IGH Institute Advisory Board Members – Biographies

Gillian Einstein, PhD (Chair)
Associate Professor of Psychology and Public Health
University of Toronto

Gillian Einstein is a neuroscientist who has published in vision, Alzheimer's and aging research, sex differences, and women's health. She has edited and annotated a book of classic papers in Hormones and Behavior called, Sex and the Brain (MIT Press, 2007).

She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and The Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, Senior Scientist at Women's College Research Institute, Member of the Scientific Staff of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Senior Fellow of University College, and a member of both the Institute for Life Course and Aging, and the Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies at the University of Toronto.

She is also founder and Director of the Collaborative Graduate Program in Women's Health at the University of Toronto, founding member of the Organization for the Study of Sex Differences, and a temporary advisor to WHO on the psychological effects of female genital cutting/mutilation. She served on the faculty of the Department of Neurobiology, Duke University where she founded and directed the first year program, Exploring the Mind and was the recipient of the Alumni Undergraduate Teaching Award. She has also been a Scientific Review Officer at the National Institutes of Health (US), and the Associate Director of the Centre for Research in Women's Health at the University of Toronto. She has been a mentor in the Institute of Gender and Health's Summer Institute (2009, 2010) and In the spring term of 2010 she was a visiting professor with the Committee for Degrees in Women, Gender and Sexuality at Harvard University.

Dr. Einstein's interests are in memory, sex/gender representations in the nervous system, mixed methods, and the bridge between our scientific understanding of the nervous system and larger concerns having to do with self, identity, feminism, and the nature of science. Her research program focuses on three major areas: 1) the neurobiological effects of such cultural practices as female genital cutting and 2) the effects of the ovulatory cycle on mood and memory; and 3) the representation of the female body in the brain. The key question underlying all these projects is how gender is instantiated on the body.

Françoise Baylis, PhD
Professor
Canada Research Chair in Bioethics and Philosophy
Faculty of Medicine
Dalhousie University

Françoise Baylis is Professor and Canada Research Chair in Bioethics and Philosophy at Dalhousie University in Halifax. She publishes extensively on ethical issues relevant to women's reproductive health, research involving humans and novel technologies. Her current research focuses on innovative, responsible and accountable bioethics, with a view to developing and promoting ethical policy in the fields of health, science and biotechnology.

Professor Baylis contributes to national policy-making on assisted human reproduction via independent research, government research contracts, national committee work, and public education. This work dates back to 1991 when Baylis was a consultant to the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies. More recently, from 2007 to 2010, Baylis was a member of the Board of Directors of Assisted Human Reproduction Canada. On the basis of her extensive and wide ranging academic research and national policy experience, Professor Baylis prepared an ethics expert report for the Government of Canada in response to the legal challenge by the province of Québec to the Assisted Human Reproduction Act. The Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in December 2010. Professor Baylis' expert report is cited in the decision.

Professor Baylis is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and an elected Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. Her service commitment to CIHR includes: Member, Gender and Health Institute Advisory Board, 2009-12; Member, Governing Council, 2001-2004; Co-Chair, Standing Committee on Ethics, 2001-04; Member, Priorities and Planning Committee, Institute of Genetics, Ethics, Legal and Social Issues, (ex officio) 2002-04; Member, Genetics Institute Advisory Board 2001; and Member, Ad Hoc Working Group on Stem Cell Research, 2000-01.

Yitzchak (Irv) M. Binik, PhD
Professor of Psychology, McGill University

Yitzchak (Irv) Binik is a Professor of Psychology at McGill University and director of the Sex and Couple Therapy Service of the McGill University Health Center. He received his B.A. from NYU, his BHL from the Jewish Theological Seminary and his PhD in clinical psychology/experimental psychopathology from the University of Pennsylvania. In 2003, he was awarded the Canadian Psychological Association prize for distinguished contribution to professional psychology. In 2006, he received the Masters and Johnson Award for lifetime achievement from the Society for Sex Therapy and Research. Dr. Binik is a member of the DSM-5 workgroup on sexual and gender identity disorders.

Guylain Boissonneault, PhD
Professor
Department in Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine
University of Sherbrooke

Dr. Guylain Boissonneault is a molecular biologist and full professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the Faculty of Medicine in the Université de Sherbrooke. Dr Boissonneault received his BSc in Medical Biology at Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières and obtained his PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology from Université Laval in 1990. Following his post-doctoral studies in Developmental Genetics at the University of California San Francisco, Dr. Boissonneault was appointed to a faculty position in 1993.

Over the past five years, he has studied spermiogenesis as a major determinant of the genetic integrity of the male gamete. One of his major contributions to the field was to demonstrate that endogenous DNA double-stranded breaks are part of the normal development program of spermatids. These DNA breaks must be repaired by an error-prone mechanism making this transition a very sensitive step able to transmit mutations from one generation to the next without exogenous genotoxic factors. New molecular biology tools have been created for such studies. Dr Boissonneault is also actively involved in both graduate and undergraduate teaching in molecular biology and genomics and is also involved several management committees at the Faculty of Medicine in Sherbrooke. He is currently commissioner for the academic programs evaluation of CREPUQ (Québec).

