MAP - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Member of the MAP Core Team
• Senior Knowledge Translation Specialist

Job Titles:

• Administrative Assistant
• Member of the MAP Core Team

Job Titles:

• Member of the MAP Core Team
• Senior Manager, Research Programs and Partnerships

Job Titles:

• Member of the MAP Core Team
• Research Equity Specialist

Job Titles:

• Physician
• HIV Physician
• Scientist With MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions

Dr. Ahmed Bayoumi, an internal medicine physician with a research focus on HIV care and the care of people who use drugs. Dr. Bayoumi went on to lead and co-lead several pivotal MAP studies, including research that successfully made the case to expand supervised injection facilities in Canada. A general internist and HIV physician, Dr. Ahmed Bayoumi is dedicated to improving health care and quality of life for people who use drugs and people living with HIV. His research exploring the value and feasibility of supervised injection facilities was fundamental to establishing the evidence base for these services in Canada. In Toronto, his work was used by public health officials, community groups, and elected officials to support applications to the Federal Government that resulted in the introduction of supervised injection facilities in Toronto. Dr. Bayoumi is a scientist with MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions in the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael's Hospital, and a St. Michael's Hospital physician. In 2023, he was inducted as a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS), one of the highest honours within Canada's academic community. Dr. Bayoumi is past president of the Society for Medical Decision Making and a member of the Canadian Drug Expert Committee. He is an adjunct scientist at ICES and a professor in the University of Toronto's Department of Medicine and Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation.

Job Titles:

• Scientist With MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions

Dr. Anna Durbin's research informs policy-focused solutions to support access to mental-health services for traditionally under-served groups. She works in collaboration with decision makers, service providers and people with lived experience. Dr. Durbin's past work has revealed gaps in care and barriers to mental-health services experienced by vulnerable groups including people who are homeless, newcomers, people with serious mental illness and/or developmental disabilities, people living with low income and people with HIV. Dr. Durbin is a scientist with MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions in the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael's Hospital. She was awarded a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Fellowship and a University of Toronto Department of Psychiatry Most Accomplished Fellow Award.

Job Titles:

• Chief of Emergency Medicine at Unity Health Toronto
• Scientist With MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions

The Chief of Emergency Medicine at Unity Health Toronto, Dr. Carolyn Snider works with patients and community colleagues to research and redesign how emergency department care can be delivered in an equitable way for those experiencing marginalization and low resource. Dr. Snider has garnered over $1.5 million in research grants as a principal investigator. She is working with community experts to design a program at St. Michael's Hospital that will help individuals in the hours, days, months and years following their injury from violence. She developed a similar initiative while at Health Sciences Centre Winnipeg, which attempts to break the cycle of violence for young people by pairing them with a support worker in the ED while being treated for their injuries. She is also leading an ED Outreach Worker program for those experiencing homelessness. Dr. Snider is a scientist with MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions in the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael's Hospital, and an associate professor in the Department of Medicine at University of Toronto. She holds degrees in business, science, medicine and public health and has been recognized through multiple awards as a leader, teacher, researcher, mentor and physician advocate.

Job Titles:

• Fellow

Dr. Cilia Mejia-Lancheros is a MAP postdoctoral fellow. Dr. Mejia-Lancheros did her undergraduate studies in Nursing Science at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. After working as an Registered Nurse in Colombia, Italy and Spain, she received a Masters in Public Health from the Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona, Spain), and a PhD in Public Health and Epidemiology from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Barcelona, Spain). Cilia was also a post-doctoral research fellow at the School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science at University College Dublin, in Ireland.

