I trained in Food science (MSc) at University of Manitoba and in Foodborne disease (PhD) at Cornell University. I did postdoctoral fellowship at the Office of Public Health Science, Food Safety and Inspection Service,
USDA. I’m now chief of Enteric Diseases Section, National Microbiology Laboratory, PHAC. I’m also co-chair of PulseNet Canada Steering Committee and member of PulseNet International Steering Committee.
My research interests are:
– Molecular subtyping of bacterial pathogens;
– Cluster and outbreak detection for diarrheal diseases;
– Distribution and genetic diversity of Salmonella, Shigella, E. coli, Campylobacter;
– Epidemiology of foodborne disease.
Role in Syst-OMICS
As Activity 4 co-leader, I’m working with Sadjia Bekal to achieve our activity goal: develop and apply whole genome sequence-based bacterial strain tools for Salmonella harmonized with PulseNet infrastructure and human surveillance in Canada. My lab is directly involved in the 3 sub-activities:
- Assessment of the discriminatory power of commonly accepted WGS analysis methods and application for establishing relatedness among isolates power.
- Validation of a Salmonella typing algorithm and development of interpretation guidelines
- Genomic comparison in the context of Salmonella source attribution