BCCHR - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Clinical Research Coordinator
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- Member of the Research Group
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- Member of the Research Group
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- Member of the Research Group
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- Member of the Research Group
- Doctoral Student
Job Titles:
- Member of the Research Group
- Doctoral Student, Medical Genetics
Job Titles:
- Member of the Research Group
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- Member of the Research Group
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- General Pediatrics Fellow
Job Titles:
- Member of the Research Group
- Research Coordinator
Ashton graduated from Simon Fraser University with a BSc and majored in Kinesiology. She has been with BioBank since she started as a co-op student in 2015. Outside of work, she likes to stay active, craft, bake, and work on home renovations!
Job Titles:
- Member of the Research Group
- Graduate Student
- Masters Student
Avani is an MSc student in the School of Population and Public Health at The University of British Columbia. She started at VEC in September 2021 and is working under the supervision of Dr Julie Bettinger. Her research is focused on Meningococcal disease and vaccination.
Job Titles:
- Pediatric Infectious Diseases Fellow
Bernice is a graduate student in the Microbiology and Immunology program at the University of British Columbia, working under the supervision of Dr. Manish Sadarangani at the VEC. Her project focuses on describing the epidemiology of invasive pneumococcal disease and the effects of new generation conjugate vaccines.
With prior experience in pharmaceutical quality control and research development, Bernice's previous background is marked by valuable contributions to softgel formula development. Her journey into her current role began during her undergraduate studies in the Combined Honours program in Biochemistry and Forensic Science, a joint UBC and BCIT program. Now, as a research technician at Gut4Health, Bernice is grateful for the opportunity to contribute her skills and knowledge to the team.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Research Group
- Summer Student - Research Assistant
Job Titles:
- Laboratory Staff Member
- Lab Manager for Kollman and Sadarangani Labs
Job Titles:
- Clinical Research Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Director
- Hospital Foundation Research Institute
Brynn McMillan is a PhD student in Experimental Medicine at the University of British Columbia, where she is supervised by Dr. Agatha Jassem at the BC Centre for Disease Control and Dr. Manish Sadarangani at the VEC. Brynn's research focuses on SARS-CoV-2 humoral immune responses in the context of infection and vaccine-elicited immunity.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Coordinator
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- Member of the Data Team
- Assistant Data Coordinator
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- Member of the Research Group
- Research Asst / Tech 2 - Emergency
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- Member of the Research Group
- Neuroinformatics Engineer
Job Titles:
- Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine
- Expert Opinion on Pharmacotherapy
- Hospital Foundation Research Institute
- Investigator, BC Children 's Hospital / Professor Emeritus, Division of Infectious and Immunological Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia
- Paediatrics & Child Health
Dr. Scheifele is one of the original founders of the VEC and was the VEC Director from 1988-2016. In 2012, he was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the prevention of infections in children. Dr. Scheifele is a pediatric infectious disease specialist and his many interests include the prevention of influenza, haemophilus influenzae type b infections (which cause meningitis), pneumococcal infections, and vaccine safety.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Research Group
- Research Assistant
Job Titles:
- Member of the Research Group
Dr. Doan's research program comprises projects evaluating pediatric emergency department patterns of use, the quality of the care provided, and the efficiency of service delivery. She aims to answer questions pertaining to the population's need for pediatric emergency care, how well the health-care system is equipped to meet this need, and how we can maintain or improve the quality and value of the care provided to children and families seeking help in emergency settings.
As a member of Pediatric Emergency Research Canada (PERC), Dr. Doan is the BC Children's site investigator for many PERC multi-center studies. She is also the PERC representative.
Job Titles:
- Department of Infectious Diseases, BC Children 's Hospital
- Pediatric Infectious Disease Fellow
- Physician at the Pediatric Infectious Diseases
Dr. McAlpine is a locum physician at the Pediatric Infectious Diseases department of BC Children's Hospital. In addition to clinical work, he also works with the Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) department. His particular interests include antimicrobial stewardship, vaccine research, and the role of social media in science communication.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor in Clinical Immunology at the University of Gothenburg
- Guest Associate Professor
Dr. Harandi is an Associate Professor in Clinical Immunology at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and a visiting Associate Professor at the VEC, Department of Peadiatrics, BCCHR, The University of British Columbia. He serves in the leadership of several EU/international projects on vaccine R&D, and also serves as an advisor to several non-profit research organizations. His main research goal is to characterize protective immune responses induced by vaccines and mucosal infections in humans.
