Our People

Arij is the executive director, strategic initiative development at U of T, where she provides administrative and strategic leadership to high-priority interdisciplinary research and training initiatives, develops private sector and government partnerships, and establishes and directs the portfolio’s administrative and organizational structures.

John is a senior scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children and a professor in the department of molecular genetics and Institute of Medical Science at the University of Toronto. He is also program head of the cell biology program and a co-director of the SickKids Inflammatory Bowel Disease Centre. In 2014, Brumell was awarded the Pitblado Chair in Cell Biology. His research examines host-pathogen interactions and how defects in these interactions can impact the development of chronic diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease and arthritis.

Warren is a professor and head of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto. He holds the Canada Research Chair in Nanoengineering. The Chan lab develops nanotechnology for diagnosing and treating cancer and infectious diseases. He is currently an Executive Editor of ACS Nano. 

David is a professor in the department of cell & systems biology at the University of Toronto and director of the Centre for the Analysis of Genome Evolution & Function. His research focuses on deciphering how bacteria adapt to and manipulate their hosts with an emphasis on the evolution of bacterial host specificity and virulence and the dual role of secreted pathogen effectors as both virulence factors and immune elicitors. His group is particularly fascinated by the scope and impact of natural genetic diversity on these host-microbe interactions.

Jennie is an infectious diseases physician and as the medical director of infection prevention and control at Sinai Health. She is also an associate professor in the department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. Johnstone’s research interests focus on prevention of health care-associated infections. 

Rupert is a clinician scientist at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute and a professor in the departments of medicine and immunology at the University of Toronto. He also serves as the director of the clinical division of infectious diseases and runs a research lab focused on interactions between HIV transmission, genital and rectal immunology, sexually transmitted infections and the microbiome. His translational research is based in participant cohorts from Canada, Kenya and Uganda.

Céline is an oral microbiologist with a strong expertise in bacterial genetics. She hols the Canada Research Chair in Oral Microbial Genetics. Her lab focuses on bacterial communication and horizontal gene transfer in infectious biofilms. Her work has led to important discoveries in the detection of quorum and the formation of persistent bacteria, two subjects of prime importance in medical microbiology and infectious diseases. 

Sharmistha is a physician, infectious disease epidemiologist and mathematical modeler at Unity Health Toronto. She holds a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Mathematical Modeling and Program Science. She and her lab develop data-driven mathematical models to disentangle sources of pathogen and network-level heterogeneity in the dynamics of infectious disease transmission, to examine and address population-level causal pathways shaped by systemic drivers of health disparities and to dissect and develop methodological solutions to mitigate biases in inference and forecasting drawn from epidemic modeling and observational studies. Her lab’s research is grounded in front-line public health programs and led in partnership with communities.

Samira is currently a virologist, medical microbiologist and infectious disease physician at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and an associate professor in the department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology at the University of Toronto. Mubareka has been working on SARS-CoV-2 since the outset of the pandemic with a focus on virus biology, bioaerosols, genomics and wildlife surveillance. She is currently focused on understanding the biology and transmission of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern and on coronavirus and influenza virus zoonotic spillover.

Sharon is the director of the Immunodeficiency Clinic at Toronto Hospital, University Health Network and a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto. She is a senior scientist at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute and co-chair of the CIHR-Canadian HIV Trials Network. She is actively involved in the design, conduct and analysis of many clinical trials in HIV, COVID-19 and monkeypox.