NACI Membership/Representation

Chairperson
Dr. Joanne Langley
IWK Health Centre and Dalhousie University
Halifax, Nova Scotia

Joanne Langley is on the Faculty of Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics at Dalhousie University. She is Associate Centre Director of the Clinical Trials Research Centre - Infectious Diseases, a consultant in pediatric infectious diseases at the IWK Health Centre and medical director of Infection Control Services. She obtained a BA at Queen's University at Kingston and graduated from Dalhousie Medical School. Her pediatric training was done at the IWK Children's Hospital and the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto. She completed a Masters of Science in Clinical Epidemiology (Design, Measurement and Evaluation) at McMaster University and postgraduate training in pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Toronto and the Hospital for Sick Children. Dr. Langley's research interests include various aspects of pediatric infectious diseases with a focus on respiratory infections, vaccine preventable diseases and infection control. She currently serves on the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI), the Canadian Pediatric Infectious Disease Society Infectious Diseases and Immunization Committee and the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care.

Vice-Chair
Dr. Bryna Warshawsky
Middlesex-London Health Unit
London, Ontario

Bryna Warshawsky is the Associate Medical Officer of Health and Director, Communicable Disease and Sexual Health Services for the Middlesex-London Health Unit. She graduated from McGill University in Medicine in 1986. After working as a family practitioner for three years, she returned to the University of Toronto and obtained a Master's of Health Science Degree in Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and a fellowship from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in Community Medicine. She joined the Middlesex-London Health Unit in September 1994 where her main areas of responsibilities are the prevention and control of communicable diseases and development of sexual health programming. Her areas of interest include vaccine preventable diseases and outbreak management. She is cross-appointed in both the Departments of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and Family Medicine at the University of Western Ontario.

MEMBERS

Ms. Anita Hanrahan
Alberta Health Services
Edmonton, Alberta

Anita Hanrahan is a public health nurse and Director of Communicable Disease Control in the Capital Health Region of Alberta, an integrated health region providing services to approximately one million persons. She completed her Master of Nursing degree from the University of Alberta and is currently an Associate Faculty Member. Under the direction of the Medical Officer of Health, she is responsible for setting the strategic direction of, and standards for, the immunization program in the region, as well as assessing the immunization coverage rates achieved. In addition, she is responsible for the Sexually Transmitted Disease Centre, the Tuberculosis Clinic, Travellers Health Services and the Immunization Business Unit, Regional Infection Control, and the Communicable Disease Nurse Specialists. Anita is also a Facilitator for Health Canada’s Skills Enhancement for Health Surveillance initiative.

Dr. Kevin B. Laupland
University of Calgary
Calgary, Alberta

Kevin Laupland is an Assistant Professor of Medicine, Critical Care Medicine, Community Health Sciences, and Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Calgary and is Deputy Director, Centre for Anti-microbial Resistance. He graduated from the University of Toronto in 1996 and completed residencies in Internal Medicine, Infectious Diseases, and Critical Care Medicine and graduate studies in epidemiology at the University of Calgary. His research interests include the population-based epidemiology of severe infections and those due to anti-microbial resistant pathogens.

Dr. Allison McGeer
Mount Sinai/Toronto Medical Laboratories
Toronto, Ontario

Allison McGeer received her BSc and MSc in Biochemistry from the University of Toronto, before entering medical school. She trained in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases at the University of Toronto, and completed a fellowship in hospital epidemiology at Yale-New Haven Hospital. She is now a Microbiologist and the Director of Infection Control at the Mount Sinai Hospital, and a professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at the University of Toronto, with cross appointments in Medicine and Public Health Sciences. Her research interests include antimicrobial resistance, infection prevention in hospitals and nursing homes, and adult vaccination.

Dr. Shelly McNeil
QEII Health Sciences Centre
Halifax, Nova Scotia

Shelly McNeil is currently an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics and an Infectious Diseases Consultant at the QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Dr. McNeil completed her medical education at Dalhousie University followed by a three-year residency in Internal Medicine at Dalhousie and a three-year fellowship in Infectious Diseases at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Dr. McNeil returned to Dalhouise as an Assistant Professor of Medicine in 2000 and is currently cross-appointed with the Department of Pediatrics. Dr. McNeil is a Clinical Investigator at the Clinical Trials Research Center and the Canadian Centre for Vaccinology, Halifax where her research focuses on the evaluation of vaccine-preventable diseases in the elderly and in pregnant women and early-phase clinical trials of new vaccines targeted at adult populations. Dr. McNeil has recently been awarded the Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine Clinical Research Scholar Award for the period 2005-2010.