Job Titles:
- Project Manager
- Project Manager for the Gut4Health Microbiome Core
Dr. Andy Sham is the project manager for the Gut4Health Microbiome Core facility. Dr. Sham grew up in Vancouver, where he attended the University of British Columbia (BSc in Cell Biology and PhD in Experimental Medicine). His PhD research focused on bacterial pathogens and the interplay between bacteria and host at the gut lining to maintain intestinal health. He continued his research training as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School where he studied how small molecules resolve inflammation in the lungs. After returning to Vancouver from Boston, he worked as a research scientist with a local biotech company where he led their research team in developing new drugs for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease. Dr. Sham is responsible for conceiving and developing projects as well as the general operations for the core.
Job Titles:
- Division Head of Paediatric Infectious Diseases at BC Children
- Hospital Foundation Research Institute
- Investigator, BC Children 's Hospital / Division Head, Pediatric Infectious Diseases, BC Children 's Hospital
Dr. Roberts is the Division head of Paediatric Infectious Diseases at BC Children's hospital (BCCH). In addition to clinical work at the Children's hospital, she also works as an infectious diseases physician with TB control at the BC Centres for Disease Control (BCCDC). She is the Medical Director of the Antimicrobial Stewardship program at the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) and is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia. Her particular areas of interest include equity, diversity and inclusion in medicine; antimicrobial resistance; antimicrobial stewardship and pediatric tuberculosis.
Dr. Astrid Guttmann's research aims to improve inequities in child health through population-based studies that inform or evaluate health and mental health system programs and policies. She has held three salary awards including a research chair from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research in Reproductive, Child and Youth Health Services and Policy Research. Current grant funded work includes a large-scale evaluation of Canadian refugee resettlement models assessing long-term refugee health and social outcomes, and work with Southern Ontario First Nations around prenatal opioid use. Dr. Guttmann co-leads MHASEF, a government funded data and research initiative at ICES, which has built capacity to report on and evaluate the Ontario Mental Health and Addictions Strategy and related programs. She sits on several scientific and policy advisory committees, including the UCL Great Ormond Street Hospital Institute of Child Health's International External Advisory Board, and the Ontario Provincial Council for Maternal and Child Health.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Director of the Gut4Health Microbiome
Dr. Bruce Vallance is the director of the Gut4Health Microbiome core facility. Dr. Vallance completed his PhD training in gastrointestinal inflammation at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and then moved to Vancouver in 1999 to pursue his postdoctoral studies on disease-causing bacteria. Dr. Vallance was recruited to the University of British Columbia and BC Children's Hospital as assistant professor in 2003. He has won numerous awards and currently holds the CHILD Foundation Chair in Pediatric Gastroenterology. Dr. Vallance's research focuses on microbe-host interactions within the intestine, including defining the role that gut microbes play in causing chronic intestinal inflammation, as seen in Inflammatory Bowel Disease patients. Dr. Vallance is responsible for overseeing Gut4Health and fulfilling its mandate to become a key resource for microbiome researchers throughout Vancouver.
Dr. Cathy Chan obtained her PhD from the University of Calgary where she studied membrane protein biochemistry of microbial systems. She continued her post-doctoral research at the University of British Columbia studying bacterial secretion systems and membrane proteomics. This was followed by a second fellowship studying anti-inflammation signalling pathways in mice as she wanted to learn more about animal models and immune systems. After an extended maternity leave with her amazing daughter, she joined a biotech company developing novel antibody-based therapeutics to combat animal gastrointestinal diseases. Her expertise in biochemistry and microbial systems is a valuable addition to the continued development in the at Gut4Health.
Job Titles:
- Research & Technology Development Office
Job Titles:
- Hospital Foundation Research Institute
- Investigator, BC Children 's Hospital
- Library & Information Science Research
- Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Devon Greyson's research focuses on public health communication and the use of information by publics, clinicians, and health systems. Devon has a special interest in perinatal and pediatric health decision-making and experiences. Current work focuses on vaccine decision-making, use of cannabis during pregnancy and lactation, and mitigating the impacts of medical disinformation. Dr. Greyson is a qualitative and mixed methodologist with an interdisciplinary background that spans gender studies, information science, and public health.
