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Scientific Advisory Committee on Respiratory and Allergy Therapies (SAC-RAT)

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Membership List and Biographies

Core Members:

Ad Hoc Members:

Related Information: The Summary of Expertise, Experience, Affiliations and Interests for the Scientific Advisory Committee on Respiratory and Allergy Therapies 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.

Core Members

Irvin Mayers, MD, FRCPC (Chair)

Professor of Medicine and Divisional Director of Pulmonary Medicine,
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta

Biography:

Irvin Mayers is a Professor of Medicine and the Divisional Director of Pulmonary Medicine at the University of Alberta. He obtained his MD from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg and moved to the University of Saskatchewan (1985). He then moved to the University of Alberta (1994) and has been divisional director of Pulmonary Medicine since 2001. His clinical interests include asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and sleep medicine. He is past president of the Canadian Thoracic Society (CTS) and the current Chair of the CTS Research Committee. He is an active collaborator within the University of Alberta Pulmonary Research Group and is evaluating the role of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to better define metabolic pathways and improve the understanding of phenotypic variability in asthma.

Donald W. Cockcroft, MD, FRCPC

Professor, Division of Respiratory Medicine, University of Saskatchewan
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Biography:

Donald W. Cockcroft is a Professor in the Division of Respiratory Medicine, Department of Medicine, at the University of Saskatchewan. He graduated with a medical degree from the University of British Columbia (UBC). Specialty training included two years of General Internal Medicine and one year of Allergy and Clinical Immunology at the Royal Victoria Hospital (McGill University) in Montreal, one year of Clinical Respiratory Medicine at St. Paul's Hospital (UBC) in Vancouver, and two years of research experience in Chest and Allergy (asthma) at St. Joseph's Hospital (McMaster University) in Hamilton, Ontario. His specialty (fellowship) in General Internal Medicine was obtained from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Clinical Immunology, a Fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians and past-President of the Canadian Thoracic Society. He has presented approximately 230 invited lectures at international, national, and regional meetings. He has co-authored more than 199 research papers, as well as in excess of 93 review articles and/or book chapters. His current interests include asthma and research into both allergic and non-allergic airway responsiveness.

Sharon Dell, BEng, MD, FRCPC

Pediactric Respirologist, Hospital for Sick Children
Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario

Biography:

Sharon Dell is a Pediatric Respirologist and Senior Associate Scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children. She is also an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Toronto. She received her medical degree from the University of Toronto. Her main research interest is in the epidemiology of children's airways diseases, including asthma and primary ciliary dyskinesia. She has a particular interest in identifying modifiable environmental risk factors for childhood asthma. She is currently the principal investigator on the T-CHEQ study - a large epidemiological study funded by Health Canada investigating the effects of traffic-related air pollution on respiratory outcomes in Toronto school children. She is also co-investigator on the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) funded "CHILD" study, a longitudinal multi-center Canadian birth cohort designed to determine the complex relationships between gene, environment, airway development and clinical asthma expression.

Alan Kaplan, MD, CCFP (EM), FCFP

Family Physician
Richmond Hill, Ontario

Biography:

Alan Kaplan is a Family Physician practicing in Richmond Hill, Ontario. He graduated with a medical degree from the University of Toronto. He is the Chairperson of the Family Physician Airways Group of Canada, a board member of the International Primary Care Respiratory Group (IPCRG) and President of the IPCRG 5th bi-annual world scientific meeting, "Making Every Breath Count," Toronto 2010. He is a member of the Canadian Consensus Guidelines for Asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Sinusitis and a representative of the College of Family Physicians of Canada to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) clinical working group. He is a board member of the Canadian Network of Asthma Care, a member of the Chronic Respiratory Disease Surveillance Advisory Committee (Public Health Agency of Canada), and the International Editor for the International Primary Care Respiratory Journal.

Darcy D. Marciniuk, MD, FRCPC, FCCP

Professor of Medicine and Head, Division of Respirology, University of Saskatchewan
Medical Director, LiveWell™ Chronic Disease Management Portfolio, Saskatoon Health Region
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Biography:

Darcy D. Marciniuk is a Professor of Medicine, and Head of the Division of Respirology, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada. He is Chair of the Canadian Thoracic Society's Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Guideline Committee, and Medical Director of the LiveWell™ Chronic Disease Management Program for the Saskatoon Health Region. He is also a member of the Canadian National Lung Health Framework Steering Committee, a Regent of the American College of Chest Physicians, and a Trustee of the Chest Foundation. He is a Past-President of the Canadian Thoracic Society. His interests in respiratory medicine include COPD and exercise physiology.

