc FRCPC FCAHS is a clinician scientist with training in pediatrics, clinical pharmacology, and clinical epidemiology. She is a Centennial Professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Alberta. Her primary research interest is enhancing clinical research methods, including: i) innovative clinical trial design; ii) active surveillance in safety research; and iii) improved outcomes reporting. Most often she has applied this interest to advance knowledge regarding patient use of complementary therapies.
With over 200 peer reviewed journal articles and 24 book chapters published, Dr. Vohra’s accomplishments have been recognized nationally and internationally. In 2013, Dr. Vohra's achievements were recognized by both the Dr. Roger's Prize for excellence in complementary medicine research and induction as a Fellow in the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, one of the highest honours for any member of the Canadian health research community. In 2016, Dr. Vohra received a Pioneer Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Working Groups
Sabrina Poirier
Sabrina worked within the private, public and not-for-profit sectors for over 20 years. Her work in politics, education and community development helped shape her perspective and fine-tune her approach to meaningful engagement and positive systems change.
Sabrina is a co-founder of the ICanCME Research Network, the Chair of its Working Group on Trainee Development and Medical Education and a member of the 2023-2025 Executive Committee.
From 2018-2021, she served as a Research Ambassador for the Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis (IMHA) at the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) and from 2020-2023 as a Community Advisory Committee member for the NIH-funded Collaborative Research Centers Network in the US.
Sabrina uses her knowledge, skills, expertise and personal experience as an individual living with ME (and several common comorbidities), in the fight to have the illness understood, cared for, researched and removed from the shadows once and for all.
Working Group – Diagnosis, Clinical Assessment, Trial Development
MANDATE
To identify significant gaps in clinical diagnosis/assessment and care for Canadians with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) and work to address those gaps. To consult on clinical trial development and clinical trial data.
LEADERSHIP
Chair - Dr. Hilary Robertson
MEMBERS
(Coming Soon)
Working Group – Epidemiology, Data Management & Study Design
MANDATE
To identify ways to implement and integrate the standardisation of databases and biobanking procedures for use by ME researchers. To increase awareness and knowledge regarding the need for greater safety practices, and appropriateness of tools and methods in ME and comorbidities research, which can be addressed through study design.
LEADERSHIP
(Coming Soon)
MEMBERS
(Coming Soon)
Working Group – Trainee Development & Medical Education
MANDATE
To focus on identifying and addressing significant challenges within medical education in Canada for all healthcare practitioners, from any backgrounds and at all levels. To foster the development of early career investigators and existing researchers, and sustain the activities of the ICanCME ACADEME.
LEADERSHIP
Chair - Sabrina Poirier - Community Development Leader (medically retired), Patient Partner
MEMBERS
(Coming Soon)
Working Group – Vascular Instabilities & Sleep Disturbances
MANDATE
To identify the current knowledge and gaps associated with vascular instabilities and sleep disturbances in the field of ME. To find new research approaches to address these issues and potential therapies, in ways that are safe and respectful to the community.
LEADERSHIP
Co-Chairs - Dr. Heather Edgell, School of Kinesiology and Health Sciences, York University and a Patient Partner (wishes to remain anonymous)
MEMBERS
(Coming Soon)
International College of Reviewers
The ICanCME Research Network has created an independent peer-review process with the participation of many international scientific and patient partner reviewers from around the world. The group provides valuable comments and feedback to Canadian researchers and trainees, as well as contributes to the promotion of scientific excellence and the integrity of our review process.
