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In a global world that is experiencing new, emerging infectious diseases at an accelerated rate, preventing rather than simply controlling infections is the preferred approach. As we enter an era of increased public awareness, transparent infection rate reporting related to drug-resistant organisms, surgical site infections and the evolving legalities attached to such issues, the components of our current health-care continuum must focus upon the proactive prevention of community-acquired and nosocomial infections.
UHN's Infection Prevention and Control Unit Education program seeks to build bridges across knowledge gaps that exist in the health-care sector with regard to infection prevention and control principles. This conference will deliver expert information regarding community infections, environmental control, occupational health issues, emerging illnesses, and other pertinent topics that can be “put to practice”. We are pleased to offer this exceptional educational opportunity to you as we work toward mutual “partnerships in prevention.”
Highlighted Speakers and Presentations
Vinita Dubey BSc, MD, MPH, CCFP, FRCPC, CIC
Rubella in Southern Ontario: The Challenges of Outbreak Management in a Largely Unvaccinated Community
Dr. Dubey holds a medical degree from the University of Calgary and a Masters of Public Health degree from Harvard School of Public Health. She completed her residency training in Community Medicine from University of Toronto, and graduated in June 2001. In addition to her position as an emergency medicine physician with Lakeridge Health Bowmanville, Vinita currently works as the Associate Medical Officer of Health for Toronto Public Health in the Control of Infectious Diseases and Infection Control.
Michael Gardam MSc, MD, CM, MSc, FRCPC
Much Ado about Flu -
Sometimes hand washing sinks are not infection control's best friends..Life with MDR pseudomonas
Michael Gardam completed his undergraduate and Master’s degrees in Biochemistry at McGill University in Montreal. He graduated from McGill medical school a university scholar in 1992. Following 3 years of internal medicine training and one year as chief medical resident at the Montreal General Hospital, he spent three additional years training in Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology and became a Fellow of the Royal College and Surgeons of Canada in Infectious Diseases in 1998.
Michael moved to Toronto in 1998 for a one year Canadian Infectious Diseases Society research fellowship with John Conly at the Infection Prevention and Control Unit at the Toronto Hospital. He came on staff at the Toronto Hospital in 1999 as Associate Hospital Epidemiologist and became Medical Director of the newly created tuberculosis clinic at the Toronto Western Hospital in 2000. In 2001, Michael Gardam became the Director of the Infection Prevention and Control Unit at the University Health Network. He recently completed a Master of Science degree in Health Administration under the supervision of Dr. Allan Detsky at the University of Toronto in 2003.
Dr. Gardam’s research interests include the molecular and clinical epidemiology of hospital acquired infections and tuberculosis, as well as health policy and program evaluation.
Camille Lemieux BScPhm, ACPR, MD, CCFP, LLB
Life Before Jenner? The Perils of Anti The Perils of Anti-Vaccination
Camille completed her pharmacy training at the University of Toronto, medical training at Queen's University and the University of Ottawa, and legal training at the University of Ottawa. She has practiced as a clinical pharmacist, family and emergency room physician, and lawyer. Most recently, Camille worked for the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care supporting the Walker Panel post SARS, and implementing the infection prevention and control recommendations found in the Walker report as part of the Public Health Division. She has recently joined the IPAC team at UHN as Associate Director.
W. Conrad Liles, MD, PhD
Emergence and Clinical Significance of Community-Associated Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA)
W. Conrad Liles, MD, PhD, FACP, FIDSA, FRCPC received his undergraduate education at Williams College (Williamstown, MA, USA), where he served as chapter president of Phi Beta Kappa and received a B.A. with Highest Honors in 1980. He then entered the National institutes of Health (NIH)-sponsored MD-PhD program (Medical Scientist Training Program) at the University of Washington (UW) and graduated in 1987 with an MD (High Honors; Alpha Omega Alpha) and PhD in pharmacology. Following residency in Internal Medicine at Harvard University/ Massachusetts General Hospital from 1987-1990, he returned to UW where he served as Chief Medical Resident in 1991 and as a Fellow in Infectious Diseases from 1992-1995. In 1996, he was named to the faculty at UW as Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and rose to the rank of Professor of Medicine and Adjunct Professor of Pathology in 2006. At UW, Dr. Liles served as Chairman of the Medical Student Research Training Program, Co-Director of the Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Clinic, Vice Chairman of the Infection Control Committee, and a member of the Medical Scientist Training Program (MD-PhD program) Committee, the Council for Academic Affairs and the Faculty Senate. In 2004, Dr. Liles received the Outstanding Investigator Award from the Western Society for Clinical Investigation (WSCI). He has been elected to Fellowship in the American College of Physicians (ACP) and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and membership in WSCI.
In March 2006, Dr. Liles moved to the University of Toronto to assume the positions of Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases in the Department of Medicine and Head of the Division of Infectious Diseases in the Mount Sinai Hospital/University Health Network. He is the recipient of a Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Inflammation and Infectious Diseases and a member of the McLaughlin Centre for Molecular Medicine, the McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health, and the Toronto General Research Institute. As author of more than 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts and 25 book chapters, he maintains an active translational research program in host defense, inflammation, innate immunity, sepsis, immunodeficiency disorders, and immunomodulatory therapy, while serving as a permanent member of the Immunity and Host Defense Study Section of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID/NIH). He was attracted to the University of Toronto by the opportunities to build translational research programs in emerging infectious diseases and infectious diseases of public health importance, including malaria.