William J. Racz, BSPharm, MSc, PhD

Professor Emeritus, Department of Pharmacology, Queen's University
Kingston, Ontario

Biography:

William J. Racz obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacy from the University of Saskatchewan. After three years of practice, he obtained a Master of Science degree in Medicinal Chemistry and a Doctorate in Pharmacology, both from the University of Alberta. He was appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacology at Queen's University in 1970, to the rank of Professor in 1984 and as Professor Emeritus in 2004. He has served as president of the Society of Toxicology of Canada and is currently editor of their newsletter. His research interests include drug-induced liver injury, pulmonary toxicity and heavy metal toxicity. He has also served on several grant panels for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Over the past 20 years he has been a consultant on generic drugs to the Committee to Evaluate Drugs for the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care of Ontario. He is also a member of Health Canada's Scientific Advisory Committees on Bioavailability and Bioequivalence (SAC-BB), where he brings expertise on bioequivalence of drug products and basic pharmacology and toxicology of therapeutic agents respectively.

Robert Schellenberg, MD, FRCPC, FAAAAI

Allergist/Immunologist, St. Paul's Hospital
Professor, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia
Vancouver, British Columbia

Biography:

Robert Schellenberg is an Internist and Allergist/Immunologist at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver and a Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the UBC. He is also Head of the Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology in the Department of Medicine, UBC. He received his medical degree from the University of Manitoba and did post-doctoral training at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg and at the John Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore. Dr. Schellenberg received both Fellowship and Scientist awards from the Medical Research Council of Canada. The focus of his research is on asthma and allergic inflammation with primary interests in the mechanisms of excessive airway narrowing of asthmatic tissues. His other major focus is optimizing home management of Primary Immune Deficiency patients. He has been awarded the Research in Immunology Award by the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and received the Jerry Dolovich Award for outstanding contributions to the specialty in Canada. Dr. Schellenberg is past president of the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and is chair of the examination committee for Clinical Immunology for the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

Don D. Sin, MD, FRCPC

Associate Professor and Associate Head of Research, Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia
Vancouver, British Columbia

Biography:

Don D. Sin is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the UBC, a Canada Research Chair in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), and the Associate Head of Research at the UBC Department of Medicine. He is also a staff respirologist at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver. He obtained his medical degree from the University of Alberta in Edmonton and his Masters Degree in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. He has published approximately 150 peer-reviewed articles and has written numerous editorials and book chapters. He serves as an editorial board member of several journals including the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine and Chest. He is a member of the Scientific Section of the Global initiative for chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) Committee.

Matthew Stanbrook, MD, PhD, FRCPC

Assistant Professor, Departments of Medicine and Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto
Staff Physician, Asthma and Airway Centre, Division of Respirology, University Health Network
Toronto, Ontario

Biography:

Matthew Stanbrook obtained his medical degree as well as a PhD in Clinical Epidemiology from the University of Toronto. He completed residency training in Toronto in Internal Medicine and Respirology and also completed the Royal College Clinician Investigator Program. From 2001-2002, he served as Editorial Fellow at The New England Journal of Medicine. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto, a staff Respirologist at the Asthma and Airway Centre of the University Health Network, and a researcher at The Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences in Ontario (ICES). He is also Deputy Editor (Scientific) of the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) and an Associate Editor of American College of Physicians (ACP) Journal Club. His clinical and research interests include the epidemiology of airways diseases and the role of medical journals in knowledge translation.

Harissios Vliagoftis, MD

Associate Professor and Director, Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta

Biography:

Harrisios Vliagoftis is an Associate Professor and Director of the Division of Pulmonary Medicine at the University of Alberta. He graduated with a medical degree from the Aristotle University School of Medicine in Thessaloniki, Greece. His specialty training included fellowships in Clinical Immunology and Allergy at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases with the National Institutes of Health and research training at the Pulmonary Research Group at the University of Alberta. Subsequently, Dr. Vliagoftis received a doctorate in Medicine from the Aristotle University School of Medicine. He is board certified with the American Board of Allergy and Immunology. As well, Dr. Vliagoftis is a member of several scientific societies including the Canadian Society for Immunology, the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and the Canadian Thoracic Society. He is the Vice Chair of the Thoracic Network of Alberta and NWT and is a member of both the "Alberta Breathes" Executive Committee and The Lung Association of Alberta and NWT. Dr. Vliagoftis' research interests include the role of proteinases and Proteinase-Activated Receptors in asthma, as well as the role of psychological stress on allergic sensitization and allergic airway inflammation. His research has been presented at various national and international conferences. He has published several book chapters and non-peer reviewed manuscripts in addition to more than 35 original research publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Ad hoc Members

Myrna Dolovich, B.Eng., P.Eng.