Job Titles:
- Pediatric Infectious Diseases Physician
Dr. Morin is a Pediatric Infectious Diseases physician with a focus on immunocompromised populations, including working with the Multi-Organ Transplant Program. She completed her ID training at the Stollery Children's Hospital in Edmonton and joined the VEC team in the summer of 2022. Her interests include infections in immunocompromised/transplant populations, immunizations, and antimicrobial stewardship.
Job Titles:
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Gabrielle completed her PhD in the Biotechnology program at Lakehead University in October 2020. Her PhD projects investigated B-cell and antibody responses to the 13-valent pneumococcal protein-polysaccharide conjugate vaccine in adults with severe chronic kidney disease (CKD), natural immunity against Haemophilus influenzae type a and B-cell subpopulations in adults with CKD, as well as antibodies specific for Streptococcus pneumoniae in Indigenous and Non-Indigenous adults. Gabrielle joined Dr. Sadarangani's lab group in April 2021 where her research focuses on the immunological analysis of infectious diseases for the purpose of vaccine development and evaluation, with a particular emphasis on SARS-CoV-2.
Dr. Gaynor Watson-Creed is a public health physician, leader, and advocate committed to advancing health equity in diverse communities. She previously served as the Medical Officer of Health for the Halifax area and Deputy Chief Medical Officer of Health for Nova Scotia. In 2021, Dr. Watson-Creed stepped down from this role to focus on her work as the Associate Dean of the Serving and Engaging Society at Dalhousie University's Faculty of Medicine. Beyond her academic pursuits, Dr. Watson-Creed has served on several national population health councils and boards and is the current Chair of the Advisory Board for the National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health.
Her outstanding work has been recognized with several awards, including the Nova Scotia Public Health Champion Award, the William Grigor Award for achievement in medicine from Doctors Nova Scotia, and the President's Award from Public Health Physicians of Canada. In 2019, Dr. Watson-Creed was named one of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada by the Women's Executive Network. She is the holder of honorary doctorates from both Acadia University and University of Prince Edward Island, in recognition of her many contributions to public and population health.
Job Titles:
- Hospital Foundation Research Institute
- Investigator, BC Children 's Hospital / Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia
- Pediatric Infectious Diseases Fellow
- Pediatrician
Dr. Mitchell is an infectious disease pediatrician with focus on immune compromised patients.
She completed her fellowship at BC Children's Hospital and joined VEC in 2018. Her research interests include optimizing vaccination in solid organ transplant recipients and identifying effective knowledge translation strategies for communicating scientific research findings to frontline care providers, patients and their families.
Job Titles:
- Co - Director
- Hospital Foundation Research Institute
Dr. Jonathan Bush completed his MD and Anatomical Pathology residency at the University of Manitoba before finalizing his training through the Northwestern University-Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago Pediatric Pathology fellowship program. He joined BC Children's and Women's Hospital as a Pediatric and Perinatal pathologist, which provided him the opportunity to have an impact on children's and women's health by examining tissue samples. As the "gatekeeper" to biologic samples, He was naturally drawn to biobanking, resulting in completing additional training and eventually becoming the co-Director with Dr. Suzanne Vercauteren in early 2021. He has a specific interest in banking and promoting pediatric solid tissue and tumor research.
Job Titles:
- Clinical Research Coordinator
- Clinical Research Coordinator for the Gut4Health Microbiome Core
Dr. Larissa Celiberto is a Clinical Research Coordinator for the Gut4Health Microbiome Core. Her background includes a BSc in Nutrition and Dietetics and a MSc in Food and Nutrition where she investigated the role of several probiotic bacteria in animal models of intestinal inflammation. Dr. Celiberto is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Vallance lab, and her project explores the relationship between the mucus overlying the intestinal epithelial cells and the gut microbiome. As a Clinical Research Coordinator at Gut4Health, Dr. Celiberto plays a key role in bridging the gap between cutting-edge research and practical applications. Leveraging her expertise in dietary compounds, probiotic bacteria, and other microbiome manipulations, she collaborates closely with clinicians and researchers to ensure that scientific advancements translate into tangible benefits for individuals.
Job Titles:
- Clinical Assistant Professor
- Hospital Foundation Research Institute
- Investigator, BC Children 's Hospital / Clinical Assistant Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia
Dr. Laura Sauvé is a Clinical Assistant Professor and a pediatric infectious disease specialist who has a special interest in Pediatric HIV/AIDS.
Her main research interests include public health surveillance especially with respect to vaccinology, vaccine preventable disease, global child health and pediatric HIV/AIDS.
