Executive Committee
Dr. Angela Cheung, Scientific Director and NPA
Dr. Cheung is a Senior Physician Scientist at UHN. Dr. Cheung is founding Director of the Osteoporosis (1998–present), Women’s Health (1998–2019), and Integrative Medicine Programs (2019–present); and the Centre of Excellence in Skeletal Health Assessment (CESHA) (2008–present). At UofT, she is cross-appointed as Professor in the Faculty of Medicine; Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Dalla Lana School of Public Health; Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation and holds the KY and Betty Ho Chair in Integrative Medicine (2019–present), and won the Eaton Scholars Award for Research in the Department of Medicine in 2021. Dr. Cheung’s academic and clinical interests revolve around musculoskeletal and postmenopausal health, having expanded recently to include COVID-19 and its longer-term impacts. Her program uniquely intersects biological underpinnings of health, incorporation of novel imaging techniques and downstream implications to health policy, health delivery and health economics. She has led many clinical trials, including MAP3.BSS (breast cancer prevention), ECKO (vitamin K supplementation), Vibration (whole body vibration therapy for improving bone health) and RECLAIM (interventions for long COVID) to name a few. Her work has resulted in seminal findings published in prestigious journals such as Annals of Internal Medicine, JAMA, Lancet Oncology and PLoS Medicine. Internationally, Dr. Cheung has been elected or nominated to multiple international task forces and advisory committees, including chairing international guidelines committees. She has also been lauded with multiple mentorship awards, including the UofT Eudenie Stuart mentorship award and the UHN/Sinai Health System Michael Hutcheon Mentorship award. She held a Senior Investigator Award from the CIHR Institute of Gender and Health in recognition of her innovations in postmenopausal osteoporosis (2010–2015) and is currently holding a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair.
Dr. Robert McMaster, Vice Dean, Research, University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine
​Dr. McMaster fosters scientific collaborations between UBC and the health partners in BC, and he will be instrumental in helping to build collaborations for the training platform. As a Professor in the Department of Medical Genetics, he has focused his research on molecular immunology, parasitology and transplant immunology.
Dr. Sofia Ahmed, SGBA+ champion
Dr. Ahmed is Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Medicine at the University of Calgary, and a renowned kidney specialist whose clinical research focuses on sex differences in human cardiovascular and kidney physiology and outcomes. She has won numerous mentorship awards, most recently the May Cohen Award for Women Mentors from the Canadian Medical Association and a Distinguished Mentor Award from the American Society of Nephrology. She is a champion of training and her mentees, demonstrating a passion for teaching and leading by example. Dr. Ahmed leads the CV&Me Women’s Cardiovascular Health Initiative at the University of Calgary, which advocates for the incorporation of sex- and gender-based considerations in hypertension and cardiovascular care, research, and education. She was recognized with two awards for that work. She also served as the Education Chair and is now the President-Elect for the Organization for the Study of Sex Differences
Dr. Proton Rahman, Associate Dean, Clinical Research, Memorial University Faculty of Medicine
In addition to his role at Memorial, Dr. Rahman is a rheumatologist at Eastern Health and is active in translational genetics research. He has initiated several large-scale interdisciplinary projects, including working with the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health Information to integrate genetic information with existing data in the provincial electronic health record.
Training Platform Advisory Committee (TPAC)
Dr. Hiten Naik, Trainee Member
Dr. Hiten Naik is a medical resident in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of British Columbia. He is leading research on long-COVID-19 and has authored or contributed to more than 40 scientific articles, despite still being a trainee.
Dr. Umberin Najeeb, EDI Champion
Dr. Najeeb is a physician of internal medicine at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto and is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto. She has led curriculum development and the implementation of postgraduate education and mentorship programs at the University, and has received numerous awards from the University and Sunnybrook for her excellence in teaching and mentorship.
Susie Goulding, a person with lived experience
Ms. Susie Goulding is a patient representative living with long COVID-19 symptoms. She began experiencing COVID-19 symptoms early in the pandemic in March 2020 and continues to experience symptoms. Ms. Goulding is the founder of the COVID Long-Haulers Support Group Canada, Canada’s largest community for COVID-19 survivors and their families.
Dr. Christopher Mushquash, Indigenous experience
Dr. Mushquash is Ojibway and a member of the Pays Plat First Nation and holds the Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Mental Health and Addiction. His work in Northern Ontario involves providing services for First Nations members, and he can help ensure that the training platform is developed in a respectful way that will bring benefits to Indigenous learners and patients. He is a hub member of the ECHO Ontario Chronic Pain and Opioid Stewardship for Indigenous Populations.
Jasmine Grant, National Director
Jasmine Grant is the National Director of CIHR funded CAN-TAP-TALENT Clinical Trials Training Program (CTTP), working alongside Dr. Angela Cheung at UHN. She is a leader in Clinical Research Training initiatives, providing quality clinical research education opportunities, including ECHO Communities of Practice, to clinical research sites across Canada. Jasmine is a Clinical Research Manager at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre UHN, leading a team of Clinical Study & Regulatory Assistants within oncology research. Jasmine has experience working as a research Study Coordinator, monitoring and coordinating multicentre clinical oncology trials at The Princess Margaret since 2006. She completed a Master's degree in Adult Education and Higher Learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. Prior to this, Jasmine graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a Bachelor of Health Science with an Honours specialization in Health Promotion. She is an active member of the Society of Clinical Research Associates (SoCRA) and a graduate from the Clinical Research Graduate Certification Program at Humber College. Since 2017, Jasmine is an instructor at both Seneca Polytechnic and York University, within their respective Clinical Research programs.
