IGH Institute Advisory Board Members – Biographies
Sofia Ahmed, MD, MMSc, FRCPC (Chair)
Professor, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry
University of Alberta
Nephrologist
The University of Alberta Chair in Sex and Gender, Dr. Ahmed is a clinician-scientist with a focus on sex and gender differences in human kidney/cardiovascular physiology and clinical outcomes. She is a member of the Canadian Medical Association Journal Governing Council and the President-Elect for the Organization for the Study of Sex Differences. Dr. Ahmed completed her MD and internal medicine residency at the University of Toronto and a nephrology fellowship at Brigham and Women’s and Massachusetts General Hospitals in Boston, USA. She completed her Master’s in Medical Sciences at Harvard University. The recipient of the 2022 Hypertension Canada Senior Investigator Award, 2021 Canadian Medical Association May Cohen Award for Women Mentors and 2020 American Society of Nephrology Distinguished Mentor Award, Dr. Ahmed is strong proponent of the importance of mentorship and fostering excellence in the next generation of researchers.
Shamara Baidoobonso, PhD
Provincial Epidemiologist, Prince Edward Island
Adjunct Faculty, Department of Community Health & Epidemiology, Dalhousie University
Shamara Baidoobonso, PhD, is the Provincial Epidemiologist for Prince Edward Island where she provides leadership and scientific and strategic direction to the Chief Public Health Office and Department of Health and Wellness on matters related to public health data, public health surveillance, and public health research. She is also Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Community Health & Epidemiology at Dalhousie University.
With over 15 years of experience in community-engaged research and over 10 years of experience in developing evidence-informed health policies and programs, Dr. Baidoobonso has built broad and deep experience in applying scientific evidence and engaging diverse public voices. She draws on this expertise to mobilize knowledge for disease prevention and health equity. In addition to working in applied research settings that focus on integrated knowledge mobilization, Dr. Baidoobonso also maintains a program of community-engaged research and knowledge mobilization this is focused on HIV and Black health in the Canadian context. She has authored 13 peer-reviewed journal articles, one book chapter, and over 41 research and evaluation reports. She has been a Principal Applicant/ Investigator/ Knowledge User on seven research projects that have attracted over $1.2M in competitive grant funding and over $1.0M in matched funds and in-kind support. Over the years, she has advised organizations, institutions, and governments at all levels on matters related to measuring health equity and collecting data about race and other aspects of identity to inform actions to address health equity and monitor progress.
In addition to her professional activities, Dr. Baidoobonso is actively engaged in community and holds volunteer leadership and advisory roles focused on addressing HIV, social determinants of health, and health inequities in Black, immigrant, and people of colour communities. She also regularly serves as a mentor to members of equity-seeking communities, including graduate students. She has received multiple scholarships, awards, and honours in recognition of both her academic and community work, including a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.
Peter Chan
Professor of Surgery, McGill University
Director of Male Reproductive Medicine, McGill University Health Center
Dr. Chan has been involved in fundamental science research since 1988 at McGill University. He has served as Principal and Co-Principal investigator of CIHR-funded research grants focusing on the bio-psycho-social aspects of a wide range of men’s health topics. In addition to various national and international awards and recognitions he has received for his research, Dr. Chan is also a prominent educator and has served in numerous occasions as Chair, faculty members and speakers in pre-congress courses and symposia of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine and American Urological Association annual congresses. He is a four-time recipient of the prestigious Everett C. Reid Awards for his outstanding contribution in education in Urology at McGill University. He is currently a board member of the executive committee of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine and Past President of the Society of Reproductive Surgeons. Recognizing the importance of public health promotion, Dr. Chan founded a public health awareness event called the McGill Men’s Health Day in 2005 and has since served as chief organizer each year. This event is held annually on the week of Father’s Day in various public locations to promote awareness of various men’s health issues to the general public. For his work in promoting men’s health, Dr. Chan received the Outstanding Contribution Award from the Prostate Cancer Network Canada in 2013 and the Award of Generosity from the Cedars Cancer Foundation of Canada in 2018.
Ian Graham
Professor, School of Epidemiology and Public Health
University of Ottawa
Ian Graham, PhD, FCAHS, FNYAM FRSC is a Professor in the School of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Ottawa and Senior Scientist in the Clinical Epidemiology Program of the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. Professor Graham's research focuses on knowledge translation and in particular the process and impact of researchers working collaboratively with knowledge users (integrated knowledge translation). He is the recipient of an inaugural Canadian Institutes of Health Research 7-year Foundation Grant entitled, “Moving knowledge into action for more effective practice, programs and policy: A research program focusing on integrated knowledge translation.”
Genesa M. Greening, CFRE (she/her/hers)
CEO, Vancity Community Foundation
Genesa is a social justice advocate at her core. She has committed her 25-year career as a leader in the non-profit sector to catalyzing community change, including facilitating over $300 million in investment from partners, donors, and government in twenty different non-profits here in Canada, and in the US and Africa.