She joined the Vaccine Evaluation Center in 2007 as the BC site investigator for the Immunization Monitoring Program, Active (IMPAct), a national surveillance system for vaccine preventable diseases and vaccine adverse events in 12 pediatric tertiary care centers across Canada.
She is also the co-primary investigator of the Canadian Perinatal HIV Surveillance Program, which studies vertical transmission of HIV across Canada. As Pediatrics Residency Program Director, she is also involved in a number of medical education research initiatives.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor in Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the Max Rady College of Medicine
Dr. Lauren Kelly, Associate Professor in Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the Max Rady College of Medicine, University of Manitoba, is a distinguished figure in maternal and pediatric health. Aside from academia, Dr. Kelly is a Certified Clinical Research Professional and holds several leadership positions, including Scientific Director of the Canadian Collaborative for Childhood Cannabinoid Therapeutics, Clinical Trialist at the George and Fay Yee Centre for Healthcare Innovation, and Director of Increasing capacity for Maternal and Paediatric Clinical Trials (IMPaCT).
In her role as Clinical Trials Director and Scientist at the Children's Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba, Dr. Kelly leads impactful studies focused on safe pharmacotherapy for children, particularly exploring the effects of opioid exposure during pregnancy and the medical use of cannabis in children and adolescents. With more than 60 publications and $7 million in funding, Dr. Kelly's outstanding work is also recognized with several prestigious awards, including the SickKids-CIHR and Research Manitoba New Investigator Award.
Job Titles:
- Flow Core Facility Manager
Lisa Xu joined BCCHR Flow Cytometry Core in 2005 after completing her postdoctoral training in immunology and working in the FACS core at Jack Bell Research Centre.
"Cell sorting, trouble-shooting, and engaging with energetic students from different research groups have kept me motivated in this job for the last 17 years. Researchers aim to reveal the unknown and solve mysteries to health problems, and I love contributing to solving those puzzles," says Lisa.
Lisa's favorite quote: "No matter how long the winter ... spring is sure to follow."
Dr. Sadarangani has been Director of the VEC since 2016. He completed his undergraduate medical training and pediatric residency in Cambridge, Oxford and London in the UK. He then completed his DPhil with the Oxford Vaccine Group in the UK, developing novel meningococcal vaccines, and completed a Fellowship in Pediatric Infectious Diseases in Vancouver in 2013 before returning to Oxford to work as a Pediatric Infectious Diseases physician. He has worked in pediatrics throughout the world, including in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Australia, North America and Europe. His research links clinical trials with basic microbiology, immunology and epidemiology to address clinically relevant problems related to immunization and vaccine-preventable diseases. Specific research interests include bacterial vaccines, understanding vaccine-induced immunity, maternal immunization, antibiotic resistance and CNS infections.
Dr. Manish Sadarangani is co-principal investigator of Canada's Immunization Monitoring Program ACTive (IMPACT) network, which is conducting a new study that's monitoring the effects of COVID-19 and the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines in Canadian children and adolescents.
Job Titles:
- Investigator, BC Children 's Hospital / Associate Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia
Michael Hawkes (BEng, McGill U; MD, U of Alberta; PhD, U of Toronto; DTM&H, Peru; FRCPC, Pediatrics and Infectious Diseases) is a clinician-scientist. In addition to a clinical practice in consultant Pediatric Infectious Diseases, he leads a translational research program in global pediatric infections. Diseases of focus include some of the leading infectious disease killers of children in the world today: malaria, pneumonia, Ebola, and HIV. He holds peer reviewed grants (CIHR, Grand Challenges Canada, Women and Children's Health Research Institute, Li Ka Shing Institute of Virology) that support basic science research, epidemiologic studies, and clinical trials. He operates field sites in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. He has more than 140 peer-reviewed publications, which have been cited over 4,000 times in the medical literature. His research is improving outcomes in children with serious infections in some of the least developed areas of the globe.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Research Group
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Dr. Vadlamudi joined the VEC in early 2022, working with Dr. Bettinger and Dr. Sadarangani. Dr. Vadlamudi is an infectious disease epidemiologist and clinical researcher with 15 years of research experience related to several therapeutic areas, including Rheumatoid Arthritis, Diabetes, Colorectal Cancer, Pneumococcal disease and COVID19 . Her work with the VEC will focus on the Canadian Immunization Monitoring Program, ACTive (IMPACT) examining vaccine safety events and vaccine-preventable diseases through active surveillance.
