MYCOVACC Steering Committee

Nathaniel Hawkins is a clinician-scientist cardiologist and Associate Professor at UBC with training in heart failure and electrophysiology. Based in Vancouver, his leadership roles include: Medical Lead for Quality and Research at Cardiac Services BC; Director of Research for the UBC Division of Cardiology; and Physician Lead for the Vancouver Coastal Health Regional Heart Failure Program Nat’s research group examines cardiovascular outcomes, health services, and comorbidities in patients with heart failure and arrhythmia. He has published in leading journals, including Circulation, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, and European Heart Journal. In addition to leading MYCOVACC, Nat is Co-Principal Investigator for the MAPLE-CHF and international SYMPHONY heart failure screening trial, and a member of the CIHR Canadian Heart Function Alliance.

Natalia Abraham, Public Health Agency of Canada. Bio coming soon.

Frédéric Dallaire is a professor of pediatrics at the Université de
Sherbrooke and a pediatric cardiologist at the CIUSSS de l’Estrie – CHUS. He holds a PhD in epidemiology and an MD from Laval University. He trained in pediatric cardiology at the CHUQ in Quebec City and at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Dr. Dallaire is an FRQ-S clinical research scholar with interest in the epidemiology of congenital heart diseases. He is the founder and scientific director of the Canadian Congenital and Pediatric Cardiology Research Network.

Tahir Kafil completed his Internal Medicine Residency and Adult Cardiology Fellowship at Western University. He subsequently completed his Advanced Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplantation Fellowship at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. During his time in Ottawa, he helped establish the Post-Vaccine Myopericarditis Clinic. He is a co-investigator in the CIHR-funded COVID-VIHPR study. For his research work, he was awarded the prestigious Myocarditis Foundation’s Fellowship Grant. He is presently pursuing further training in Echocardiography and Advanced Cardiac Imaging at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio, USA.

Michael Khoury is a pediatric cardiologist and Assistant Professor at the Stollery Children’s Hospital, University of Alberta. He completed his pediatric residency at the University of Toronto and pediatric cardiology fellowship at the University of Toronto and Alberta. He underwent subspecialty fellowships in Pediatric Preventive Cardiology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) and Advanced Heart Failure and Transplantation at CCHMC and University of Alberta. He is a co-lead of the Kawasaki Disease/MIS-C/mRNA vaccine-associated myocarditis clinic at the University of Alberta.

Peter Liu is the Chief Scientific Officer and Vice President of Research of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI) as well as Professor of Medicine and Physiology at the Universities of Toronto and Ottawa. His laboratory investigates the causes and treatments of heart failure, role of inflammation and identification of novel biomarkers and targets for intervention in cardiovascular diseases. He has published over 450 peer reviewed articles in high impact journals, H-Index of 127, and has received numerous awards in recognition of his research and scientific accomplishments. Peter is also Principal Investigator of COVID-VIHPR, a CIHR-funded cross-Canada cohort study based at UOHI with a network of experts that aim to elucidate the natural history and potential underlying mechanisms of vaccine associated myocarditis. Under Peter’s leadership, MYCOVACC will partner with COVID-VIHPR to coordinate patient recruitment and follow up to
maximize efficiency.

Michael McDonald is an associate professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto, and the inaugural Martha Rogers Chair in Heart Failure Training and Education. He is the Medical Director of the Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Program at the University Health Network/Peter Munk Cardiac Centre, and past chair of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society’s Heart Failure Guidelines Committee. Dr. McDonald obtained his MD from the University of Ottawa and completed Internal Medicine and Cardiology training at the University of Alberta, followed by subspecialty fellowship training in Advanced Heart Failure/Transplantation and Implantable Device Therapy at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre and Mount Sinai Hospital, University of Toronto.

Monika Naus is the Medical Director of the Immunization Programs & Vaccine Preventable Diseases Service at BCCDC and Professor in the University of British Columbia School of Population and Public Health. Her public health career focus has been in communicable diseases, with a further focus in immunization and vaccine preventable diseases. She has served as member and as chair of the Canadian National Advisory Committee on Immunization, Canadian Immunization Committee, and various other groups. She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada and of the American College of Preventive Medicine.

Susanna Ogunnaike-Cooke works as the Executive Director for Vaccine Safety Surveillance at the Public Health Agency of Canada. Trained as an epidemiologist, she joined the Canadian federal
government in 2007, and has worked in a variety of areas, including surveillance of infectious and chronic health events, emergency preparedness and response, regulatory policy, and Indigenous Health.

Carolyn Pullen, PhD, is the Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian
Cardiovascular Society. She brings to her role a passion for advancing the health of Canadians through strong professional practice and healthy public policy. For more than 25 years, she has worked in the national, not-for-profit sector, including Heart and Stroke, CIHI, and the Canadian Nurses Association, in the fields of health policy, research, knowledge translation and education. Ms.
Pullen holds a Bachelor of Nursing Science from Queens University. Her doctorate is from the University of Ottawa where her research focused on mechanisms to mobilize health research evidence into practice.

Alexander Singer is an associate professor in the department of family medicine at the University of Manitoba where he serves as the director of research and quality improvement. As the network director of the Manitoba Primary Care Research Network, he leads and collaborates on several practice-based research studies. Dr. Singer is the measurement and evaluation lead for eConsult Manitoba and a family physician clinician-teacher in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Karina Top is a pediatric infectious disease physician and an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Community Health & Epidemiology at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada. Dr. Top’s
research focuses on vaccine safety surveillance, management of adverse events following immunization, and vaccination of special populations. Dr. Top is co-Lead of the International Network of Special Immunization Services (INSIS), Principal Investigator of the Canadian Special Immunization Clinic Network, and an investigator in the Canadian Immunization Monitoring Program Active (IMPACT).

Sean Virani is Vice-President of Medical and Academic Affairs for the Provincial Health Services Authority in BC, Chief of Cardiology at Providence Health Care and Physician Program Director for the Provincial Heart Centre at St. Paul’s Hospital. He completed his internal medicine and cardiology training at UBC before embarking on a sub-specialization in heart failure and cardiac transplantation at Stanford University. He also has a Masters degree in Public Health from Columbia University. Dr. Virani is Past-President of the Canadian Heart Failure Society and Co-Chair of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society Heart Failure Guidelines Panel. He also serves as Medical Director for HeartLife Foundation, Canada’s first and only patient-led national heart failure organization.

Based in Ottawa, Meredith Wright leads MYCOVACC governance, operations, stakeholder relations, and reporting for the CCS. Meredith has held clinical, teaching, research, research ethics and leadership positions in hospital, university, and not-for-profit settings. Through her education and experience as an allied health leader, Meredith has a broad knowledge of issues related to professional practice and standards, professional development, research, regulatory requirements, and health policy.