Dr. Eve Dubé is a professor of Anthropology at Laval University in Quebec City, Canada and a researcher at the Centre de recherche du CHU de Québec-Université Laval. Her field of expertise is anthropology of public health. She is particularly interested in the social, cultural, historical and religious dimensions of infectious disease prevention. She holds a Canadian Institute of Health Research Applied Public Health Chair on the Anthropology of Vaccination. She chairs the Social Science and Humanities Network of the Canadian Immunization Research Network and is the scientific co-director of the Bridge Research Consortium.

Dr. Anna Blakney is an Assistant Professor and Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in the Michael Smith Laboratories and School of Biomedical Engineering at UBC. She received her Bachelor of Science in Chemical & Biological Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and her PhD in Bioengineering from the University of Washington. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Imperial College London on the development of molecular and biomaterial engineering strategies for delivery of self-amplifying RNA. Her lab uses bioengineering, molecular biology and immunology approaches to develop the next generation of RNA vaccines and therapies. Her research has been published in a variety of top tier journals including ACS Nano, Nature Communications, Molecular Therapy, Biomaterials, Journal of Controlled Release, and Advanced Materials. She is also a passionate science communicator and runs a TikTok channel dedicated to educating the public about RNA biotechnology, which now has >250,000 followers and >18M views. Dr. Blakney has received numerous awards and recognitions including the 2023 MIT Tech Review’s 35 Innovators Under 35, 2022 Gairdner Early Career Investigator Award, the 2021 UBC President’s Award for Public Education Through Media, the 2021 American Society for Gene and Cell Therapy Award Science Communication Award and the 2022 Controlled Release Society Gene Delivery and Editing Focus Group Young Investigator Award.

Dr. Shannon MacDonald, PhD, RN, is a Professor in Nursing and adjunct in Public Health at the University of Alberta, and an adjunct in Pediatrics at the University of Calgary. She is a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Applied Pediatric Immunization. Her research program focuses on identifying and addressing system-level barriers and supports to achieving high vaccine uptake in underserved populations of children and youth. Her research employs epidemiologic and social science approaches. As the principal investigator of the Applied Immunization (AIMM) research program, she leads an interdisciplinary team that works with vaccine policy advisors, program administrators, and clinicians to address real-world questions to inform immunization practice and policy.  

Dr. Ryan Noyce completed his PhD in Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences at McMaster University, where he studied cellular antiviral responses to enveloped viruses. He then pursued postdoctoral training at Dalhousie University, where he discovered and characterized Nectin-4 as a key measles virus receptor. At the University of Alberta, Dr. Noyce uses synthetic virology approaches to rapidly construct virus vectors. These tools enable novel studies of host-pathogen interactions and facilitate the development of recombinant virus-vectored vaccines to protect from emerging pathogens. His work has expanded into the creation of animal models for emerging viruses, including monkeypox virus (MPXV), chikungunya virus, and SARS-CoV-2; to assess viral pathogenesis and test vaccine and antiviral efficacy. He regularly collaborates with a US biotechnology company to support the development and GMP manufacturing of smallpox/mpox therapeutics. The goal of his research program is to advance synthetic virology for rapid vaccine design and to improve therapeutics targeting emerging viruses.

Dr. Karina Top is a clinician-scientist in vaccine research, and Professor of Pediatrics, University of Alberta and pediatric infectious disease consultant at the Stollery Children’s Hospital. Dr. Top is the Principal Investigator of the International Network of Special Immunization Services and co-Principal Investigator of the Canadian Immunization Research Network’s Special Immunization Clinic Network. Dr. Top’s research focuses on understanding causes and risk factors for rare adverse events following immunization, and improving vaccination practices for individuals who may be considered at higher risk of an adverse event, such as those with previous history of adverse events following immunization, immunocompromised patients, and people who are pregnant. She leads national and international research projects that employ epidemiological and mixed-methods and is collaborating on studies employing genomics and multi-OMICs to better understand vaccine adverse events. 

Dr. Ellen Rafferty is a Senior Principal Health Economist at the Institute of Health Economics and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, University of Alberta. At IHE, Dr. Rafferty co-leads a portfolio of work on the epidemiologic and economic impact of infectious diseases and public health policies, in particular vaccination, using mathematical and statistical modelling methods. She has a PhD in epidemiology and health economics, and a Master of Public Health from the University of Saskatchewan. She is co-lead of CIRN’s Modeling and Economics Research Network. Dr. Rafferty is interested in the incorporation of economics into immunization decision-making, and to that aim has presented to and worked with a variety of provincial and national organizations. She is currently a voting member on the National Advisory Committee on Immunization, and was on NACI’s Economics Task Group that was charged with advising on the development of the process for incorporating economic evidence into vaccine recommendations and the guidelines for the economic evaluation of vaccination programs. 

Dr. Kelley Lee is Professor and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Global Health Governance in the Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University; and Affiliated Professor in the School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia. She is Scientific Co-Director of the Bridge Research Consortium (within Canada’s Immuno-Engineering and Biomanufacturing Hub) to support public trust and equitable access to new vaccines and immunotherapies. Her research focuses on collective action to manage crossborder threats to population health. As Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, she led the WHO Collaborating Centre on Global Change and contributed to several major initiatives to strengthen global health institutions.  Since 2020, she has led the Pandemics and Borders Project to analyse measures to mitigate travel-related risk during public health emergencies. She co-chaired the Royal Society of Canada-Canadian Academy of Health Sciences Expert Panel on Canada’s Role in Global Health.  She was one of five authors commissioned by The Wellcome Trust to rethink the global health architecture. She serves as a Commissioner on the National University of Singapore-Lancet PRIME Commission. She is a Fellow of the UK Faculty of Public Health, Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and Royal Society of Canada.