Job Titles:
- Histology Core Technologist
- Histology Lab Technologist
Dr. Maydan joined BCCHR Histology Core in 2019 with 10+ years of experience in academic research and brought in-depth knowledge and hands-on experience of a large variety of general and specific stains, and the procedures critical for stain quality: tissue collection, preparation, and fixation.
Job Titles:
- Chief Scientific Officer, Vice President and Director, the Saban Research Institute, Children 's Hospital Los Angeles ( CHLA )
- Member of the National Academy of Medicine
Dr. Pat Levitt is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, and an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives. He is a senior fellow at the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, and serves as Co-Scientific Director of the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child - a policy council that assists policymakers, service providers, and business leaders in making investments in child brain and physical health programs. Dr. Levitt has been funded continuously by the National Institutes of Health and numerous private foundations since 1982. His basic and clinical research focuses on identifying the factors that assure healthy development of brain architecture involved in learning, emotional behaviour, and social behaviour. Specific projects address how toxic stress responses in human infants and toddlers may be detected very early in order to develop best practices for promoting resilience and better prevention and intervention. He also engages families in research who have an autistic child and co-occurring medical conditions (e.g., gastrointestinal disorders). He has published over 300 scientific papers and has served on the editorial boards of 10 scientific journals, including his current role as editor-in-chief of Mind, Brain, and Education.
Dr. Paula Littlejohn is a postdoctoral research fellow co-supervised by Dr. Michael Kobor and Dr. Bruce Vallance at BC Children's Hospital Research Institute. Her research is aimed at understanding the molecular mechanisms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), with the goal of developing new treatments.
Phyu Mar is a graduate student at the School of Population and Public Health (SPPH), University of British Columbia. She joined Dr.Bettinger's research team in July 2021 after completing her Master of Science in International Health at University of Heidelberg. Prior to joining SPPH and VEC, she was involved in research on antimicrobial resistance, HIV disease epidemiology and behavioral surveillance system at both the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health and Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS). Her research interests include child health, vaccine effectiveness and safety, disease surveillance, and infectious disease epidemiology. Her current research is on COVID-19 vaccine safety among high-risk populations.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Hospital Foundation Research Institute
- Senior Executive Director, Research
Job Titles:
- Co - Director
- Hospital Foundation Research Institute
Dr. Suzanne Vercauteren is a hematological pathologist at BC Children's Hospital, who obtained her MD and PhD at the University of Utrecht, The Netherlands. She did her residency in hematological pathology at the University of British Columbia. She is the co-Director of BC Children's Hospital BioBank, the Head of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Childrens and Women's Hospitals, and the Chair of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion for UBC's Department of Pathology.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Research Group
- Research Librarian
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- Knowledge Translation Coordinator
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- Member of the Research Group
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- Member of the Research Group
- Masters Student
Emily Mason is a PhD student in Experimental Medicine at the University of British Columbia, studying under the supervision of Dr. Manish Sadarangani. She has been involved with the VEC since 2020, researching vaccine-preventable disease incidence in Canadian children. Her current work involves the development of a vaccine against Klebsiella pneumoniae and other antibiotic resistant bacteria.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Research Group
- JMIR Research Protocols
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- Member of the Research Group
- Medical Student
Eve Dubé and Marie-Eve Trottier and Dominique Gagnon and Julie A. Bettinger and Devon Greyson and Janice Graham and Noni E. MacDonald and Shannon E. MacDonald and Samantha B. Meyer and Holly O. Witteman and S. Michelle Driedger
Job Titles:
- Clinical Research Doctoral Fellow
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- Lab Technician
- Member of the Research Group
Gabriel Blank is a Vancouver-based pediatrics resident who recently joined the VEC in 2021. Gabriel received his undergraduate degree in Physiology and Pharmacology prior to completing Medicine at the University of British Columbia. He has experience in multimedia video creation and project coordinating, in addition to recreational involvements in acting, singing, and related artistic endeavors. He is working alongside Dr. Bettinger and Dr. Mitchell to help create a vaccine educational video for healthcare providers.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Research Group
- Research Coordinator
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- Member of the Research Group
- Research Assistant
Gurvir Dhutt Graduate Academic Assistant Gurvir is a graduate student in the Master of Public Health program at the University of British Columbia. He has a Master of Science degree in Aging and Health where his studies focused on strategies to promote health and healthy aging in the older adult population. His interests in public health research broadly consist of determining the effectiveness of disease countermeasures and using these findings to develop health promotion policies for our population
Job Titles:
- Member of the Research Group
- Research Assistant
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- Member of the Research Group
Irvin Ng is a MSc student in UBC's Bioinformatics program and is a bioinformatician in the Gut4Health Microbiome Core. His thesis project involves the development of a bioinformatics pipeline to conduct multi-omic integration in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of the gut microbiome. His pipeline also leverages machine learning to conduct metabolome prediction using just microbiome data. In addition to his research, Irvin also provides bioinformatic services and support to the Gut4Health Microbiome Core and its users.
