Scientific Advisory Panel on Opioid Analgesic Abuse (SAP-OAA)

Contact: Policy Bureau Enquiries

Membership List and Biographies

Edward Sellers, MD, PhD, FRCPC, FACP
Nady el-Guebaly, MD, FRCPC
Andrea Furlan, MD, PhD
Raimar Löbenberg, PhD
William Pryse-Phillips, MD, FRCP
Beth Sproule, PharmD

Related Information: The Summary of Expertise, Experience and Affiliations and Interests for the Scientific Advisory Panel on Opioid Analgesic Abuse (SAP-OAA) accompanies the member biographies. It summarizes the information provided by each member regarding their expertise/experience, and their affiliations and interests, which is required as part of the nominations process.

Edward Sellers, MD, PhD, FRCPC, FACP

Dr. Edward Sellers is a graduate of the University of Toronto and Harvard University and an Internist/Clinical Pharmacologist. He is Professor Emeritus of Pharmacology, Medicine and Psychiatry, University of Toronto and has published more than 600 papers. His work has included the assessment of the abuse potential of drugs including tamper and abuse resistance and includes conducting more than 100 such studies. He is a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Advisory Committee on Drug Dependence. Currently he is the President of DL Global Partners Inc. providing strategic business and drug development advice.

Nady el-Guebaly, MD, FRCPC

Dr. Nady el-Guebaly is Professor and Head, Division of Addiction, Department of Psychiatry at the University of Calgary and past Chair of the Department. He is the Founding Past Medical Director of the Calgary Health Region's Addiction Program and Founding Past President of the International Society of Addiction Medicine. Currently, he is the Third Term Board Chair of the Alberta Gaming Research Institute; Past Chair, Addiction Psychiatry Section of the World Psychiatric Association; and Chief Examiner of the International Society of Addiction Medicine. Major research interests have resulted in 200 peer-reviewed papers and chapters, 500 abstracts, and 60 past and current research grants.

Andrea Furlan, MD, PhD

Dr. Andrea Furlan is Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto and staff physician and adjunct scientist at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute. She completed a PhD in Clinical Epidemiology and has extensive experience in reviewing the scientific literature for the Cochrane Collaboration and for clinical practice guidelines. Her focus is on treatments of chronic pain including medications, complementary and alternative therapies, and rehabilitation. She was the team leader for the development of the Canadian Opioid Guideline, and is now involved with Guideline's National Faculty in dissemination and implementation of this guideline across Canada.

Raimar Löbenberg, PhD

Dr. Raimar Löbenberg holds a BSc in pharmacy from the Johannes Gutenberg-University in Mainz, Germany. He received his PhD in pharmaceutics from the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University in Frankfurt in 1996. He worked on the fundamentals of the Biopharmaceutical Drug Classification System (BSC) with other international experts in Frankfurt, Germany and in Ann Arbor Michigan. He is founder and director of the Drug Development and Innovation Centre at the University of Alberta. His research interests are in dissolution testing to predict the oral performance of dosage forms and in Biopharmaceutics. The application of nanotechnology for drug delivery is another major research interest.

William Pryse-Phillips, MD, FRCP

Dr. William Pryse-Phillips is emeritus Professor of Medicine (Neurology) at Memorial University of Newfoundland. After graduation in 1961 he trained in Psychiatry, Medicine and Neurology in the UK, coming to Canada in 1970 to complete neurological training at Queen's and McGill before his appointment at Memorial in 1972. His books include Epilepsy (John Wright, Bristol, 1969); Essential Neurology (with Dr. TJ Murray; 4^th English edition 1993, Elsevier; also Arabic and Spanish editions); and Companion to Clinical Neurology (1994, Little, Brown; Japanese edition 1998; 2^nd edition 2003, 3^rd edition 2009, OUP). He described and named the Olfactory Reference Syndrome in 1971 but his other peer-reviewed journal publications (over 120) and book chapters have dealt with migraine, multiple sclerosis, genetic conditions such as myotonic dystrophy and hereditary neuropathies, medical ethics and neurological history.

Beth Sproule, PharmD

Dr. Beth Sproule is an Advanced Practice Pharmacist / Clinician Scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto, and an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Pharmacy and Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. She received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Wayne State University, Detroit, USA and her B.Sc.Phm. degree from the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto. She completed a clinical residency and a post-doctoral research fellowship at the Addiction Research Foundation (now part of CAMH). Her research program focuses on mental health medications, pharmacy practice and prescription drug abuse.