Job Titles:

• Executive Director of the Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation
• Scientist With MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions

A sought-after source of expertise on addictions and drug policy, Dr. Werb has devoted his career to the development of effective solutions to protect health and human rights among communities affected by drug use. Dr. Werb is the executive director of the Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation at MAP, which conducts extensive epidemiologic, implementation and policy research on addictions and drug policy, and also works closely with governments, affected communities and civil society to guide effective and evidence-based policy responses to substance use. Dr. Werb is the St. Michael's Hospital Chair in Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders He has published dozens of studies on issues related to health policy and addictions, with a focus on preventing the transition of street youth into injection drug use, as well as on identifying the impact of policy and public health interventions on people who use street drugs. He is also the author of City of Omens: A Search for the Missing Women of the Borderlands, one of five finalists for the 2019 Governor General's Literary Award for nonfiction. Dr. Werb is the winner of a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Trailblazer Award, was named by CBC as one of 13 young Canadians changing our country for Canada's 150th anniversary celebration, and received a Canadian National Magazine Award for his popular science writing. He is the inaugural winner of the US National Institute on Drug Abuse Avenir Award, given to scientists proposing highly creative approaches to issues at the nexus of HIV and substance use. Dr. Werb is a scientist with MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions in the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael's Hospital. He also holds assistant professor appointments at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto, and in the Division of Infectious Diseases & Global Public Health at the University of California San Diego.

Job Titles:

• Scientist With MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions

Dr. Jonathon Maguire believes that by focusing on the factors that foster resilience, we can help our children lead healthier, happier lives. He is a hospital pediatrician and the co-leader of TARGet Kids!, the largest primary-care research network for children in Canada. Dr. Maguire's research focuses on clinical trials involving nutrition and development in young children, as well as the creation of tools to help health-care providers use the best available evidence to inform their clinical decisions. He is the recipient of a 2015 Canadian Institutes of Health Research Foundation Grant, a CIHR/SPOR Chair in Innovative Clinical Trials, and several prestigious awards including the Samuel J. Fomon Young Physician Award from the American Society of Nutrition, the Canadian Paediatric Society Young Investigator Award, a Canadian Institutes of Health Research New Investigator Award, an Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation Early Researcher Award, and a Special Achievement Award form the American Academy of Pediatrics. Dr. Maguire is a scientist with MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions in the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael's Hospital, and the University of Toronto Lawson Chair in Patient Engagement in Child Nutrition. He is a staff pediatrician in the St. Michael's Hospital's Department of Pediatrics and an professor in the University of Toronto's Department of Pediatrics.

Job Titles:

• Director

World-renowned Johns Hopkins epidemiologist Dr. Patricia O'Campo was recruited to be the second holder of the Inner City Health Chair and Director of the Unit, a position she held for 11 years. Dr. O'Campo had authored one of the first papers to examine the social and economic factors that affect health. Her early career research helped shape what is now known as social epidemiology. Today, Dr. O'Campo is a MAP Scientist, Executive Director of the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michael's, and a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Population Health Intervention Research.

Job Titles:

• Scientist With MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions

Dr. Rick Glazier, a family doctor and scientist. Soon after joining ICHRU, Dr. Glazier launched the Toronto Community Health Profiles Partnership, now Ontario Community Health Profiles Partnership. A family doctor and leader in his field, Dr. Rick Glazier investigates primary care through a health-equity lens: revealing gaps in care, and examining the implications of primary-care reform for traditionally under-served groups. He is an expert in linking geographic methods with administrative health data to help identify priority areas for services and care. Dr. Glazier's research has led to several significant policy negotiations related to physician reimbursement and the organization of primary care teams. His research and tools linking socioeconomic factors, health resources and neighbourhoods include the groundbreaking 2007 Toronto Diabetes Atlas, which strongly informed the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care's 2008 Chronic Disease Strategy. He is also the creator and lead of the Ontario Community Health Profiles Partnership (OCHPP), a publicly accessible and searchable health-data database and service. Many health and community organizations, including Toronto Public Health, depend on OCHPP to help plan and evaluate their programs. In 2014, Dr. Glazier was named a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, one of the highest honours in the Canadian health-sciences community. He also received the College of Family Physicians of Canada's W. Victor Johnston Award for continuous and enduring contributions to the specialty of family medicine, and was named a Top 20 Pioneer in Family Medicine Research in Canada. Dr. Glazier is a scientist with MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions in the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael's Hospital. He is also a St. Michael's Hospital family physician and the scientific director of the CIHR Institute of Health Services and Policy Research. A senior scientist with ICES, Dr. Glazier is a research scholar and professor with the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine's Department of Family and Community Medicine, cross-appointed to the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. He is also a core faculty member in the University of Toronto's Clinical Epidemiology and Health Care Research Program in the Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation.