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- Clinical Research Coordinator / Research Nurse
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- Summer Student / Volunteer
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- Member of the Research Group
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- Member of the Research Group
- Researcher
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- Member of the Research Group
- Summer Student
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- Member of the Research Group
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- Member of the Research Ethics Board
- Research Ethics Board
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- Assistant
- Research Coordinator
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- Member of the Research Group
- Research Assistant Tech 2
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- Member of the Research Group
- Research Clinician
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- Member of the Research Group
Jonah Hall is an immunology Ph.D. student in the University of British Columbia Microbiology department with Manish Sadarangani at the VEC and Daniel Coombs of the Mathematics department as his supervisors. His research is mainly focused on the recreation and optimization of the dynamics of maternal and neonatal vaccination strategies against pertussis (whooping cough).
Job Titles:
- Hospital Foundation Research Institute
- Investigator, BC Children 's Hospital / Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia
- Professor at the VEC
Dr. Bettinger is a Professor at the VEC in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of British Columbia. Her research interests include vaccine safety and vaccine preventable diseases as well as attitudes and beliefs around immunization uptake and use. She is the data center director for the Canadian Immunization Monitoring Program, Active (IMPACT), an active surveillance network for vaccine preventable diseases and vaccine adverse events in 12 tertiary care pediatric hospitals across Canada and the lead investigator for CANVAS.
Job Titles:
- Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow
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- Member of the Research Group
- Masters Student
- Masters Student in Experimental Medicine
Jung-Bahadur Singh Kandola is a graduate student in Experimental Medicine at the University of British Columbia, working under the supervision of Dr. Julie Bettinger at the VEC. His research interests include understanding and addressing vaccine hesitancy in the South Asian population, with an emphasis on the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. He aims to translate knowledge into more effective and approachable interventions to address vaccine hesitancy in the information age.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Research Group
Kaitlin completed her PhD in Microbiology and Immunology at McGill University in June 2022. For her PhD, she developed a vaccine targeting Clostridioides difficile using Salmonella Typhimurium as a live, attenuated vaccine vector. Kaitlin joined Dr. Sadarangani's group in October 2022. She is currently working on the development of a vaccine against Klebsiella pneumoniae.
Job Titles:
- Senior Research Coordinator
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- Member of the Research Group
- Research Asst / Tech 4
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- Member of the Research Group
- Research Assistant
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- Member of the Research Group
- Research Assistant
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- Member of the Research Group
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- Pediatrician from Belgium
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Kevin is a pediatrician from Belgium, currently completing his fellowship in Pediatric Infectious Diseases at BC Children's Hospital. His doctoral research centered on the pharmacology of antimicrobials and strategies to investigate antibiotic use in children. At present, he holds a postdoc appointment in the research groups of Dr. Bettinger and Dr. Sadarangani. His current research focuses on the epidemiology and outcomes of vaccine-preventable diseases.
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- Member of the Research Group
- Medical Student
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- Member of the Research Group
- Summer Student
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- Member of the Research Group
Liam is a graduate student in Experimental Medicine at the University of British Columbia, working under the supervision of Dr. Manish Sadarangani in the VEC since 2022. He is part of the team researching the development of vaccines for Klebsiella pneumoniae as a strategy to combat antibiotic resistance. Liam completed his B.Sc. (Hons) in Microbiology at the University of Guelph, studying E. coli efflux pumps. Outside of the lab, he is passionate about health equity and climate justice.
Job Titles:
- Histology Core Technologist
- Histology Lab Technologist
Lidiya Preobrazhenska joined BCCHR Histology Core in 2019 after working at UBC's Histology lab for four years practicing various histological procedures, starting from preparing samples for processing, to embedding, sectioning, and staining. Lidiya has experience working with a variety of tissues. She loves demonstrating histological sections and preparing educational material for learning/outreach activities and collaborating with researchers to optimize new methods.