Professor (Part-time), Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University
Hamilton, Ontario

Biography:

Myrna Dolovich is a Professor (part-time) of Medicine in the Faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. She received her Bachelors Degree in Electrical Engineering from McGill University in and worked initially in the Cardio-Respiratory Department at the Royal Victoria Hospital, investigating ventilation-perfusion relationships in man. Her on-going research at the Firestone Institute of Respiratory Health at McMaster involves investigations into the behaviour of therapeutic aerosols in the lung, with special interest in the measurement of lung deposition and distribution in patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), using both 2D and 3D imaging techniques. Current work also involves the function of epithelial cell cilia in COPD. She has published 140 book chapters and peer-reviewed papers in the medical literature and has spoken extensively on pulmonary drug delivery systems and imaging. She currently serves as Chair of the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) Technical Sub-Committee and Head of the Delegation to the Canadian Advisory Council for the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Technical Committee 84 dealing with standards for drug delivery devices. In 2006, she was awarded the American Association of Aerosol Research (AAAR) / ISAM Thomas T Mercer Prize, and in 2009, the ISAM Career Achievement Award.

Allan Donner, PhD

Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Western Ontario
Director of Biometrics, Robarts Clinical Trials, Robarts Research Institutes
London, Ontario

Biography:

Allan Donner is a Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and Director of Biometrics at Robarts Clinical Trials, Robarts Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario. He did his undergraduate work at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba and obtained his doctorate degree in Statistics from Harvard University. His methodological research includes contributions to the design and analysis of clinical trials, with related publications over the last ten years appearing in various medical and statistical journals. He has a special interest in community intervention trials, and is co-author of the text "Design and Analysis of Cluster Randomization Trials in Health Research" (Arnold Publishing Company, 2000). This interest has led to his involvement as a co-investigator on several funded studies in perinatal epidemiology sponsored by the World Health Organization. He is also a consultant with the International Vaccine Institute based in Seoul, South Korea on trials randomizing entire communities to vaccines designed to prevent typhoid and other infectious diseases in developing countries. He is also a member of several Scientific Advisory Committees for Health Canada, including the Scientific Advisory Committee on Bioavailability and Bioequivalence (SAC-BB) and the Scientific Advisory Committee on Oncology Therapies (SAC-OT).

Edmund Lui, PhD

Associate Professor, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology
University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario

Biography:

Edmund Lui is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario. He received his education and research training in pharmacy, pharmacology, and toxicology from Dalhousie University and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. He is the Scientific Director of the Ontario Ginseng Innovation and Research Consortium (OGIRC), which was established in 2008 through a grant from the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation - Research Excellence Program. His research focuses on mechanisms of action of herbal products to provide pharmacological plausibility for their medicinal use. These studies contribute to the evidence-based practice of herbal medicine as well as the development of pharmacological markers for the standardization of natural health products. He is also the President of the Canadian Institute of Chinese Medicinal Research and the Founding Editor of the Journal of Complementary and Integrative Medicine (Berkeley Electronic Press). He served on the Expert Advisory Committee on Complementary Medicine of the Therapeutic Product Programme of Health Canada (1997-2000) and has provided consultation to the Natural Health Products Directorate (NHPD) concerning research in Traditional Chinese Medicines in Canada.

Larry Lynd, PhD

Associate Professor, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of British Columbia
Vancouver, British Columbia

Biography:

Larry Lynd received his Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacy from the University of Saskatchewan followed by his hospital pharmacy residency at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver. He completed his PhD in the Department of Health Care and Epidemiology at the University of British Columbia, receiving funding from the Medical Research Council of Canada, Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) and the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR). He also completed a 2-year post-doctoral fellowship in health economics at McMaster University. He is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at UBC and a Scientist at the Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcomes Sciences at Providence Health. He holds a Scholar Award from the MSFHR and is a New Investigator for CIHR. He has more than 50 peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, and research abstracts and his primary research interests are in the areas of risk-benefit analysis, pharmacoepidemiology, and health economics.