Dr. Boissonneault received studentship, fellowship and scholarship from le Fond Québécois de la Recherche sur la Nature et les Technologies (FQRNT), the Natural Sciences and Enginering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and le Fond de la Recherche en Santé du Québec (FRSQ ). He currently holds research grants from both NSERC and CIHR for his work on reproductive biology and is regularly invited as external or internal referee for different funding agencies.

Dr. Edward O'Brien, MD, FRCPC, FACC, FAHA

Dr. O'Brien is the Director of Research at the Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta and Section Head of the Division of Cardiology for the Calgary Zone of Alberta Health Services. As a Professor of Cardiac Sciences, he holds a CIHR/ Medtronic Research Chair. Prior to October 2011 he was a Clinician Scientist at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute and Director of the Vascular Biology Laboratory that was continuously supported by over $8M in peer-review funding. His laboratory has trained more than 30 individuals, produced more than 100 peer-review manuscripts and made over 150 presentations at national and international research meetings. Dr. O'Brien is an Honorary Guest Professor at the Norman Bethune Medical College, Jilin University, China. Dr. O'Brien's research focuses on the role of estrogens in vascular disease. Indeed, his laboratory discovered an estrogen responsive protein, Heat Shock Protein 27 that is both anti-inflammatory and anti-atherogenic, and serves as a biomarker for cardiovascular events.

Learn more about Dr. O'Brien's research

Sally Brown, MHSc

Sally Brown was the CEO of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada from October, 2001, until her retirement in September 2010. Ms Brown came to HSFC from the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) where she spent ten years as Vice-President responsible for national and international policy.

From 1989 to 1991 Ms. Brown was a special advisor in the Prime Minister's Office. From 1984 to 1989, she was a hospital administrator at the Toronto General Hospital becoming Assistant Vice-President, Diagnostic Services in 1987.

Ms. Brown has a Diploma in Nursing from the Toronto General Hospital School of Nursing, and a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters in Health Sciences from the University of Toronto.

Ms. Brown has served on a number of community and agency boards including that of the Royal Ottawa Hospital, the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation and the Council for Health Research in Canada, receiving the latter organization's Award of Merit in 2005. She has served as Chair of the Health Charities Coalition of Canada and was a member of the Board of the Canadian Stroke Network. In 2006 she was appointed co-chair, with Health Canada, of the federal Trans Fat Task Force, for which she received Health Canada's ADM's Excellence Award for Collaborative Leadership. Ms. Brown is currently on the Advisory Board of the Institute of Gender and Health of the CIHR, and was recently appointed to the Board of the InterAmerican Heart Foundation.

Carol Herbert MD CCFP FCFP FCAHS FRCPS(Glasg) FRACGP(Hon)
Professor, Department of Family Medicine and Department of Pathology
Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry
Affiliate Member, Department of Women's Studies & Feminist Research
Western University

Carol Herbert is Professor of Family Medicine, cross-appointed to Pathology, in the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University, with affiliate membership in the Department of Women's Studies & Feminist Research and McGill's PRAM Centre (Participatory Research at McGill). She was Dean of the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry (1999-2010), Head of the UBC Department of Family Practice (1988-98), founding Head of the Division of Behavioural Medicine and a co-founder of the UBC Institute of Health Promotion Research. Carol is committed to social justice and access to health care. She was a pioneer in developing services for sexually assaulted adults and children in B.C. She has been a leader in inter-professional education and collaborative practice, women's health and mentorship of academic women. She is internationally known for her leadership in primary care research, particularly her participatory action research with indigenous communities. She has chaired or served on multiple task forces on health policy and health professional education. She is a founding Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, a Foreign Associate Member of the Institute of Medicine, U.S. National Academies of Science, and a Fellow of the College of Family Physicians of Canada.

Abby Hoffman
Associate Assistant Deputy Minister
Strategic Policy
Health Canada

Abby Hoffman is the Executive Coordinator, Pharmaceuticals Management Strategies, Health Policy Branch, Health Canada. In this capacity, she oversees the development and implementation of Health Canada's Therapeutics Access Strategy (TAS). The objective of the strategy is to improve the health of Canadians by enhancing access to effective, safe and affordable therapeutic products. The strategy supports initiatives aimed at: improving the transparency and timeliness of regulatory decision-making, strengthening assessment of safety and therapeutic effectiveness, and, better management and use of therapeutic products in the Canadian health system.

Abby Hoffman has held a number of senior executive positions in Health Canada, including the first Director General of the Women's Health Bureau, and, Director General, Health Care Strategies and Policy. Before joining Health Canada, for ten years she was the Director General of the federal government sport agency, Sport Canada.