Marilyn Mah B. Comm
Re-Usable Medical Devices Usable Medical Devices Innovation and Patient Safety at UHN
With a background Bachelor of Commerce from Ryerson and education in Sterile Processing from Centennial College, Marilyn Mah worked in the Central Processing Department (CPD) at Toronto General Hospital in 1989, then transferred to Toronto Western Hospital in 1997. During that time, Marilyn worked as a project co-coordinator for Materials Management, implementing a hospital wide top-up quota system for the nursing units and clinics. Though Marilyn has held the position of CPD supervisor in past, she is currently the CPD educator at Toronto Western Hospital.
Allison McGeer BSc, MSc, MD, FRCPC
Group A Strep in Hospitals
Dr. McGeer completed an undergraduate and master's degree in biochemistry and went on to obtain her medical degree at the University of Toronto. She specialized in internal medicine and infectious diseases followed by a fellowship in hospital epidemiology at Yale New Haven Hospital.
She returned to Mount Sinai Hospital in 1989 as microbiologist and director of infection control. She has developed a diverse clinical and epidemiologic research group w hich has established a successful collaborative network for conducting population based surveillance for infectious diseases. She is the principal investigator on the Toronto Bacterial Diseases Network and the Ontario Group A Streptococcal Study, two collaborative surveillance networks which have been used to study the epidemiology of invasive bacterial infections due to group A streptococci, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and a number of other bacterial infections. Her interest in infection control and long term care has formed the basis for another successful research group studying at infection risks, prevention and control in long term care settings.
Dr. McGeer is a Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology and Public Health Sciences at the University of Toronto. In addition to her position as director of infection control at Mount Sinai Hospital, Dr. McGeer is an infection control consultant to The Scarborough Hospital and The Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care. She serves as an expert reviewer for many research funding agencies including the Canadian Institute of Health Research and US National Institutes of Health; and serves on the editorial boards of several journals, including the Canadian Medical Association Journal, and Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.
Karen Stockton BSc. MHSc. CIC
"Can Anybody Help? My Hospital is going Hybrid!"
Currently the manager of the Infection Prevention and Control Unit at University Health Network, Karen's background includes several years of microbiology and epidemiological experience. With an undergraduate degree in microbiology and immunology and an MHSc. in epidemiology, Karen emerged as the first UHN infection control technical specialist, responsible for construction and design issues related to nosocomial infection. She is currently one of the several instructors for the CHICA-Canada Infection Control Course and is also working as a member of the CSA Technical Subcommittee for Standards on Special Requirements for HVAC Systems in Health Care Facilities.
James Young, O. Ont., MD
Bioterrorism: Is it a Threat? Are We Prepared?
Dr. Young has held prominent positions during numerous national and international disasters and emergencies. This led to his current appointment as Special Advisor to the Deputy Minister of Public Safety and senior advisor on emergency management for the department, portfolio and other federal departments. In this capacity, Dr. Young provides advice to the government of Canada, promoting a seamless national emergency management system.
As Ontario’s former Commissioner of Emergency Management, Dr. Young provided guidance on a number of unprecedented provincial emergencies. He led the central operation during the 1998 ice storm, which devastated eastern Ontario. He played a pivotal role in the Government of Ontario’s management of SARS and was honoured with the President’s Award from the College of Physicians and Surgeons for effective emergency coordination and public communications during the outbreak. During the August 2003 power blackout, which left over 50 million people in Ontario, New York State and much of the Eastern seaboard without power, he ensured a coordinated government response and effective communication with the public. In recognition for these efforts and his role as one of Canada’s foremost forensic scientists, Dr. Young was honoured with the Order of Ontario in 2005.
As an emergency manager, and as a medical doctor and forensic scientist, Dr. Young has been active on numerous fronts nationally and internationally. Among his many activities on the international scene, he assisted in coordinating multi-national protocols to identify victims of the Asian Tsunami disaster, conducted an independent investigation on behalf of Foreign Affairs Canada into the death of a young woman while custody in Kazakhstan, and was deployed to Bali on behalf of the Canadian government to identify Canadian victims of the terrorist bombings and to assist in the international forensic investigation. In 2002, he oversaw the autopsies of four Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan as a result of US friendly fire. As Chief Medical, Emergency and Forensic Services Adviser for the Canadian Consulate General, he coordinated the identification of Canadian victims of the September 11th World Trade Center terrorist attacks. In 1998, he led an international medical team to examine the circumstances surrounding the sudden and unexpected death of Chief Moshood Abiola, the elected Nigerian President who had been imprisoned before taking office. Also in 1998, Dr. Young provided guidance to the Chief Medical Examiner of Nova Scotia to identify the victims of the Swiss Air flight 111 disaster.
In addition to emergency management, Dr. Young has given expert advice on policy issues in Canada, the United States, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Thailand, Bermuda and England. In 2002, he advised a delegation from the United Kingdom, tasked with conducting a full review of the Coroner System in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Throughout his distinguished career as Ontario’s Chief Coroner, he presided over numerous high profile inquests, examining issues such as the quality of institutional care, the quality control of medical procedures and equipment, midwifery and home deliveries, police shootings, deaths in custody, drug testing in the workplace, the accessibility of illicit drugs to youth, and water safety.
Dr. Young has served as president for numerous associations including the International Coroners' Association and the Toronto Medico-Legal Society. He is currently president of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences.
Throughout his career as a physician and coroner, he has been a prolific writer, a regular lecturer at universities, and a keynote speaker at national and international conferences. He has received an array of honours for his diverse contributions, including the Order of Ontario, the Queen’s Jubilee Medal, and two Ontario Government Amethyst Awards, as well as awards from provincial, national, and international coroner and forensic organizations, the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs, and the Council on Suicide Prevention of Metropolitan Toronto.
As Special Advisor to the Deputy Minister of Public Safety, Dr. Young sees his role as helping to shape a culture of emergency management in Canada that cuts across all levels of government, and which involves the private sector, social agencies, and the citizens they serve.
