Notre équipe

Comité de pilotage

The Community Leadership Team 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 Community Leadership Team. The Community Leadership Team oversees the creation and implementation of an annual work plan for the Network, with input from the Steering Committee and Working Groups.

Alain Moreau PhD

Full Professor
Department of Stomatology, Faculty of Dentistry
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine
Université de Montreal

Scientific Director
Open Medicine Foundation Collaborative Research Center at CHU Sainte-Justine/Université de Montréal
Viscogliosi Laboratory in Molecular Genetics of Musculoskeletal Disease
CHU Sainte-Justine Research Centre
Montreal, Quebec

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.

Sabrina Poirier

Steering Committee Member
Executive Committee Member

Community Development Leader/Patient Partner
Halifax, Nova Scotia

Sabrina Poirier travaille dans les secteurs privés, publics et sans but lucratif depuis plus de 20 ans. Ses activités en politique, en éducation et en développement communautaire ont contribué à articuler sa perspective et raffiner son approche en matière d’engagement significatif et d’amélioration des systèmes.

Elle est co-fondatrice du Réseau canadien de recherche concertée interdisciplinaire sur l’encéphalomyélite myalgique (IcanCME), présidente de son groupe de travail qui se consacre à l’éducation médicale et au développement de stagiaires et membre du conseil de direction 2023-2025.

De 2018 à 2021, elle a été Ambassadrice de la recherche pour l’Institut de l’appareil locomoteur et de l’arthrite (IALA) – l’un des Instituts de recherche en santé du Canada (IRSC) – et, de 2020 à 2023, membre du comité consultatif communautaire du réseau américain des centres de recherche collaborative (Collaborative Research Centers Network) subventionné par les Instituts nationaux de la santé (National Institutes of Health ou NIH).

Sabrina Poirier déploie toutes ses ressources – connaissances, habiletés, expertise et expérience personnelle comme personne vivant avec l’encéphalomyélite myalgique – dans le combat pour faire avancer la compréhension, le traitement et la recherche et faire sortir la maladie de l’ombre une fois pour toutes.

Farah Tabassum, M.D.

Steering Committee Member
Executive Committee Member

Consultant Physician
Environmental Health Clinic
Women’s College Hospital
Toronto, Ontario

D^re Farah Tabassum est membre du personnel à titre de médecin consultante à la clinique de santé environnementale de l’hôpital Women’s College (Women’s College Hospital’s Environmental Health Clinic) et, à temps partiel, chargée d’enseignement clinique au département de médecine familiale et communautaire à l’université de Toronto.

Avant de se joindre à la clinique, elle avait effectué un fellowship d’un an en santé environnementale clinique dans le cadre du programme de perfectionnement des compétences offert par le département. En parallèle, elle avait terminé sa formation en médecine fonctionnelle à l’Institut de médecine fonctionnelle et obtenu son agrément comme praticienne. Auparavant, elle avait été psychothérapeute puis, pendant douze ans, membre du personnel du centre de santé communautaire Four Villages (The Four Villages Community Health Centre).

En plus de travailler à la clinique de santé environnementale, elle est aussi médecin consultante au sein du groupe de médecine ontarien eConsult, où elle traite les questions ayant trait à l’exténuement relié au syndrôme post-Covid et à diverses conditions chroniques complexes en santé environnementale. En juin 2023, elle s’est jointe au centre ontarien des pratiques efficaces (Centre for Effective Practice) en tant que cheffe clinique pour contribuer à la mise au point d’un outil destiné aux soins cliniques primaires dans les cas d’encéphalomyélite myalgique, de tachycardie orthostatique posturale, de fibromyalgie et d’hypersensibilité chimique multiple.

Elle a toujours été animée par un profond intérêt pour les approches intégratives en matière de santé, mieux-être et prévention. Elle avait d’abord obtenu son diplôme en médecine à la faculté de médecine de l’université McGill, puis son diplôme en médecine familiale à l’université McMaster en 2001.

Comité exécutif

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.

Alain Moreau PhD

Full Professor
Department of Stomatology, Faculty of Dentistry
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine
Université de Montreal

Carrie Anna McGinn, MSc

Community Leadership Team Member
Chair, Working Group – Vascular Instabilities and Sleep Disturbances

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

Community Leadership Team 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.

Paul Lohnes, CPA

Community Leadership Team Member

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

Community Leadership Team Member
Chair, Working Group – Trainee Development and Medical Education

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 Community Leadership Team.

Farah Tabassum, MD

Community Leadership Team Member

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.

Maeghan Taverner

Community Leadership Team Member

Maeghan Taverner (iel/elle) est un·e artiste et défenseur·e des droits situé·e à Kjipuktuk/Halifax, en Nouvelle-Écosse. Iel a été membre du comité directeur d’ICanCME et fait maintenant partie de l’équipe de leadership communautaire. Iel vit avec une encéphalomyélite myalgique ainsi que quelques autres maladies rares, et partage donc son expertise issue de ses expériences en milieu hospitalier et en clinique externe. Iel est également président·e du conseil d’administration de Dance Nova Scotia et préside son Comité sur l’accessibilité. Iel détient un baccalauréat spécialisé en théâtre et sociologie de l’Université Dalhousie. Iel était étudiant·e aux cycles supérieurs en sociologie lorsqu’iel a développé la maladie en 2019. Iel consacre maintenant son temps à la défense des droits des personnes en situation de handicap et souhaite contribuer à la création d’espaces plus accessibles et inclusifs.

Trudy Flynn

Community Leadership Team Member

Trudy Flynn est une infirmière retraitée pour raisons médicales originaire de la Nouvelle-Écosse. Elle est partenaire-patiente et s’implique dans le domaine de la mobilisation des patients depuis plus de 14 ans. Trudy vit avec la fibromyalgie depuis plus de 30 ans et a été aidante naturelle pour sa fille et son mari, tous deux diagnostiqués avec l’encéphalomyélite myalgique (EM). Depuis, elle demeure active au sein de la communauté EM.

Trudy est présidente de l’Association canadienne de la fibromyalgie, a collaboré avec l’Unité de soutien SPOR des Maritimes et est diplômée en tant qu’ambassadrice en mobilisation des patients, ayant contribué au développement de modules sur l’engagement des patients pour l’IRSC-IMHA. Elle travaille actuellement à l’élaboration de modules de formation chez CanTrain et participe à divers projets de recherche à travers le pays. Trudy a aussi été membre du comité de pilotage de ICanCME et fait maintenant partie de l’Équipe de Leadership Communautaire.