Dr. Ineke Klinge, PhD

Ineke Klinge is associate professor of Gender Medicine at Maastricht University. She combined her training in biomedical sciences (specialization Immunology) with gender research. Her research line focuses on integration of gender and diversity issues into biomedical and health research. Since 2000 she received EU grants for establishing sex and gender sensitive research. The project GenderBasic (2005-2008) that she coordinated was elected by the European Commission as an excellent example of the positive impacts EU research can achieve. During winter semester 2008-2009 she was appointed as Maria-Goeppert-Mayer guest professor in Gender Medicine at the Georg-August-University in Göttingen, Germany. In 2010 with Claudia Wiesemann she published the book Sex and Gender in Biomedicine: Theories, Methods, Results and the article Scientific excellence in applying sex- and gender-sensitive methods in biomedical and health research (Journal of Women's Health, 19(2), 313-321). At the European Science Open Forum (ESOF) in 2010 she organized the session: The Promises of Gender Medicine: are sex and gender the key to a better health care? She was responsible for the topic report (2011) Mainstreaming sex and gender in research of the EU Meta-Analysis of Gender and Science Research project. She was member of the scientific steering committee of EUGiM (European Curriculum in Gender Medicine) and associate partner of ENGENDER (Inventory of good practices in Europe for promoting gender equity in health). With Londa Schiebinger she chaired the Expert Group "Innovation through Gender" financed by the European Commission, to develop the Gendered Innovations project (2011-2013). The Gendered Innovations project designed methods of sex and gender analysis for basic and applied research. The project was presented in a special session organized by the European Commission in cooperation with the European Parliament on July 9, 2013.

A forthcoming project called EUGENMED (FP7 - HEALTH-2013-INNOVATION-1)(2013-2015) will create a European Gender Medicine Network, aimed at producing a roadmap for the implementation of sex and gender in biomedicine and health research.

Olga Kovalchuk, MD, PhD
Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Lethbridge
CIHR Chair in Gender and Health
Board of Governors' Research Chair

Dr. Olga Kovalchuk is a Professor and Board of Governors' Research Chair in Radiation Biology in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Lethbridge. She holds a CIHR Chair in Gender and Health.

Dr. Kovalchuk's research focuses on the effects of long-term exposure to radiation, and how that exposure changes cellular and molecular structures in animals and people. Her research interests include: sex differences in radiation responses and carcinogenesis, radiation epigenetics and role of epigenetic changes in genome stability and carcinogenesis, epigenetics of carcinogenesis, epigenetic regulation of the cancer treatment responses, and radiation-induced DNA damage, repair and recombination.

In 2010, Dr. Kovalchuk was voted one of Canada's Top 40 Under 40.

Jens Pruessner, PhD
Director, McGill Centre for Studies in Aging
Director, Aging and Alzheimer Research Axis, Douglas Institute

Dr. Jens Pruessner performed his graduate studies at Trier University in Germany in Psychoneuroendocrinology, completing his PhD in 1997. Continuing his postgraduate studies at McGill University (Douglas Mental Health University Institute and the Montreal Neurological Institute), he specialized in neuroimaging techniques.

Focusing his attention on studying stress, Dr. Pruessner and his team developed and validated the mental arithmetic task for stress induction, the Montreal Imaging Stress Task (MIST). They have since employed the task in functional magnetic resonance imaging and Positron Emission Tomography studies, investigating the effects of stress on brain activation changes in real time.

Appointed Assistant Professor at McGill University in 2002, Dr. Pruessner is a member of the Departments of Psychology, Psychiatry and Neurology & Neurosurgery. In 2004, Dr. Pruessner was appointed Director of the Aging and Alzheimer Research Axis of the Douglas Mental Health Institute. In 2008, he was appointed Director of the McGill Centre for Studies in Aging. In 2009, Dr. Pruessner was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor.

He has been a member of the International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology since 2004, the International Society of Behavioral Neuroscience since 2002, and the Society for Neuroscience since 2001.

In 1998, Dr. Pruessner received the Postdoctoral Fellow Award and Stipend, and the University of Trier Alumni Group PhD Award. The Centre for Psychobiological and Psychosomatic Research in Trier, Germany awarded him the Innovation Award in 1997. He received personal support awards from NARSAD (Young Investigator 2000), FRSQ (Chercheur-boursier Junior 2002), CIHR (New Investigator Award 2005), and FRSQ (Chercheur nationaux 2011).

Finally, Dr. Pruessner was the recipient of the 2008 Curt Richter Young Investigator Award of the International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology, and the 2009 Young Investigator Award of the Canadian College of Neuropsychopharmacology.

Dr. Kate Shannon, PhD, MPH

Dr. Kate Shannon is Assistant Professor of Medicine and Associate Faculty in the School of Population and Public Health at UBC and Director of the Gender and Sexual Health Initiative at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS. Her research focuses on social and structural determinants of sexual health, HIV/AIDS, violence, and access to care among marginalized populations in Canada and globally, particularly youth and women living with and affected by HIV, and sex workers. Her work has contributed to over 200 media interviews and informed expert evidence in BC, Ontario, and the Supreme Court of Canada related to constitutional challenges of Canada's criminalized sex work laws. She has acted as a technical consultant with the departments of reproductive health and HIV with the World Health Organization on gender, violence and HIV, and currently sits on the International AIDS Society Advisory Group for Key Affected Populations and the CIHR HIV/AIDS Advisory Committee (CHARAC). She holds a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar Award and is past recipient of the CIHR Peter Lougheed Award (2011).