In 2022 she completed the University of Toronto Temerty School of Medicine Stepping Stones Leadership Education program. With Network of Network (N2) from 2020-2023 she has been the Co-Chair N2 education committee and continues to contribute to clinical research education. In 2023, she joined the national CIHR funded Accelerating Clinical Trials (ACT) Training Committee. She is a Mentor for research trainees at IMPACT (Increasing capacity for Maternal and Paediatric Clinical Trials) CTTP.
Dr. Emma Billington, Early Career Researcher (ECR)
Dr. Billington is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the McCaig Institute for Bone and Joint Health at the University of Calgary. Her research program focuses on osteoporosis, including a randomized control trial of vitamin D supplementation in the community setting, and international studies involving Canada and New Zealand, where she completed her osteoporosis fellowship.
Mentors
Dr. Kieran Quinn, ECR, Sinai Health
Dr. Kieran Quinn is a general internist and palliative care physician, and a clinician-scientist at Sinai Health in Toronto. He is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto and also holds an appointment as an Adjunct Scientist with ICES, a not-for-profit research institute for harnessing Ontario health data. Dr. Quinn is an early-career researcher, with a focus on improving end of life and palliative care. He is a model of excellence for trainees, having received the Governor General’s Academic Gold Medal, a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship and other prestigious awards.
Dr. Adeera Levin, clinician-scientist
Dr. Adeera Levin is an international leader in kidney education, research and administrative activities. She is a Professor in and the Division Head of Nephrology at UBC. She is a Consultant Nephrologist and the Senior Medical Lead for Integration Clinical and Academic Networks at Providence Health Care / St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver. She is also the Executive Director of the BC Renal Agency, which oversees the care, planning and budgets for kidney services in the province, and the Editor-in-Chief for the Canadian Journal of Kidney Health & Disease. Dr. Levin’s research interests include cardiovascular disease and comorbidities in chronic kidney disease patients, variability in the progression of chronic kidney disease and optimal models of care. She has authored more than 600 articles and has received awards such as the Order of Canada for her research excellence and leadership. She is a mentor to medical students, residents, nephrology fellows, health administration fellows and PhD candidates, and is a founding member of and senior advisor to the national Kidney Research Scientist Education National Training program. Recently, Dr. Levin established and leads British Columbia’s Post-Covid Interdisciplinary Clinical Care Network (PC-ICCN), which supports people recovering from lingering symptoms after COVID-19 infection through research, education and care.
Dr. Fahad Razak, Knowledge User
Dr. Fahad Razak was the Scientific Director of the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table. In this capacity, he is responsible for communicating experts’ scientific CIHR Clinical Trials Training Platform NPA: Angela M. Cheung 18 data and evidence on COVID-19 to the government and public so that they can make informed decisions. He is also an Assistant Professor in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine’s Department of Medicine and in the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto, and is a general internist and epidemiologist at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. Dr. Razak is an accomplished researcher with interest in improving the care of hospitalized patients through advanced analysis of hospital big data. He co-founded GEMINI, Canada’s largest hospital research network.
Katie Roposa, Clinical Research Support Expert
Ms. Katie Roposa is the Director of Research Quality Integration at UHN, which plays a key role in supporting research quality, ensuring regulatory compliance, maintaining data integrity and ensuring the safety of research participants. She is an expert in managing operational and strategic risk. She also has a background in adult education and is responsible for delivering a training program at UHN for personnel engaged in research involving humans.
Esther Khor, Clinical Trials Professional
Esther Khor is the Research Operation Manager for the Post-Covid Interdisciplinary Clinical Care Network (PC-ICCN). Integrating research through education and collaboration are key values that Esther focuses on, to support the evolving needs at PC-ICCN. Community care, patient engagement, health program operations, organization change and transitioning patients with complex needs are skills that Esther brings to the team. Prior to PCICCN, Esther spent over 9 years as a registered respiratory therapist and program manager in non-profit outreach work, supporting patients requiring mechanical ventilation in the community. As an alum of McGill University’s International Masters of Health Leadership, Esther provides management advice for McGill’s students. As a McGill mentor, Esther is supporting a project to improve patient access to care at the Bank of Uganda Clinic. As a co-investigator, Esther’s research interests include identifying national research priorities and the evaluation of virtual education for ventilated patients during the pandemic.
Dr. Andrea Furlan, Mentor and ECHO Expert
Dr. Andrea Furlan is a Staff Physician at UHN’s Toronto Rehabilitation Institute and a Senior Scientist with its research arm, the KITE Research Institute. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine and a member of the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Toronto. She is also a Scientist at the Institute for Work & Health, an independent, not-for-profit organization in Toronto dedicated to improving the health and safety of working people. Dr. Furlan’s research interests include chronic pain, lower back pain and neuropathic pain, with a focus on meta-analyses. She has received numerous mentorship awards, including the 2022 Strong Mentorship Award from the Institute of Medical Sciences and the 2021 Outstanding Pain Mentorship Award from the Canadian Pain Society.
Dr. George Tomlinson, Biostatistics
Dr. George Tomlinson is a Senior Scientist at the UHN’s Toronto General Hospital Research Institute and Professor with the Department of Medicine and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. He is an expert in the application of biostatistics, Bayesian and meta-analysis methods to health research and clinical effectiveness. He is the Director for the Biostatistics Research Unit at UHN, which provides biostatistical guidance throughout project lifecycles.