Dr. Blair Seifert
Health Science Centre
Winnipeg, Manitoba

Blair Seifert is a Clinical Pharmacist at the Children's Hospital, Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg and is cross appointed as Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and Child Health at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Manitoba. He is a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan College of Pharmacy, and received his Doctor of Pharmacy degree with a specialty in Pediatric Clinical Pharmacy in 1981. 

Dr. Seifert is involved with several Provincial, National and International pharmacy and medical organizations. He has participated in National and International committees and forums related to medication use in children and expectant parents as well as participating in the planning and delivery of continuing, professional development programs for pharmacists, physicians, and nurses, and many education programs for families. The use of vaccines and other immunizing agents to prevent disease is an integral part of his practice.

Dr. Danuta Skowronski
BC Centre for Disease Control
Vancouver, BC

Danuta Skowronski is a physician epidemiologist at the BC Centre for Disease Control responsible for surveillance, policy, program planning and research activities related to respiratory-borne infections. She has been with the BCCDC for 7 years. Prior to this, Dr. Skowronski was a Medical Health Officer in the Lower Mainland of BC for five years. She is a Medical Doctor who subsequently completed a Master's in Epidemiology and Fellowship training in Community Medicine/Public Health.

Dr. Skowronski was responsible for human health recommendations during outbreaks of avian influenza among poultry in British Columbia in 2004 and was also instrumental in the public health response to SARS in BC in 2003.

Dr. Ben Tan
Royal University Hospital
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Ben Tan received his medical degree from the University of Toronto in 1984, his certification in paediatrics in 1989 and his certification in infectious diseases in 1991, both from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. His paediatric residency and his infectious diseases fellowship training were with the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, University of Ottawa. He was field epidemiologist with the Immunization Division of the Laboratory Centre for Disease Control, Health Canada in 1991-92, and has been a paediatric infectious diseases consultant with the Royal University Hospital, Saskatoon since 1992 as well as associate professor since 1995. He also served as program director for the Paediatrics Residency Training Program, University of Saskatchewan from 1998 to 2002 and on the Infectious Diseases and Paediatrics Examination Boards, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada from 1996 to 2000 for infectious diseases and since 2002 for paediatrics. He was a member of the Infectious Diseases and Immunization Committee of the Canadian Paediatric Society (CPS) from 1994 to 2000 and Editor-in-chief of the immigrant health guide published by the CPS in 1999. He has been a member of the Immunization Monitoring Program, Active (IMPACT) since 1999.

EXECUTIVE SECRETARY

Dr. Shainoor Virani

LIAISON REPRESENTATIVES

Canadian Association for Immunization Research and Evaluation (CAIRE)
Dr. David Scheifele
Vancouver, BC

The Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease Canada (AMMI)
Dr. Pamela Orr
Winnipeg , Manitoba

Canadian Nursing Coalition for Immunization
Ms. Karen Pielak
Vancouver, BC

Canadian Paediatric Society
Dr. Marina Salvadori
London , Ontario

Canadian Public Health Association
Dr. Nadine Sicard

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Dr. Beth Bell
Atlanta, Georgia, USA

College of Family Physicians of Canada
Dr. Shelley Rechner
Hamilton, Ontario

Committee to Advise on Tropical Medicine & Travel
Dr. Pierre Plourde

Community and Hospital Infection and Control Association
Suzanne Pelletier

Council of Chief Medical Officers of Health
Vacant

Society of Obstetrics and Gyneacologists
Vyta Senikas

EX-OFFICIO REPRESENTATIVES

Canadian Forces Health Services Group Headquarters
Major Paul C. Laforce
Communicable Disease Control Program
Ottawa, Ontario

First Nations and Inuit Health Branch
Dr. RoseMarie Ramsingh
Ottawa, Ontario

Health Products and Food Branch
Dr. Farid Hindieh
Biologics and Genetic Therapies Directorate
Health Canada
Ottawa, Ontario

Centre for Immunization and Respiratory Infectious Diseases (CIRID) - Vaccine Safety
Dr. Barbara Law
Public Health Agency of Canada
Ottawa, Ontario

Centre for Immunization and Respiratory Infectious Diseases (CIRID) -
Canadian Immunization Committee
Ms. Manahz FarhangMehr
Public Health Agency of Canada
Ottawa, Ontario

Center for Immunization and Respiratory Infectious Diseases(CIRID) -
Surveillance and Outbreak Response
Dr. Shalini Desai
Public Health Agency of Canada
Ottawa, Ontario

ADMINISTRATION

Secretariat
Centre for Immunization and Respiratory Infectious Diseases (CIRID)
NACI@phac-aspc.gc.ca
Immunization and Respiratory Infections Division
Centre for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control
Public Health Agency of Canada
Ottawa, Ontario