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- Senior Research Coordinator
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- Member of the Research Group
- Research Clinician Practicum Student
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- Member of the Research Group
- Staff Scientist, Technology Integration Manager
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- Member of the Research Group
- Summer Student
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- Member of the Research Group
- Research Assistant
Mackenzie is a fifth year SFU student completing a Biological Sciences major and a Learning and Developmental Disabilities minor. At the BioBank, Mackenzie enjoys learning about research studies and interacting with patients and families. She helps with processing biological samples and consenting patients. In her free time, Mackenzie enjoys hiking, running, and playing the guitar. Ask her about lab processing and the best hiking spot.
Job Titles:
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Mahin joined the VEC in late 2020 with a background in health education, applied health sciences, midwifery, maternal and child health. Her current research focuses on evaluating vaccine effectiveness and safety in children and adolescents.
Maira Jimenez is a PhD student at the Gut4Health Microbiome Core facility. Maira is a graduate student at the University of British Columbia at the Experimental Medicine program; she studies the mechanism of how the UVB modulates the microbiome in mice. She is currently assisting with various research projects related to UVB.
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- Member of the Research Group
- Developmental Pediatrics Subspecialty Resident
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- Laboratory Staff Member
- Research Technician
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- Expert Review of Vaccines
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- Master
- Member of the Research Group
- Graduate Student Researcher
Maria (they/them) is pursuing a Master in Library and Information Studies at UBC. Their general research focuses on health information as well as behaviour and practices. Maria's research at the VEC focuses on vaccine hesitancy using an information science perspective and is supervised by Dr. Julie Bettinger.
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- Member of the Research Group
- Research Associate I / Lab Manager
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- Member of the Research Group
- Research Coordinator
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- Foundation for Health Research Career Investigator Award
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- Member of the Research Group
- Clinical Research Program Manager
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- Member of the Research Group
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- Member of the Research Group
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- Member of the Research Group
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- Research Administrator - Finance
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- Honours Thesis Research Student
Nicholas is an honors thesis student in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at UBC. He is co-supervised in the Sadarangani and Jassem labs where his research focuses on the evaluation and optimization of dried blood spot samples for the quantification of SARS-CoV-2 antibody concentration and function.
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- Member of the Research Group
- Student
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- Member of the Research Group
- START Trainee
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- Member of the Research Group
- INSPIRE Student Volunteer
Olivia is a student at the University of British Columbia, where she studies a Combined Major in Chemistry, Life Sciences, and Environmental Sciences. She has joined the research team through BCCHR's INSPIRE Program. Outside of her studies, she enjoys creating her own recipes, having movie nights with her friends, and traveling! Ask her about where inventory is and her best soup recipe.
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- Graduate Research Assistant
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- Member of the Research Group
- Developmental Pediatrician
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- Member of the Research Group
- Research Asst / Tech 3
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- Member of the Research Group
- Research Assistant
Qudrat graduated from SFU with a BSc. in Health Sciences and a minor in Gerontology. She started at the BioBank as a Co-op student in 2019 and now works as a BioBank Research Assistant. She is passionate about interacting with patients and about finding ways to increase representation in research by highlighting various social determinants of health. In her free time, she's either watching reality TV, crocheting, learning new languages, or finding the next best skincare product. Ask her about our patient partners and iconic Vine & meme references.
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- Pediatric Infectious Disease Fellow
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- Member of the Research Group
- START Program Coordinator
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- Member of the Research Group
- START Trainee
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- Member of the Research Group
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- Member of the Research Group
- Data Coordinator
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- Research Development Coordinators and Grants Assistants
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- Member of the Research Group
- START Trainee
Job Titles:
- Member of the Research Group
- Sunny Hill Child Development and Rehabilitation Research Manager
Job Titles:
- Co - Op Research Assistant
Seoyoung is a fourth-year student at UBC studying Behavioural Neuroscience. She has been working with the BC Children's BioBank team since September 2023 as a Co-op student. Seoyoung has a keen interest in healthcare research for pediatric patients, and she looks forward to contributing to the team's fulfilling work. In her free time, Seoyoung enjoys going on hikes with her friends. Recently, she started kickboxing and just mastered her roundhouse kicks! Ask her about dry ice and dinosaurs.