Genesa recently was appointed the CEO of the Vancity Community Foundation. With a renewed focus on climate justice, anti-racism, and reconciliation she is being tasked to facilitate systemic change by leveraging the Foundation’s nearly $88 million in donor assets to build a sustainable future for British Columbians, in particular, for the most vulnerable among us.
More recently, she served as the President + CEO of BC Women's Health Foundation. There, Genesa broadened the Foundation's singular fundraising mandate to become a pan-provincial health equity organization. Today, it is nationally recognized as an effective advocate for women's healthcare policy, research investment, and the need for gender equity and intersectionality in health.
As a dedicated community volunteer, she serves on the Elizabeth Fry Society of Greater Vancouver’s board of directors, co-chairs the Equal Futures Network, and serves as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Women’s Health Research Institute in BC.
Genesa is a proven and awarded business leader. Most recently, in 2021, she was named among the Business in Vancouver’s inaugural BC500, which recognized influential business leaders in BC. She was recognized in the Healthcare Executives category alongside the Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry.
Genesa is an unapologetic feminist, and a relentless optimist committed to catalyzing change, sparking innovation, and developing deep and lasting relationships that will see our communities strengthened.
Robert-Paul Juster, PhD
Director, Centre for Studies on Sex and Gender, Allostatsis and Resilience (CESAR Laboratory), Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal
Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Addiction, Université de Montréal
Robert-Paul Juster is Director of the Centre for Studies on Sex and Gender, Allostasis and Resilience (CESAR Laboratory) located at the Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal. He is also Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Addiction at the Université de Montréal. Robert-Paul holds a B.A. in psychology from Concordia University, as well as an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in neuroscience from McGill University. Finally, Robert-Paul completed his postdoctoral training in psychiatry at Columbia University.
Robert-Paul's research focuses on better understanding the role of biological sex and socio-cultural aspects of gender in explaining trajectories leading to vulnerability or resilience to stress-related illnesses. In particular, he has extensive expertise in chronic stress. More specifically, Robert-Paul specializes in the measurement of allostatic load using biomarkers obtained by sampling saliva and blood. Allostatic load is a global index of multi-systemic wear and tear caused by exposure to chronic stress and unhealthy behaviours. In addition, Robert-Paul Juster has conducted studies to understand how stigma and stress affect the health of members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community. Within his laboratory (CESAR), Dr. Juster's team aims to contribute to the advancement of research on sex/gender perspectives and allostatic load in diverse populations such as the LGBTQ+ community, workers and psychiatric patients.
Carmen Logie, PhD
Professor, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto
Adjunct Scientist at Women’s College Research Institute at Women’s College Hospital
Canada Research Chair in Global Health Equity & Social Justice with Marginalized Populations
Dr. Carmen Logie, Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Global Health Equity and Social Justice with Marginalized Populations, is a Full Professor at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, an Adjunct Professor at the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment, & Health, an Adjunct Scientist at Women’s College Hospital, and a Researcher at the Centre for Gender & Sexual Health Equity. Her community-based research program advances understanding of, and develops interventions to address, intersecting forms of stigma and discrimination associated with HIV and other social and health disparities in Canada, Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, and Tanzania with people living with HIV, refugee and displaced youth, LGBTQ+ communities, Indigenous youth, climate-affected youth, and people at the intersection of these identities.
Lance T. McCready, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Leadership, Higher & Adult Education, University of Toronto
Director, Transitional Year Program, University of Toronto
Lead Researcher, Making Spaces Lab (@MakingSpacesLab)
Lance T. McCready, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education and Director of the Transitional Year Program at University of Toronto. He is Lead Researcher for Making Spaces Lab, which is building a legacy of academic scholarship, programs and interventions for/by/about Black families, children & youth focused on education, health and well-being. Dr. McCready's dissertation and subsequent publications focused on "making space" for diverse masculinities in urban education and how the experiences of gay and gender non-conforming Black male students reframe the troubles Black male students face in urban high schools. His most recent research focuses on the educational trajectories of Black sexual and gender minority (SGM) youth, access to postsecondary education, Black youth leaving systems of care and HIV prevention and care for Black gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM). Conceptually, he is interested in the ways Black feminist theory (intersectionality), queer of color analysis, social determinants of health and syndemics frameworks can be mobilized to develop more effective programs and social capital that promote Black community development. Dr. McCready earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in Social and Cultural Studies in Education from the University of California, Berkeley with Designated Emphasis in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies.