Parameswaran Nair, MD, PhD, FRCP, FRCPC

Associate Professor of Medicine, McMaster University
Staff Respirologist, St. Joseph's Healthcare
Hamilton, Ontario

Biography:

Parameswaran Nair is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Respirology at McMaster University and a Staff physician at the Firestone Institute for Respiratory Health at St. Joseph's Healthcare in Hamilton, Ontario. He holds a Canada Research Chair in Airway Inflammometry. He graduated from the University of Kerala (Trivandrum, India) in 1988. He trained in general and respiratory medicine at the Medical college hospital in Trivandrum (1988-92), Royal Sussex and Royal Sunderland Hospitals in England (1993-96) and at McMaster University (1996-2003), where he completed his doctoral thesis on studies related to leukotriene biology in human airways and clinical inflammometry. His research focuses on developing and applying non-invasive measurements of airway inflammation in the treatment of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), particularly in patients with difficult-to-control and prednisone-dependent asthma.

Rama Chandran Nair, MSc, PhD, FACE

Associate Dean, Professional Affairs, Faculty of Medicine
Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine
University of Ottawa
Ottawa, Ontario

Biography:

Rama C. Nair is a Professor of Epidemiology and Community Medicine (Biostatistics) and the Associate Dean for Professional Affairs in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa. He received his Master of Statistics (Biostatistics) from the Indian Statistical Institute in Calcutta as well as his Master of Science (Mathematics) from the University of Windsor and a PhD (Biometrics) from Cornell University. He is a Fellow of the American College of Epidemiology. His research interests include the application of biostatistics methods to health research, clinical trials and international health. He has published over 90 articles in referenced journals and has contributed to many scientific presentations around the world. He is a member of various Scientific Advisory Committees, including Health Canada's Scientific Advisory Committee on Bioavailability and Bioequivalence (SAC-BB) and consults extensively on the design and analysis of population health studies. He has given several workshops on research methodology internationally, in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

Maureen E. Patterson, Advanced Registered Technologist (ART)

Patient advocate, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD),
Transfusion Medicine Consultant
Edmonton, Alberta

Biography:

Maureen E. Patterson is a patient with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diagnosed in 2007. She has since been active in the Centre for Lung Health Program at the Edmonton General Hospital in Edmonton, Alberta, where she has access to the opinions of many patients suffering from various forms of COPD as well as the expertise of the highly qualified staff members at this facility. She has years of previous professional experience in the Transfusion Medicine Laboratory, dealing with research, standards and regulatory affairs, performing audits and assessments both in Canada and the United States as well as other related sub-contract positions.

William Swan

Patient advocate (asthma) / Volunteer, Asthma Society of Canada
Hubley, Nova Scotia

Biography:

William Swan is a well-controlled severe asthmatic diagnosed when he was two. He is passionate about the need for patients to take a more active role in all aspects of health and health care in Canada. He writes periodically about these issues as well as what it's like to live with asthma on his blog LifeWithAsthma.

He has conducted and published research on the Canadian health care system, but for the past fifteen years has run international and national academic health associations. He holds a Master of Health Administration from the University of Ottawa and a Bachelor of Commerce from Saint Mary's University in Halifax.

He volunteers his time with Health Canada's Scientific Advisory Committee on Respiratory and Allergy Therapies (SAC-RAT), AllerGen, The Allergy, Genes and Environment Network, the National Asthma Patient Alliance, the Asthma Society of Canada and the Nova Scotia Citizens' Health Care Network.

Susan Waserman, MSc, MD, FRCPC

Professor, Division of Allergy/Clinical Immunology, McMaster University
Director, Firestone Institute of Respiratory Health, St Joseph's Hospital
Hamilton, Ontario

Biography:

Susan Waserman obtained her Master of Science and Medical Degrees from McGill University. She specialized in Internal Medicine, followed by subspecialty training in Allergy/Clinical Immunology and completed a 2 year fellowship at the Meakins Christie Laboratories at McGill University in Montreal. She is currently a Professor of Medicine, in the Division of Allergy/Clinical Immunology at McMaster University in Hamilton. She is also the Director of the Adverse Reactions Clinic at the Firestone Institute of Respiratory Health, St Joseph's Hospital. She was Training Program Director of the Allergy /Clinical Immunology training program for 13 years. She is extensively involved in medical education in both academic and community settings, and has an active hospital based clinical practice in adult and pediatric allergy/ immunology. Research interests and activities include clinical trials in a variety of therapeutic areas related to allergy with a focus on food related anaphylaxis, as well as asthma and rhinitis. She is the past President of the Ontario and Canadian Societies of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, where activities included continuing medical education for physicians, allied health professionals and the community, as well as practice guidelines in areas such as anaphylaxis, rhinitis and immunotherapy.

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