Job Titles:

• Biostatistician
• Investigator With MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions

Dr. Rosane Nisenbaum is a Biostatistician. She is an expert in designing and analyzing intervention studies and population-based studies to improve physical health, mental health and housing outcomes for people experiencing homelessness or housing instability. She has special interest in the application of multilevel models, longitudinal and categorical data analysis, and multiple imputation for handling missing data. She also provides biostatistical support to clinician-researchers from several departments at St Michael's Hospital including Hematology, Medical Imaging, Oncology, General Surgery, Neurology, and Ophthalmology. Dr. Nisenbaum is an investigator with MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions in the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael's Hospital, a biostatistician with the Applied Health Research Centre, and an assistant professor in the University of Toronto's Division of Biostatistics at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. She co-teaches and serves as a practicum supervisor for the course Laboratory in Statistical Design & Analysis, and is a committee member for graduate students of the Institute of Medical Sciences.

Job Titles:

• Director
• Director of MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions
• Physician at Seaton House

Dr. Stephen Hwang is the Director of MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions. Dr. Hwang is also a physician at Seaton House (Canada's largest men's shelter) and St. Michael's Hospital. Dr. Hwang's research has brought attention to the severe health risks faced by people who are homeless and vulnerably-housed in Canada. He is among the world's most influential researchers in the area of homelessness, housing and health. Dr. Stephen Hwang was appointed St. Michael's inaugural Chair in Homelessness, Housing and Health, the first endowed research chair aimed at better understanding the health needs of people experiencing homelessness. At the close of Dr. Pat O'Campo's 11-year tenure, Dr. Stephen Hwang was named the centre's new Director. "The arc of my research is the same as the growth of the (research) centre," said Dr. Hwang. "It started as a tiny enterprise, just me doing little projects. A researcher's first impulse is to look at a problem and describe it: the (elevated) death rate among the homeless, their lack of access to mental health care. But research has to make a difference in people's lives." (Toronto Star) MAP director Dr. Stephen Hwang is one of the world's most renowned researchers in homelessness, housing and health. His groundbreaking research changed the conversation about homelessness and precarious housing in Canada - these are critical health crises that can be prevented. Dr. Hwang was the first to quantify the profound impact that homelessness can have on a person's life expectancy, proving that homeless men are eight times as likely to die as men in the general population. He co-led the At Home/Chez Soi study, the largest randomized controlled trial in history to evaluate solutions to address homelessness. Its success testing the "Housing First" approach persuaded the federal government to commit resources to scale up Housing First interventions across the country. Dr. Hwang is the director of MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions, a scientist with the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, and a professor in the University of Toronto's Department of Medicine, Dalla Lana School of Public Health and Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation. An internal-medicine physician at St. Michael's Hospital, Dr. Hwang conducts a weekly clinic at Seaton House, Canada's largest homeless shelter for men. Dr. Hwang's awards include the 2022 Alumni Award of Merit from the Harvard Chan School of Public Health, and the 2020 University of Toronto President's Impact Award.

Job Titles:

• Member of the MAP Core Team
• Strategic Project Manager

Job Titles:

• Member of the MAP Core Team
• Senior Manager, Communications, Brand and Partnerships

Job Titles:

• Member of the MAP Core Team
• Research Business Manager

Job Titles:

• Member of the MAP Core Team
• Senior Data Science Specialist

Job Titles:

• Member of the MAP Core Team
• Communications and Marketing Advisor