Job Titles:
- Archives of Women 's Mental Health
Job Titles:
- Member of the Research Group
- Pediatrics Resident
Job Titles:
- Member of the Research Group
Job Titles:
- Transplant Research / the Vaccine Evaluation Center / Turvey Lab
- Transplant Research / Trainee Omics Group / Vallance Lab
Job Titles:
- Hospital Foundation Research Institute
Job Titles:
- Member of the Research Group
- Operations Manager
- Operations Manager MRI Research Facility
Job Titles:
- Adult Infectious Disease Fellow
Job Titles:
- Data Programmer / Analyst
Job Titles:
- Member of the Research Group
Sue is a fourth year student majoring in Biomedical Physiology at Simon Fraser University. She joined the team in September 2023 and is passionate about research and eager to learn more about the different studies taking place at the BioBank. One day, she hopes to work in health care and is excited to be working alongside numerous scientists, researchers and doctors at the hospital. In her free time, she enjoys working out, reading and being outdoors! Ask her about placentas and alpacas.
Job Titles:
- Health Centre Research / the Living Lab at Home / Translational Psychiatric Genetics Group
Job Titles:
- Graduate Research Assistant
Job Titles:
- Member of the Research Group
Job Titles:
- Pediatric Infectious Disease Fellow
Job Titles:
- Archives of General Psychiatry
- Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine
- Fetal Serotonin Signaling: Setting Pathways for Early Childhood Development and Behavior / Journal of Adolescent Health
- Hospital Foundation Research Institute
- Pediatric Health
- Pediatric Research
Job Titles:
- Laboratory Staff Member
- Research Technician
Job Titles:
- Member of the Research Group
Job Titles:
- Member of the Research Group
- Research Manager, Healthy Starts Program
Job Titles:
- Lab Manager
- Member of the Research Group
- BioBank Lab Manager
Veronica is the BioBank lab manager, and has been with the team since 2016. She did her Bachelors in Science at UBC, majoring in Microbiology and Immunology and minoring in Commerce. She also did her Masters in Health Administration thru UBC. In her free time, Veronica likes to stay active thru playing tennis and multi-sport, loves a good restaurant and/or travel recommendation, and occasionally dabbles in reality tv! Ask her about biobank sample requests, and binge-worthy reality TV shows!
Vi graduated from University of British Columbia with a Bachelor's of Science in Biology and is a lifelong learner. In 2019, she joined the BioBank team as a Research Technician and some of her roles include data management, training new team members, processing research samples, and consenting patients. When she isn't happily biobanking, Vi loves to go on hikes to eat delicious food after, train for Wimbledon (just kidding), and cozy up with a good book when it's cold. Ask her about sample queries and her garden gnome collection.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director, Research Administration and Operations
Victoria Doad has been working with the BCCHR Histology lab for the last several years since 2016. She is known for high-volume, high-speed, precise sectioning and takes special attention of researchers' instructions.
Job Titles:
- Histology Lab Technologist
Job Titles:
- Professor, Neurogenetics, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California
Dr. Pat Levitt is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, and an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives. He is a senior fellow at the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, and serves as Co-Scientific Director of the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child - a policy council that assists policymakers, service providers, and business leaders in making investments in child brain and physical health programs. Dr. Levitt has been funded continuously by the National Institutes of Health and numerous private foundations since 1982. His basic and clinical research focuses on identifying the factors that assure healthy development of brain architecture involved in learning, emotional behaviour, and social behaviour. Specific projects address how toxic stress responses in human infants and toddlers may be detected very early in order to develop best practices for promoting resilience and better prevention and intervention. He also engages families in research who have an autistic child and co-occurring medical conditions (e.g., gastrointestinal disorders). He has published over 300 scientific papers and has served on the editorial boards of 10 scientific journals, including his current role as editor-in-chief of Mind, Brain, and Education.
Job Titles:
- Associate Director, Research Community
- Hospital Foundation Research Institute
Dr. Wendy Robinson has been awarded the 2023 Geoffrey L. Hammond Lectureship in recognition of her leadership and significant contributions to our understanding of genetic and epigenetic variation in prenatal development, as well as her passion and dedication to teaching and mentorship.
Job Titles:
- Laboratory Staff Member
- Research Assistant
Job Titles:
- Member of the Research Group
Job Titles:
- Member of the Research Group
- Masters Student
Job Titles:
- Member of the Research Group
- Research Assistant