Results of the 2025 Researcher Mobility Awards Competition
The Emerging and Pandemic Infections Consortium (EPIC) is an integrated network for researchers, trainees and partners working to confront infectious disease challenges. We unite members across the University of Toronto and its hospital partners to accelerate cross-disciplinary work in the understanding and development of new countermeasures against pathogens. A key pillar of EPIC’s work is training the next generation of infectious disease research leaders who will help stop future pandemics and reduce the societal burdens of infectious disease.
EPIC Researcher Mobility Awards support high-calibre doctoral students or postdoctoral fellows developing new skillsets and strengthening global linkages by providing financial support for them to undertake research training or complete collaborative field work outside of Toronto. Through these opportunities, Researcher Mobility Award recipients will bring back new knowledge and techniques to our local infectious disease research community and strengthen our research network’s ties to national and international research partners.
We are pleased to share the results of the 2025 Researcher Mobility Awards competition to support travel between January 1 and December 31, 2025.
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Meet our 2025 Researcher Mobility Awards recipients
Maria Carolina Barbosa da Silva
Unity Health Toronto
Destination: Querétaro, Mexico
Purpose: Attend the Q2 Summer School, a two-week advanced bioimaging course
Supervisor: Claudia dos Santos (Unity Health Toronto)
Brittany Cooke
Department of Molecular Genetics
Destination: Madison, USA
Purpose: Evaluate the effectiveness of novel drugs in killing mosquito larvae of Anopheles gambiae and Aedes aegypti
Supervisor: Peter Roy (University of Toronto, Temerty Faculty of Medicine)
Erik Curtis
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Destination: Nanaimo, British Columbia
Purpose: Study the types of infectious diseases Pacific Salmon are exposed to during migration
Supervisor: Martin Krkosek(University of Toronto, Faculty of Arts and Science)
Mahmood Gohari
Public Health Ontario
Destination: Edmonton, Alberta
Purpose: Attend the RNA-seq Analysis workshop, a three-day workshop to receive training on high-throughput sequencing of RNA libraries
Supervisor: Venkata Duvvuri (Public Health Ontario)
David Kormos
Department of Civil and Mineral Engineering
Destination: Antwerp, Belgium
Purpose: Develop low-cost air cleaning technologies to reduce the airborne circulation of pathogens, including drug-resistant tuberculosis
Supervisor: Jeffrey Siegel (University of Toronto, Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering)
Mindy Lam
Department of Molecular Genetics
Destination: Laval, Quebec
Purpose: Undertake a study to investigate the role of a sugar metabolite in facilitating bacterial colonization by Neisseria in preclinical infection models
Supervisor: Scott Gray-Owen (University of Toronto, Temerty Faculty of Medicine)
Evaezi Okpokoro
Institute of Human Virology, Nigeria
Destination: Toronto, Canada
Purpose: Participate in the Canada-Nigeria Mpox Partnership, a bi-directional, multi-site project aimed at strengthening global partnerships to improve mpox surveillance and pandemic preparedness efforts
Supervisor: Darrell Tan (Unity Health Toronto)
Daniella Serrador
Department of Molecular Genetics
Destination: London, Ontario
Purpose: Undertake a study to identify nutrients that promote a healthy vaginal microbiome and harness these nutrients to combat vaginal dysbiosis
Supervisor: William Navarre (University of Toronto, Temerty Faculty of Medicine)
Angelo Sotto
Institute of Medical Science
Destination: Montreal, Quebec
Purpose: Receive training in a specialized assay to measure antibody levels for human herpesvirus-8
Supervisor: Darrell Tan (Unity Health Toronto)
Jay Xu
Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation
Destination: Providence, USA
Purpose: Develop statistical methods to model the impact of school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic on childhood and youth mental health outcomes in Ontario
Supervisors: Kuan Liu (University of Toronto, Dalla Lana School of Public Health), Geoffrey Anderson (University of Toronto, Dalla Lana School of Public Health)
Gelan Ayana Zewdie
Dalla Lana School of Public Health
Destination: Jimma, Ethiopia
Purpose: Design artificial intelligence-powered digital tools to improve community-based infectious disease surveillance for deployment to underserved areas such as rural Ethiopia
Supervisor: Jude Kong (University of Toronto, Dalla Lana School of Public Health)