Jeffrey S. Mogil, PhD, FCAHS, FRSC,
Professor, Department of Psychology, McGill University
Jeffrey Mogil is currently the E.P. Taylor Professor of Pain Studies and a Distinguished James McGill Professor at McGill University. Dr. Mogil has made seminal contributions to the fields of pain genetics, sex differences in pain, and pain testing methods in the laboratory mouse. He has published over 270 manuscripts and book chapters and currently has an h-index of 96. He is the recipient of lifetime achievement awards from the American and Canadian Pain Societies and the Canadian Psychological Association, and is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Research and the Royal Society of Canada. He has served as Neurobiology Section Editor at the journal, Pain, as a Councilor at the International Association for the Study of Pain, and was the Chair of the Scientific Program Committee of the 13th World Congress on Pain.
Neeloffer Mookherjee, PhD
CIHR Sex and Gender Science Chair in Circulatory and Respiratory Health
Professor, Departments of Internal Medicine and Immunology, Manitoba Centre for Proteomics & Systems Biology, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba
Chair, Women In Science: Development, Outreach & Mentoring (WISDOM) Manitoba
Dr. Neeloffer Mookherjee is a Professor within the departments of Internal Medicine and Immunology, at The University of Manitoba. Dr. Mookherjee obtained her PhD at the University of Victoria. She completed postdoctoral trainings at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization and the University of British Columbia. Dr. Mookherjee’s research group at the Manitoba Centre for Proteomics and Systems Biology, University of Manitoba, uses various Systems-level approaches to identify molecular hubs within inflammatory networks, and to define disease-related biosignatures that can be targeted for the development of new immunomodulatory drugs, with a focus on asthma and arthritis. She has made seminal contributions in defining the immunity-related functions of cationic host defence (antimicrobial) peptides, in particular the role of these peptides in the regulation of inflammation.
Dr. Mookherjee is the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Sex and Gender Science Chair in Circulatory and Respiratory Health. She integrates Sex- and Gender-Based Analyses in her research program, primarily focusing on sex as a biological variable in the regulation of inflammation in the lungs and response to therapy in asthma.
Dr. Mookherjee is a strong advocate for women in science, and is the current Chair of WISDOM (Women In Science: Development, Outreach and Mentorship), an initiative at The Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, at The University of Manitoba, Canada. As a leader in WISDOM she has made valuable contributions aimed to mitigate some of the barriers related to the under representation of women in academic and professional leadership positions. She is recognized for her excellence and distinction in mentoring academic women in science.
For more information, please visit the Mookerherjee Research Group website.
Harlan Pruden
Educator, Chee Mamuk
British Columbia Centre for Disease Control
(Vancouver)
Harlan Pruden is a proud member of the Cree Nation, or nēhiyaw in Cree. Harlan's mother is from the Beaver Lake Reservation and father from the Whitefish Lake Reservation, both located in northeastern Alberta – Treaty 6 territory. After living in New York for 20 years, Harlan moved to Vancouver and now lives, works and plays on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples, specifically the shared territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō, and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
Harlan works with the Two-Spirit community locally, nationally and internationally. Harlan is currently a Ph.D student at UBC's Interdisciplinary Studies Graduate Program and is focusing on historical images of Two-Spirit individuals. Harlan is also an Educator with the BC Center for Disease Control's Indigenous public health program, Chee Mamuk and the Managing Editor of Two-SpiritJournal.com, an interactive multi-platform Two-Spirit media/news site. Closer to home, Harlan is a board member for Qmunity, the home for Vancouver's LGBT, Queer and Two-Spirit community and was just appointed by the City of Vancouver as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Vancouver Public Library. Harlan serves as a representative to the International Indigenous Peoples Working Group on HIV/AIDS.
Before moving to Vancouver, Harlan was co-founder and Director of the New York City's NorthEast Two Spirit Society and served as the principal Two-Spirit consultant to US' Tribal Training and Technical Assistance Center and Trans Care BC. In August 2014, Harlan was appointed by President Obama to the US Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) and provided advice, information, and recommendations to the Secretary of Health & Human Services and the White House. (In December 2018, Harlan was fired from PACHA by Trump via Fedex.)
Ayden Scheim, PhD
Assistant Professor, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Drexel University
Ayden Scheim, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology in the Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University (Philadelphia, USA) and holds adjunct and visiting faculty positions at Western University, St. Michael’s Hospital, and the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Scheim received his PhD in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from Western University and completed postdoctoral training in Global Public Health at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Scheim conducts community-based and methodological research to understand and address the health impacts of intersectional stigma, discrimination, and social exclusion. In particular, his program of research has focused on (1) mental health, sexual health, HIV, and harm reduction in sexual and gender minority populations and people who use drugs and (2) measuring intersectional stigma and discrimination. Dr. Scheim has 20 years of experience in transgender and non-binary health research and practice, and currently leads CIHR- and NIH-funded community-based participatory research studies with trans populations in Canada and India. He has participated in trans health clinical and research guideline development processes for the World Health Organization, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, and the National Institutes of Health.
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